The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Supplemental: Peter Criss solo #2.
PETER CRISS – Let Me Rock You (1982 Casablanca, 1998 Mercury CD reissue)
Life after 
wasn’t easy for the cat known as Peter Criss. His first post-Kiss album was met with indifference, and the superior second LP suffered the same fate. This marked an 11 year gap before the Catman released anything else. Let Me Rock You, Peter’s third solo album in total remains his best to date. It has a number of Kiss konnections, including a song written for Kiss by Gene Simmons. Looking further down the credits and you’ll find Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, Paul Stanley’s co-writer Adam Mitchell, and a young upstart named Vincent Cusano, who features into the main story very soon.
Let Me Rock You is the better of the Criss albums for a number of reasons. One is that is has superior songs, often pulled from outside sources. Another is that returning producer Vini Poncia gave it a harder rocking sound. It’s still nowhere near a Kiss LP, but the adult contemporary leanings are severely curtailed. Opener “Let It Go” has a little bit of the familiar R&B beat that Criss likes, but is otherwise a steady rocker. “Tears” (Cusano/Mitchell) is a pop rocker that missed the mark just enough that John Waite was able to make it a hit a mere two years later. Peter’s version is less overblown, and daresay more likeable.
Most of the songs have a vague pop rock vibe circa 1982: “Move on Over”, “Destiny”, and “Bad Boys” sound like rock hits from the period. Bon Jovi’s early excursions are not too far from this. A Russ Ballard song called “Some Kinda’ Hurricane” fits the same mold, but a second Ballard tune (the better of the two) is completely different. “Let Me Rock You” is doo-wop right out of the 1950s. If “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” is OK, then so is “Let Me Rock You”. In fact it’s the most fun track on the album.
The unfortunate cover of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” adds nothing to the party except a reminder that Peter Criss will never be as good as the artists he so admires. The worst track is Stevens’ ballad “First Day in the Rain”, which might have been a better song performed by…anyone else. Peter sleeps right through this one and some listeners will have a hard time finishing. Keep going though; Stevens plays a sweltering guitar solo. Elsewhere on the album, Steve Lukather contributes six string.
By far the most historically interesting track is the Simmons-penned “Feel Like Heaven”. A snip of the original Simmons demo, for consideration during the Music From the Elder sessions, can be found on the previously reviewed Kiss – Deadly Demos CD. It’s too funky and danceable for Kiss, but Peter sounds more at home. It is a shame that the (very vulgar!) Simmons original has yet to be released. Until then, feast on the Peter Criss version, which is good enough for now.
Although Let Me Rock You was the first album to feature Peter’s unmasked face, it failed to sell and Peter entered a long period of obscurity. A short-lived band called Balls of Fire was followed by a project with another ex-Kiss member called Mark St. John (who joins the main story in 1984). He wrote with Buffalo’s own Phil Naro of Talas, and did a guest shot on Ace Frehley’s 1989 solo album Trouble Walkin’. His biggest humiliation had to be when a homeless imposter claimed to be him with little difficulty since nobody had seen Peter Criss in so long. It didn’t seem too unbelievable…even if there was no resemblance at all.
(l) Criss (r) imposter
At least Peter has one decent solo album, and that album is Let Me Rock You.
3/5 stars
To be continued…
mikeladano.com 
Enjoyed this. The awful cover always put me off this but it sounds really interesting. I didn’t realise about the Gene song, Cusano etc… I’ll need to see if I can hunt this one down!
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I really like the cover!
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Haha
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Well J…
No comment.
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Haha!
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Vinyl shouldn’t be hard to find. These CD reissues…already out of print!
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I think I’ve only ever seen it in the old Tower import section. When Tower Records was still a thing!
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I miss stores like Tower even though I don’t remember ever buying anything there. It’s the principle of it.
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I used to buy a wee bit. It was a bit pricey but they often had stuff I couldn’t find anywhere else (pre-internet anyway)
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I should tell the story about how we all went over to British Phil’s house — the only friend we had with the internet — and ordered a bunch of music from CD Now. My choice was Deep Purple’s Stormbringer, about $30 for the original issue. We put the order on my credit card and waited for the parcel to arrive. Such a big deal at the time.
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Haha that’s a cool story. I can’t really remember my first Internet purchase!
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As long as it wasn’t a porn membership!
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Haha no! My first internet memories are more of looking for mp3s of out-of-print stuff. Don’t think it really occurred to me to buy stuff for quite a while! I was quite happy just going to shops.
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I didn’t start looking for mp3 stuff until way later, you were ahead of me there. Trevor was all about finding rare stuff by a guy called…shit what was his name? Totally forgot the name. Country/rock singer with a weird name.
WEBB WILDER! That was it. Webb Wilder. Trevor eventually got all his stuff.
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I had a friend that was pretty up on downloading so I just looked for a few things through him. Never ever got madly into downloading though.
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Nice one! I really didn’t follow Peter at all after he left. My funds were limited in the early 80’s so I only went with Kiss albums. I will go back and give these a try.
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This is the most interesting to Kiss fans for sure. Not to mention the guest shot by Steve Stevens.
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The Steve Stevens guest spot alone is worth trying for me.
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He’s a treasure. One of the best reasons to pick up a Billy Idol album!
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This sounds not too bad. I really like the cover… I know!
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Wrong. Not right at all!
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So do you reckon he was totally buck nekkid for the cover shot?
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(In Paul Stanley’s voice)
People, let me tell you something. When Peter Criss did the photo shoot for his solo album…he was completely buck naked!
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I’m glad the music was good enough for a 3/5, because that album art is terrible. The front cover seems to be him saying the soap has been dropped in the shower. And the back cover says I’m not picking it up, why don’t you pick it up.
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Awful cover art unless you’re J, apparently! Not as good as the cover art for his first LP which you haven’t seen yet:
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You’re right! Not a thing alike!
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I believe the imposter has since passed away. It was a weird afternoon, watching that show! I think I recorded the second part of it. At one point Peter Criss’ ex-wife called in and said, “It was obvious to anyone who knew him that it wasn’t Peter Criss!” Tom and Rosie took him in and didn’t know.
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Whack!
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Wiggity wiggity whack!
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I remember liking this album a lot when it came out. I don’t like it as much today. I listened to it not so long ago and I found it quite bland – I actually like Out of Control better, but maybe that’s more because of nostalgia, I dunno.
The double Kiss connection is cool and I hold Feel Like Heaven and Tears as the best songs on this album. Other than them, the songs goes from ok to mediocre even though there’s no bad songs on the album.
The review is, as always, interesting and a fun read. It’s great that you pick up these albums, Mike. I didn’t know Let Me Rock You was released in Canada, I always thought it was a European only release.
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You are 100% right Jon. It was only available on import. This CD was a US pressing because even when they did the reissues, they weren’t in Canada! Out of Control is way easier to find on LP, and I actually have it on LP.
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