Part 76: Free Sh*t

You shall not pass, nor get anything for free

Record store employees get a lot of free shit.  From shirts to discs to posters to the oddest promotional merchandise you can think of, they get a lot.

Used record store employees, like myself, do not!

Reason being?  The word “used”.  The record distributors automatically assumed we would sell everything that we got for free.  Which we didn’t, because we didn’t want to hurt our already tenuous relationship.  This is where my personal experience differs from the average record store guy.  I got very, very little free stuff over the years.   

Sometimes you’d see the odd promo disc arrive, but it was either something completely unknown that nobody wanted, or something like Much Dance 2002, that nobody wanted.

I did get a few things.  Most of this stuff isn’t around anymore, either given away or wrecked.  Here’s a complete list of everything that I personally ever got for free from a record label during my 12 year tenure at the store, and it ain’t much!  This stuff would just show up in boxes of discs that we ordered.

  • A Jon Bon Jovi golf ball, to promote his solo album Destination Anywhere.  Ended up selling it at a garage sale for 25 cents.
  • A very nice Green Day Nimrod sweatshirt.  It too was green.  Don’t know what happened to it.
  • I had to fight for this one:  A nice black Kiss sweat shirt.  The higher-ups didn’t want me to get it.  (Don’t know what they wanted it for!)
  • A Jann Arden “Insensitive” baseball hat. 
  • A Vince Gill blue denim hat.
  • Two rolls of Star Wars stickers to promote the DVD release of the Original Trilogy.  These have lasted a long time and I still have a partial roll.  You’d be amazed how many things look better with Star Wars stickers on them
  • A bunch of Yoda buttons to promote Attack of the Clones.  Gave these away to kids.
  • A bunch of Lord of the Rings buttons, to promote Fellowship.  Also gave these away to kids.

Of these things, all I have left are the stickers and the Kiss sweatshirt, slowly fading from many washes.  Not a lot to show for 12 years of the record store grind, but as I said, the record companies really hated giving us anything for free.  The funny thing is, other people (DJ’s, employees at other record stores) would come in and sell us dozens and dozens of promotional discs that they got for free.  So the irony is, even though we played by the rules, we got stiffed.  The other people who broke the rules got free shit all the time!  Ain’t it the way?

GALLERY: ZZ Top – Eliminator Monogram model kit & Hot Wheels!

NOTE:  July 21, 2013 – I posted new pics with a better camera here.  Thanks!

I just dug up this old model kit I made in the 80’s.  It is, of course, ZZ Top’s old car Eliminator.  It’s been sitting for 25 years, so, quite dusty.  To clean it will take a lot of work.  Back then, I remember painting the engine logo was really tough. If you want to see a nice professionally painted rendition of this kit, click here.

The Hot Wheels toy, I’m sorry, I have no memory of where I got this!  It’s very cool too,  Definitely from the 80’s.

Video and photos below, enjoy.

REVIEW: KISS – Double Platinum (1978)

Part 10 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

A few months after posting this review, I found a cool foil-embossed CD.  Click here to see what that one was all about!

KISS – Double Platinum (1978)

KISS DOUBLE JAPANESE FRONT

Although there had been one Kiss re-pack before (a vinyl set called The Originals), Double Platinum was their first “greatest hits” disc.  The band was beginning to fracture internally.  Both Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were looking to break out with their own solo albums.  Instead, Kiss decided to record four solo albums and release them simultaneously.  This, a first ever for anybody, was a big project and would require six months to execute.  In order to satiate the fans, who had become accustomed to new Kiss albums twice a year, Double Platinum was conceived.

I first got this album in 1985 or 1986 and it was my first exposure to songs like “Hard Luck Woman” and “Makin’ Love”. For years I would often recommend this album as one of the first Kiss albums for people to get. It is still an excellent introduction despite the fact that the market has been flooded with approximately 15 different compilations (rough guess) since then.

One “new” song (a disco-ish remake of “Strutter” called “Strutter ’78”) and a boatload of remixes were quickly prepared. Sean Delaney worked on the remixes, and I don’t think they are as bad as they are made out to be by some fans. For me, these were the original versions that I heard!  And the cool thing in my own experience was, when I eventually moved on to collect the rest of the studio albums, I wasn’t familiar with those versions of the songs.  Everything was fresh for me on those albums.

The technical reasoning for the remixing was to make the band’s uneven catalogue sound more alike, when presented together in this fashion. The material produced by Bob Ezrin (Destroyer) sounded leaps and bounds different than the other stuff, so it was remixed to bring it to Ezrin’s level.

“Strutter ’78” was re-recorded with more compression on the drums. I still think it’s a great track, but it lacks the fire of the Kiss original. It’s more sleek. “Hard Luck Woman” has been remixed to highlight the acoustic guitars, leaving the band out until later in the song. “Rock Bottom’s” intro is presented here without the song itself, and it does work in that form, serving now as an intro to “She”. “Black Diamond” lacks the slow-down ending, and I kind of prefer this version: Instead, at the end, the song starts all over again and goes into a fade.

My only complaint about Double Platinum is in regards to the CD version. The original pressing of the LP had the Kiss logo embossed on silver foil. I paid a lot of money for a Japanese import CD and I wanted the silver foil cover. Instead I got dull paper. The domestic CD is not much better, although the cover is different yet again (printed with silver ink).

FYI, those with records for sale:  I would love a mint complete Double Platinum LP, please.

My guess is that one day we’ll get yet another load of Kiss reissues (it’s already starting with Destroyer/Resurrected)  Let’s get it right next time.

Still, 5/5 stars. Start your Kiss collection with Kiss Alive!, and then grab some studio versions here.

Part 75.5: Supplimental: Sausagefest 2012 Countdown & Pics
Gardenia Kyuss
Money For   Nothing Dire Straits
Dogs Pink Floyd
The Rime of   the Ancient Mariner Iron Maiden
Watermelon   Man Herbie Hancock
Simple Man Lynyrd Skynyrd
Holy Diver Dio
Aqualung Jethro Tull
One Metallica
NIB Black Sabbath
Fade to Black Metallica
Bark at the   Moon Ozzy Osbourne
Freebird Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ohio Crosby, Stills, Nash   and Young
Ophelia The Band
Into the Void Black Sabbath
Bring it on   Home Led Zeppelin
46 and 2 Tool
Time   Travelling Blues Orange Goblin
How Heavy   This Axe The Sword
Bullet in the   Head Rage Against the   Machine
Pick Up The   Pieces The Average White   Band
Postmortem/Raining   Blood Slayer
Jambi Tool
Sir Duke Stevie Wonder
Space Cadet Kyuss
School Supertramp
Green Machine Kyuss
Dazed and   Confused Led Zeppelin
Fool’s   Overture Supertramp
Suite: Judy   Blue Eyes Crosby, Stills, Nash   and Young
Aenima Tool
Lazy Deep Purple
Breaking the   Law Judas Priest
Hot For   Teacher Van Halen
Moby Dick Led Zeppelin
Immigrant   Song Led Zeppelin
Supa Stoopid Funkadelic
Helter   Skelter The Beatles
One of These   Days Pink Floyd
Ziggy   Stardust David Bowie
Love Gun Kiss
Highway to   Hell AC/DC
Golden   Slumbers/CTW/In The End The Beatles
Flight of   Icarus Iron Maiden
RearView   Mirror Pearl Jam
Number of the   Beast Iron Maiden
Hot City   Symphony The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Ramble Tamble Creedence Clearwater   Revival
Free Will Rush
Marquee Moon Television
Cant You Hear   Me Knockin The Rolling Stones
Stand By Him Ghost
Black Water The Doobie Brothers
Goin Up To   The Country Canned Heat
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath
Ritual Ghost
Angel of   Death Slayer
For Whom the   Bell Tolls Metallica
Sex Machine James Brown
Whole Lotta   Love Led Zeppelin
Floods Pantera
Working Man Rush
Tuesday’s   Gone Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sober Tool
Killers Iron Maiden
New Orleans   is Sinking The Tragically Hip
Nobody’s   Fault But Mine Led Zeppelin
Folsom Prison   Blues Johnny Cash
Walk Pantera
Pigs (3   Different Ones) Pink Floyd
Bombtrack Rage Against the   Machine
Misty   Mountain Hop Led Zeppelin
Denim and   Leather Saxon
Ball of   Confusion The Temptations
TRIBUTES
Sins of the Father Black Sabbath
The River Tea Party
Mr. Crowley Ozzy Osbourne
Resurrection   Shuffle Ashton, Gardner and   Dyke
Stinkfist Tool
A Lil Piece   of Heaven Avenged Sevenfold
Naked Eye   (live) The Who
Suzanne Leonard Cohen
Finding My   Way Rush
Gato Devin Townsend
Shangri-La The Kinks
Sleeping   Giant Mastadon
The   Unforgiven III Metallica
Captain Nemo The Michael Schenker   Group
Eulogy of the   Damned Orange Goblin
Inside   Looking Out Grand Funk Railroad
Sirius/Eye in   the Sky Alan Parsons Project
Darlene Led Zeppelin
Search &   Destroy Iggy Pop
Woman From   Tokyo Deep Purple
Funk #49 James Gang
Between the   Wheels Rush
Jessica The Allman Brothers
Strutter KISS
Fish On Primus
Little House   I Used to Live In Frank Zappa
Laid to Rest Lamb of God
Mannish Boy Muddy Waters
Texas Flood Stevie Ray Vaughan
The Sixteens Sweet
We Built This   City Starship

Part 75: 2012 Sausagefest Report part two

Haven’t read part one yet?  Click here.

Since pictures speak a thousand words, I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking this time.

The countdown resumed Saturday afternoon.  “Love Gun” from Alive II was my pick.  We were inundated with Mammoth, more Tool, more Maiden, and awesomely enough, “Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock, light years ahead of its time.  We also heard from old stanby’s such as Rush (“Between the Wheels”), and others like Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dire Straits, and Starship (?)(thanks Zach).

The #1 song on the countdown was Kyuss’ “Gardenia”.  Oh what a beauty.  Must get.

Meat’s going to post the whole countdown when he’s back online (see: last installment) which should be soon.   Thank God for warranties.

Speaking of warranties, my car deck had to be replaced.  Sausagefest’s rainstorm killed it, I guess.  It took with it the new Tenacious D disc.  But the unit was covered on warranty so all is well.

It’s always sad when Sausagefest is over, and we always look forward to the next one.  It reminds me of what it was like to be a kid.  At the end of summer holidays, sometimes you waved goodbye to friends and said, “See you next summer,” and you just can’t wait for next summer to come.  That’s what Sausagefest is like.  I’d do it again next week in a heartbeat!


Part 74.5: The Best Part of Sausagefest (Clockwork Autographs)

Meat gave this to me.

“You’re the collector, not me,” he said.

That’s really not a good excuse to give away an autographed Rush disc, man.  But, as Burgess Meredith said so wisely in Clash of the Titans, “A divine gift should never be questioned, simply accepted.”  And are Rush not gods of rock?

Thank you Meat Man.

REVIEW: KISS – Alive II (1977)

Part 9 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

Produced once again by Eddie Kramer, this is taken from multiple shows in 1977, plus 5 studio tracks.  The crowd noise (probably from the Japanese shows) is a bit shrill and the overdubbing of Paul Stanley’s voice is much more noticeable than it was on the first Alive.

The problem that Kiss had in Alive II was to avoid repeating any songs from Alive!, which was only two years prior. That resulted in a truncated tracklist, and then Simmons had the idea to tack on a fourth side of studio material.  He says this was inspired by the ZZ Top album, Fandango!  That idea turned out to be pretty smart, as the five new songs are by and large very decent.

Two other songs were recorded at rehearsals or soundchecks: “Tomorrow And Tonight”, and “Hard Luck Woman”. Crowd noise was overdubbed and the songs sweetened in the studio.

Once again, it is hard to argue with the track selection on Alive II. There are very few songs I would have excluded in favour of others.  The concert opens with the double salvo of “Detroit” and “King of the Night Time World”.  “God of Thunder” is played at a faster tempo and I generally prefer this version to the original.  Ace’s “Shock Me” is here, and Peter Criss sings on “Hard Luck Woman” and of course “Beth” (sung to backing tapes as always).

Ace also had a lead vocal on “Rocket Ride”, one of the new songs. Let’s talk about those a bit.

“All American Man”: I like the riff a lot, and I find this to be one of Paul’s coolest songs. I have also felt it had a similar vibe to the stuff they’d later record for Killers, 4 years down the road. But who’s that on lead guitar? Bob Kulick.  Kulick replaced Ace Frehley on lead guitar, on four of the five studio tracks on Alive II!.

“Larger Than Life”: A Gene plodder. Another pretty strong one. I think you can guess what he’s singing about in the title.

“Rockin’ In The USA”: Gene loves the USA which has given him so much. The lyrics are pretty bad, but it’s basically Gene’s love song to America, much like the Beach Boys had done.

“Rocket Ride”: Ace’s track. Ace plays all guitars and bass, Peter Criss plays drums, and the other two only contribute vocals. An Ace classic which later appeared on his solo Live + 1 EP.

“Anyway You Want It”: I have a soft spot for Kiss covers like this Dave Clark Five track. I think Kiss did a great job with it, particularly with the vocals. Paul plays all guitars.

I must stress, I think you should buy the Alive Box rather than this version. You’ll get four Alives, and some rarer tracks.

5/5 stars. Might not be very live, but it sure is very rock.

REVIEW: KISS – Love Gun (1977)

Part 8 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Love Gun (1977)

Love Gun, the 7th album by Kiss in a brief 3 year period, was the end of an era. It would be the last album by all four original Kiss members (Alive II was missing Ace Frehley on four songs, Dynasty featured Peter Criss on only one track). Yet at the same time, it also featured Ace Frehley’s first lead vocal on “Shock Me”.

Not terribly different from Rock And Roll Over, Love Gun is nonetheless a glossier package. “Tomorrow And Tonight” for example featured female backing vocals, and “And Then She Kissed Me” was a Phil Spector cover (the Crystals actually, with genders reversed).

Incidentally, I made sure I had “And Then She Kissed Me” played at my wedding!

Like Rock And Roll Over, there’s a little bit of filler on here. I’m not a big fan of “Almost Human” even though Gene is, and some people dislike “Hooligan” although I love it. I could also take or leave “Got Love For Sale”.

The classics here are among Kiss’ all time best. “Shock Me”, “I Stole Your Love”, and “Love Gun” are still played in Kiss’ set circa 2012 (with Tommy Thayer singing lead on “Shock Me”). “Tomorrow And Tonight” and “Christine Sixteen” were on Alive II and were often in the live set. (“Christine”, in this writer’s opinion, contains Peter Criss’ best-ever drumming. He channels Charlie Watts and plays the most interesting fills and beats of his career.) “Plaster Caster” was covered by the Lemonheads. Even “Hooligan” got played live by Kiss on the Love Gun tour.

The only flaw with this CD is that there’s no cardboard love gun inside like there was in the vinyl. Otherwise it’s a great sounded disc, with cover art once again by Ken Kelly.  Man I gots to get me some vinyl!

5/5 stars

Part 74: 2012 Sausagefest Report part one

What happens at Sausagefest stays at Sausagefest.  That’s been the rule since day one, 11 years ago.  Having said that, I can talk about some of my own experiences this year, the best Sausagefest I’ve experienced to date.

For more photos please go to GALLERY: Sausagefest 2012

Sausagefest 2012 has come and gone once again.  This year for me was full of new music, new flavours, and new faces.   There were still four alumni from my record store days.  Older, wiser, maybe a little fatter, definitely a little greyer.  All four of us sported white somewhere on our heads….

Meat and a few others has spent the previous night seeing Tenacious D.  I’m hoping I can get him to do a concert review because that’s a tale in itself.  Suffice to say, I can’t imagine a better preface to Sausagefest than a Tenacious D show.

Meat, myself and a first-timer named Chris made the trek in my vehicle (Dougie Carmore) rocking to the “D” and stopping only for beer and ice.  We arrived at our hallowed, sacred meeting place in record time and began setting up camp.

For me, that was pretty easy since I have chosen to sleep in my car most years.  The new PA system was set up and shortly thereafter, the rock began.

The countdown was different this year:  A top 75 instead of 100, culled from the 31 submitted lists.  In addition, 31 tribute songs, one for each submittee!  A total of 106 songs plus comedy sketches and about 10 “LeBrain” bits about the tunes, trying to do my best Jeff Woods impression.  The countdown took two evenings and I don’t know how many hours….

But it was solidly amazing all the way through.  That first night, we heard my tribute song which was my #1 this year:  “Strutter”.  We also heard plenty of Rush, Tool, Sabbath, and everything else too.  And that was just the first night.  Saturday, we’d hear the top half…

The equipment was (mostly) put under a tarp, and we all went to our respective sleeping places.  I say “mostly” because not only did Meat leave all his clothes outside, but he also seemed to have soaked his laptop charger.  I awoke in the middle of a thunderstorm.  I think the storm lasted about three hours.

Then, I discovered that my car stereo was out.  Kaput.  How?  Must have been the storm.  But it wasn’t a fuse.  We went into town for an amazingly greasy good breakfast and hit up a car parts store for fuses.  It wasn’t a fuse.  At presstime it isn’t fixed yet.  So my car stereo is busted, and Meat still doesn’t have a charger for his laptap.  Would we trade the weekend in for anything else?

Of course not!

Check back later for part two.

REVIEW: KISS – Rock and Roll Over (1976)

Part 7 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Rock and Roll Over (1976)

After 1976’s Destroyer, Kiss had a choice:
a) continue down that road and see what they could see with the epic, orchestrated sound that Ezrin got out of them, or
b) return to their rock roots

On Rock and Roll Over (for better or worse) they chose b).

I love Rock and Roll Over, and I consider it a slightly stronger album than both Destroyer and Love Gun. Check out the tracks:

“I Want You” – Acoustic intro, electric riffage, classic song.
“Take Me” – Paul co-wrote this album cut with Sean Delaney. A lost klassic.
“Calling Dr. Love” – I was never a huge fan of this song, but obviously it always goes over well with the fans in concert.
“Ladies Room” – Peter Criss plays some fun drum rolls on this Gene rocker.
“Baby Driver” – The weakest song on the album, which Peter Criss claims is due to Kiss playing it at the wrong tempo. He does get to scream his butt off though.
“Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” – Gene’s motto?  Either way a great Kiss tune.
“Mr. Speed” – Another Stanley/Delaney classic. Best song on the album! I wish Kiss would play it again!
“See You In Your Dreams” – I prefer this version to the later one on Gene’s solo disc.
“Hard Luck Woman” – Peter Criss has never sounded so raspy and good. Truly, a song for everyone. Simply perfect songwriting courtesy of Paul, with some sweet 12 string.
“Makin’ Love” – Like a stick of dynamite in your ear.

Interestingly Ace had no songwriting credits on Rock and Roll Over. I recall reading that he did write a song called “Queen for a Day”, that he intended on singing, but it was dropped.

Kiss regrouped with Eddie Kramer (Led Zeppelin, Hendrix) to co-produce this album. Kramer previously did the original Kiss demo and Alive! They recorded it as live as possible in a theater. While it does not sound like a live album, it does have a lot more life than Destroyer.

5/5 stars

Also, check out this weird bootleg I have from the Rock and Roll Over tour, simply titled Kiss Army!  It’s obviously supposed to look official.  Although no exact date is given, it purports to be recorded live at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo Japan, 1977.  (Check out how “rhythm guitar” is spelled on Paul’s page.)