''Skeletons'' is the tenth studio album by the American
heavy metal band
Danzig, released on November 27, 2015 and consisting entirely of
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of songs from the 1960s through 1980s, selected by singer
Glenn Danzig
Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He owns t ...
.
Background and recording
Glenn Danzig claimed to have planned to do an album of cover songs as far back as 1979.
In 2011 he stated that he had recorded "about seven or eight covers" and was considering releasing them as an
EP: "There's a cover of Sixties band
The Young Rascals
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
and I'm doing a ''
Nuggets
Nuggets may refer to:
Music
* ''Nuggets'' (series), a series of compilation albums by Elektra Records, continued by Rhino
* '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968''
* '' Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from ...
'' track too. ''Nuggets'' were these pre-punk, psychedelic, garage albums. They produced a bunch of influential compilations in the early Seventies. So currently this is an ongoing project, laying down as many tracks as I feel like and maybe releasing a seven- or eight-song EP of the best ones once they're done." In announcing the album in June 2015 he stated "I had to put it out now or else there would be so many songs I'd want to do that I wouldn't be able to do it. Even the way I did it, there are so many songs I still wanted to cover. My attitude with covers is, make it your own or else leave it alone."
''Skeletons'' marked the first time since 1994's ''
Danzig 4
''Danzig 4'', also titled ''Danzig 4P'', is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Danzig. Released in 1994, it was the band's final album on American Recordings, and the last to feature the original lineup of John Christ (guita ...
'' that the band had recorded more than one album with the same line-up, but as with their previous album ''
Deth Red Sabaoth
''Deth Red Sabaoth'' is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Danzig, released on June 22, 2010, through Evilive/The End Records. ''Deth Red Sabaoth'' marked Danzig's highest-charting album since the release of '' Danzig 4'' in 1 ...
'', it does not include bassist
Steve Zing
Steve Zing (born Steven Paul Grecco; June 29, 1964) is an American drummer. He has performed with Implosion, Mourning Noise, and The Undead before joining Samhain.
He graduated in 1982 from Lodi High School in Lodi, New Jersey together with ...
.
Danzig sang and played piano, guitar, and bass guitar on all of the tracks, and played drums on half of them.
Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly (born March 9, 1968) is an American musician, best known as the former drummer of gothic metal band Type O Negative. He is the current drummer for the bands Silvertomb, A Pale Horse Named Death, Kill Devil Hill, Danzig, and Quie ...
played drums on the rest of the tracks, while
Tommy Victor
Thomas M. Victor (born 1961/1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for heavy metal band Prong, which he founded in New York City in 1986, as well as the guitarist for ...
played lead guitar as well as other guitar and bass parts.
The album was
produced by Glenn Danzig,
engineered by Chris Rakestraw at Sunset Lodge in California,
mixed by Danzig and Rakestraw, and
mastered
Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...
by Gene Grimaldi.
With the exception of
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...
's 1986 single "
Rough Boy
"Rough Boy" was the third single by American rock band ZZ Top from their 1985 album ''Afterburner''. The song reached No. 5 on the Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as well as No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart. Unlik ...
", all of the songs covered on ''Skeletons'' date to between 1962 and 1974, when Glenn was between the ages of six and eighteen. The album's title refers to skeletons in your closet', it's like pulling out old songs", he said.
"These are my skeletons. You may or may not know that I dig these songs. You could say that some of this music is the actual basis and skeleton of what I listened to growing up — ultimately informing the kind of music I like. It's the foundation. If you took
Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and
Sabbath">lackSabbath out of my life, I probably wouldn't be the Glenn Danzig you know! I'm glad both sides are represented on this record." Two songs from
outlaw biker film
The outlaw biker film is a film genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of an outlaw motorcycle club.
History
Outlaw biker clubs formed in the late 1940s on the West Coast after the en ...
s of the late 1960s are covered: "Devil's Angels" from the
1967 film of the same title, and "Satan" from 1969's ''
Satan's Sadists
''Satan's Sadists'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.
Plot
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's leade ...
''.
A cover of
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer and actress. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato), and is best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.
Nancy Sinatra ...
and
Lee Hazlewood
Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...
's 1967 hit "
Some Velvet Morning
"Some Velvet Morning" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in late 1967. It first appeared on Sinatra's album '' Movin' with Nancy,'' the soundtrack to her 1967 television special of the same ...
" was recorded as a
duet
A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
featuring former
Runaways singer
Cherie Currie
Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, musician, actress and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s. After The Runaways, she became a solo artist. ...
, but was left off of the final album because, according to Glenn, "the publisher wouldn't let us use the song because they didn't like what we did with it."
It was, however, released online prior to the album coming out. He also stated that a cover of an
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
Spaghetti Western
The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
theme was recorded, but that he was "not happy with the way it came out, but maybe I'll fix it and put it on some kind of limited edition thing."
In a 2017 radio interview with Full Metal Jackie, Glenn also mentioned that a cover of
Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...
's "
Funtime" and
Patsy Cline
Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...
's "
Walkin' After Midnight
"Walkin' After Midnight" is a song written by Alan Block and Don Hecht and recorded by American country music artist Patsy Cline. The song was originally given to pop singer Kay Starr; however, her label rejected it. The song was left unused until ...
" (another duet with Cherie Currie) were recorded during the ''Skeletons'' sessions.
Cover image
The cover image, photographed by Paul Brown, is based on the cover of
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's 1973 covers album ''
Pin Ups
''Pin Ups'' (also referred to as ''Pinups'' and ''Pin-Ups'') is the seventh studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 19October 1973 through RCA Records. Devised as a "stop-gap" album to appease his record label, it is a cover ...
'', and features Glenn Danzig posing in skull makeup with
Kayden Kross
Kayden Kross (born 1985) is an American pornographic actress and director. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame.
Early life
Kross grew up in the foothills between Sacramento and Placerville. She has described herself as "the book ...
, a former
pornographic film actor
A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of dist ...
, in a similar pose to that of Bowie and supermodel
Twiggy
Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London.
...
on the ''Pin Ups'' cover.
"One of my favorite covers records is David Bowie's ''Pin Ups''", said Danzig, "and I wanted to do a take on that, and the record is called ''Skeletons'' so I decided I'd do the skull face."
Danzig had worn skull makeup on a few occasions during his time in the
Misfits
Misfits or The Misfits may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift
* ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...
; he recalled "I wore makeup only at a couple of live shows and maybe for a photo shoot. I think it was originally for a Halloween show, '79, at
ew York City'sIrving Plaza
Irving Plaza (known through sponsorship as Irving Plaza, powered by Klipsch and formerly known as the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) is a ballroom-style music venue located within the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. ...
. I also had the skeleton shirt and skeleton clothes on, so I was a full punk skeleton man."
"Devil's Angels"
The album's first single, a cover of the theme song from the 1967
outlaw biker film
The outlaw biker film is a film genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of an outlaw motorcycle club.
History
Outlaw biker clubs formed in the late 1940s on the West Coast after the en ...
''
Devil's Angels
''Devil's Angels'' (also known as ''The Checkered Flag'') is a 1967 American outlaw biker film written by Charles B. Griffith and directed by Daniel Haller. It stars John Cassavetes.
Plot
Cody (John Cassavetes), and his motorcycle gang calle ...
'', was originally released online in 2012. A 7" single was released, with a "vocal & keyboard version" of the album track "Satan" (also a theme from an outlaw biker film, 1969's ''
Satan's Sadists
''Satan's Sadists'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.
Plot
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's leade ...
'') as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
.
Of the song, Glenn said: "I've wanted to record 'Devil's Angels' since 1979 and this is exactly the same arrangement I had for it back then, so it pretty much sounds like that late '70s style of mine. I'm really happy with the way it turned out; it actually came out much better than I had hoped it would."
Critical reception
James Christopher Monger of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
rated ''Skeletons'' three and a half stars out of five, calling it "a delight for longtime fans, especially those who lean harder toward the
Misfit/
Samhain
Samhain ( , , , ; gv, Sauin ) is a Gaelic festival on 1 NovemberÓ hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth Legend and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p. 402. Quote: "The basic Irish division of the year ...
end of the spectrum. Raw, rowdy, and devoid of any sort of studio chicanery, ''Skeletons'' feels less like a proper Danzig album and more like a home recording of a boozy late-night house show. Surprisingly, its slapdash, lo-fi demeanor mostly works in its favor."
He was critical of the slower tracks, saying they were "weighed down by vocal takes that sound like they were laid down after a ten-mile run", and opined that the album would have benefited from the use of an outside producer, but compared it favorably to the band's previous album, 2010's ''
Deth Red Sabaoth
''Deth Red Sabaoth'' is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Danzig, released on June 22, 2010, through Evilive/The End Records. ''Deth Red Sabaoth'' marked Danzig's highest-charting album since the release of '' Danzig 4'' in 1 ...
'', calling it "a hell of a lot more fun."
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
*
Glenn Danzig
Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He owns t ...
– vocals; piano; guitars; bass guitar; drums on tracks 3, 6, 7, 8, and 10;
producer;
mix engineer
A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...
*
Tommy Victor
Thomas M. Victor (born 1961/1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for heavy metal band Prong, which he founded in New York City in 1986, as well as the guitarist for ...
– lead guitar, guitars, bass guitar
*
Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly (born March 9, 1968) is an American musician, best known as the former drummer of gothic metal band Type O Negative. He is the current drummer for the bands Silvertomb, A Pale Horse Named Death, Kill Devil Hill, Danzig, and Quie ...
– drums on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9
*Chris Rakestraw –
audio engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
, mix engineer
*Gene Grimaldi –
audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via met ...
*Paul Brown – cover and interior photographs
*Corey Soria – back cover photograph
Charts
References
{{Authority control
Danzig (band) albums
2015 albums
Covers albums