Fifth album in for 'W.A.S.P.' although by this time it's more a 'Blackie Lawless' solo project, with original guitarist 'Chris Holmes' and bassist 'Johnny Rod' no longer onboard. This the first and arguably best of many 'Blackie Lawless' concept albums, is centred around the rise and fall of fictional Rock star Jonathan and features some truly memorable song writing. Musician brought in for this release included former 'Kiss' guitarist 'Bob Kulick' who turns in a fine performance, drumming is split between 'Stet Howland' and 'Frankie Banali', while 'Blackie' covers bass duties.

The concept unfolds with a glorious melodic intro to 'The Titanic Overture', which in turn gives way to a harder edged instrumental fuelled piece, brimming with sublime guitaring. The pace is lifted further for the driving rocker 'The Invisible Boy', lyrically it's just top drawer- very powerful, 'Blackie' turns in a splendid vocal display and is well backed up on the chorus, while 'Bob Kulick' gets in one of many choice solos to be found on this album. More reminiscent of work from 'The Headless Children' is the potent 'Arena of Pleasure', which gallops along compliments of some fine rhythm work, while the deft fret work is impressive throughout. Much nastier is the barnstorming 'Chainsaw Charlie' an uncompromising ripper, that cleverly uses revving chainsaws to compliment the rhythm, the instrumentation is just magnificent and makes this hard hitter my choice track of the album. The tempo falls for the acoustic ballad titled 'The Gypsy Meets the Boy', that's more than a little reminiscent of 'W.A.S.P's' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', overlooking this 'Blackie' steals the show with some great vocals and the mid track electric pick-up is also a nice touch. The pace is lifted once again with the pulsating 'Doctor Rockter', a simplistic but effective rocker, featuring refine rhythm work, a super solo and a shrewd change in tempo near the close. The powerful fist-rising anthem 'I Am One' ensues, lyrically it's bang-on, 'Blackie' gives it plenty of guts and the soaring chorus is yet another highlight. The momentum falls for the epic title track 'The Idol', a high class ballad come rocker highlighting just what a singer 'Blackie Lawless' is, you can really feel the passion in his vocals, the melody throughout is flawless and helps make this another winner. The slightly more commercial 'Hold on to My Heart' follows in a similar vein to 'Forever Free' from 'The Headless Children', but not quite as strong in my opinion, that said still an excellent ballad. The concept concludes with the epic 'The Great Misconceptions of Me', which brings together the whole story wonderfully and reflects on previous tracks. Musically this sees everyone on the top of their game, the instrumentation is sublime, with 'Blackie' giving the awesome lyrics the credit they deserve. The bonus track on the first CD of the re-mastered version of 'The Crimson Idol' features 'The story of Jonathan' which is read by 'Blackie' to a sweet melodic backdrop, a bit long-winded but worth the inclusion.

The re-mastered CD features a wealth of bonus material, the first of which is titled 'Phantoms in the Mirror', I assume this track was left off the album proper, as it fits in both lyrically and musically, in fact it's a damn fine lively rocker that's sweetly penned and adroitly executed- should have made it onto the album. The same can also be said about 'The Eulogy', perhaps this would have been one too many balladsy numbers, but it's still class especially with the late tempo pick-up. A version of 'Led Zep's' 'When the Levee Breaks' ensues and as with the majority of 'W.A.S.P' covers is surprisingly good, this sticks very close to the original and fails to disappoint with 'Blackie's' sharp vocals. The following tracks 'The Idol' and 'Hold on to My Heart' are live acoustic working, both admirable versions that again show 'Blackie Lawless's' vocal strengths. All the remaining live tracks are taken from Donnington in '92, and are all decent renditions, a little too raw at times, especially the more melodic ones from this album, but still well worth hearing.

My only let-down is that the band assembled for 'The Crimson Idol' can hardly be considered a true 'W.A.S.P.' line-up, this is why I personally take preference to 'The Headless Children', that said this is still a fantastic concept, that in my opinion even betters 'Savatage's' classic 'Streets'.