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Record Store Tales #600: The Vault
Disk 1 Review
Disk 2 Review
Disk 3 Review
Disk 4 Review
Disk 5 Review
Disk 6 Review
Disk 7 Review
Disk 8 Review
Disk 9 Review
For those keeping score at home, this CD contains tracks 136-150 in the Vault box set. This time we foray into genres far and wide, from disco to reggae.
GENE SIMMONS – The Vault – Disk 10 (2018 Rhino)
“Take It Like a Man #2” originated with a riff written on bass, and then intended for Psycho-Circus. Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer play on this demo. It was intended that Ace, Peter, Paul and Gene each take a line, and Gene does his little imitations of the members where he wanted them to sing. This song may have had been better than “You Wanted the Best” which had the same idea. It’s heavier and sounds pretty good in this demo form. Though it came later, it has a Creatures vibe. 3.5/5
“Take It Like a Man #1” is the original bass lick from which the song was later written. This is included to show how Gene would “hear” a full song in his head when coming up with the riff on bass. It also demonstrates he’s a better bassist than he gets credit for. This unfinished idea is just that: unfinished. Yet you can hear he was onto something, as demonstrated by “#2”. 2.5/5
“Have Mercy, Baby” is a Simmon / Kulick composition with Bruce playing guitar. This is a fully-fleshed out demo, at first recorded to four-track and then upgraded to 24-track for overdubs. It sounds like a Crazy Nights or Hot in the Shade era tune. That said, it wouldn’t have been album worthy. Though Bruce Kulick always offers intelligent and tasteful solo work, the song itself only has one or two solid hooks. 2.5/5
Gene gushes over Eric Carr as a human being in the liner notes. “We Won’t Take It Anymore” is a song that originated in the same session as “My Babe”, next on the box set. Written by Gene and Eric, this is a hard rocker with a cool chorus. It really is a shame that Eric wasn’t nurtured as a songwriter in Kiss the way he could have been. This has a strong “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose” kind of vibe, and the chorus really would have worked well with Kiss. 3.5/5
“My Babe” is completely different! This fast, almost pop-punk! It almost throws back to Dressed to Kill-era Kiss, with that kind of simplicity and basic rock and roll arrangement. What it is, is a hybrid of many things and all of them sound good to me. It’s understandable why Kiss didn’t want to do this kind of song in the Carr era, but they really should have. 3.5/5
“Eat Your Heart Out” is not the same song that was later used on Monster (though the chorus really is similar). This is a late 70s demo of an idea that originated with “Rotten to the Core”. It’s a tangled web since so many ideas appear in multiple forms on this box set. This is a menacing little rock song that would have worked on any Kiss album from that period, but probably just wasn’t good enough. There are some cool melodies on the pre-chorus especially. 3/5
“Nine Lives” is a cool late-80s idea with Bruce Kulick on guitar. Again, not quite good enough to replace one of the album songs, but there is promise here too. It has a slow, slinky vibe. Kulick shows of some cool whammy work, followed by two-handed tapping. His technique seems to date it to Crazy Nights. 3/5
Back to the 70s, “Howling for Your Love” has Katey Sagal and the girls on backing vocals. It’s very similar to “Bad Bad Lovin'”, also known as “Dr. Love”, and the tangled web of songs becomes even more so. It’s pretty good and, once again, had Kiss made more albums, this would have been on one of them. 3/5
“I Ain’t Coming Back” is the song that “Never Gonna Leave You” from Disk 7 became. This is a four track demo with a dancey beat, but it’s no better than the other version. One of the poorer tracks on this set, with a chorus that should have never hit the recycle bin. Just trash it. 1/5
The riff to…ahem…“Granny Takes A Trip” sounds similar to “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. The title here was taken from a store in New York that sold platform boots. It’s very metal, but not very good. It’s very alterna-grunge. Probably intended for Carnival. Very noisy. Not worth exploring further. 1/5
Former Journey and Vinnie Vincent Invasion singer Robert Fleichmann co-wrote “Piece of the Rock” (not the King Kobra/Kick Axe song). This has a dark 80s vibe but sounds unfinished. There’s a compelling guitar part with good verses and a decent chorus, but the bridge that connects them should be excised. The song just needed something else to go in that section, and it would be pretty good. 2.5/5
Gene says “Rock It” was inspired by Fine Young Cannibals. I also hear Love and Rockets. Judging by the vocal track, this sounds like it was recorded much later. It’s not bad. There’s something cool going on here, especially with those 80s drum programs. 3/5
“Sticky Goo” is a cool reggae-based idea. It also has a “New York Groove” vibe. It could be finished into something cool. Cool, but different. There’s no denying that some of these songs would simply not work with Kiss and would have to go on solo albums. But, then again, they did do “Torpedo Girl”, so who’s to say what’s ultimately outside the Kiss wheelhouse? Gene is sure to lay down crunchy rhythm guitars here to ground it in rock. Still hearing lots of “New York Groove” though. 3/5
“Love Came To Me” is Gene’s answer to “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”, but it also re-uses certain melodies from “Love Is Blind”. (This is not mentioned in the book, but I’m telling you with my ears.) Gene concedes that he doesn’t know as much about dance music as Paul Stanley, but this isn’t a bad stab at the genre. It’s not as fast and infectious, but the bassline is a lot of fun, as is the beat. You could dance to it. 3/5
“Roar of the Greasepaint” is the original idea that later became “Journey of 1,000 Years” on Psycho-Circus. He later added chords from the earlier “You’re My Reason for Living 4 Track” (Disk 4) to create the final version. That version is superior for many reasons, including the heavy orchestration and progressive vibes. “Roar of the Greasepaint” has a cooler title though. It really ties into the Kiss image and should have been left as-is. This was the closing song on Psycho-Circus, and would have been the closing song on this 150 song box set…if Gene didn’t include an 11th bonus disc! 3.5/5
Average score by song: 2.76/5 stars
Disk 10 Track length and songwriters (from Wikipedia)
1. Take It Like a Man #2 (2:38) Simmons
2. Take It Like a Man #1 (2:44) Simmons
3. Have Mercy, Baby (4:04) Simmons / Kulick
4. We Won’t Take It Anymore (3:03) Simmons / Carr
5. My Babe (1:51) Simmons / Carr
6. Eat Your Heart Out (2:22) Simmons
7. Nine Lives (3:33) Simmons / Sigerson
8. Howling for Your Love (2:47) Simmons
9. I Ain’t Coming Back (3:02) Simmons
10. Granny Takes a Trip (1:55) Simmons
11. Piece of the Rock (3:48) Simmons / Fleischman
12. Rock It (2:23) Simmons
13. Sticky Goo (3:05) Simmons
14. Love Came to Me (3:25) Simmons
15. Roar of the Greasepaint (3:07) Simmons