Album of the Day

After The Dictators went girl crazy, they went to Elektra Records to release their second studio set, MANIFEST DESTINY. Cut in a more mainstream arena rock direction, this almost sounds like a different band – but a damn good one to be sure. Blue Oyster Cult producers Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman steer the sextet through eight punchy Andy Shernoff originals (and an ace cover of The Stooges “Search And Destroy”) including “Science Has Gone Too Far” and “Disease” (whose spoken intro by frontman "Handsome" Dick Manitoba is nothing less than genius). Bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza went on to join Twisted Sister, and this album features similarly intense New York hard rock leavened with a sly sense of humor. The Dictators' most commercially successful release, MANIFEST DESTINY shows one of the late-1970s most underrated bands firing on all cylinders.