Skid Row - 40 Seasons: The Best of Skid Row [2LP Blue]

Skid Row never sounded like the glam crowd they were lumped in with, and 40 Seasons: The Best of Skid Row gathers their sharpest work onto two blue LPs.

First released in 1998, the compilation tracks the New Jersey band from their explosive 1989 debut through Slave to the Grind and Subhuman Race, the years when Sebastian Bach's sky-scraping voice fronted a band with real punk and metal teeth. Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo wrote most of the material, and their knack for hooks with grit gave Skid Row an edge over many of their Sunset Strip contemporaries.

Youth Gone Wild remains the rallying cry, a snarling anthem for every misfit who ever cranked it up in a bedroom. 18 and Life tells its grim story of a life thrown away with a darkness rare for radio rock, and I Remember You is the power ballad that soundtracked countless slow dances. Slave to the Grind, meanwhile, shows just how heavy they could get when they wanted to.

Across both discs the energy rarely dips, the guitars stay loud and the songs still sound built for arenas.

For anyone who wore out these tapes the first time around, this blue double vinyl is a welcome way to hear them big again.