REVIEW: Criss – Cat #1 (1994)

CRISS CAT 1_0001CRISS – Cat #1 (1994 Tony Nicole Tony)

I am a Kiss fan, and I am also a Peter Criss fan. I like his first bunch of post-Kiss solo albums, Out of Control and Let Me Rock You just fine. They are not perfect but they have some good songs and are enjoyable, if dated, slices of the era.  I think most fans would grudgingly admit that Let Me Rock You isn’t bad.

Cat #1 (terrible title!) was supposed to be Peter’s comeback, after a decade of working with bands that went nowhere such as Balls Of Fire and The Keep (with Mark St. John). He later assembled the Criss band, which included Mike Stone (who would later end up in Queensryche). Cat #1 was also preceded by a mail order EP simply called Criss, with some exclusive songs.  That release was marred by an incompetent record company who took close to a year to mail out the orders.

Unfortunately, Peter did not need a record company to tank this release.  This CD tanked itself.  The problems with Cat #1 are three-fold:

1. No great songs.
2. Bland, uninspired performances and terrible singing by the backing band.
3. Bad production and plastic sounding drums.

The one good song is “Blue Moon Over Brooklyn”, the heartfelt ballad written for Peter’s mom who had passed away recently.  This song, though imperfect, justifies me having it my collection.  (Well, that and it’s Kiss related.)  Phil Naro co-wrote this one, and diehard fans know he’s a talented guy who has written some pretty good songs.  It’s just too bad that “Blue Moon Over Brooklyn” wasn’t fully realized by an ace band and producer.  Somebody to help Peter know when he’s singing flat, you know?

Naro wrote two tunes here, “Bad People Burn In Hell” is the other.  It’s not bad either.  It’s a fun rocker where Peter gets to sing in his Elvis voice for a bit. But that’s basically it. The rest of the songs sound like a hodge-podge of unrelated bits stuck together, and wouldn’t even pass as filler on the worst Kiss albums. You could probably Frankenstein bits and pieces from these songs to make one good song out of the bunch of them, but that’s all. For example, the chorus from “Strike” is decent, put that with the verses from “Bad Attitude”…you know what I mean?  Maybe you could make one good song out of them.   (“Bad Attitude” by the way seems to be about that homeless man who claimed to be Peter as documented on the Phil Donahue show. Remember that?)

CRISS CAT 1_0002The production though is terribly bland, and Peter’s drums sound like triggered samples.  They really sound terrible.  The drum sound alone robs Peter of the swing.  It’s distracting.  His singing is good in spots, and he actually wails pretty good on tracks like “Bad Attitude”.  “Bad Attitude” is vintage Kiss vocally, but shite musically.

Mike Stone sings lead on a couple tracks, and his voice is like…how do I describe this? He’s like Glenn Tipton meets an asthmatic Dave Mustaine or something. Not a good singer at all. When he takes the lead on tracks like “Show Me”, it sinks the song. Even when he backs Peter up on songs like “Bad Attitude”, it’s weak. A third voice is singing on “We Want You”, who I assume from the writing credits is Mike McLaughlin. His voice is even weaker, it’s like a raspy whisper.

Finally Peter recycled “Beth”, yet again.  It was great to finally have an unplugged acoustic version of the song, but he has really milked that one, hasn’t he?  It’s a good version, and it’s a slightly different mix from the one used on the earlier EP.

As marked on the cover art itself, Ace Frehley plays guitar on three songs: “Bad Attitude,” “Walk the Line,” and “Blue Moon over Brooklyn”. But you can’t really tell.   Let’s talk a moment about that cover art. Actually, let’s not: You can see it for yourself, so you decide what you think.  Challenge yourself to come up with one-word descriptions and post them in the comments.

1/5 stars

34 comments

  3. That purple texture looks like an extreme close-up of dried out skin (and with it purple, I don’t wanna know what body part, thanks). Might want to consider some Gold Bond on that, Pete.

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    1. How about a double-entendre one-word title that needs explaining?
      Like maybe: SPLIT.
      As in :
      – split personality, and
      – get the hell away from this record: split, go, scram.

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  5. Shame this wasn’t better. Then again, I think, by virtue of the sheer mountain of stuff these guys have released over the years, it gets easy to confuse volume with quality. The hope is always there. But how often does it really, really pan out? Discuss. ;)

    Also who names a band Balls Of Fire. I mean, I know what they meant, but all I could think was that if you have balls of fire you should probably get a doctor to look at that.

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  6. He should have just did this record with all the kiss songs he sang in other words…his version of Hooligan,Baby Driver,even stuff like,Strange ways I would have bought that….
    Was never interested in his stuff outside of Kiss as his Kiss solo album destroyed any faith I had in him back as 12 year old!
    Hahahaha

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  7. This review is pretty much spot on. Just listened to this CD the other week in my car. Just like you, I bought it because it’s Kiss related and I too really like Out Of Control. Let Me Rock You? Not so much. But this album should never have been released. It only shows that Paul and Gene are correct when the talk about Peter’s lack of musicianship, he really don’t have it in him.
    I also agree with you on Blue Moon Over Brooklyn, but I’d like to add the other ballad, Good Times, to the good songs here. Peter knows a good ballad when he hears it and I think Good Times has the I Can’t Stop The Rain feel. Both could have been big hits under different circumstances.

    Next up, a review of One For All?

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      1. The first VVI album is awesome and All Systems Go has its miments for sure. But just as Mike said the production isn’t all that, Vinnie and Dana Strum are not good producers. But the songs are great.

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        1. Vinnie had two great singers in there. I think the albums had great material in spots, but yeah…could have been produced with some balls. And somebody needed to tell Vinnie to SLOW DOWN at times.

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        2. Dude, someone should have told Vinnie when to play and when not to. His guitar masturbation is all over the album, everywhere. And yes, slow down, dammit. And please try to get a warmer guitarsound. But the guy is still a killer song writer.
          The first VVI album should be remixed and remastered without Vinnie anywhere near the control room.

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        3. Vinnie would never allow anyone to touch his albums…he’s a control freak by all accounts! Bizarre how he hasn’t made a peep in close to 30 years…mail order EPs nothwithstanding.

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    2. I have one solo album each by Paul, Gene, Ace, Peter, Bruce, Eric Singer (and Bruce (ESP)), Eric Carr and Vinnie. Bruce Kulick’s “BK3” is the best of the bunch.

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      1. The Peter Criss solo album I have, unfortunately, is this one (“Cat #1”). I agree…it’s un-listenable (is that a word?).

        Gene Simmons “A**hole” and Ace Frehley “Space Invader” are unenjoyable too.

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  9. I was just thinking, it’s no wonder that The Keep didn’t work. Peter Criss and Mark St John in the same band. A drug dealers heaven and hell for the rest…

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