Gene Simmons

REVIEW: KISS – Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (2003)

Part 42 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

KISS – Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (2-disc edition, 2003)

When Kiss announced their “farewell tour”, Ace Frehley assumed when they said “farewell”, they meant it.  He didn’t want to continue and so Tommy Thayer was drafted in.   Thayer came to to the attention of Kiss fans while in his band Black N’ Blue, which Gene produced.  He wrote songs for Hot In The Shade, and every studio album since then.  He even ghosted on Psycho Circus, and played Ace in a Kiss tribute band.  If ever there was a guy destined to replace somebody in a band, it was Tommy Thayer.

Kiss Alive IV: Kiss Symphony is a fantastic album, and is certainly better than Alive IV – The Millenium Concert. Say what?  There’s another Alive IV?

Ya’see, back in 2001, Alive IV was announced and then cancelled. I even had a pre-order for it back then, and its picture is included in the Kiss box set as “forthcoming” in the discography section.  It was shelved, and my pre-order cancelled.   But, it was eventually released as the Millenium Concert in the Alive Box.

This is better. Way way better.

Some will accuse Kiss of copying Metallica with the whole symphony thing. Well, then Metallica copied Deep Purple. Even Red Rider, whom have a Kiss connection, did their own concert album with orchestra in the 80’s (The Symphony Sessions). This is nothing new. Nothing in rock is new anymore.

Tommy Thayer performs admirably and very Ace-like, in his place. Peter Criss is here, keeping time remarkably well with an orchestra behind him. I don’t know if he played to a click track or just to conductor David Campbell. I am sure this was a challenge to him and kudos to him for doing so well.

(Incidentally, Peter Criss had briefly left the band prior to Ace, and was replaced by Eric Singer during this time.  This Simmons/Stanley/Frehley/Singer lineup was never captured on album unfortunately.)

Kiss split the show into three sections: Full-on live 4-piece Kiss, then a section of slow songs with a small string section, and then the full-blown Kiss symphony with orchestra. Great move there, it really builds, and it allows for more variety of songs on the album.

Highlights for me included “Sure Know Something”, which might be better than the original version. “Forever” and “Shandi” sound good. but I maintain that Eric Carr is the only drummer who can play “Forever” properly. It’s also great to hear “Detroit Rock City” go straight into “King Of The Night Time World” again, and everything on the symphony disc kicks butt. Biggest surprise was “Great Expectations” — had it ever been played live before?

Note note:
There is a single “highlights” disc available. It is, unfortunately, the source of some frustration for me. Read on.

You see, Kiss did an amazing Ramones cover of “Do You Believe In Rock And Roll Radio?”  The lineup was a rare three-piece:  Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer.  This song was included on the Ramones’ tribute album, We’re A Happy Family. It has some killer sax, and is among the best cover versions Kiss have ever done.

When the single disc “highlights” version of Alive IV came out, they stuck “Rock And Roll Radio” on it as a bonus track.  So, this version of the album is the only Kiss album where the song is to be found.  I wish it was on the double too.

5/5 stars…with the caveat that “Do You Believe In Rock And Roll Radio?” should have been on here, and I’m mad it’s not.

REVIEW: KISS – 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kiss Vol. 1, 2 and 3

Part 41 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!   We’re deep into the second compilation years of Kiss.  This time I’m doing three at once!

KISS – 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kiss Vol. 1, 2 and 3 (2003, 2004, 2006)

This series is one I find quite enjoyable (The Millenium Collection in general, which spanned many artists). For a budget price you get 10 to 12 hits in a brief running time. Perfect for people who aren’t fans but want some hits.  If you know where to go you can get these for around $5.  Imagine that — three discs of awesome Kiss for $15.  Not a bad value.

Let’s start with Volume 1, shall we?

I am a fan. I don’t play this series often, but I do enjoy it. The problem here is, of course, you can’t sum up the early years of Kiss in 12 songs. Here’s the album breakdown:

  • 2 songs from Kiss
  • 1 song from Hotter Than Hell
  • 1 song from Dressed To Kill
  • 1 song from Alive!
  • 2 songs from Destroyer
  • 2 songs from Rock And Roll Over
  • 2 songs from Love Gun
  • 1 song from Dynasty

Considering what this album is, the only thing I don’t like is the inclusion of “I Was Made For Loving You”. I would have put on something like “Shout It Out Loud”. Dynasty doesn’t really fit in with the other albums included here, but it came out in 1979 and therefore couldn’t go on Volume II (the 80’s).

1. Strutter
2. Deuce
3. Hotter Than Hell
4. C’mon And Love Me
5. Rock And Roll All Nite
6. Detroit Rock City
7. Beth
8. Hard Luck Woman
9. Calling Dr. Love
10. Love Gun
11. Christeen Sixteen
12. I Was Made For Lovin’ You

Volume 2 continues the concept.  It contains tunes from the following records:

  • 2 songs from Creatures Of The Night
  • 2 songs from Lick It Up
  • 2 songs from Animalize
  • 2 songs from Asylum
  • 2 songs from Crazy Nights
  • 2 songs from Hot In The Shade

Although between Volume I and Volume II, a couple albums slip through the cracks (Unmasked, The Elder, Killers) this CD is a pretty good summary of key singles from 1982-1989. Only a few singles are missing (“Who Wants To Be Lonely”, “Turn On The Night”, “Let’s Put The X In Sex”, “(You Make Me) Rock Hard”, “Rise To It”). I don’t think I would have subsituted any of those, for any of these:

1. Creatures Of The Night
2. I Love It Loud
3. Lick It Up
4. All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose
5. Heaven’s On Fire
6. Thrills In The Night
7. Tears Are Falling
8. Uh! All Night
9. Crazy Crazy Nights
10. Reason To Live
11. Hide Your Heart
12. Forever

Volume 3 is the shakiest of the three.  It leans a bit too much on live versions of popular hits for my tastes.  I would have preferred more studio songs, but KISS didn’t release that many studio albums in the 90’s so there’s not much you can really change. Here’s the album breakdown.

  • 2 songs from Revenge
  • 1 song from Alive III
  • 3 songs from Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions
  • 2 songs from MTV Unplugged
  • 3 songs from Psycho-Circus
  • 1 song from the Detroit Rock City soundtrack

I think 3 is too many Carnival Of Souls songs on a hits CD aimed at the casual fan, and I think “Nothing Can Keep Me From You” is a terrible song with no redeeming value.  Sorry Paul.  In reality, it should almost be considered a Paul solo track:  No other members of Kiss played on or were anywhere near that song.  It’s also never been performed live by the band.

This disc is notable for being an easy, cheap place to get two rare tracks.  “Nothing Can Keep Me From You” is one, and the unplugged version of “Got To Choose” is another.

1. God Gave Rock & Roll To You II
2. Unholy
3. Domino
4. Hate
5. Childhood’s End
6. I Will Be There
7. Coming Home (Unplugged)
8. Got To Choose (Unplugged)
9. Psycho Circus
10. Into The Void
11. I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll
12. Nothing Can Keep Me From You

For the whole set:

3/5 stars

BEST OF INNER

REVIEW: KISS – The Very Best Of (2002)

Part 40 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

KISS – The Very Best Of (Universal, 2002)

My 1 star review is not based on the music. Clearly, these are all classic songs, each of which needs to be included on a Kiss hits CD. Rather my 1 star is based on what this CD represents.

The Very Best Of was the first release by Universal after Kiss’ contract was over. They could then release as many hits albums as they wanted, with no new material required, and they have. Many more times albums like this came out, some better than others, and most better than this.

No liner notes, no input from the band, and a tracklist that is largely repeated on CDs such as Greatest Hits and Greatest KISS. At least this CD was in chronological order and not scattershot like the previous two that I mentioned. It was also nice to finally see “Forever” on a hits CD as that was a huge hit for the non-makeup version of the band. Weird thing though, the then-current Kiss never played that one live.  It was nice that “New York Groove” (an Ace solo track) is on here, as well as “Lick It Up” which were being played live by the band at that time.

Otherwise, this CD was unnessesary then, and is very unnessesary now. As mentioned, at the time there were plenty of similar Kiss hits discs out, and now there are literally at least a dozen. This one stands out in no way anymore.

1/5 star. For diehards who have to own everything, or newbies only.

1. Strutter
2. Deuce
3. Got To Choose
4. Hotter Than Hell
5. C’Mon And Love Me
6. Rock And Roll All Nite (live)
7. Detroit Rock City
8. Shout It Out Loud
9. Beth
10. I Want You
11. Calling Dr. Love
12. Hard Luck Woman
13. I Stole Your Love
14. Christine Sixteen
15. Love Gun
16. New York Groove
17. I Was Made For Loving You
18. I Love It Loud
19. Lick It Up
20. Forever
21. God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II

REVIEW: KISS – The Box Set (Deluxe mini guitar case edition!)

Part 39 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

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KISS – The Box Set (Deluxe mini guitar case edition, 2001)

These days it’s pretty common to see deluxe versions of box sets, for the mega-fan who just has to have everything.  In 2001, it was less so.  Am I giving Gene Simmons credit for creating the concept?  Kind of, yeah.  This, the very first KISS box set, was available in three editions.  First I’m going to discuss the one that I chose — the mini guitar case edition — and we’ll go from there!  Gene is pretty much a business genius, and he knows if he makes something available, people will buy it.  “If you build it, they will come.”  I don’t blame him in the least and I’m the last person who’d call him “Greed Simmons”.  He’s not taking our money — we’re giving it to him.

So, leave it to KISS to package one version of their first box set in a miniature replica guitar case.  Granted there have been much cooler box looking sets before and since (see: ZZ Top, Pink Floyd) but everybody needs a KISS box set in a case like this, don’t they?

Well, I did.  It’s a handsome sturdy black case, with handle and silver KISS logo emblazoned on the front.  If memory serves it cost me about $250.  I got it from the American Amazon site, I had it on pre-order and I was so stoked to get it.

Included are 5 CDs (around 6 hours of music), an awesome hardcover book with loads of liner notes and rare photos, and 31 rare or unreleased tracks.  Some have been released on singles or compilations before, which I will discuss in greater detail, but most are previously unheard.
The box doesn’t hold the CD jewel cases all that well when you open it, so be careful.  Under one of the CDs is a secret compartment, with a thing of silica gel (“DO NOT EAT” helpfully written upon it) and keys for the case!

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Before I go through the discs, I’ll mention a few things that KISS fans often moan about when it comes to this box set:

  • “Gene promised the entire Wicked Lester album, and it’s not here.”
  • “There was supposed to be entire early KISS show would be in the box.”
  • “Gene said there’d be a video or a DVD.”
  • “The Elder demos are not on here, and Gene said they would be .”
  • “Where’s ‘Rip And Destroy’ and the acoustic version of ‘Beth’?”
  • “I have bootlegs of this stuff already, and it sounds better on the bootlegs.”

Since the release of this set, KISS have released ample DVDs (the KISStory series will be hitting 4 volumes this year) so I think that point is moot.  When questioned on other points, Gene always responds, “Be patient.  It’s coming.”  A buddy of mine, Mike Lukas of the band Legendary Klopeks, actually asked Gene some of these exact questions in person, and Gene said, “I know.  It’s coming.  Be patient.”  I’m sure that will bear out to be true.  As for the sound quality issues, I have bootlegs of some of this stuff on CD already, and none of them sound better than this box set, so I don’t know where people got that better sounding stuff.  And plenty of this stuff has not been bootlegged before.

Onto the music!

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DISC 1:

This CD starts off with a whopping 12 rare tracks before you even delve into the first KISS album.  The first two, Eddie Kramer demos of “Strutter” and “Deuce”, have been released before on singles and compilations, but many casual fans did not have them until now.  These tracks just smoke, with “Strutter” being quite a bit longer.  They are raw and have great playing from Ace.  Three tracks from the Wicked Lester album are included.  Wicked Lester was Gene and Paul’s original band, which transformed into KISS when they fired the other three guys.  Many Wicked Lester tracks were later recorded by KISS.  Yes, it would have been nice to have the whole album.  Maybe it will be released officially one day, maybe we will have to live with the crap-sounding bootlegs.  If it is never released, I won’t blame Gene.  It’s pretty terrible.

More demos abound including an early Gene song and an early Paul song.  Both hint at some directions they would explore within KISS and their solo albums.  A live take of the unreleased song “Acrobat” follows (essentially: “Love Theme From Kiss” melded with an unreleased song called “You’re Much Too Young”, which contains an early version of the “Detroit Rock City” riff — whew).  From here, there are nine tracks from the first three albums, ending with “Rock And Roll All Nite”.  Not a terribly generous slice of music from those first albums, but it does prevent too much duplication with the songs already included as demos.

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DISC 2:

Live tracks from Alive! kick off this disc, which is mostly made up of songs from the 4th through 6th KISS studio albums.  One really cool track is “Doncha Hesitate” which was completely unknown to me  previously.  It is especially cool because unlike later KISS demos, it includes all four members.  Plus, it is actually a really great song!  It just didn’t fit in with the direction of Destroyer; it is clearly in the mould of early KISS, which is why it never made the album.

Paul’s “God Of Thunder” demo is here (Paul’s lead vocal and alternate lyrics about Aphrodite), as well as an early version of “Dr. Love” called “Bad Bad Lovin'”.  The disc ends with another previously unheard song, a Gene demo called “Love Is Blind” which reveals his crooning Beatles roots.

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DISC 3:

This disc chronicles KISS’ decline in popularity in the early 80’s.  It starts out with a bang, “Detroit Rock City”, which is out of chronology.  Some tracks from Alive II and the solo albums (with another Gene demo) take us into the disco years.  The demo and live versions of the disco tracks reveal the harder edge intended when those songs were written.  Not many rarities on this disc, although “Nowhere To Run” is included, one of my all time favourite songs from KISS Killers, an import-only hits compilation with bonus material.

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DISC 4:

There are even fewer rare tracks on this disc, which is strange because there are tons of demos from the 80’s floating in collector’s circles.  I guess they’re probably just not that good.  This CD covers Lick It Up (1983) through to Hot In The Shade (1989):  The non-makeup part of the 80’s.  “Ain’t That Peculiar” is one of the best rarities here, an Eric Carr demo of what would become “Little Caesar”.  There is also a demo of Paul’s “Time Traveller”, a keyboard-based pop rock song which has not aged well.  Unfortunately, due to squeezing so many albums onto this CD, Lick It Up is criminally underrepresented.  It had many more great songs than just the two singles presented here.  “Let’s Put The X In Sex” should have been dropped in favour of “Exciter”, “And On The 8th Day”, or “A Million To One”.

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DISC 5:

Eric Carr’s final recording (and Eric Singer’s first with KISS) was “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II”, which kicks off this disc.  Eric Carr was sick with heart cancer, and was unable to play drums on the track.  He did sing the background vocal, which is a highlight of the song.  Eric Singer, who had played with Paul Stanley on his 1989 solo tour, was called to replace Carr for the sessions.  Sadly, that replacement would have to become permanent when Carr died in November of 1991.  I would have preferred the original mix of this song, from the Bill & Ted soundtrack, personally.

As far as rarities go, there is not much on this disc.  A Gene demo of “Domino” is neat, but underwhelming.  “Got To Choose” from the Japanese version of MTV Unplugged is very welcome, but where is the live take of “New York Groove” from the Japanese version of You Wanted The Best?  I would really like to have that in a digital format — I only have it on vinyl.

“It’s My Life”, from the Psycho-Circus sessions, was an old KISS song written back in the 80’s and first released by Wendy O. Williams on an album written and produced by Gene Simmons.  KISS finally released their own version of it many years later on this box, and it purports to include the entire original band playing on it.  I am skeptical of this, but it does definitely have a verse sung by Ace Frehley, while Gene sings the main part.  “Nothing Can Keep Me From You” is on here, a terrible song from the Detroit Rock City movie, and actually more of a Paul solo song since no other members appear on it.  The unreleased full-length version of “Childhood’s End” from Carnival of Souls (featuring a coda called “Outromental”) round out the non-album stuff.

A bad song choice or two from Revenge, some of the wrong tracks from Carnival of Souls, and a few too many from Psycho-Circus are the main flaws with this disc.  A track from Alive III would have been nice.

The box set ends with the “live” (not really though, actually dubbed) version of “Shout It Out Loud” from the Greatest KISS album, and a “preview track” from what was intended to be the forthcoming Alive IV:  “Rock And Roll All Nite” (the only song to be repeated).  This version of Alive VI ended up getting shelved in favour of a symphonic live album, which was then dubbed Alive VI: Kiss Symphony.  The original version of Alive VI has since been issued in another KISS box set.

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As I said earlier in the review, I am sure that KISS will release more rare stuff in the future.  It has already started to happen with the afforementioned KISS Alive Box, and KISSology DVD sets.  As Gene said, be patient, it’s coming.  On the whole, quibbles aside I very much enjoy listening to the KISS box set.  It is quite interesting to hear the band evolve, and you gain an appreciation for their charisma and songwriting.  Regardless of what the critics say, Kiss are quite talented songwriters.  Often simple, but we’re still listening to them almost 40 years later.  And they said it would never last six months.

The liner notes are quite insightful if not entirely accurate (Peter Criss did not play on any tracks from Psycho-Circus except one, no matter what the notes say).

I mentioned there were other versions available.  There is a basic version, with a softcover version of the book, in a simple black box.  It retails for around $100.  That’s the version most people should grab.  The only difference is the box it comes in, and the softcover book vs. hardcover.  Oh, and the guitar box also came with a print of a  note in what appears to be Paul Stanley’s handwriting, talking about the long awaited set.  Not a huge deal.

Then, for the ultimate fan, there is the box set that actually came in a full sized guitar case. The Premium Gold Edition. It appears to still be available.

It comes with an RIAA gold record of Kiss Alive!  and apparently “hand written” liner notes in gold ink on parchment paper.  Retail price to us Canucks:  $850 smackaroos!

For the music itself, I rate this one:

5/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Psycho Circus (1998, Japanese and Australian versions)

Part 38 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

 

PSYCHOKISS – Psycho Circus (1998)

I have a really hard time rating Psycho-Circus.  I played it every day when it came out, but I like it a lot less now than I did in 1998. Once I got over the novelty of “finally, a new album by the original Kiss,” I stopped listening to it.  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Gene and Paul are essentially the only members of the original Kiss on most of it.  That’s the biggest problem.

On all but one song, drums are by Kevin Valentine (ex-Cinderella), a good studio drummer.  Guitars are handled by Tommy Thayer (who fits into the story later) on all but two songs.

The other problem is it’s way too overproduced and I lay that blame at the feet of Bruce Fairbairn, rest his soul.

Fairbairn was a great producer for Bon Jovi and especially Aerosmith in the 80’s, but he was the wrong guy to produce Kiss. I think he wanted to make a dense, lush album as if it were 1998’s version of Destroyer, and he failed miserably. Paul wanted Bob Ezrin to produce…oh, the album that might have been.  Paul and Fairbairn clashed in the studio regularly over the direction of the album.

The title track, though is amazing!   Vintage, anthemic Paul Stanley. The solo is great, also very vintage…but it’s Tommy. I don’t mind Fairbairn’s production here, the circus noises suit the song, however the drums sound way too plastic.  This is the case with almost the entire album.  The drums sound like samples throughout.

Gene’s “Within” follows, which I believe was a Carnival Of Souls outtake. (Two other COS/Psycho-Circus outtakes, “Sweet & Dirty Love” and “Carnival Of Souls” itself ended up on Gene’s solo album.) “Within” is a slow dirgey ditty.  It’s a good song with lots of atmosphere, but it has nothing to do sound-wise with the rest of this album.  It would have been more suited to Creatures or Carnival, but not so much this album.

The cumbersome Paul title, “I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll” is next. I hate this song. It’s a fast one, nothing special, a little stock, and to me is nothing but pure filler.

Then there’s finally a real Kiss song with all four members playing: Ace’s “Into the Void”. It is definitely one of the best songs on the album, with a riff that only Ace could play and the drums sound a lot better here.  It’s quintessential Kiss.  When I think of Kiss, I thik of songs that sound like “Into the Void”.

“We Are One” is a Gene song, and it sounds a lot like his 1978 solo album. It’s a nice song, I think it’s a tad slow, but it’s got that late 70’s vibe.  Maybe like a “Great Expectations” too.

The second side of the album starts with “You Wanted The Best” which was clearly written by Gene as a Kiss “comeback” song. It’s neat in that all four members sing lead for the first time ever, but really that’s its only selling point. Fairbairn overproduced once again, and the guitars sound a lot more processed than they should. The solo is definitely Ace, though. I think “You Wanted The Best” is another one of those Gene songs that had been presented to the band and rejected from previous albums like “Within” was.

Paul Stanley takes the next track with “Raise Your Glasses”, which is yet again overproduced and also a bit too pop sounding. It sounds like something from Hot In the Shade or that general era.  Paul sings some nice harmonies with himself in the middle, but the demo version of this is better (from the “Psycho Circus” CD single pictured below).

Since Peter Criss’ material was allegedly deemed too poor for this album, Paul and Ezrin wrote I “Finally Found My Way” for him to sing. It was meant to be the next “Beth” but I don’t need to tell you what happened there (nothing). It’s a piano ballad (that’s Ezrin on Fender Rhodes) and it’s a nice song, maybe it is was for Neil Diamond to sing. It’s just too darn soft, and Peter’s voice lacks the rasp.  The rasp would have given it some edge like Kiss ballads of yore.  He sounds great harmonizing with Paul on the bridge though.

Paul and Bruce Kulick wrote the next song, “Dreamin'”, which was ripped off of “I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper. It is basically the same song, and I believe Alice beat them in court too.

The most interesting song was saved for last, Gene Simmons’ epic “Journey Of 1,000 Years”. I don’t know what this could be compared to.  Although it wasn’t popular with the Kiss fans I know, I think it’s the best song here. Overproducing worked on this song. It is loaded with strings and who-knows-what, and Gene’s chorus is just mindblowing. “Can you hear me calling, can you hear the sound? Can you hear me calling, or is the voice of the crowd?” If this song was on The Elder, it would have fit in better.  It’s majestic and I think a good example of what Gene is capable of when he sets his mind to it.

Japan got a bonus track written by Gene called “In Your Face”. He wrote it for Ace to sing, so it has become a little bit of special song, a lost Kiss gem. The production is a little more sparse and though it is not a great Kiss song, Ace’s vocal sets it apart a bit. Worth having.

I have a couple versions of this album.  I bought the Japanese version first, for the bonus track, and it was not cheap!  The packaging here is cumbersome, but superior to the fragile lenticular jewel case that North America got. It is a digipack whose front cover opens like doors to reveal the Psycho Circus “clown” inside in 3D. Typical gradiose Kiss and I love it.

Australia got a 1999 reissue with a 6 song bonus disc called Kiss Live.  It contains 3 classics and 3 newbies.  So, in other words, you can get versions of these songs played by the original lineup.  This is worth having.  Track list:  “Psycho Circus”, “Let Me Go, Rock and Roll”, “Into the Void” (with guitar solo), “Within” (with drum solo), “100,000 Years”, and “Black Diamond”.

When you hear Psycho Circus, you can’t help but think that Kiss blew a monumental opportunity to create history. In the end, it’s “just another Kiss album”, and not a particularly great one. It certainly inferior to the first 7 studio albums at best.  It has a leg up on some of the 80’s records, but it just doesn’t rock hard enough!  The right producer could have made this sound like Kiss, not Aerojovi.

3/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Carnival Of Souls (The Final Sessions) (1997)

Part 38 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

KISS – Carnival of Souls (The Final Sessions) (1997, recorded 1994-95)

Finally!  Five years since Revenge, a studio album!

But not the studio album that the general public had been expecting.  The average person on the street would have expected an album by the original Kiss, since they’d just finished a long worldwide smash hit reunion tour.  Carnival of Souls was an album by Paul, Gene, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer; the album they had finished just before the reunion tour was announced.

Prior to the reunion tour, Gene hyped the new material:  “Very much a brother record to Revenge,” was a quote he gave to M.E.A.T Magazine.  “Head music” was another phrase he used to describe the new album, which was then still called Head (original artwork from Bruce’s website below).

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With 20/20 hindsight, I think it’s obvious that Kiss were choosing to evolve by jumping on the grunge bandwagon.  The producer was Toby Wright, best known for cutting two records with Alice In Chains.  The riffs were downtuned, heavy, and obviously not from the streets of New York like classic Kiss.  These sounded like riffs from Seattle.

The thing is, I like Carnival of Souls, quite a bit.  I absolutely loved it back then.  I paid $30 for a bootleg copy (at one point, this was the most heavily bootlegged album ever) back in 1996.  I like almost every song, and this record was historic for Bruce Kulick.  Not only did he have a whopping 9 writing credits out of 12 songs, but he also had his first lead vocal:  “I Walk Alone”.  (Today, Bruce sings lead vocals on his excellent solo albums — check out the BK3 album featuring Gene & Nick Simmons.)

Ironic that Bruce would indeed walk alone in early ’96, having been a driving force of this record.

Kicking off with a lot of noise, feeback, and Paul’s backwards distored vocals, “Hate” opens Carnival of Souls.  Anchored by a complex drum & cymbol pattern by Eric Singer, “Hate” is probably the heaviest song Kiss has ever recorded.  It is a relentless Soundgarden-ish assault with a drum pattern straight out of the Matt Cameron book of tricks.

Paul’s “Rain” is another good, grungy song, but it is nothing compared with “Master & Slave”.  Also known as “Tell Me” on some bootlegs, this is a bass-driven number, with an actual chorus that can be sung along to.  Kiss fans latched onto this one as an early favourite.

“Childhood’s End” is the first epic ballady type song on the album, a Gene title stolen from an Arthur C. Clarke classic.  Lyrically unrelated, this song features a children’s choir and probably could have been on an album like Revenge had Bob Ezrin produced.

Perhaps unwisely, this is followed by a true ballad, Paul’s “I Will Be There”, a song written for his son.  It is a beautiful, sparse, strictly acoustic piece with a soaring vocal.  Bruce’s intricate solo sends this one into the net for a goal.

Closing this “side” of the album is “Jungle”, the only single from Carnival.  Clocking in at almost 7 minutes, this is the album’s standout song.  It is a powerful bass-driven groove, with the kind of anthemic Paul chorus that keeps me coming back.  I love this song, and when I played it in the store, people loved it too.

The second “side” of the album opens with “In My Head”, probably the weirdest Gene song on the album.  Heavy, angry, weird.  I love this song, but it’s pretty different.  Lyrically, musically, this is unlike anything Kiss have done before and I’m at a loss to compare it to something by somebody else.

“It Never Goes Away” follows “In My Head”, another slow one, this one very powerful and perhaps like something that would have been on an album like Superunknown.   “Seduction of the Innocent” continues the slow song pattern.  It sounds a little like heavy Beatles.  I can hear some of that psychedelic “Tomorrow Never Knows” vibe, but in a heavy context.  Gene’s chorus tops the cake.

An epic is up next:  Gene’s “I Confess”.  The verses sound much like outtakes from The Elder, with strings and a dark vibe.  Then Gene’s chorus nails the foot back to the gas pedal.  The song alternates between heavy choruses and quiet verses, much like the popular music of the time….

Paul’s final song of the album, “In The Mirror”, is a scorcher.  It has a killer riff and could have fit on any number of Kiss albums.  Imagine it recorded by the original lineup.  If you can picture it in a “I Stole You Love” vibe, suddenly it sounds like something that could have been on Love Gun.  As it is, the guitars are very 90’s in their sound and the drums very dry.  It was the fashion.

Carnival of Souls ends with what ended up being Bruce Kulick’s swan song, his first and last lead vocal:  “I Walk Alone”.  This fan favourite has a very tentative lead vocal, he’s noticeably improved in the years since.  Still, it’s a nice ballad, and when Gene joins him singing the end, it’s perfect.  Strangely enough, this song never made any of the bootleg discs out there.  Perhaps it was never meant to be on the album?  I don’t know the answer to why.

Carnival has two obvious weaknesses:  the trendy grungy sound, and the fact that so many songs are slow or ballads.  I feel that the ballads are more than made up for by the heaviness of songs like “Hate” and “In My Head”.  I think that Paul’s best two songs, “Jungle” and “Master & Slave” make up for any dull moments.  As for the sudden defection from rock n’ roll to grunge?

Well, keep in mind that this is the band who went disco in ’79.

There was one outtake from this album, which is on the Kiss Box Set:  “Outromental”, which made it onto promo cassettes but was cut from the album itself.

The biggest disappointment with this album was the packaging.  The band decided against the original cover art, and to avoid confusion put the bare-faced lineup on the cover.  But there’s no booklet, no lyrics, and only a couple pictures.

4/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Greatest Hits (European import 1997)

Part 37 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

KISS – Greatest Hits (1997, Europe only)

Wait a minute — wasn’t the last review I did a Kiss compilation from 1997 called Greatest Kiss?  Yup!  Welcome to Kiss – the compilation years.  This is why fans such as me were losing their patience.

Yet, I paid $40 to order this from Europe, wanting my Kiss collection to be as complete as possible.   My employers wondered what the hell was wrong with me, spending $40 for 20 songs that I already had.  I guess it’s hard to understand if you’re not from the Kiss Army!

Greatest Hits was released in Europe hot on the heels of Greatest Kiss. For the fifth time in a row, Kiss had released a non-original, non-studio album. This had never happened before. (For the record, the four before this one were Alive III, MTV Unplugged, You Wanted The Best, and Greatest Kiss.  And this doesn’t include Kiss My Ass.)

The tracklisting is actually a little interesting. Greatest Kiss only had one non-makeup song (“God Gave Rock And Roll To You II”) and this one has three: “Crazy Crazy Nights”, “Lick It Up”, and “God Gave”. That alone was unexpected and I remember listening to this CD, glad that Kiss weren’t totally disregarding the 80’s.

Aside from this, it’s a pretty ordinary compilation and covers a lot of ground already on Greatest Kiss. I did detect one bad edit between tracks, where a fade did not end completely. This was dissapointing to me, and combined with the lack of any sort of liner notes in the packaging, smacked of a rush-job and cash-in.

Thankfully, Kiss were listening, and finally released a studio album next.  Puzzling the general public even more, the next album didn’t have the original lineup.  TO BE CONTINUED…

2/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Greatest Kiss (1997 European, Japanese, North American versions)

Part 36 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

KISS – Greatest Kiss (1997 European, Japanese, North American versions)

The Reunion Tour was a tremendous ongoing success.  As Kiss hit different markets, different releases were prepared.  Europe got Greatest Kiss first,and I paid almost $30 for it with tax on import from an HMV store in early ’97.

While we, the fans, were not happy that it had been five years since the last studio album, we still bought this new compilation for one “new” track:  A live version of “Shout It Out Loud” from the Reunion Tour.  I’ve heard though that the song was recorded in the studio or at rehearsal, not the live Detroit concert as claimed.  Either way, this song was released as a promotional video, so it was nice to have a CD version of it.

Also, much as You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! was a taster for the remastered live albums, Greatest Kiss was a taster for the remastered studio albums, about to be released through 1997 in groups of three.

The CD is otherwise made up of your standard original era hits.  Both North America and Japan had their own track listings, and I ended up getting all three:

Here’s the most familiar around here, the North American version:

1. Detroit Rock City
2. Hard Luck Woman
3. Sure Know Something
4. Deuce
5. Do You Love Me
6. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
7. Calling Dr. Love
8. Christine Sixteen
9. Beth
10. Strutter
11. Cold Gin
12. Plaster Caster (yes! nice to see this on a compilation)
13. Rock And Roll All Nite
14. Flaming Youth
15. Two Sides Of The Coin
16. Shout It Out Loud (Live ’96)

Europe had 20 tracks, adding “Black Diamond”, “God of Thunder”,  “She”, “Love Gun”, “Goin’ Blind”, “”Shock Me”, and puzzlingly “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II” which was not by the original band.  Europe lacked “Flaming Youth”, “Two Sides of the Coin”,  and “Christine Sixteen”, however.

Japan also had 20 tracks.  Their CD is almost identical to the European one, with  “Flaming Youth”, “Two Sides of the Coin”,  and “Christine Sixteen” missing.  They subbed in “C’mon And Love Me” and “Rock Bottom” instead of “Cold Gin” and “Plaster Caster”.

Personally I’m not partial to this CD.  The one “new” song is now available on the Kiss Box Set so there’s nothing exclusive.  Today the novelty of the Kiss remasters project is old hat, so there’s not much here to entice a buyer.  There are other compilations on the market, and I’m going to discuss them all.  If you only want original Kiss, then this one works as well as any.

2/5stars

REVIEW: KISS – You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! (1996 vinyl, Japanese import CD)

Part 35 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!
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KISS – You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! (1996, Japanese import, bonus track)

When this compilation album came out, it was the first and only time we had two Kiss albums on our store’s front rack simultaneously!  It followed hot on the heels of MTV Unplugged, only about 3 months prior.

Kiss had just announced their big reunion tour and this album was tied in to promote that. It is a milestone in a few ways. It was the first musical product released by the reunited original lineup Kiss. It was also the third (or fourth depending if you count Kiss My Ass) consecutive non-studio album release in a row by the band, which had never happened before. It would also not be the last, with Greatest Kiss and the UK-only Greatest Hits soon to follow.

It was a dark time for the Kiss army craving new music.

You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best!! (one comma and two exclamation marks: punctuation is important) was a live compilation of:

  • 8 hits from KISS Alive! and KISS Alive II
  • 5 previously unreleased live versions (including the bonus track “New York Groove”)
  • 1 interview with the entire band by Jay Leno, 17 minutes long

The previously released songs were all remastered for the first time, a sneak preview of the Kiss remasters to start coming in 1997.  New liner notes were provided by Robert V. Conte, who would later do all the liner notes for the Kiss Remasters series.  Judging by his use of certain adjectives, I’m guessing he was pretty much told what he could and could not write!

It’s hard to argue with the selection of hits. “Rock Bottom”, “Parasite”, “Firehouse”, and “Rock And Roll All Nite” (the definitive version) from the first Alive! were definitely highlights of that album, but then again you couldn’t have gone wrong with any selections from Alive!  From Alive II it’s “I Stole Your Love”, “Shout It Out Loud”, “Beth” (really? ugh), and “Calling Dr. Love”. (Interesting: no “Detroit Rock City”.) All are pretty monumental Kiss songs that the band were playing live that summer.

The unreleased material was interesting. They purport to be from the same concerts that Alive! and Alive II were taken from, but it is clear that at least the lead vocals were recorded in 1996. Since the voice changes naturally with age, you can tell it’s not Paul Stanley 1975 singing. Having said that, even though I’m bitter that Kiss tried to pass these off as vintage live songs, they are really good versions. I’ve always liked both “Room Service” and “Two Timer” as deep album songs from Dressed To Kill. I especially like “Let Me Know”, one of the earliest Kiss songs ever, and one of my personal favourites.

Exclusive to vinyl and Japanese import, is a live version of “New York Groove” from Australia 1980 and with Eric Carr on drums. This is the same version of the song as the Kissology 2 DVD. Since KISS could have gone with “Shock Me” from Alive II if they were trying to include an Ace vocal track, I choose to think of this inclusion as a little nod to Eric Carr and thanking him for keeping the band going during the 80’s. I think this version was also released in Australian markets so, I am sure this was also a nod to the fans there for patiently waiting for Kiss to come back. Kiss would of course play “New York Groove” live on the 1996 tour as well.

SAM_2212The 17 minute interview with Jay Leno is interesting and fun, though I have to be honest, its inclusion here makes this album one that I don’t listen to often. Jay’s a funny guy and there are lots of laughs here (almost all at Gene’s expense!) but don’t expect any revelations you’ve never heard before.

In addition to containing “vintage” songs that weren’t exactly that, You Wanted the Best was to include “photos from the Kiss vaults” inside according to the sticker on the front.  There’s nothing inside apart from a skimpy booklet.  The CD did have a neat-o coloured jewel case, as you can see from the photo gallery.

Essential only to the diehards. Everyone else pick up Alive! and Alive II, or even better…the 4 CD Alive box!

2/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – MTV Unplugged (and a word about the Konvention Tour)

Part 34 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS:  MTV Unplugged (1996)

Kiss had been releasing a lot of product (KISStory the book, a live video and album, and a tribute CD) but not a lot of new music since Revenge.  In ’95 they decided to go out and do an “official” Kiss Kovention tour, charging a then-insane $100 a pop, but giving you an acoustic performance for your dollars.

The Konvention tour yielded some great performances, with Kiss taking requests for songs they barely remember and doing their best to play them.  “Lover Her All I Can”, “Shandi”, and “Nothin’ To Lose” with Eric Singer on lead vocals were all rolled out.  See below for a cool bootleg CD and tracklist from an Australian show on the tour.

              

Kiss were invited to do MTV Unplugged.  What the audience that night didn’t know is that after a full set by Paul, Gene, Bruce and Eric, two “members of the family” would come out:  Peter Criss and Ace Frehley.  They were greeted with disbelief and joy.

The evening began with the current Kiss, rolling out rarely played classics like “Comin’ Home”, “Got To Choose” (on the Japanese release, anyway) and “A World Without Hereos”.  They even tackled “See You Tonite” from Gene’s solo album, and “Every Time I Look At You” (with strings) from Revenge:  both firsts.

You can’t complain at all about the tracklist on MTV Unplugged.  I raved about the album then, and I still rave about it now.  I don’t understand why this wasn’t a massive smash hit across the board.  This is a great Kiss album that almost anyone can enjoy.  From Paul’s stirring vocal on “I Still Love You” to the classic “Rock Bottom”, this is awesome all the way through.

But of course, they saved Ace and Peter for the end.  Out they came to do two of their signature songs:  “Beth” for Peter, and the Stones’ “2000 Man” for Ace.  Last but not least, Bruce and Eric returned to the stage to form a formidable 6-man Kiss lineup.  With everyone but Bruce taking a turn at the lead vocals, they rolled out “Nothin’ To Lose” and of course “Rock and Roll All Nite” to end the show.

Expertly recorded and mixed, my only beef is the cutting short of some of Paul’s raps.  I would love a two disc deluxe edition of this one day.  Kiss played for three hours that day, doing multiple takes and playing songs that didn’t make the show:  “Spit”, “Hard Luck Woman” with Paul on lead vocals, and a country version of “God of Thunder”!

5/5 stars