Reviews

REVIEW: Judas Priest – Turbo 30 (2017 deluxe 3 CD set)

JUDAS PRIEST – Turbo 30 (2017 Sony Legacy 3 CD set)

It is sheer delight to see Judas Priest’s once maligned Turbo to finally see some vindication. There was a time this album was shied away from completely. They played no tracks from it on the 1990-91 Painkiller tour. In 1990, Priest finally pulled themselves out of a slide into dangerously commercial territory. For a long time, Turbo was considered a musical detour that did more harm than good. However the frost thawed quickly and Priest began to put the title track back into the set around 2001 for their Demolition tour with Tim “Ripper” Owens. Today there is no longer any shame in cranking Turbo while hoisting a tall cool one.

The 30th anniversary edition of Turbo contains a freshly remastered edition and two live discs. The sound is greatly improved from the 2001 version from the Priest Re-masters series. As you can see by the waveform below, the 2001 version at bottom was a victim of the “loudness wars”, and much of the dynamic range was lost by pushing it to overdrive. The 2017 version at top has more peaks and valleys. The new version wins for overall for having more warmth.

What the 2017 version does not have are the two bonus tracks included on the Priest Re-masters version. They were a live version of “Locked In” (which would be somewhat redundant here) and an unreleased studio track called “All Fired Up” which sounds like a Ram It Down outtake. For a complete review of Turbo and these bonus tracks, please refer to our review of the Turbo 2001 CD edition. The rest of this review will focus on the two live CDs inside Turbo 30.

The Fuel For Life tour that followed Turbo was one of Priest’s biggest. Their stage featured a riser that “transformed” from a race car to a robot that would lift Glenn Tipton and KK Downing in the air with its claws. It was commemorated by an album (Priest…Live!) and a separate home video from a concert in Dallas, Texas. This new double live comes from a show in Kansas on May 22 1986. It is 100% superior to Priest…Live! by every measure and could supplant that 30 year old album in your collection.

The set list varies a little from Priest…Live! but hits the same key tracks. The ballsy synth ballad “Out of the Cold” still opens the set, a brave move even in 1986. It is certainly the most unexpected of all Priest’s openers, so bravo. “Locked In” is restored to its spot in the set; it was not on Priest…Live! A version from an unknown concert (the liner notes are vague) was on the prior edition of Turbo as a bonus track. “Locked In” isn’t a major track but still important due to its place as part of the “Turbo Lover” music video duology. This live version is the best yet, loaded heavy with plenty of guitar thrills not present on the studio original. From there it’s on to “Heading Out to the Highway”, nicely in the pocket. Rob Halford’s screams are ferocious. Next is the march of the “Metal Gods”, another version far more lively than the one on Priest…Live! Seems there is much less mucking around with the recordings this time.

“Breaking the what? Breaking the what? Breaking the what?” It’s that silly yet tried and true song intro. Post-British Steel, you just can’t have a Priest live concert without “Breaking the Law”. But always remember, that in the dead of night, “Love Bites”. From 1984’s Defenders of the Faith, “Love Bites” was very different for Priest but still a set highlight. (Incidentally, British Steel and Defenders of the Faith are the other Priest albums that had recent triple disc deluxe editions with live albums.) Then more from Defenders: Two killers in a row, “Some Heads are Gonna Roll” and “The Sentinel”. Two songs that fans never tire of, and some credit must be given to the mighty guitar duo of Tipton and Downing. Their trade-offs are sublime, and Halford curdles the blood.

Back into new material, “Private Property” was one of Priest’s more obvious grasps for a hit. It’s far from a must-have, but better at least than the version on Priest…Live! A mere five minutes later you will be transported to the “Desert Plains”, a Point of Entry deep cut that was excluded from Priest…Live! It is far faster live and stay tuned for a long voice-shredding breakdown by Halford. (Rob was clean at this point in his life. Rob Halford recommends vocal rest between shows, menthol eucalyptus gum, and herbal tea to maintain a strong voice.) A frantic “Rock You All Around the World” from Turbo ends the first disc with a filler track that is again better here than on the prior live album.

Screaming for Vengeance brings the fury for disc two, “The Hellion” (taped intro) and “Electric Eye” bring the focus clearly back to heavy metal, just in time to go for a spin with “Turbo Lover”. This song is now a beloved classic, finally appreciated for its sharp songwriting and adventurous production. Downing and Tipton pushed synths into heavy metal in a big way, but with integrity and ingenuity. Better run for cover indeed, and fast…for next is “Freewheel Burning”, a natural for keeping with the theme of turbos and the like.

As the disc roars to its close, we are treated to some serious historic Priest. The oldest track is “Victim of Changes”, from the immortal Sad Wings of Destiny (1976). This most dramatic of Priest compositions is always welcome in the set, yet was not on Priest…Live! probably to avoid overlap with 1979’s Unleashed in the East live album. This one boasts a blazing hot guitar solo and some of Rob’s most impassioned wailing. This stretches out for nearly nine minutes of pure metal brilliance at its most vintage. But the vintage metal gift-giving is not over, because “The Green Manalishi” (1979’s Hell Bent for Leather, via Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac) delivers the greatest of all riffs.

It’s nothing but the hits from there: “Living After Midnight”, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, and “Hell Bent for Leather”, the standards that everyone knows. “Another Thing Coming” is stretched out with Rob’s annoying back-and-forth with the crowd, but it is what it is. “Heavy metal communication”, he calls it. Nobody is buying this CD for another version of that song anyway.

“You don’t know what it’s like!” So get this package, the triple CD set, and you will!

5/5 stars

REVIEW: David Lee Roth – A Little Ain’t Enough (1991)

DAVID LEE ROTH – A Little Ain’t Enough (1991, Warner, digipack promo CD version)

First Billy Sheehan was gone – fired by the “note police”. Then Steve Vai was out, to join David Coverdale in his merry international band of Whitesnake, replacing Vivian Campbell. David Lee Roth lost his two biggest guns in the space of a year. What next? Replacing Billy was Matt Bissonette, brother of drummer Gregg. Matt is a fantastic bassist, but there is only one Billy Sheehan, so naturally the band was bound to sound different. Replacing Steve Vai was much harder.

Filling the guitar slot, but not the shoes, was new young guitar prodigy Jason Becker (from Cacophony, with Marty Friedman), and veteran axeman Steve Hunter (ex-Alice Cooper). Becker was beginning to feel the effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Fans must have known something was wrong when Becker was not seen on tour. Becker kept his diagnosis private for the time being. Roth tapped Joe Holmes (future Ozzy guitarist) and stated that he needed musicians who could “fly” on stage. It was hard for fans to become attached to his new band, even wielding the firepower of two guitarists, with all these changes.

Roth’s first post-Vai album, A Little Ain’t Enough, failed to ascend the commercial heights of Eat ‘Em and Smile or Skyscraper. “Good”, but not “great”. Not enough of that Dave “charasma”. Just a collection of songs, not a fierce sexed up power-packed ride through. Roth hooked up with producer-du-jour Bob Rock at Little Mountain studios. Rock endowed Roth with a generic sound, contrasting the high-tech Skyscraper. Dave seemed to be trying to take a step back towards his Van Halen roots. Roth insisted that he and his band stay in the shittiest Vancouver hotel they could find. Prostitutes, dealers, criminals, the works. He wanted a dirty rock album and you can’t make one of those with a $20 room service hamburger in your stomach, as per the method of Diamond Dave.

A Little Ain’t Enough wasn’t the return to dirty raw rock Roth that had hyped.

Lead single “A Lil’ Ain’t Enough” was plenty of fun, a top notch Roth party song. “Was vaccinated with a phonograph needle one summer break, then I kissed her on her daddy’s boat and shot across the lake.” Perfect for summer. Second track “Shoot It” was just as fun, a big horn section delivering all the big hooks.

The one-two punch of those openers was slowed by following them with “Lady Luck”, a rock blues track written by Dio’s Craig Goldy. Good song, but the firepower and excitement of the previous two was missing. “Hammerhead Shark”, the fourth track, had more energy but not the killer hooks. What it does have is some killer shredding by the guitar duo of Hunter and Becker, with Hunter on the slide and Becker on the quick pickin’. “Tell the Truth” is another blues, slower this time, and was also released as an instrumental remix with dialogue (from a movie?) dubbed over. Side one closed with a real Van Halen-like corker called “Baby’s On Fire”. As the title suggests, it’s red-hot and loaded with smoking playing.

Side two is a mixed bag. “40 Below” is a fun track, with shades of Halen but more focused on bluesy guitars. “Sensible Shoes” was a single, a slinky blues that appealed to some that normally wouldn’t buy a David Lee Roth album. The slide guitar is the main feature. “Last Call” is another one reminiscent of classic Van Halen, and “Dogtown Shuffle” dips back into noctural blues rock. Good songs – not great, but good.

Jason Becker only contributed two of his own songs to the album: the final two, “It’s Showtime!” and “Drop in the Bucket”. These happen to be two of the best tracks. “It’s Showtime!” is 100% pure Van Halen, smoking down the highway, so try to keep up. It’s the kind of high speed rock shuffle that they invented and mastered. Meanwhile “Drop in the Bucket” serves as a cool, smooth ending to the album. Its impressive guitar work is only a glimpse at what Becker was capable of.

ALS be damned, Jason Becker refused to go down without a fight. As the disease took his voice and his hands, he began composing music on a computer. He uses a system that tracks his eye movements, much like Steven Hawking. This way, Becker has managed to stay active musically and has inspired thousands with his efforts.

It’s a shame that Becker’s only album with David Lee Roth was a bit middle of the road. It wasn’t the full shred of early Roth, nor as diverse as Dave can get. In his efforts to make a straight ahead rock album, Dave shed some of what makes his music special. The musical thrills are lessened on what is probably the most “ordinary” album in his catalog.

3.5/5 stars

RE-REVIEW: KISS – Love Gun (1977)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 9:

– Love Gun (1977 Casablanca, 2014 Universal reissue)

By the late 1970s, Kiss had achieved more than most bands do in an entire career. In 1977, Marvel comics released the first ever Kiss comic. Famously, as a publicity stunt, each Kiss member had a vial of blood drawn, and poured into the red ink. “Printed in real KISS blood” proclaimed the front cover. Can you imagine such a thing in 2017? In 1978, the toy company Mego marketed the first set of Kiss action figures. The phenomenon of Kiss was almost eclipsing the music. Perhaps it would have completely, if Kiss didn’t continue to release excellent albums on a biannual basis. Their first album of 1977 was the legendary Love Gun. Even the Ken Kelly cover art depicts Kiss as demi-gods of some kind. Inside, the merchandising spilled over to the album. Kiss were determined to give their fans a little extra, and so the album was packed with little cardboard “love guns” that you could assemble yourself…accompanied by a Kiss merch mail-away form.

The music brightly outshone all the flash and trimmings. Again with Eddie Kramer in the producer’s chair, Kiss sought to make a focused heavy rock record. Their material had rarely been stronger. Paul Stanley was becoming handy at writing opening tracks that defined what an album was going to sound like. “I Stole Your Love” cranked it fast with one of Paul’s most thunderous riffs. The tribal sounding drums by Peter Criss are an apt example of what made him great at the time. Criss was not a technical drummer, but he had the right feel and a knack for the perfect fill. Ace Frehley soars in and dive bombs with an unforgettable lightning solo. Gene Simmons is there in the back, adding the thump. “I Stole Your Love” in a mere three minutes encapsulates everything about Love Gun that makes it great.

Gene Simmons’ demon character had another side; that of the “creepy old man”. “I don’t usually say things like this to girls your age, but when I saw you coming out of school that day, that day I knew…I knew!…I’ve got to have you, I’ve got to have you!” Probably from the perspective of a highschool senior, but still, it came from Gene’s mouth. The less said about the words the better, for “Christine Sixteen” is one of Gene’s most perfect musical moments. Eddie Kramer provides the piano for a vintage rock and roll sound. A Kiss classic it is, and Peter once again has the perfect fills for the song.

Moving on to “Got Love For Sale”, the lecherous Simmons now “has love, will travel”. Uptempo sleeze is perfect for Kiss’ friendly demon, but Frehley is the real star here. Speaking of whom, the Space Ace finally worked up the courage to sing his first lead vocal on his trademark Kiss song “Shock Me”. On the prior tour, Ace nearly electrocuted himself on stage when he touched a railing that wasn’t grounded properly. “Shock Me” is a humorous reference to this. Any Frehley track has a unique flavour. He attacks his Gibson and assembles chords and riffs in a style all his own. “Shock Me” showed he could sing too, finally adding a fourth voice to a Kiss album. For the first time, Love Gun has all four Kiss members singing lead. The first side was bookended by another Paul Stanley track, the killer “Tomorrow and Tonight”. Piano and Motown-style female backing vocals give the track a classic feel, and Paul once again came up with a sweet candy-coated chorus. Echoing a previous hit, Paul sings “We can rock all day, we can roll all night.”

The most well known track from Love Gun is the title track itself. It has been in the set regularly since 1977 and is generally considered one of Paul Stanley’s best songs (if not his very best). All the ingredients click perfectly. “Love Gun” kills and cannot be improved upon. Even if, when you think about it, “Love Gun” is a metaphor for “penis”, and the lyrics amount to singing, “You pull the trigger of my…penis, penis, penis”. Substitute “penis” every time Paul sings “Love Gun” and see. Paul Stanley is an absolute genius, because he has gotten stadiums full of thousands of people to sing an ode to his cock, and that’s cool.

“See Ronnie? His dick is the gun!”

Peter Criss only had one track on Love Gun, a Stan Penridge co-write called “Hooligan”. It was good enough to get some live performances, though it and Gene’s “Almost Human” occupy the lower rungs of the Love Gun album. The best thing about both “Hooligan” and “Almost Human” is that both perfectly fit the personas that sing them. Peter has always emphasized his tough street upbringing, but as the lovable cat character, and that’s “Hooligan”. “Almost Human” is 100% the sex-crazed demon, almost a theme song. The bass thumps, but there is some interesting percussion stuff happening too. Simmons continues looking for love in “Plaster Caster”, his encounter with the legendary Cynthia Plaster Caster. One can assume that Gene Simmons’ wang is among those on her display. “A token of my love for her collection.” “Plaster Caster” rocks hard (pun intended) and has balls (also intended).

Love Gun surprisingly closes on a Phil Spector classic, “And Then She Kissed Me” (gender reversed) by the Crystals. Paul Stanley helms it, a romantic number perfect for Kiss content at weddings. The Kiss-ified version is almost comically guitar heavy, but Kiss have managed a number of unusual covers over the years. Adapting it to their sound, Paul owns “And Then She Kissed Me”, especially when topped by an awesome and appropriate solo.

The Love Gun tour that followed this album is one of Kiss’ most legendary: the dual staircases, levitating cat drums, and of course the big Kiss logo in behind. Kiss were huge. A gallup poll put Kiss as the most popular band in America, over Zeppelin, Aerosmith and the Stones. When bank accounts inflate, so do egos. With success comes cost. Though the Love Gun period is all but universally lauded, it was also the last unified album before some members became liabilities.

Today’s rating:

5/5 stars

See Ronnie? His dick is the gun!

Uncle Meat’s rating:

3.5/5 steaks

Meat’s slice: This was Peter Criss’ last album with Kiss for a long time. Love Gun is a hit and miss record in Meat’s opinion. Or maybe better put…hit and somewhat miss. I think there are simply too many forgettable songs on this album. “Then She Kissed Me”, “Hooligan”, “Got Love For Sale”, “Tomorrow and Tonight” and “Almost Human” are all average at best. That’s half the album right there. There are also standout songs. Obviously the title track is a Rock and Roll classic now, the album’s opener “I Stole Your Love” is a hot tamale, and I have always loved the catchy “Christine Sixteen”, especially that chorus.

However, Love Gun is a very significant Kiss album simply because of one song. I don’t know a Kiss fan that doesn’t love “Shock Me”. The debut of Ace Frehley as a “singer-songwriter” so to speak, made many wish he would have sung a few more before things all fell apart. Some of the songs coming up in the next few albums, including his solo album, are some of Kiss’ best material in my opinion.

Maybe they just ran out of ideas. Should have been half an album of Ace songs instead.

Favorite Tracks: “Shock Me”, “Love Gun”, “I Stole Your Love”, “Christine Sixteen”

Forgettable Tracks: Look above

To be continued…

Original mikeladano.com review: 2012/07/011
Deluxe Edition review: 2014/11/09

RE-REVIEW: KISS – Rock and Roll Over (1976)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 8:

– Rock and Roll Over (1976 Casablanca, 1997 Mercury remastered edition)

Kiss were at a crossroads. What to do next? Destroyer, produced by maestro Bob Ezrin, introduced a new Kiss to the world: glossy, indulgent, polished and augmented with plenty of highbrow non-rock instruments. Would they explore that road and see where it lead? If they had, an entire alternate KISStory would exist today. Instead they chose to get back to basics.

Producer Eddie Kramer, who made Kiss Alive! so unforgettably thunderous, was called up again. Kramer and Kiss departed for the Star Theater in Nanuet, New York to record. The idea this time, as opposed to Destroyer, was to go for a live Kiss sound, but on a studio album. The theater setting was intended to help capture that. Peter Criss’ drums were recorded in a bathroom for the perfect ambience. Rock and Roll Over followed Destroyer by a mere seven months, maintaining Kiss’ record of two albums per year. As promised, it was a return to the core Kiss sound: loud guitars and hard rock. They had learned a trick or two from the Destroyer experience. Rock and Roll Over was tighter and sharper than the first three Kiss albums.

The acoustic intro to Paul’s “I Want You” lulls you into a false sense of calm. Then it completely explodes with one of Paul’s most passionate tunes. In three minutes, Kiss laid waste once again. A second Paul scorcher, “Take Me” was written with Kiss road manager and coach Sean Delaney. The words are simple and c-c-c-catchy: “Go baby, you make me feel ah, ah, ah, ah yeah! Oh, baby, you make me feel ah, ah, ah, ah yeah!” Elsewhere, Paul asks “Put your hand in my pocket, grab on to my rocket,” just so there is no confusion.

Gene Simmons’ “Calling Dr. Love” (based off a demo called “Bad Bad Lovin”) was a single and a perennial concert classic. You either like Gene or you don’t. “Calling Dr. Love” won’t change any minds, but it will satisfy those who can’t enough of the sex-crazed demon. It does boast a fiery Ace Frehley guitar solo, one of his most memorable. Gene’s second track “Ladies Room” is just rock and roll, a lesser-known Kiss classic, but catchy as sin. The LP’s first side was closed with a Peter Criss song, co-written with his Chelsea bandmate Stan Penridge. “Baby Driver” is not listed among Kiss’ best tracks, but there isn’t much wrong with it. It’s basic, it slams, and Peter screams his throat out. Not a standout but worth a spin or two.

Gene’s “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” is the lovely kind of sentiment that many Kiss songs were built on. This ode to groupies and hotel sex was not the first and not the last, but it had a memorable bop and catchy chorus. “Mr. Speed” (Stanley/Delaney) is a standout with the kind of rock and roll guitar riff that Paul specializes in. This killer track could and perhaps should have been a timeless concert classic, probably ahead of other tracks. (It was also used on the soundtrack to Keanu Reeves’ 1994 action movie Speed.) Simmons’ “See You In Your Dreams” was less timeless and memorable, so later on Gene took a shot at re-recording it. The Rock and Roll Over version makes for the kind of song that is good for filling the spaces between better songs.

Speaking of better songs, Paul’s “Hard Luck Woman” is undeniably one of his best. The lush acoustic six and twelve string guitars ring pure and clean. Paul wanted to give the song to Rod Stewart to sing, as it has a light “Maggie May” aura. Wiser minds prevailed and the song was kept for Kiss, and given to Peter Criss to sing as a followup to “Beth”. Peter of course nailed it and “Hard Luck Woman” reigns as one of the best tracks Peter was given to sing, if not the best. It might not have been as big as “Beth” but that means little; it is the far superior song.

Closing the record, Paul Stanley’s “Makin’ Love” ends Rock and Roll Over on the same kind of fast and furious riffing that it began with. “I Want You” and “Makin’ Love” are bookends, starting and finishing Rock and Roll Over with hard guitars and good times. Sean Delaney co-wrote “Makin’ Love” and his contributions to KISStory have too often been swept under the carpet. Delaney had three co-writes on Rock and Roll Over. Peter Criss had one, and Ace Frehley didn’t have any at all.

Rock and Roll Over gave Kiss another platinum album to hang on the wall. Their success, and their sound, had solidified. There was nowhere to go but up.

Today’s rating: 4.5/5 stars

Uncle Meat’s rating: 5/5 steaks

Meat’s slice: This time let’s start with the negative, as small and nitpicky as that is in the case of this album. I’m not a big fan of “See You in Your Dreams”. Not awful, but just kinda bland in comparison to the rest. “Baby Driver” could also be lumped in with that for the same reason.

The other thing I could say about this album is that since Kiss were the “Kings of the Night Time World” at this point, this is where the lyrics started to get their most misogynistic or what have you. Songs like “Ladies Room” and “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” are tunes I really like, however I can see that these were the gateway drug to some of the ridiculous lyrics in Kiss songs in the 80s and 90s.

I love everything else about this album. Rock and Roll Over was my favorite Kiss studio album as a kid, and it’s just a shade under Dressed to Kill now on my Kiss albums list. This seems to make sense now, since both albums were created in similar fashion: Kiss under the gun and needing to write and record an album fast. Good Rock and Roll instincts there.

My favorite ever Kiss ballad is on this record too. “Hard Luck Woman” is an extremely catchy song, and could be my favorite song on the album. I recall that somewhere around 2002, I was very drunk in a bar and ended up singing “Hard Luck Woman” on karaoke, and probably had not heard the song in many many years. I sang the first 2/3rds, however well a pissed me could muster. The end of the song surprised me and I had no idea what to sing and left in the middle of the track. Not long after a girl came up to me and said, “I have never heard anybody sing that Garth Brooks song on karaoke before”. She seemed so taken aback at my insistence that “Hard Luck Woman” was a Kiss song. Maybe it was because I started freaking out on this poor girl. “Hard Luck Woman” indeed.

Reproduction of the karaoke performance

Favorite Tracks: “Hard Luck Woman”, “I Want You”, “Makin Love”, “Calling Dr. Love”, “Mr. Speed”

Forgettabe Tracks: I’m done nitpicking on this one.

To be continued…

Original mikeladano.com review: 2012/07/09

REVIEW: Dust – Hard Attack / Dust (1972/1971)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Supplemental: Kerner and Wise.

DUST – Hard Attack (1972) / Dust (1971) (2013 Sony Legacy)

fans know the names of Richie Wise and Kenny Kerner. This production team laid down the first two Kiss records, and although their production was not the best, they were the first. But where did they come from? A little trio called Dust. Wise was the singer and guitar player. Kerner was the manager, co-producer and co-writer. They released two records as Dust, also featuring legendary Derringer bassist Kenny Aaronson and drummer Mark Bell. These two albums, Hard Attack and Dust, were remastered and compiled as one CD by Sony in 2013 (presented in reverse order).

The cool thing is the Dust albums actually sound better than the Kiss albums.

Dust were a hard rockin’ band, distinguished by having loads of slide and pedal steel guitars (handled by Aaronson). Dust were travelling the same roads as other bands such as Aerosmith, Cream, Free or Zeppelin, but with less of an identity. The songs were good. “Stone Woman” is slippery slick blues rock, while “Goin’ Easy” is a laid back southern acoustic blues. And they could get heavy. “Love Me Hard” is the kind of proto-metal that Budgie, Sabbath and Purple were doing on the other side of the Atlantic.

3.5/5 stars

This was a 200 word review in the tradition of the #200wordchallenge.

RE-REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (1976)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 7:

– Destroyer (1976 Casablanca, 1997 Mercury remastered edition)

Kiss had “made it”. Alive! put them where they wanted to be: on the charts and headlining concert stages coast to coast. The financial pressure was off and they didn’t have to simply crank out new albums to keep the band afloat. They could now take their time and make something that was more thought out; a statement.

The first issue to deal with was Kiss’ past sonic inadequacy in the studio. Prior albums produced by Kenny Kerner & Richie Wise, and Neil Bogart did not capture the full-on Kiss thunder. They failed to shred the speakers. They needed somebody “big time”, to give them the punch they desperately needed. That somebody was Canadian producer extraordinaire Bob Ezrin. Ezrin had been an instrumental guiding force for Alice Cooper. Now it was Kiss’ turn to receive the platinum Ezrin magic touch.

Ezrin agreed to work with Kiss, reportedly influenced by a neighbor kid who liked to discuss music. “The kids from school love Kiss,” the boy told Ezrin. “The problem is, their records sound so shitty. But the band is so good we buy the records anyway.” Working with Kiss wasn’t much different from working with Cooper. These were not schooled musicians. Ezrin had to take them to boot camp. Keeping the drums in time was a challenge. Peter Criss had difficulty maintaining a steady tempo, so Ezrin would beat a briefcase to keep him in time. He wore a conductor’s coat and tails, and pushed the rest of the band like a drill sergeant. Even the mighty demon Gene Simmons was chastised, for finishing a take before the producer instructed him to stop. And when Ace Frehley didn’t show up because he had a card game? Shenanigans were not tolerated. When Ace wasn’t available when he should have been, Ezrin’s buddy Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper) was there. For the first time, a Kiss member was replaced on album by an outside uncredited musician.

One innovative technique that Ezrin brought in to thicken up Kiss’ sound was using a grand piano to back up the big guitars. The end result doesn’t sound like piano and guitars, but one solid wall of rock, like Phil Spector channelled through Bob Ezrin. Where Kiss used to rely on rag-tag recordings they now had a big glossy sound to play with. Ezrin was also fond of sound effects and orchestration, and he brought both to Kiss.

The opening track “Detroit Rock City” was a slam-dunk intro to the new Kiss sound. After an extended start with the sound of a fan driving to a Kiss concert, the band thundered into focus. That trademark riff chainsaws through, before Paul Stanley’s powerful pipes take command. What a song. The new Kiss had arrived, shiny and sleek, souped up and fueled, as if they were a brand new band.

“Detroit” faded out into “King of the Night Time World”, an outside song brought in for completion by Ezrin and Paul Stanley. They turned it into something that worked for a Kiss album, albeit very different from their past. As for Paul, he contributed a fast hard rocker called “God of Thunder”. Though reports sometime differ in the details, ultimately the song fit Gene Simmons’ demon persona better and the song was given to him to sing. It was slowed to a monster plod, and a few lines were changed to suit. (“Make love ’til we bleed” was changed to “Hear my words and take heed”.) And those little demonic voices? Bob Ezrin’s kids, playing with walkie-talkies.

“Great Expectations” (based on Beethoven) has to be the most bizarre song on the album and one of the weirdest that Kiss have attempted. A lush ballad with strings and choirs and Gene Simmons in crooner mode, it is definitely different. Even one of the rockers, “Flaming Youth” written by Frehley/Stanley/Simmons/Ezrin, is different for Kiss. It’s a rock song…with calliope. (Picture circus music.) Gene’s “Sweet Pain” had female backing vocals like an old Motown single. These are all interesting experiments, but none of those three songs have become live concert classics.

Bob Ezrin tricked the band into writing “Shout it Out Loud”. He realized they needed one more song, so he told the band that they had lost the masters to “Great Expectations” and needed a replacement. Gene and Paul hurriedly wrote “Shout it Out Loud” with the producer and had another instant classic. Like “Rock and Roll all Nite” before it, “Shout” was an anthemic rallying cry that a concert audience could get behind.

The album closer was a track called “Do You Love Me”, another tune brought in by outsiders (Kim Fowley) to be finished by Kiss. Though on the surface “Do You Love Me” is a bit repetitive and dull, it was later covered by Nirvana. There must be something to it that struck a chord.

There was still one more song on the album, a throwaway. It was used as a B-side to “Detroit Rock City”, as the band didn’t have much faith in it. Peter Criss had brought forward a love song called “Beck”, named for a girl named Becky, written by Stan Penridge for their old band Chelsea. The song needed work, including a new title. Ezrin revamped it completely, and the result was one of Kiss’ all time biggest hits: “Beth”. Tender and accessible, the only Kiss member on “Beth” was Peter Criss himself. Dick Wagner played acoustic and Bob Ezrin played piano. The orchestra finished it off. Eventually, radio stations started flipping the “Detroit” single and playing “Beth”. This led to Casablanca reissuing “Beth” as a single A-side, Kiss’ highest charting ever.

With the help of “Beth”, Destroyer maintained Kiss’ stardom and opened up the doors for any future musical experiments they could fathom. Its cover showed Kiss in an apocalyptic landscape, in full super hero mode for the first time. Artist Ken Kelly created something that helped define Kiss as larger than life…and larger than life they did become.

That wasn’t the end of the story for Destroyer. For years it became the benchmark that Kiss albums were measured against. In 2012, Bob Ezrin revisited the backing tapes and produced an alternate mix called Destroyer: Resurrected. This featured some previously unheard music such as an alternate Ace Frehley guitar solo for “Sweet Pain” (Dick Wagner played the original solo).

Destroyer is far from the definitive Kiss album. In fact, it is more like a one-off, an experiment that was never fully revisited. Some of its songs are less than classic. Others are so classic that you can’t imagine the world without them. The bottom line for Kiss was that Destroyer propelled them further towards their goal of becoming the hottest band in the world.

Today’s rating:

3.5/5 stars

Uncle Meat’s rating:

4/5 steaks

Meat’s Slice: The general consensus of casual Kiss fans is that this is their greatest studio album. Let’s examine this. I’ll start with the iconic.

“SHOUT IT OUT LOUD” – On May 22, 1976, this song went number one in Canada, the band’s first ever number one song. 40 years later and “Shout it Out Loud” might be the Kiss song with the longest shelf life. One of two perfect “live concert” songs on Destroyer. The other?

“DETROIT ROCK CITY” – Thin Lizzy-esque two-guitar rock fest. Sitting on the same shelf as “Shout it Out Loud”. Iconic indeed. Unperishable. Even has a movie named after it. I have never seen it. Maybe it’s finally time to do so.

“BETH” – If any other member sang “Beth” it wouldn’t have been the same song, or had the same success. Peter Criss has a special rasp in his voice that can both rock and schmaltz it up. Like Rod Stewart, or that goof that sings for Slaughter. I personally wish “Beth” would “fly to the angels” up in the sky, but this song did do one good thing for me. My grandmother refused to get me anything Kiss related until I pointed out to her that “Beth”, on the radio in the car at the time, was actually Kiss. So thanks for that at least.

“DO YOU LOVE ME” – Perhaps this song is more iconic in my own mind specifically, since it is in my Top Five Kiss songs. Classic Paul Stanley stuff here.

“GOD OF THUNDER” – Unique in every way for the time. A lot of Ezrin tricks in this track including backwards drumming. I still have not heard the great cover of this song I always thought I would from some Metal band. There’s still time….

No wonder the casual Kiss fan believes this is the best of all of the Kiss studio albums. It is a great collection of songs that are still loved today. But everything else on Destroyer not listed above is average at best, or much worse than that. Maybe it’s because Kiss was too busy getting music lessons from Bob Ezrin while in the studio. Maybe it’s simply that Kiss was tired of being looked at as a “joke” and wanted to get more serious, hence getting some more respect from the mainstream press. Now again, this is my opinion and I’m sure that some might vehemently disagree with me about some of the deeper Destroyer tracks. The best of which I think is “Flaming Youth”. “King of the Night Time World” is pretty good, but borrowed from another song. “Great Expectations” is blah stuff except for the melody stolen from Beethoven. “Sweet Pain” sucks. And “Rock and Roll Party” is just unnecessary filler, very much like “Inside”, the ending track on 5150. Might as well take the needle off the record as soon as the song starts and put on something else immediately.

Let’s use this analogy.

A couple raises 10 children. Three of their children become world leaders. Two others become successful doctors. But half of their kids are in jail, some for unspeakable crimes against humanity. Can you call them the best family overall because half of them are special? Destroyer is definitely not the greatest Kiss album.

Agreed? Discuss….

To be continued…

Original mikeladano.com review: 2012/07/06

RE-REVIEW: KISS – Alive! (1975)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 6:

– Alive! (1975 Casablanca, 2006 remastered edition from Alive! 1975-2000)

Music fans consider it one of the greatest live albums of all time. Its name is spoken in the same breath as Frampton Comes Alive, Cheap Trick At Budokan, and Deep Purple Made in Japan. It spawned thousands of young new guitar players (particularly of the grunge era), eager to emulate the six string heroism of Ace Frehley. There is really only one miniscule issue: Kiss Alive! is not really live.

Oh sure, Kiss and producer Eddie Kramer did record live shows. When they listened back to the tapes, there were no performances that satisfied them. Kiss were too rambunctious live. They were busy jumping around, entertaining the crowd, not paying attention to each and every note. For the live album, they weren’t looking for perfection, just performances without glaring mistakes or noise. They realized they didn’t capture that with the shows they recorded. So they did what most bands do: went back into the studio and try to fix it. Lead singer and guitarist Paul Stanley explained it in his book: “Yes, we enhanced it – not to hide anything, not to fool anyone. But who wanted to hear a mistake repeated endlessly? Who wanted to hear an out-of-tune guitar? For what? Authenticity?”

Authenticity is an important part of great rock music, but not the only important part. If you can’t tell the difference, then does it matter? Fans listened to Kiss Alive! for decades, blindly enjoying every detail, from Ace Frehley’s extended “Rock and Roll all Nite” guitar solo, to Paul Stanley’s unforgettable stage raps. Few suspected anything was out of the ordinary, unless they heard original bootleg recordings of the same Kiss gigs. Eddie Kramer and the band re-recorded approximately 70% of the album. The only thing they didn’t have to touch were Peter Criss’ drums, which were already pretty solid. Bass, vocals, and even lead guitar was touched up and fixed, all but seamlessly.

The reason Kiss Alive! was and is considered great is that you can’t tell the difference. Unlike a double live Poison album (or even Kiss Alive II), you cannot hear obvious fixes and overdubs. Kiss Alive! might not be authentic, but certainly sounds it.

With 16 scorching tracks all sourced from the first three Kiss albums, Alive! is all killer and no filler. Even the typical “slow” moments, such as a long Paul Stanley rap backed by a Peter Criss drum solo (“100,000 Years”) is an unforgettable highlight. Importantly, the new live version of “Rock and Roll all Nite” became the definitive one. Today, it’s not the studio original version that still gets ready airplay. It’s the Kiss Alive! version. Many of these tracks usurp the originals as the superior versions: “Firehouse”, “Cold Gin”, “Watchin’ You”, “Nothin’ to Lose”, and just about everything from Hotter Than Hell. For the first time, all the warmth and energy are captured on Kiss vinyl. If any of their studio material sounded sleepy, then this was a shot of caffeine. Any sonic issues with the first Kiss studio albums are quickly forgotten by these volcanic recordings, finally capturing Kiss’ full power…in a roundabout way.

Kiss Alive! saved the band, and saved their record label Casablanca records. Casablanca were on the verge of bankruptcy, and manager Bill Aucoin had to put the band on the road using his American Express card for currency. Alive! put everybody back in the black. It also put Kiss on the map as a rock and roll band to be reckoned with. The two LP set was decked out with a gatefold sleeve, photos, a booklet, and even written notes from the band members. For the first time, it felt like Kiss had released an album that lived up not only to their show, but their larger than life image.

Whether you decide to pick up Kiss Alive! on CD or LP, you will be in for a “rock and roll party” as per Paul Stanley. Our recommended edition: The four disc 2006 box set Alive! 1975-2000. The set contains four volumes of Kiss Alive, deliciously remastered, with each album fit onto a single CD without losing any songs. Fire away.

Today’s rating:

5/5 stars

Uncle Meat’s rating:

4.5/5 steaks

Meat’s slice: I would approximate that it was probably somewhere around 1978 when I first heard this record at a friend’s place. I sat there and stared at the inner booklet and the album artwork, and I just wanted to be there. I actually did get there many years later, but since I was like nine years old at this time and had not seen any sort of concert, it was all I knew of what a rock show was. The picture on the back of the album taken at Detroit’s Cobo Hall is an unforgettable one, and makes you almost feel like you are there. You get the scope of what it’s like to be on the floor for an arena show. Tracks like “She”, “100,000 Years” and “Cold Gin” shine on this record specifically because of the banter of Paul Stanley. I think it’s what truly makes the album special. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that Bruce Dickinson may have learned a thing or two from the Starchild on how to connect with an audience. Alive! is the most important album of Kiss’ career, and is especially significant for those who were lucky to be a Kiss fan at a young age, while their unstoppable takeover of the Earth was building and building.

Following the release of Kiss Alive! in September of 1975, the second half of the 70s became known as the “Live Album Era” of Rock and Roll. Not only were a lot of bands doing it, but they were having massive successes with them (At Budokan…Frampton Comes Alive...Unleashed in the East…If You Want Blood etc). This pioneering album was able to make the listener feel like they were actually at a rock concert, better than almost any live record has since. Kiss Alive! was truly the birth of what is now known as The Kiss Army.

However with all this good comes some bad. It was revealed years ago what everyone had already suspected: Most of the record is overdubbed and even most of the crowd noise is dubbed in. For this reason and this reason alone I didn’t give this album 5 steaks. But I refuse to go lower than 4 ½ .

Favorite Tracks: All of it.

Forgettable Tracks: None

To be continued…

Original mikeladano.com review: 2012/07/03

RE-REVIEW: KISS – Dressed to Kill (1975)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 5:

– Dressed to Kill (1975 Casablanca, 1997 Mercury remastered edition)

The band was expected to be huge, so what was going wrong? They had the look and they had the stage show. They had two albums and both underperformed. Casablanca label head Neil Bogart wasn’t about to give up, and took matters in his own hands. He brought the band back to Electric Lady in New York and economically produced the third album himself.

Kiss’ Dressed to Kill was their third LP in 12 months. It was not a drastic change of direction. It offered the same basic rock and roll that Kiss presented on the first two. Bogart provided a clean production, a better sound but not too dissimilar from the first Kiss. It was miles away better than the sludge of Hotter Than Hell, and it was a shorty (just half an hour). Like the first two albums, it recycled some old Wicked Lester songs and Kiss-ified them.

Kiss was touring relentlessly so it was no surprise to hear songs like “Room Service” among the new tracks.

I’m feelin’ low, no place to go,
And I’m a-thinking that I’m gonna scream,
Because a hotel all alone is not a
Rock and roll star’s dream.

But just when I’m about to shut the light and go to bed,
A lady calls and asks if I’m too tired or if I’m just to dead for…

Room service, baby I could use a meal,
Room service, you do what you feel,
Room service, I take the pleasure with the pain,
I can’t say no.

An upbeat workmanlike Kiss song about sex on the road? Just what Dr. Rock ordered. The jangly rock and roll of early Kiss is omnipresent, and so are the cat-like pitter-patter drum rolls of Peter Criss. Ace Frehley’s solo is multitracked for extra harmonic punch. Then the album goes for a slow groove on “Two Timer”, a Gene stomp powered by his melodic basslines. Kiss’ voices blend consummately for a nice memorable monster chorus. The “Ladies in Waiting” arrive next, and according to the lyrics, “You’ve been to the market, and the meat looks good tonight.” He’s not singing about Porterhouse steaks (or Uncle Meat). The groove has kick, and plenty of Ace’s guitar fireworks.

Peter Criss had only one lead vocal on Dressed to Kill: “Getaway”, written by Ace. The guitarist hadn’t started singing lead himself, and he knew that Peter needed more material to sing. “Getaway” is a traditional rock n’ roll lick with Pete’s rasp and smooth style. There is nothing wrong with an enjoyably simple Kiss song, especially when it’s one of Ace’s. That goes double if Peter Criss is singing on it. “Getaway” might not be a classic but it’s a deeply enjoyable album cut.

Dressed to Kill‘s first side had a brilliant closer in “Rock Bottom”, a song in two parts. In the years since, Ace Frehley has quite competently come up with some beautiful acoustic songs. On his solo and Frehley’s Comet albums of more recent years, he usually has an acoustic instrumental in his “Fractured” series. The “Rock Bottom” intro might be considered a prequel to the “Fractured” series. A piece like this came out of left field on a Kiss album. He and Paul Stanley created a lovely blend of acoustics, and Neil Bogart captured it warm and clean. As long as the intro is “Rock Bottom” itself, another one in a series of classic Paul Stanley rockers. Paul has a knack for punchy and memorable rock and roll guitar songs, and “Rock Bottom” gets you right between the eyes.

It’s actually two Paul songs in a row that deserve the “classic” tag. Not just “Rock Bottom”, but the side two opener “C’Mon and Love Me” is as brilliant as a 100 watt bulb right in the face. Paul is probably not recognized enough for his riff writing. Iommi, Page and Young are icons of riff, but Paul has really written some corkers over the years. “C’Mon and Love Me” remains so awesome today because of that biting riff. Not quite so with the pop rocker “Anything For My Baby”. It’s too similar to the forthcoming (and superior) “Rock and Roll all Nite”. However side two is quickly redeemed by the heavy-as-fuck “She”. Yes, “She”, the same “She” that sounded like Jethro Tull on acid when recorded for Wicked Lester (1973). Kiss transformed a corny hippie experiment into Sabbathy metal shrapnel. Instead of a wanky falsetto, Gene employed his deep monster voice on “She”. Combined with Peter Criss’ tribal drums, “She” slams you to the wall so turn it right up.

“Love Her All I Can” is goofy filler, another old Wicked Lester remake. Not one of their finest moments, but important to the history of the band. It is notable as being another fine example of Gene and Paul blending their voices for a nice thick chorus. Frehley’s solo smokes so hot it’ll set off your fire alarm, but the song itself ranks low. This matters not, because “Rock and Roll all Nite” was held back as the final track. When Gene and Paul wrote together, they created magic. But it’s not just Simmons and Stanley that can take all the credit. Peter Criss’ cat-groove is unmistakably integral to the song. Neil Bogart did a better job of capturing the band than Kerner and Wise did. He also pushed the band into writing an anthem for themselves, and write it they did. Notably, for the first time outsiders were brought into the studio to appear on a Kiss album. In this case it was just friends and roadies, but it was also the first Kiss “gang vocal”.

There we go. Hit written. Or was it?

“Rock and Roll all Nite” failed to scorch the charts as it was designed to do. Bogart and Casablanca Records were in dire straits now. They had unwisely banked on a Johnny Carson comedy album to sell millions, and were sitting on all that unsold product. (It would not be the last time Casablanca got cocky and made that mistake.) If the record label were in trouble, by extension, so was Kiss.

Dressed to Kill will always be fondly remembered for rocking and rolling us all nite, for the very first time. It’s also a beautiful record jacket to look at. The black and white photo of Kiss in ill-fitting suits, surrounded by embossed Kiss logos, was quite striking. Simmons looks particularly demented, only deepening his Demon image. It’s a good Kiss album, but if they were to survive they had to make a serious statement. Most importantly, they had to capture that thunderous sound at its full potential, something every producer thus far had failed to do. It was time to come Alive!

Today’s rating:

4/5 stars

Uncle Meat’s rating:

5/5 steaks

Meat’s slice: Almost exactly half an hour of perfect Rock and Roll. The shortest Kiss album is the best Kiss album in Uncle Meat’s opinion. After a sophomore slide, Kiss’ third album somehow improved the sound by getting the president of their record company to produce? What shouldn’t have worked, worked perfectly with Kiss under the gun and writing, recording and releasing Dressed to Kill in a ridiculous five months after Hotter Than Hell. Why does it take Metallica 45 years to make a fucking album again? Don’t say ego…because we are talking about the Donald Trump of egos in Gene Simmons by himself here. Fuck Metallica’s bullshit!!! (* I apologize…this is for another time to be determined *) Anyway, Kiss became tighter as a band and better musicians through constant touring. This prepared them to brave these unlikely circumstances and produce not only some of my favorite all-time songs of theirs, but undoubtedly the song that would live on as the very flagpole the Kiss Army flag is attached to, “Rock and Roll all Nite”.

Short but sweet has never been so apropos to describe a record. The chorus of “C’mon and Love Me”. The cowbell in “Room Service”. Then “She” takes off her clothes and I’m sold. Best album of their career. Another interesting Kiss note…Only twice have Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley shared writing credits alone on a song together: “Comin’ Home” and “Rock Bottom”. The former being a song I have already mentioned I don’t really like much, and the latter being a Top 3 Kiss song for me. Ironically a song titled “Rock Bottom” is the exactly the antithesis of that. Top shelf Rock and Roll from the band that got me into Rock and Roll. Also in my Top 3 album covers of all time. Scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

Favorite Tracks: “Rock Bottom”, “Love Her All I Can”, “She”, “C’mon and Love Me”, “Room Service”

Forgettable Tracks: None

To be continued…

Original mikeladano.com review: 2012/07/04

REVIEW: KISS – Agora Ballroom 1974 (Cleveland broadcast plus bonus cuts)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 4: A brand new BONUS review!

– Agora Ballroom 1974 – The Cleveland Broadcast – Plus bonus cuts (2015 Go Faster)

Radio broadcast CDs are common and cheap today. They are a great way to get rare live recordings from bands you love, at a good price, with acceptable sound quality. When this set was recorded at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland (April 1, 1974) Kiss only had one album out. It’s a rare early glimpse at the band when they were just beginning to stretch their road legs. Already, the performances on this CD were far more fiery than that on their studio albums — and that’s without Gene breathing fire.

The Agora set was a mere eight songs, and a strong representation of Kiss’ best early material. Almost everything is from the first LP; nothing from the second that would be released a mere six months later. The oddity is “She”, an old Wicked Lester holdover that wouldn’t come out as a Kiss song until 1975. Also fascinating is that Gene Simmons even does some talking between songs, and you can see why he lets Paul do all the talking now. “How many are you, a hundred? Are you ready to rock? Rock?” Paul Stanley was clearly better at stage raps, and this CD offers a reason why Gene doesn’t do them anymore.

As with any radio broadcast CD, do not expect flawless audio. This isn’t the greatest recording. There’s hardly any bass. What it is though is a great performance captured at the very beginning. Tracks like “100,000 Years”, “Nothin’ to Lose” and “Cold Gin” have so much reckless energy that they make the originals sound sterile. Kiss were a very active band on stage, and all that jumping around means bad chords, missed notes and vocals that drop in and out as Paul moves to and fro. You wanted authenticity? You got authenticity. The most consistent member is Ace Frehley whose solos were often highlights of any Kiss song.

Best track: “Black Diamond”.

But wait, there’s more! From ABC In Concert (03/29/74) comes additional versions of “Nothin’ to Lose”, “Firehouse” and “Black Diamond”. These are not flawless either, but they have more beef and a lot more bass. The performances are just as ragged. Then from their legendary appearance on the Mike Douglas Show (04/29/74) is the Gene Simmons interview and “Firehouse” once more. “Let me spread my wings”, says an awkward Gene, not quite the character he’d become later, but quite the ham. The audience (and guests) had no idea what to make of him. These are tapes that fans have had and loved for years, but to have them on a commercial CD is pretty cool. Besides, these really are bonus tracks. They’re not on other versions of Agora, such as the 4 CD Radio Waves 1974-1988 which only has the first eight songs.

Any Kiss fan needs the Agora show in some form. This CD may as well be your choice, since it’s affordably priced and has those lovely bonus cuts. Kiss is a band that evolved, year by year, from sheer touring experience. The early performances have a raw un-schooled edge, and that’s what makes them special.

3.5/5 stars

RE-REVIEW: KISS – Hotter Than Hell (1974)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 3:

– Hotter Than Hell (1974 Casablanca, 1997 Mercury remastered edition)

Sunny California awaited Kiss, and producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise. Hotter Than Hell was an apt title for the album they were set to record, but nobody was happy. Maybe it was homesickness, but Hotter Than Hell is sonically perhaps the very worst Kiss album ever released. Brittle, thin and tinny are three appropriate words to describe its sonic flatness. What are supposed to be drums sound more like wooden planks. It sounds less like an human drummer and more like a clanking machine flailing away in a deep cave.

Production issues keep Hotter Than Hell off the tops of many lists, but the songs were all there. It remains a favourite for many, a reminder of times both good and bad, as nostalgia helps wipe clean the lingering audio disappointment. Kiss had little problem coming up with 10 great songs, mere months after their debut album Kiss (also 1974). Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had the usual goods, and Ace Frehley provided co-writes on three songs. And what songs they were.

The slow riff for “Got to Choose” is a perfect opener, chunky yet melodic. Paul sings lead, Gene harmonizes, and a Kiss classic is born. “Ooh ooh ooh, got to choose who’s your baby!” they sing, and who doesn’t love “ooo ooo ooo’s” in their choruses? They contrast well with the heavy Kiss guitars, much edgier than the jangle of Kiss. Yet that’s nothing compared to the machine gun tactics of “Parasite”, a Frehley signature track as sung by Gene Simmons. When Ace does contribute his own material, it sounds like idiosyncratic Frehley. “Parasite” powers its way through the sonic haze, forcing its way above the sludgy sound. Ace’s solo remains a trademark, a stuttering classic you can hum in your sleep. Guitarists the world over got their start trying to play “Parasite”.

This makes way for the first Kiss “ballad” if you want to call it that: “Goin’ Blind”. It’s really too heavy to be a ballad, but it’s also too slow and mournful to be a rocker. This track goes back years, as Gene wrote it with his Wicked Lester bandmate Stephen Coronel as “Little Lady”. Though the lyrics may not appeal to all (“I’m 93, you’re 16”), “Goin’ Blind” is one of Gene’s finest songs. Ace’s solo just cries (loudly).

Paul Stanley’s title track is a favourite. The groove is what Kiss call their “monster plod”, and you know it when you hear it. It stomps, it rolls, and it takes its time. “Hotter Than Hell” has not one but two amazing riffs, and some of Ace Frehley’s coolest wailing. Frehley’s outro solo is multitracked, surely one of the earliest examples of this in Kiss. Then Frehley burns it all to the ground on “Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Lightning licks and turbo charged rock n’ roll get the sweat pouring. Anyone who wants to know what the fuss about Kiss is all about just need to play “Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Get past the sonics and focus on the adrenaline.

Dig that cowbell on “All the Way”, a Simmons rock and roll celebration. Though it wasn’t on Kiss Alive!, and hasn’t become a Kiss mainstay, that is not a reflection on its quality. Hotter Than Hell is often heavy and oppressive. “All the Way” is just fun, blowing off steam, and having a good time. “Watching You”, on the other hand, is one of those heavy Kiss grooves that Gene does so well. Listen to his bass playing, too. Cream were one of his big influences, and though Gene is no Jack Bruce, he composes melodic rolling bass lines. Because of his persona, and because it is more about the act than the musicianship, Gene’s skills on the four string are often overlooked. “Watchin’ You” places them front and center. And just listen to Paul Stanley coming in screamin’ at about 1:35! What a voice. There were no slouches in Kiss. Even hampered by the tinny drum sound, Peter Criss is ferocious, almost tribal. (And with tasteful use of cowbell.)

Paul Stanley has come up with some very cool, simple and classic rock and roll riffs over the years. Tracks like “Mr. Speed”, “C’mon and Love Me”, and more recently “All For the Love of Rock & Roll”. Add “Mainline” to that list of great Paul Stanley guitar parts. This song is given to Peter Criss to apply his rasp to. Compared to the more aggressive material elsewhere, “Mainline” almost slips between the cracks. It has become a favourite in fan circles. So has “Coming Home”, a rare Stanley/Frehley co-write. It is unfortunate that you cannot clearly hear the nuances of the rhythm guitars, because Paul and Ace blend their parts very well. “Coming Home” is so upbeat and energetic that you just keep trying to hear it a little better.

A Sabbathy closer called “Strange Ways” was written by Ace and given to Peter Criss to sing. This is an early example of Frehley’s loyalty to Criss. Ace knew that Peter could use another vocal on the album more than Paul and Gene did. Peter nailed it, and with Gene Simmons joining on the chorus, Kiss just flattened everything. Kiss rarely got as heavy as “Strange Ways”, and “Parasite” too…both Frehley songs.

Hotter Than Hell could easily score a 5/5 stars, but the sonics are impossible to simply ignore. Every time you listen to it, there are things that sound irritating. Instruments that don’t sound like themselves. Notes and beats you struggle to hear. It’s unfortunate that such a potentially lethal album was neutered by the lack of magic in the studio. But it was OK. Casablanca Records weren’t about to give up. A third album would be needed, pronto.

Today’s rating:

4/5 stars

Uncle Meat’s rating:

3 ¾/5 steaks

Meat’s slice: Some of the party/sex/sex/sex etc. songs Kiss filled the first album with were replaced by songs with darker lyrical themes. The sound on this album is, well…shit. This seems fitting considering all the bad experiences the band had while making this record (Ace’s face was mangled in a car accident). There are some great songs here, especially on side one. But side two is murked up a bit with a some clunkers.

Not only the first Kiss album I ever owned, but the very first rock record as well. I think my second record was The Bay City Rollers Greatest Hits.

Favorite Tracks: “Parasite”, “Got to Choose”, “Strange Ways”

Forgettable Tracks: “Mainline”, “Comin’ Home”

To be continued…

Original mikeladano.com review: 2012/06/29

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