ace frehley

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.)

REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (and a word about that 35th anniversary Resurrected thing)

Part 6 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!  See the end for a bit of a preview of the forthcoming Destroyer: Resurrected too.

KISS – Destroyer (1976)

DISCLAIMER: I’m not the biggest fan of Destroyer. I loved the cover as a kid, and that cover led me to expect the album to be heavier.  Also worth noting:  I got mono real bad around the time that I got this album, so upon initially hearing it, I was constantly sick.

I strongly like four of the tracks today, which unfortunately have become overplayed:

  • Detroit Rock City
  • King of the Night Time World
  • Shout It Out Loud
  • God of Thunder

And let’s face it, Kiss fans can take or leave “Beth”. Unfortunately for Peter Criss it was the only hit that he had a hand in writing, and during the reunion got way overplayed. It was nice hearing it again at first, since it had been dropped from the set for about 17 years. I’m sick of it now. We’re all sick of it. Kiss felt the song was a throwaway, and it kind of is. A novelty.

Other tunes:

  • “Sweet Pain” — not a big fan. I find it dull.
  • “Flaming Youth” — again, not a big fan. I think Ezrin got carried away with production on this one, and to be honest I’ve never been a fan of the “Mad Dog” riff in the middle.
  • “Great Expectations” — never liked it. Always thought it was a novelty even moreso than Beth. But the live version on Alive IV is stunning.
  • “Do You Love Me?” — I have no idea how this song continues to be played live. Maybe when Nirvana covered it, it got a new life? It’s just too simple.

Ezrin’s production is probably too sweet for my tastes. On the Alice Cooper stuff he was a little bit more rock, a little bit more raw. As I said, “Flaming Youth” is drenched in production. Calliope? Why? I don’t know.

Having said that, Ezrin pulled a few tricks out of the bag on this album that are really cool:

1. Grand piano subtley doubles the guitar riffs on most songs. It is audible on “Shout It Out Loud”, but you can hear it if you really listen on the other tracks. It gives the riffs a little extra BOOM!

2. The sound effect intro to “Detroit”, and the walkie-talkies on “God Of Thunder”. Genius atmospheres. No wonder this guy would later produce Pink Floyd!

3. Songwriting. Ezrin really helped Kiss learn about songwriting craft, and Kiss would never be the same.

So there you go. It is undeniably a classic, but it does not represent what Kiss really sound like. Maybe if Kiss had continued down this road immediately and tried some production stuff on their own, without Ezrin, they would be a different band today? But they didn’t, and Kiss returned to rock and roll on the next album, which I like better.

3/5 stars

AND NOW!

Destroyer: Resurrected (35th Anniversary Edition)

This baby is coming in August.  A full-on Bob Ezrin remix of Destroyer, plus unheard demos.   Now I know a lot of you don’t particularly care for remixes, but if Ezrin is helming it, I believe there will be a point to it.  Ezrin is a producer of integrity and I don’t believe he would waste our dollars or time if this remix wasn’t somehow going to be worth it. I don’t know if the original mix will be included.  But who cares?  Everybody owns that and it’s not being deleted.

Ezrin pulled the tapes from the vaults and painstakingly remixed the entire album, enhancing the sound and bringing out its rich texture and vibrancy, while keeping the integrity of the original recording intact. Destroyer: Resurrected will also include rare and unreleased recordings rediscovered during the remixing process, plus the originally intended cover artwork.

I’m now hearing it’s only going to be 1 disc, but with the original Ken Kelly cover art (Alive! costumes), read more here!

Part 72: Sloan

One thing I hate:  Drama queens.  Especially now that I am older.  Now that I am older I have zero time for drama queens.  People who bring drama with them just need to stay away.

Unfortunately in my experience, there’s always a drama queen or two at a record store.  Even worse when they’re in a position of power.  Such was my experience in seeing one of my favourite Canadian bands:  Sloan.

It was February 2000, and Sloan were touring behind their latest release, the underrated Between The Bridges album.  I bought it twice, I liked it so much:  On September 12, 1999, I received my pre-order from HMV, which contained two exclusive trading cards (still sealed today).  Then in October, while seeing Phantom of the Opera in Toronto (Paul Stanley, woo!) I picked up the Japanese import which had two bonus cuts:  “Summer’s My Season”, and “At the Edge of the Scene”.

I loved “Summer’s My Season”.  Besides being a great Chris song, it contains my favourite Sloan lyric of all time:

You must remember this

Kiss is still just Kiss

Their style is denial

I’ll meet you when we’re older

Consider it a race

But who would be the one to paint their face?

Ace!

When Sloan hit Lulu’s Roadhouse in February we all bought tickets.  We grabbed a table on the left side of the massive bar (world’s longest when it was open, actually) and enjoyed an opening set by The Flashing Lights.

Myself and Trev and a couple others sat on the stage side of the table, facing the stage (somewhat obviously).  Some of the girls sat on the opposite side of the table, also facing the stage.  Now, logically, this means we were not facing each other.  Normally when you go to a concert you want to look at the stage.

Sloan came on, and played all of Between the Bridges.  They played a lot of Navy Blues and One Chord, too.  They were friggin’ amazing.  Weirdly, they played absolutely nothing from the EP, nor Smeared, nor Twice Removed.  Not even “Underwhelmed”.  While this surprised me, I was hardly disappointed, especially when Chris came out and played “Summer’s My Season”.  I sang (shouted) along to every friggin’ word even though nobody else in the hall seemed to know the song.  I didn’t care.  It’s a fucking concert!  It’s like Dee Snider says…are you worried about somebody laughing at you at a fucking concert?

Besides, how likely are we ever to be treated to all of Between the Bridges again?  Probably not too likely, especially with “Summer’s My Season” intact.  Not an experience to be taken for granted.

Anyway, I rocked out, hard, played air guitar, air drums, sang, shouted, had an awesome time.  The girls, apparently, did not.

The following Monday at work, one of them spilled the beans.  “Sloan sucked.  That was one of the worst concerts I’ve ever seen.”

OK, whatever, that’s a matter of opinion I guess.  Sloan had just released the double live 4 Nights at the Palais Royale less than a year earlier so I was fully saturated with live versions of the old songs.  I wanted new songs and I got them.

But this was more than a matter of favourite albums.  Apparently, I was told, “You guys were being total snobs, too.”

“What?  Snobs?  What you are talking about?”

“Well, you guys ignored us all night.  You didn’t even talk to us.”

Oh.  My.  God.  It was a fucking concert, not a visit to the fucking mall!  It was 115 dB that night!  Are you fucking kidding me?  And don’t you remember me talking to you afterwards about what a great time I had?  I vehemently denied all accusations but it was absolutely no use.

This led to a week of cold shoulders, snitty comments, and silent treatments.  Always a good time, particularly when it involves people with more seniority than you, too!  Drama.  Never was a big fan of it.  But even though this behaviour soured the whole experiece for me (believe me, even when stuff smoothed out, the concert was never brought up again), I still love that era of Sloan, that album, and all the songs they played that night.  Just that I never even entertained the idea of going to see a concert with that group of people again!

 

REVIEW: KISS – Dressed To Kill (1975)

Part 3 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Dressed To Kill (1975)

Dressed To Kill is an interesting album. While it contains the best known Kiss song (“Rock N’ Roll All Nite”) it also contains quite a few album classics that a lot of people don’t know (“Getaway”, “Anything For My Baby”, and “Two Timer” being good examples).  This is one I play frequently.  I never tired of it.  It just has “vibe”.  Listen to “Two Timer” for example.  Kiss were obvious more than the sum of their parts, and this album was pretty heavy for 1975.

“Room Service” is an upbeat Paul opener, and I think we all know what kind of service Paul was getting.  “C’Mon and Love Me” has a killer riff, one of the best Paul’s ever written.  “She”, of course, goes back to the Wicked Lester days.  It’s one of Gene’s sludgier moments.  Even standard album tracks like “Love Her All I Can” and “Anything For My Baby” are entertaining enough.  They might not be classics, nor complex, but they sure get the foot tapping.

The first and only album produced by the Casablaca label president Neil Bogart, Dressed To Kill retreats from the weak but more metallic sound of Hotter Than Hell, and goes back to the more rocky feel of their debut. The songs are every bit as good. I particularly like “Two Timer”, “C’Mon and Love Me”, and “Rock Bottom”. “Rock Bottom” features a beautiful acoustic intro by Ace Frehley.

The album cover is also classic — a shot of the band wearing ill-fitting suits, given to them by manager Bill Aucoin.  It’s perfect.

5/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Alive!

Part 4 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Alive! (1975)
For the record I would recommend the Alive Box over this, simply because you get the first 3 Alives in one set with extra material. Buut we’ll get there evenually.

Kiss Alive!…what can you say? Greatest live album of all time? Not really live? Who cares! It sounds amazing and 35 years later people are still buying it. The same cannot be said of many live albums from the era. Live At Last by Black Sabbath was recorded around this time, nobody buys that record now. It’s one of a handful of classics. Frampton Comes Alive, and Live & Dangerous (Thin Lizzy) are up there with it.

Is it live? Sort of. Paul’s guitar playing and singing was not up to snuff for the live album that producer Eddie Kramer wanted to make (too much jumping around) so a lot of it was done in the studio. Can you tell? Absolutely not. You can’t tell at all.

The sound: Epic, loud, superior in every way to the studio albums. The songs: Played faster, more intense, solos are crazier and longer. Paul’s stage raps became popular because of Kiss Alive! Now everybody knows the rap about “a taste of alcohol” (“Cold Gin”), and the big middle section to “100,000 Years”.

You can’t fault one single song inclusion on Kiss Alive!, and indeed this version of “Rock And Roll All Nite” has become more well known than the original. Sure, there are other great Kiss songs that didn’t make it here, but when a live album becomes too long it also becomes harder to listen to.

This (or the Alive Box) should be your first Kiss purchase if you’ve never bought one before.

6/5 stars!

REVIEW: KISS – Hotter Than Hell (1974)

Part 2 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Hotter Than Hell (1974)

Hotter Than Hell was my first Kiss album. I had it on a scratched up piece of vinyl that I don’t have anymore. Because of the condition of the record and my turntable at the time, I had no idea just how bad Hotter Than Hell sounds. And it does sound bad. Kids these days, used to ProTools and gloss, are gonna find it unlistenable.

Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise produced once again, two guys who didn’t know how to achieve the heavy rock that Kiss wanted, but tried anyway. The result is a murky impenetrable sound with drums that sound like Peter’s banging away on wooden blocks. The cymbals are nearly impossible to hear. Yet this white noise serves only to make the album heavier and darker to these nostalgic ears.

“Got To Choose” kicks off the album, a Kiss classic. I remember playing it to my 8th grade class much to the teacher’s dismay. Gene and Paul sing harmonies together, but this is a Paul song. The acoustic version from MTV Unplugged is also quite excellent. “Parasite” follows, an Ace song that Gene sings and one of the fastest tunes Kiss were to do in the early days. The Alive! version is more fully realized. A ballad of sorts, “Goin’ Blind” follows. This is a Gene song from his pre-Kiss days, previously known as “Little Lady” and co-written by his Wicked Lester bandmate Steve Coronel. This version doesn’t do it justice, but lines like “I’m 93, you’re 16” hint at territory that Gene would revisit later in other songs. The title track, “Hotter Than Hell” is a Paul song and one of the best on the album if not in Kisstory. The riff and coda are both so memorable. (I miss the days when Kiss used to tack on these extra riffs as codas, they were always so heavy and cool.) Side 1 ends with “Let Me Go, Rock And Roll”, a fast rock n’ roll Chuck Berry guitar number which I always found comical due to Gene high voice at the beginning. The Alive! version has become a classic today.

Side 2 begins with a “lost” album cut called “All The Way”. It’s not played live often but it has one of my favourite choruses. You just can’t get the melody out of your head. Plus it has cowbell! “Watchin’ You”, a Sabbathy Gene song, follows. This song was even revisited for Kiss Alive III in a funkier guise. “Mainline” is a Paul song, sung by Peter Criss. It’s a little more rock n’ roll again, but with that great chrous melody. “Comin’ Home” is another Paul song that ended up on MTV Unplugged. Strange how many of these songs sounded great acoustically! It was always an album favourite of mine with great lyrics. The album ends with the dirgey “Strange Ways”, an Ace Frehley written song, but sung by Peter Criss. This is probably the only song on the album I don’t like very much, even though it is so heavy and Sabbathy.

Rumour has it that Peter recorded a lengthy drum solo, and demanded that it be included in the song, or he was going to quit the band.  (This is according to Gene Simmons.)  The solo was not included, and Peter stayed.

Given the upcoming deluxe remixed edition of Destroyer coming this year (remixed by Ezrin!), I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hold hope for a remix of Hotter Than Hell.   Maybe, though, it should never be remixed.  Maybe the shite sound is part of the charm?

If that sound issue doesn’t bother you, then delve in and discover a true Kiss classic. Just look at how many songs keep popping up on setlists to this day. That’s the sign of a classic album.

5/5 stars

Check out my review for the live bootleg Kissin’ Time in San Fransisco by clicking here!

DUAL REVIEW: Foo Fighters 7″ singles! “Best Of You” & “All My Life”

You lucky, lucky readers! Today you get two reviews for the price of one. Since I’m currently transferring my vinyl to CD, let’s talk about two 7″ singles from…

FOO FIGHTERS!

“All My Life” numbered limited edition 7″

While I like the tune, “All My Life”, I wasn’t big on the album One By One.  So it’s little surprise that I’m not into the B-side, “Sister Europe”, a Psychedelic Furs cover.  I do like the Ace Frehley guitar slashes in the song, but otherwise…blah.  You can also get “Sister Europe” on one of the CD singles for this song, which I don’t have.    Never run across them.

The record is numbered though; I’m 1375! (Out of how many? I don’t know.)

3/5 stars.

“Best Of You”

I was much more into “Best Of You”, and its album In Your Honor.  I can still still remember the first time I heard it.  One of the guys had forgotten his keys and couldn’t lock up the store.  He called me and I raced in to lock up for him.  I turned on the radio, and was immediately assaulted with “Best Of You”, a classic Foo rocker, an anthem really.   My passion for the Foo Fighters was immediately reignited.

I went out and bought both CD singles for “Best Of You”, each with its own unreleased bonus tracks.  I was also sent a copy of the UK version of the album by my good buddy Dan Slessor of Kerrang! magazine.   The UK edition had a bonus track, too.

This 7″ single with “Spill” was the final piece of an amazing puzzle of music.  It’s a hard, fast, underproduced raw rocker.  Taylor Hawkins hits the drums so hard, you can really hear it.  Great song, equal to anything else on In Your Honor.

Not a limited edition, but I give “Best Of You”:

5/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Kiss (1974)

I’m going to publish reviews of every Kiss album, including compilations, gearing up for the 2012 release of Monster!

KISS – Kiss (1974)

KISStory began in 1973 when Ace Frehley joined Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmons. The band rose from the ashes of Wicked Lester, a 5-piece band featuring Stanley and Simmons who cut a record for Epic. The record was never released but some of the material here originated in the Wicked Lester days.

Produced by Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise (as was the next album, Hotter Than Hell), Kiss lacks that “oomph” of guitar that the band would become noted for later on. Most songs, even powerful fast ones like “Deuce”, rely on rock-and roll-guitars with a little more jangle to them. The tempos are often a bit slower than the versions the band would play (see:  Alive!)  but the spirit is there in this basic rock recording.

The first song, “Strutter” introduced Kiss to the record-buying public. Everybody knows “Strutter”, just as strong today as in 1974. “Nothin’ To Lose” is next, one of my all time favourite Kiss songs and is sung by Gene, Paul and the catman himself Peter Criss. It’s a rock-and-roll song made special by the three vocalists, a gimmick which I wish Kiss would have used more often. “Firehouse” follows this, complete with sirens, and is quite a bit slower than live versions and plods a bit. Ace’s song “Cold Gin” is next, sung by Simmons, a man who never gets drunk which always struck me as an odd pairing. It’s another classic, again a bit slower than live versions but with that great riff intact. Side 1 ends with one of Paul’s earliest songs “Let Me Know”. It was previously known as “Sunday Driver”, which features in the first line of the song: “Let me be your Sunday driver, let me be your Monday man.” Gene sings the verses and Paul sings the bridge. It features a coda that Kiss often played live attached to other, later songs such as “She” or “Watchin’ You”.

Side 2 began (on reissue versions) with the cover tune “Kissin’ Time”. This song was released as a single first, and added to the album later. It’s nothing special even though it does again feature all three singers. (Frehley would not sing a lead until Love Gun.) “Deuce”, which should have kicked off side two, is a song everybody knows.  It is Gene’s signature song, a tune which Ace played as a solo artist as well, simply because he loves the song.  This version is almost asgood as the Alive! version. Next, “Love Theme From Kiss”; a meandering instrumental.  It was once called “Acrobat” and featured a second part known in fan circles as “You’re Much Too Young”. That part was chopped before the studio version was recorded, and later became the main riff to “Detroit Rock City”.  “100,000 Years” begins with a trademark Gene Simmons bass slide, and then goes into that great groove with Paul taking the lead vocal.  This is as grooviest as Kiss ever get, although again the Alive!version is superior.  The album ends with the first Kiss epic, “Black Diamond”. It starts with a mellow acoustic opening, Paul’s smooth vocal, and “ooh ooh” backgrounds. Then there’s a countdown, Paul yells “Hit it!” and the whole band kicks in. Peter sings the rest of the song. It is an absolute classic and one of Kiss’s very best.

On the album cover:  You’ll notice some rare things.  Ace has silver in his hair, and Peter’s makeup is completely different. The reason given is that Peter had a professional do his makeup for the cover whereas the rest of the guys did their own. I’m not sure why Ace’s hair is silver but I’m sure it was impractical. If it wasn’t for these oddities, I think this cover image would be more iconic in Kisstory, because it is otherwise very cool.  They were going for that iconic Meet the Beatles type of simple image, and they came close to nailing it.

The first three Kiss albums share a common “rock-and-roll” sound with less distortion and more jangly guitars. Most fans consider the Alive! versions to be superior. I would tend to agree.  Still, this was the start:  it’s remarkable just how many of these songs would become Kiss classics and would be played live through the years. In fact by my counting there are no less than 8 out of 10 songs here that are bonafide classics in Kisstory.

5/5 stars