MOTLEY CRUE – New Tattoo (2000 Motley records, EU edition with bonus track and 2 CD edition)
The worst Crue album? Could be Theater of Pain, Generation Swine, or 2000’s New Tattoo. I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but Randy Castillo was not a suitable replacement for Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee isn’t a great technical drummer by any stretch, but he has bombast and his songwriting is crucial to the Motley sound. Here, the songwriting void is filled by future Sixx A.M. collaborator James Michael.
The drum sound is flat and lifeless, the guitar is dry, and there is simply no fire here. The songs drone from soundalike to soundalike, and you will forget which is which. This is the Crue on cruise control if not pure autopilot. Of course, the band hyped this as a “return to the roots” album, which it is not. The Crue’s roots are bombastic loud chrome plated sleezy metal with loads of attitude and aggression. This is dull, pointless, meandering rock that goes nowhere. Without Tommy, I am inclined to say there is no Crue. Compare this to the Vince-less self titled 1994 album, a 5/5 star release all the way. Who is more crucial to the band’s energy?
Not one, I repeat, not one great song here, but plenty of mediocre ones. “Hell On High Heels” isn’t too bad, but it’s certainly not up to the standards of Motley Crue singles past. Also half decent is “Punched In the Teeth By Love”, a title which dates back to 1991’s Decade of Decadence. Unfortunately the majority of New Tattoo is clogged up with dreck like “She Needs Rock N’ Roll”, “Hollywood Ending” and the title track. Nothing stands out after numerous listens.
MVP: Mick Mars, who always seems to nail a tasty solo when needed.
The saving grace to this particular release is the live disc with Samantha Maloney (ex-Hole) on drums. It is more fun and entertaining than the album itself, but maybe that’s because the live disc is 66.6% oldies. The two demos included are no better than the album versions, but collectors should be aware that Europe got a version with a different bonus track called “Time Bomb”. On top of that, Japan got an exclusive song called “American Zero”. It’s too bad it was relegated to Japan alone, because it might be the only track that actually hearkens back to the good old days.
Avoid. A bore and a chore to listen to. Pick up 1994’s self-titled release instead.
RAINBOW – Finyl Vinyl (1986, 2 CD Rainbow Remasters edition)
Finyl Vinyl was the third Rainbow album I bought, right after Rising and Straight Between the Eyes. The year was ’96, and the place was Dr. Disc. I bought it on vinyl initially, because the original CD edition omitted two tracks for space limits (a major flaw with double albums issued in the early CD age). However what I did not know until recently was that the vinyl also omitted a song: “Street Of Dreams” which was only available on cassette!
This complete 2 CD remaster contains all the songs from all the versions. For sheer portability reasons, it made sense for me to own this. I have filed my vinyl copy away, and I now rely entirely on this new Universal CD version.
I love Finyl Vinyl and even though it was issued posthumously and consists mostly of unreleased live songs, I think it’s one of the most enjoyable Rainbow albums to listen to. It contains music from all three of the original Rainbow eras: Dio, Bonnett, and Turner. It leans most heavily on the Joe Lynn Turner era, with only a couple songs from the Ronnie James Dio era. Graham Bonnett also appears on two songs, and there is an instrumental B-side from his Down To Earth era as well. It is worth noting that the B-sides contained herein have been issued on other albums since.
Finyl Vinyl contains a lot of my favourites, and in great versions too: “I Surrender” and “Miss Mistreated” sound great live. Pop rock goodness, made classy as only Blackmore/Turner can do it. “Jealous Lover” is a standout midtempo burner from the Joe Lynn era. Blackmore’s picking is resplendent. Unfortunately the two Dio-era songs don’t have the fidelity of the later Turner recordings, but you can’t have a Rainbow collection without representing Ronnie James. That is done via unreleased 1978 live versions of “Man on the Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll”.
My only complaint: The photos inside are too damn small and blurry. One of my favourite things about the vinyl release was that there were pictures of almost every incarnation of Rainbow, but here you can barely tell who’s who. Too small, too blurry like a bad scan; the booklet should have been expanded. Also, the credits still contain some errors that were never corrected from the original vinyl issue (see Wikipedia).
I keep finding these old concert reviews that I forgot to post here! Enjoy this one from former HELIX guitarist Brent Doerner. This was written the day of the show. Photos from an old crap Motorola phone.
BRENT DOERNER’S DECIBEL – March 10 2007, Edelweiss Tavern, Kitchener ON
It was only an hour ago, but it is already a blur.
Just after 9:30 pm, Brent Doerner’s DECIBEL hit the stage at the Edelweiss with earthshaking volume. The three Gibsons of Shane Schedler, Ralph “Chick” Schumilas, and Brent himself were crystal clear and gelling beautifully. I can’t even remember what song they opened with, but it might have been “Taking The Colour Out Of The Blues”, one of the best tracks from their debut CD. This was only their second “real” show, and the new lineup (featuring bassist Hilliard Walter and Brent’s twin brother Brian Doerner, fresh off a Saga tour) sounded hot. Most importantly, the pressures of playing to a hometown crowd didn’t phase them at all, and they looked like they were having an awesome time.
Brent Doerner has evolved from Helix’s lead gunslinger to a frontman in his own right. I suppose if one is in a band for a decade and a half with a guy like Brian Vollmer, you’re bound to learn something about being a frontman. Yet Brent has his own style. He points to the crowd, he interacts with them, he slings his guitar to the side and sings to them. He hoists his guitar like a shotgun for emphasis, and does it all as if it’s second nature. The guy is a natural, no doubts there.
All the best tunes from the CD were played, in effective order, along with four new ones. And let me tell ya, folks, these weary heavy-metal eardrums of mine rarely hear a song as good as “Maybe Love”. The song has only been played twice, and they band are still working out the kinks, but could you tell? No, this song smoked, as more than one person in the audience noticed. As my fiancée noted on the way out, “that song was the single.” And yes, indeed, if Decibel were to suddenly press up a slab of 7” vinyl, that would be the song to put on the A-side.
Video for “Maybe Love”, after some lineup changes and a name switch to My Wicked Twin
The show was not without technical problems, but the band overcame with lots of comedy courtesy of Brian Doerner, and a wicked impromptu drum solo from the rock god. In the dark. He couldn’t have even seen what he was doing, but did that solo ever smoke. While some bands would view a blackout as a disaster, Decibel turned it into a rare chance to see a drum solo by one of Canada’s most underrated percussionists. And he made sure that lots of people got complimentary sticks, too, which was really cool.
One of the many highlights of the show was Shane Schedler’s vocal turn on “Never Turn Your Back”. Not to be outdone, however, Hills Walter kicked out the jams on his vocal “Dancin’ Frogs” featuring not a dancing frog, but a dancing blonde in a top hat, fishnets and Decibel panties. Sweet!
Such was the reaction from the crowd that Decibel were unexpectedly forced to retake the stage after they had already said goodnight. Having nothing else to play, they played “Taking The Colour” one more time, this time with even more excitement. The crowd ate it up, every last morsel, and left very very satisfied.
You simply must see the band live. If you care about rock and roll, if you care about local artists, then you must see this band live. If you don’t, you are the only one missing out.
Good show boys. See you next time, front row center.
I found this concert review on a hard drive and realized I had never posted it to mikeladano.com. OVERSIGHT!
This was a special experience. Read on.
video by John Hockley
HELIX – The Power Of Rock And Roll – CD Release Party Report – East Side Bar & Grill, London Ontario, 2007/08/19
Today Jen & I headed down to London to check out Helix playing, and to celebrate the release of their new CD, The Power of Rock and Roll, on EMI. We threw on some Helix for the drive down, and met John Hockley (Helix MySpace guru) and his family at noon. John has quite an impressive autograph collection, as anyone who’s got him added on Facebook can attest to.
Stocking up on coffee and Timbits, John and I trekked over to Brian and Linda Vollmer’s house to drop off some salad for their after-show BBQ and to say hello. It was my first time at their place and I was blown away by Brian’s cool collection of rock and roll stuff! My favourite thing of his was his prop from the fourth season of Trailer Park Boys, “Ricky’s Dope Map”. Very cool to see it up close and personal.
Brian was gracious enough to take a photo with me, and Linda told me how everyone loved my [now deleted] YouTube video “Why I Prefer Helix To Rush”. That was very cool; I told her that if I had known that anyone would actually watch it that I would have worked harder on it! Maybe next time….
From there, we headed over to the venue to see Helix play. Milled around the crowd, ran into Brent Doerner and said hello.
John introduced me to Randy, the merchandise guy, who had also seen my YouTube video. He sold me some rare Helix stuff, including the CD Never Trust Anyone Over 30 which I thought I would never be able to find! Then I got it signed by Rainer Wiechmann who played guitar and engineered a lot of the later Helix stuff on it. Rainer was cool, and thank you John for introducing me.
We found a table, and sat with a very nice couple, Diane and Mark from Kitchener. Wouldn’t you know it…Diane used to be Greg “Fritz” Hinz bookeeper, and asked him to come over and sign my CD for me! I told Fritz that my very first concert was Helix at the Center In The Square in 1987. […where he mooned the crowd.]
Then the band hit the stage. This was our second time seeing the current live lineup of Helix. [Brian Vollmer – lead vocals, Rik VanDyk – guitars, Jim Lawson – guitars, Paul Fonseca – bass, and Brent “Ned” Niemi – drums.] Nine months after seeing this version play for the first time, I think they were even tighter, and definitely heavier. I have never seen Helix play so fast and heavy before. Blew me away. Still played a couple of slower tunes as well, but even they had more energy.
The full and complete set list:
1. No Rest For The Wicked / Band intro and solos
2. Boomerang Lover
3. Get Up!
4. Wild In The Streets
5. Dirty Dog
6. Eat My Dust
7. Running Wild In The 21st Century
8. The Kids Are All Shakin’
9. Heavy Metal Love
10. Rick Van Dyk guitar solo / segue into Metallica’s Creeping Death riff
11. When The Hammer Falls
12. Deep Cuts The Knife
13. Good To The Last Drop
14. Baby Likes To Ride
15. Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’
16. The Power Of Rock And Roll
17. Animal House
18. Rock You
ENCORES
19. (Make Me Do) Anything You Want
20. Fill Your Head With Rock
Packed house, great show, the band played & sang great. Thanks Helix for an amazing afternoon!
Enjoy this first of two White Lion reviews. Stay tuned for the second in a couple days!
WHITE LION – Pride (1987 Atlantic)
I’ve had some fierce arguments with some rock fans about this album. Regardless of its flaws, I steadfastly defend it and especially the talents of one Vito Bratta, the best guitarist to never become a guitar hero. After the breakup of White Lion in 1991, Bratta retreated from public life and music completely. Some have argued to me, “If he was such a talent, he’d still be around.” Such talk is ignorant of the facts. Bratta spent many years as a caregiver to ill parents, and whatever decisions he made have to be respected.
I mentioned that this album is flawed, so I’m going to get that part out of the way first. There are two things about this album that suck. One is the production, by the normally awesome Michael Wagener (engineered by Canadian “Gggarth” Richardson). It’s really muddy, echoey, and annoying. It is indicative of the times.
The second thing that drives me nuts are the lyrics. I know Mike Tramp is Danish and English is his second language, but there were three guys from New York (Staten Island and Brooklyn) in the band that could have helped. As Exhibit A, I present you “Lady of the Valley”:
Lady of the valley Can you hear me cry In the stillness of the night I have lost my brother In the fights of the war And my heart has broken down
I always stumble over that “In the fights of the war” line. That’s one of the “serious” songs, something that White Lion tackled frequently (improving over the years). For their flaws I’ll at least respect Mike Tramp’s willingness to present a personal point of view on specific issues (“Little Fighter”, “Cry For Freedom”, “Warsong”, “El Salvador”). Unfortunately Pride is loaded with songs about young girls and what Mike Tramp would like to do with them. Below, Exhibit B:
Keep your engine running high When you take my love inside But hold the trigger on my loaded gun (“Hungry”)
Little miss Dee’s got a dirty mind All around the boys she’s one of a kind If you wanna good time you can take her home Cause everyone knows she is good in bed(“Sweet Little Loving”)
I’ll stop there.
Musically, and performance-wise, Pride is a joy to listen to. What an untapped well of talent Vito Bratta is. In the guitar magazines, he was noted for having captured some of the magic of Eddie Van Halen, and I agree with that. Bratta has definitely mastered the Van Halen book of rock. His riffs are much like Van Halen’s, with one guitar playing the rhythm and flicking in and out with tricky little licks. It sounds difficult as hell. “Hungry” is the most Van Halen-like. The difference is that Bratta sounds like a much more schooled player. Everything sounds meticulously planned and written. When he takes a solo, it’s a combination of Van Halen and neoclassical discipline. And every song is absolutely loaded with fills and tricks. Pride is very busy guitar-wise, in a good way.
“Hungry” is a great song, a dark Dokken-esque opener. Also similar to Dokken is the second track, the mid-tempo “Lonely Nights”. It’s another strong track, and I find Mike Tramp’s raspy voice similar to Jon Bon Jovi’s from time to time. Bratta executes a fluttery solo, and then it’s on to the next one, “Don’t Give Up”. Again, I find the lyrics tedious. I like positivity, but I don’t find, “Don’t give up, even when it’s tough,” to be very profound. Thankfully this uptempo banger is another winner musically. Once again I struggle to keep up with Bratta’s stunning fretwork.
“Lady of the Valley” is pretty impressive. It’s the “epic” I suppose, 6 1/2 minutes in length. The riff is choppy and smoking, and the rhythm section of James LoMenzo and Greg D’Angelo is spot-in. Then Bratta gets his echoey acoustic guitar out and the song mutates. An anthemic chorus tops a great song.
Side Two of the album was packed with singles: the hits “Wait”, “Tell Me”, and “When the Chrildren Cry”. “Wait” and “Tell Me” are both songs that Bon Jovi would have given their nuts to write. Tramp’s raspy vocals are absolutely perfect, as was his blonde mane, and the girls went wild. “When the Children Cry” was and still is an impressive acoustic performance. Even in 1987 I was impressed that White Lion chose to forgo drums and backing instrumentation. This simple, quiet song is the template for what Extreme would do three years later with “More Than Words”. Bratta was a guitar player able to pull off such an arrangement without sacrificing integrity.
The album is rounded out by “All Join Our Hands” and “All You Need Is Rock N Roll”, two odes to the greatest music ever invented. “All You Need Is Rock N Roll” is quite cool, beginning with what sounds like a drunken acoustic jam, and ending with with some killer bluesy playing from everyone. Both songs are great. I have always felt that the album tracks were as strong as the singles; like an album of 10 singles.
ANVIL – Juggernaut of Justice (2011 The End Records)
When I first heard all that cowbell on the track “Fukeneh!” I screamed aloud, “YES!” Anvil don’t give a crap about what’s trendy and what ain’t. That’s why they’re still around over 30 years later, and Juggernaut of Justice was one of their best albums since the early 80’s.
It’s not commercial, but it is more accessible. As good as This Is Thirteen was, I like Juggernaut of Justice better. It is slickly produced by Bob Marlette (at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606). Bob Marlette is not my favourite producer, I’ll admit that, but he’s done a bang-on job here. A little trebly on the guitars in the mix, but otherwise a fine, clear sharp production job. Lip’s vocals are more accessible, but not overproduced. You can still hear flat notes here and there, which is good! I like production to remain authentic. Kudos to Marlette who made a great sounding Anvil album.
Every song is great. I especially loved “Conspiracy” and “Fukeneh!”. “On Fire” is cool and fun lyrically, an obviously autobiographical tune about Lips himself. The title track is great, and so is the galloping nu-metal sheen of “This Ride” (featuring bassist Glenn Five on vocals.) Yet there are no weak tracks, Anvil sharpening their metal edges. With the exception of the 7-minute “Paranormal,” (a great slow burner) all songs are in the 3-4 minute range, packing maximum punch into the grooves. Also noteworthy is the horn-laden metal of “Swing Thing”! This great instrumental shows off the considerable chops of drummer Robb Reiner. It is the icing on top of this heavy metal treat!
I love the cover art, which reminds me of Endgame by Megadeth for whatever reason. (Also “Conspiracy” reminded me of some of the lyrical themes on Endgame.)
I liked Juggernaut of Justice enough to buy it twice: Once digitally, to get the bonus track “What I Want To Be”, and then the limited edition CD which has its own pair of bonus tracks. “The Station” grinds along relentlessly, with a metallic sheen of multiple layered guitars. “Tonight Is Coming” is more basic, but with G5 hanging out on the upper frets of his bass every now and then to give it some flavour. The chorus is pretty amusing: “Tonight is coming, all day long!”*
The digital bonus track, “What I Want To Be” is the best of the three, a bright metal song with Reiner playing it fairly straight and the transmission in drive. Each bonus is a perfectly fine track, so purchase as you feel so inclined.
Very, very happy with this album. I had my doubts due to the presence of Bob Marlette instead of Chris Tsangarides, but…well done, Bob.
4.5/5 stars
* their new album, Hope In Hell, features the song “Flying” with the following lyric:
“Tel Aviv to Turkey then down through Greece,
Back home to Canada to see our famous geese.”
“Keep on rockin, keep on rockin’, to this metal tonight!” The first of two Anvil reviews this week!
ANVIL – This is Thirteen (16 track vinyl edition, 2009 VH1 Classic Records)
I won’t go into the whole Anvil story — see the movie (Anvil! The Story of Anvil), and then get this album if you haven’t already. Don’t get this album because you feel sorry for Anvil and want to help them on their quest for stardom; buy this album because it is one seriously heavy piece of metal greatness. It’s amazing that thirty years on, a band can come up with something as strong or stronger than their classics.
Surely some of the credit must go to veteran knob-twister Chris Tsangarides (Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Bruce Dickinson) who produced This Is Thirteen. Tsangarides, if you’ve heard his past productions, gets a simply great sound and performance out of bands. In particular, heavy bands like Anvil. Everything here sounds great — the drums are pounding, clear and heavy and the guitars are shredding and crisp. Excellent sounding record! (NOTE: Tsangarades has been ill recently, and we wish him nothing but the best.)
The songs? Well, originally there were 13 songs…this is Anvil’s 13th album, get it? However, some extras were added to this vinyl edition (more on that later). The core 13 songs are pretty damn strong. I would say heavier than the “classic three” Anvil records, but every bit as catchy and memorable. The riffs are the kind that bore their way through the skull into your brain. And Lips plays almost all the guitars here — clearly, he is not only a talented frontman, but also an underrated shredder. No one will mistake Lips for Alex Skolnick, but he’s like a more talented Nigel Tufnel — and I mean that in the nicest way — style wise. (Former lead guitarist Ivan Hurd also appears on a handful on tracks.)
Bordering on thrash metal at times, and sinking to Sabbathy lows at others, This Is Thirteen gives you a variety of metal to sink your teeth into. Check out the title track “This is Thirteen” for some seriously heavy doom. Sounds like something on Sabbath’s Dehumanizer CD, even lyrically. I’m sure Dio would approve. Then skip ahead to something fast and heavy like “Shoulda Woulda Coulda”. This Is Thirteen has a little of everything!
Highlights for this listener included the title track, the apocalyptic “Bombs Away”, “Burning Bridges”, “Feed The Greed”, “Room #9” and the three bonus tracks.
I love when bands put bonus tracks on vinyl. It makes the metal geek in me scream in joy. Here there are three:
14. “Thumb Hang” – a song Lips & Robb wrote in highschool, about the Spanish Inquisition. Finally recorded 30 years later, it’s actually a pretty decent song!
15. “Metal On Metal” – re-recorded for that heavier sound, but don’t worry, it’s not modernized at all. It’s a straight remake, just better sounding.
16. “666” – same deal. The great thing about these re-records is that it allows new Anvil fans to get their two best known songs along with the new album. Pretty genius if you asked me!*
My only gripe? Occassionally Lips’ voice can be a little grating. I have the same issue when I listen to Megadeth for a couple hours on end. I just can’t listen to Mustaine’s voice for too long in a row. Lips’ voice isn’t as grating to me, but too much Anvil and I need to play something else.
4/5 stars
* These three songs were later re-released on the 2011 Anvil compilation Monument of Metal.
BON JOVI – The Circle (2009 Island CD/DVD edition)
The Circle is an apt title for this Bon Jovi album. They returned from their pop country detour down the Lost Highway and returned to essentially exactly where they were on the previous album, Have A Nice Day. If you are familiar with Bon Jovi, you know that Have A Nice Day was an OK record full of pop rock like “Last Cigarette”, modern and slick. That’s what this record is too, but that’s starting to get a little old.
First single “We Weren’t Born To Follow” (I find that title ironic as Bon Jovi didn’t spend much of their career leading, musically) is a great, uptempo song with a catchy chorus and slick guitar playing by Richie Sambora. It’s another in a long succession of latter day Pop Jovi successes. The best tune on this record is the the “statement song” regarding the economic collapse: “Work For The Working Man”. However, isn’t there something we’ve heard here before? Doesn’t Hugh McDonald’s bassline sound a lot like the one from “Livin’ On A Prayer”? Even if it’s little more than a rewrite of the same hook, it’s a great song with a powerful chorus. It has some muscle to it, and is one of the few songs on the album that does. Rhythmic and strong, this echoes not only “Prayer” but also “Keep The Faith” in some respects.
Elsewhere on the album, there are some intriguing sounds that almost remind me of the back-to-basics goodness that was These Days, and the heavier moments on Bounce (see: “Bullet”). However “Bullet” is also bears unpleasant similarities to Collective Soul. There are also moments that take me back to Lost Highway and Crush ,but not in a good way. Songs like “Fast Cars” and “Brokenpromiseland” (ugh!) just sit there like the flaccid Pop Jovi songs that they are. Bon Jovi are on cruise control.
My two favourite Bon Jovi albums of recent vintage (ie: post-Keep the Faith) are the criminally underrated These Days, and Bounce. What the band need to do is: A) get their MVP back, Mr. Richie Sambora. B) write an album without all these outside writers like John Shanks and Billy Falcon, based on rock and roll, not the radio. The Circle is close at times. “Learn To Love” for example was written by Jon and Richie with Desmond Child, and approaches a vintage These Days epic quality.
How likely is Bon Jovi to rock out like they used to? The DVD documentary included with this edition of The Circle is not encouraging. Entitled When We Were Beautiful (named for the U2-like song on the album), it is an insightful look into the inner workings of Bon Jovi. It also has some enticing live clips. (Please, Jon, please! Release a full length audio version of Richie singing “I’ll Be There For You”, it’s great!) However it is quite clear that Jon is the driving force of the band, and the rest of the guys are salaried employees of the corporation. Jon is very clear that he’s a businessman and he must make albums that he thinks people will like. It’s unfortunate that he’s decided that pop music is the answer. I think it’s unlikely Jon will be breaking new ground again soon.
There are several Quiet Riot live albums available: this one, Setlist, Live at the US Festival, and Live & Rare. All are vintage recordings from the early 1980’s. Of the three, you might look at Extended Versions and pass on it. It looks cheap and unofficial. To overlook this CD would be a mistake, and this is why.
Sure, it lacks any sort of booklet or liner notes. All I know is that the first eight tracks are from Pasadena in 1983, and the last two from Nashville the same year. From the outside you wouldn’t know that. The only information is the ominous “Recorded Live” which tells you very little indeed. Being 1983, this is the “classic” lineup of Kevin DuBrow, Frankie Banali, Rudy Sarzo, and Carlos Cavazo, on the Metal Health tour. Introducing “Love’s A Bitch,” DuBrow reveals that they only began their US tour a short while ago.
Perhaps because it’s early in the tour, or maybe because they’re home in California, Quiet Riot pulled out two rarities for the Pasadena show. These are “Gonna Have A Riot” and “Anytime You Want Me”, neither of which are on Quiet Riot I or II. Both are written solely by DuBrow, but “Gonna Have A Riot” is from the Randy Rhoads period. “Anytime You Want Me” is of more recent vintage, and it’s actually quite an excellent pop rocker. Also rare was the set opener, “Danger Zone”, unreleased until 2001 when the studio version was added to the Metal Health remastered CD.
In addition to the rarities, you get the hits: “Metal Health”, “Cum On Feel The Noize”, “Slick Black Cadillac”, “Love’s A Bitch”. There’s also a handful of well liked album cuts such as “Let’s Go Crazy” and the smoking “Breathless”. That song knocked me out as an 11 year old and it still does today. All performed by the band in their prime, before the downfall.
Live & Rare sounded awful, but this CD sounds pretty good. I’m not sure if it’s a radio broadcast, but it’s perfectly listenable. It’s too bad there’s no packaging, because if this had been packaged with more effort and care, it could have been sold as an “official” live album quite easily. Bummer there’s no liner notes, all you’re going to get is the music. However, the music stands up for itself and it’s an enjoyable live album.
Eric Carr, who should by all rights be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his bandmates, is such a tragic loss. He earned himself a legion of fans after just 10 years in Kiss. Knowing that Marko Fox is one such fan, I asked him what the other Fox meant to him:
“Being both a Fox and a drummer, I can positively say that Eric Carr’s work on Creatures of the Night remains one of the coolest achievements in rock…If only I could figure out how to master his makeup design…”
All true. But Eric Carr wasn’t just a drummer. He could play enough guitar and bass to write songs, and he could sing. His voice wasn’t super commercial, but neither is Gene Simmons’. One reason his loss is painful is because Eric was a virtually untapped well of creativity. I think every Kiss fan knows that Eric Carr was unhappy that he had so few lead vocals and writing credits on his Kiss albums.
Rockology is a series of demos, some in a near-finished state and some left incomplete. Recorded in the late 80’s, before Eric knew he was sick, these were to be used for cartoons and other miscellaneous projects. Bruce Kulick finished recording some guitar parts and mixed it 10 years later. He also wrote liner notes explaining origins and intentions for each track.
While there is nothing here that screams “hit single” today, in the late 80’s it would be easy to imagine “Somebody’s Waiting” on the radio with Paul Stanley singing. It would fit right into that Kiss Hot In The Shade or Crazy Nights era. Other songs here are more heavy and riff based, such as the Gene-esque opener “Eyes of Love”. When Eric sings the heavier songs, his voice falls into a Gene-like monster growl. On the ballads, his falsetto echoes Paul Stanley. Most songs here would have made excellent Kiss album tracks. Most are better than the filler that Kiss was padding their albums with in the late 80’s. It is a shame none of these songs were finished by Kiss themselves, as the full band would have made them more special.
Best track: the unfinished “Just Can’t Wait”. This instrumental has a really catchy guitar part, and I just know if it had been finished with verses and a chorus, it would have been classic. It was written for Crazy Nights by Eric, Bruce and Adam Mitchell.
Special mention must of course go to Bruce Kulick. He overdubbed guitar solos for a few of the songs, and I am sure each one came from the heart. Bruce is a very intelligent musician, but he’s also more passionate than he often gets credit for. I’m sure for Bruce it was passion rather than money that inspired him here.
Buyer beware, however: These songs are definitely unfinished. They are as polished as possible given some of their rough origins, but in some cases there are no drums, just drum machines. In other cases, there are no lyrics, just scratch vocals. Eric’s talent still shines on every song. His is a life that Kiss fans will continue to mourn.
The Kiss army, especially the lovers of the 80’s, need this as a crucial companion piece to their collections. Everybody else will have a tough time justifying owning it.
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