bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Nov 2, 2019 18:42:53 GMT
Just popping my head in to this thread to say that I bought Hot in the Shade on cassette when I was 14 for the song Forever. I still love that song. I don't remember anything else about that album.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 2, 2019 19:12:08 GMT
I don't remember anything else about that album. Then I think your memory is serving you well!
I've got to say this was the most disappointing album to re-listen to. It was much worse than I remember thinking it was when I was 13 or 14 and bought the new cassette.
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Post by kds on Nov 2, 2019 19:13:06 GMT
Apparently, KISS are considering doing a biopic. No doubt, Gene and Paul had a light bulb go on in their heads after the massive success of Bohemian Rhapsody.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 2, 2019 19:14:17 GMT
Apparently, KISS are considering doing a biopic. No doubt, Gene and Paul had a light bulb go on in their heads after the massive success of Bohemian Rhapsody. Gee, I wonder which members will come across as the heroes and which will be portrayed badly...
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 13:41:28 GMT
KISS Revenge (1992)The 1980s had been a tumultuous decade for KISS: sales started low and dropped even further as they seemed to alternate between their fans and musical trends. Someone ironically, as that decade ended, sales were good, but the band felt yet again that it had lost its way and made another stylistic shift. Revenge was released in the spring of 1992, two and a half years after its predecessor. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley brought in another outside producer, reuniting with Bob Ezrin ( Destroyer, Music From the Elder) rather than producing themselves as they had done last time around. Ironically, the new album was a return to the sounds of a decade prior, more akin to Creatures of the Night than to the glam-metal sound that had returned them to relative success in recent years. There are precious few keyboards here. To make the point, the band did something unprecedented in their nearly 20-year history: they opened an album with a Simmons song. “Unholy,” co-written with another blast from the past in Vinnie Vincent, sets a different tone than the typical, poppier Stanley album openers. Vincent’s return was even more surprising than Ezrin’s, but it was important: he co-wrote three songs, including two singles. However, according to Simmons, he tried to renegotiate the financial terms of his work with the band even before the album was released and he was promptly cast off yet again. “God Gave Rock ’n’ Roll To You II” was the most popular and successful song from the album. This rewrite of an Argent song of the same name (sans “II”) was recorded before the album as a contribution to the movie Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. It was this successful collaboration with Ezrin (who co-wrote the rewrite and produced the soundtrack) that brought about the band’s collaboration with him. The song, which includes prominent vocal lines from Stanley, Simmons, and in his final contributions to KISS, Eric Carr, was the latest in a long line of (usually Stanley-driven) “you-can-do-it-if-you-try” anthems. (Stanley’s song-ending sermon is particularly cringeworthy.) The single reached #21 in the US and did even better around the world, including a #4 placement in the UK. While Carr contributed vocally, he did not otherwise participate in the making of the album. Battling cancer at the time, Carr died in November 1991. “Carr Jam 1981” was appended to the album in tribute to him. The song had its roots in an Ace Frehley riff that he later used in “Breakout,” but which featured an extended drum solo. Bruce Kulick replaced Frehley’s original parts, and the song was credited solely to Carr. Eric Singer drummed on the album and was hired to be the new drummer in KISS, a role in which he has generally remained in the nearly 30 years since. The quality of songs is much higher than on Hot in the Shade, if not necessarily substantially improved from the group’s better ‘80s albums, whether of the heavier persuasion ( Creatures, Lick It Up) or poppier ( Crazy Nights, Unmasked). If “Unholy,” “God Gave Rock ’n’ Roll To You II,” “Domino,” and the Stanley-Vincent collaboration “I Just Wanna” (with its “Summertime Blues” ripoff verse) were strong songs, they certainly were not classics. The album debuted at #6 in the US, but promptly fell from the charts. It went gold and sported three top-35 singles in the US (and more internationally). In a familiar pattern, the album was yet another in a long line touted as a return to form, and it certainly harkened back to an earlier era (which had itself been touted as a return to form), but it wasn’t strong enough to sustain KISS’s popularity as musical tastes radically changed in America. KISS needed a more radical move to remain relevant. A few years later, they made one, for better and for worse.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 3, 2019 14:04:28 GMT
Paul's rambling at the end of "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You II" is pretty bad, but otherwise I really like the song. Another good cover from KISS.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 14:25:28 GMT
KISS Carnival of Souls: the Final Sessions (1997)
What’s with the subtitle? Well, this album is more a “beat the boots” style rarities release than a true album.
As complicated as things were for rock bands in the ‘90s, they were even more so for KISS. After Revenge, the band put out yet another live album (uncreatively titled Alive III) in 1993. When they eventually returned to the studio in 1995, mainstream hard rock had for all practical purposes ceased to exist as a popular art form. The band enlisted producer Toby Wright, whose credits include Alice in Chains, Biohazard, Korn, and various other heavy alternative groups.
Further confusing the issue, both mainstream hard rock bands and legacy acts were finding new audiences through MTV’s Unplugged series. Poison, Aerosmith, and Queensryche; the Eagles, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan. They all reinvented or repositioned themselves through this novelty rebranding … and nobody understands the power of novelty rebranding quite like KISS.
And so even as the band was working on Carnival of Souls, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were working with both MTV and eventually founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss about an Unplugged concert. The Unplugged show included both the current band and, for a few songs, the originals. Fan response was strong enough that KISS proceeded with the original members instead of the current ones, leaving Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr in (paid) limbo.
Thus Carnival of Souls was a would-be album that was heavily bootlegged by the KISS fan community. Finally to combat the bootlegs, the band released it as an artifact of an earlier era—though that era was just a couple of years prior!—and thus the subtitle.
The music is as different from the stereotypical KISS sound as was Music From the Elder in 1981. It is an of-the-times slog, more than a nod to the sort of grunge that producer Wright had helmed for other groups. Kulick is a strong presence, co-writing eight of 12 songs, playing bass as well as guitar on six, and singing his first and only lead on “I Walk Alone.”
There is no rock and rolling all night, no partying every day. It is dark, but not the kind of cartoonish darkness The Demon spat throughout the ‘70s. There is no Star Child primping and preening lascivious lyrics. While not bad for what it is, it is a tough listen for anyone expecting classic KISS. And presumably anyone more predisposed to this type of music wouldn’t give a KISS album a chance anyway. In late 1997, it was the strange display of an aborted fetus.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 14:50:02 GMT
KISS Psycho Circus (1998)
The most cynically calculating of bands, KISS’s ownership group—which, let’s be honest, is more what Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons had become by this point as opposed to band leaders—decided to capitalize on the success of their reunion tour with an album of new material from the original band.
That the “original band” was present on precisely one song was beside the point. (Ace Frehley insisted that Peter Criss be allowed to drum on Frehley’s sole credit, “Into the Void.” That song was also one of only three to include Frehley’s guitar work and vocals.) The reunion was more about product from the four original names, the four original characters, than it was about the group’s music. Occasional ghost drummer Kevin Valentine (Hot in the Shade, Revenge) played most of the album’s drums, while Tommy Thayer presciently performed in the role of Frehley.
Considering the original band wasn’t writing or performing, it should come as no surprise that the music didn’t resemble that of the original band. It sounds more or less like the band’s music, Carnival of Souls notwithstanding, had sounded on its past few albums. It retained the heavier production of Revenge as opposed to the synth-heavy pop of Crazy Nights, but the music was similarly forgettable.
While not a particularly strong song, the most KISS-like is probably Frehley’s lone contribution, “Into the Void.” As noted above, it is the only song to include all four original members, and so its results as sounding more like the band than the others are probably no surprise.
Stanley and Bob Ezrin co-wrote a song for Criss to sing, predictably an orchestrated power ballad intended to call to mind the groups mega hit “Beth,” this one called “I Finally Found My Way.” It is among the better songs on the album.
Most embarrassing is Simmons’s “You Wanted the Best,” an absurd “we’re all back together again” piece of nonsense that’s especially ridiculous when compared to the reality of the album. That it features all four band members trading lead vocal lines is a slap in the face to Freely and Criss, considering their forced absence from the bulk of the album.
The biggest surprise is the failure of Stanley and Simmons to truly capitalize on the potential of the reunion. They rarely dug deep or thought through what could be done: they didn’t even have the good sense to properly imitate KISS. There is non of the “heavy Beatles” sound that made KISS a powerhouse in the ‘70s. There isn’t much of the clever harmonies, the call-and-response vocals, or the playful sleaze. Instead there is a mostly anonymous, bloated series of the same sort of alternating Stanley and Simmons songs, just as there had been for the previous 15 years. But this time the album cover showed the makeup again.
The album debuted at #3 in the US and went gold. Rolling Stone, proving its incompetence and implying that it hadn’t listened either to the album or its predecessors but rather was responding to the reunion hype, called it “far more respectable than any of the awkward flops from the no-makeup years."
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 15:07:16 GMT
KISS Sonic Boom (2009)
It took more than 10 years for the psycho circus of a never-ending tour (“final tour” claims notwithstanding) to pause long enough for another studio album. (They did find the time to release two live albums, two “instant live” albums, and four or five greatest hits collections during that time.)
In the interim, original band members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were each fired, rehired, and fired at various times. Once the dust settled, longtime band employee, session player, roadie, and cowriter Tommy Thayer was brought in as the guitarist and Revenge drummer Eric Singer was hired as the drummer. They were no longer themselves, however. They were now performing in character as The Spaceman and The Cat, in costume and makeup, mimicking Frehley and Criss.
The music is mostly irrelevant. Despite claims that the purpose was to continue creating strong new music, it appears the album was intended primarily to remind the world that this band existed as more than just the next act to grace your local sports arena or state fair on tour. Ironically, the group did a better job of imitating itself here than it did on its actual reunion album. Some songs, such as Stanley and Thayer’s “Never Enough,” are solid and would have been welcome on Psycho Circus. Others, like the Singer-sung Simmons and Stanley song “All For the Glory,” actually sound as if they were written for that album with their corny “all for one” lyrics.
If not for the business shenanigans, if it had come a decade sooner, perhaps this could have meant something. Instead it’s just another album. In typical form for the times, it debuted at #2 … and disappeared. It sold 238,000 copies in 2009 and has not yet gone gold.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 15:22:13 GMT
KISS Monster (2012)
Too little, too late. Monster, the 2012 effort that will likely go down as the final KISS studio album, actually was a reasonable facsimile of a classic KISS album.
The touring band was again the lineup in the studio, but there were no outside co-writers or studio musicians aside from a session pianist. True to the classic band’s form, both the guitarist (here Tommy Thayer) and drummer (Eric Singer) were each gifted one lead vocal. The cynic would note that Paul Stanley gave Singer a very Peter Criss-like rock-and-roller, “All For the Love of Rock and Roll,” while Thayer’s own “Outta This World” is like a Ace Frehley song in both title and substance.
Songs are tightened up, with only four of 12 exceeding four minutes. Riffs are strong and, recorded on analog gear, sound like Frehley’s dirty Les Pauls as opposed to Vincent’s, St. John’s, or Kulick’s heavily distorted Jacksons, Charvels, and the like. There is no flirtation with anything beyond the band’s traditional heavy rock. Everything sounds familiar, sometimes to the point of seemingly rewrites of their own songs.
And that’s probably the best a KISS fan could have hoped for by this point, especially after album after album of disappointment. It’s a shame Frehley and Criss weren’t able to be a part of it … and that nobody heard it. (This morning was the first time I heard it.)
It debuted at #3 and disappeared. It has not gone gold.
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Post by kds on Nov 3, 2019 18:54:22 GMT
Paul's rambling at the end of "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You II" is pretty bad, but otherwise I really like the song. Another good cover from KISS. That spoken word bit might be the most unintentionally funny moment in rock history. I was actually a little disappointed the song didn't feature the same intro that was used at the climax of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Overall, I like the Revenge album a lot. Unholy is a great song. I Just Wanna was a great song that Im sure made radio programmers a tad nervous on 1st listen. I think the reunion with Ezrin is a big reason for its consistency. As for the rest. Psycho Circus has a killer title track. I honestly dont recall much about the rest. I only listened to Sonic Boom once and never checked out Monster. Will Alive III and IV be covered?
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 19:00:18 GMT
I decided not to do live or greatest hits albums, though I did Alive II and Killers (and kind-of Smashes, Thrashes & Hits) because of their new material. Alive was included because I hadn’t really thought much about my “rules” at that point. Plus it’s so important!
If I did all of their live and greatest hits comps I believe we’d more than double the total albums reviewed!
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 3, 2019 19:00:59 GMT
I should say, if you want to discuss III or IV, have at it!
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Post by kds on Nov 3, 2019 19:38:17 GMT
I'm good. Since Alive is one of the most iconic live albums in history, I think it kinda had to be discussed in the KISS canon. III and IV.....not so much.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 6, 2019 0:06:35 GMT
Reminder never to believe KISS: the band is returning to the Twin Cities almost a year after their most recent final show and 20 years after their first two final shows here (which were a few months apart in 2000).
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