kiss

#1157: The Lone Classic Hard Rocker

RECORD STORE TALES #1157: The Lone Classic Hard Rocker

For almost my entire tenure at the Beat Goes On, I was pretty much the only “classic hard rocker”.  By that I mean, the guy who not only liked Rush, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, but also Poison, Dokken, Motley Crue, Kiss, and the Scorpions.  I started in 1994, and hard rock was definitely the black sheep of the musical family back then.  The entire genre had received a hard thrashing from the new generation of bands, who had cleaned the slate and wiped the charts of the old guard.  For a little while, anyway.  When I began in 1994, hard rock was all but banned from store play.  That’s obviously a broad statement, as I distinctly recall giving a store play copy of Tesla’s Bust A Nut a shot while working with the boss.  He didn’t like it, but there was no way I was going to play Poison in the store with him around.

“Nobody’s buying that stuff,” he would say, and he wasn’t wrong.

When Trevor started later that year, he too liked a lot of hard rock bands, but he probably more into the current crop of groups.  Brother Cane, and this new snotnosed group out of the UK called Oasis.  He discovered all that Britpop stuff on a trip to England, and he was quick to adapt to electronic and dance beats too.  While he enjoyed some Poison and Motley Crue, I don’t think he would have played them in store.  I don’t think he would have called himself a hard rocker.

When I was bestowed my own store to manage in 1996, my staff gave me a nickname:  Cheeser.

The reason being, I listened to “cheesey” music, such as hard rock.  They wouldn’t give me credit for the jazz albums, or the Faith No More collection.  They only looked at the Dokken and the Brighton Rock.  I should have said, “Don’t call me Cheeser.  I’m your boss.”  Not that I was opposed to nicknames.  Many employees had nicknames of their own, but that one really bugged me.  It was unfair and it was uncool.  It was one-dimensional.  I remained the only classic hard rocker at the store.  Oh sure, one guy liked the Black Crowes.  Another guy had a soft spot for classic 70s Kiss.  They were not hard rockers in that classic “cheeser” sense.

I look back on those days, and I was very different then.  I was not assertive.  I was eager to fit in.  So, I let them call me Cheeser.

I felt like a second-class citizen due to my musical tastes.  The boss seemed to think playing a Poison in the album would lose us sales.  He wanted a family-friendly atmosphere, and I tended to be the rebel when he wasn’t around.  I was told to remove AC/DC from the CD player once.  An band that has sold about 200 million copies worldwide, incidentally, but with God as my witness, my boss hit the “stop” button one morning and took it off himself.

This is why I had low sales, I was assured.  You wanted people to linger and shop.  People would leave the store if the music was too heavy.  I only saw it happen a couple times, but no more than I saw it happen with other genres of music such as rap and dance.  It was rare you’d have a walk-out due to the music, but I will argue that hard rock did not get this reception any more than other genres.  I do remember one guy giving me credit for playing Poison’s Native Tongue one afternoon.

“I’ve never heard this before in a music store!” he said, with his compliments.

I would get the occasional surprised reaction when people would ask what the cool music I played was.  Motley Crue?  Poison?  No way!  That doesn’t sound like Poison.

Our store was very generic “music store circa late 90s early 2000s” when you walked in.  There would be music playing from the current charts, lots of indi bands with cool haircuts, and the requisite Motown, soul, and 60s albums.  Exactly the music you expected to hear, and I suppose that was the point.  If my manager reviews were poor, one of the gripes was the music I chose to play.  I broke the rules, and they made note of it.  I became quite despondent.  I would pick five CDs in the morning, that I picked for the soul purpose of not getting in shit that day, and I hit shuffle.  I’d leave them in all day.  Or, I would just leave in whatever the previous shift had playing.  I literally stopped caring, because those above me had sucked me dry.  I had no soul left.  My heart was empty.  It was time to go.

By the end, my only motivation was survival.  There was no enjoyment.  There was no challenge.  There was nothing to look forward to, except a day off.  I was dead inside.  I couldn’t care about music anymore.  The music I played in the store towards the end…I can’t remember the bands.  I seem to remember names like Death Cab For Cutie, Death From Above 1979, and Metric, but I cannot tell you if those were bands we played in the store, or bands that the staff liked.  Eventually, some of their musical tastes wore off on me.  I did buy a Killers CD, and I did buy one Bright Eyes.  If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, but I have not played either in over 15 years.

I know some of my old co-workers and staffers were surprised to hear all these revelations from me.  What can I say?  I was fakin’ it.  I was fighting, quite frankly, to stay alive at that place.  You can take that to mean whatever you like.  In those days, I was not aware of the importance of mental health.  The store was run with a real old school “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” methodology.  I remember one day, my boss handed me a business card with the name of a counselling service on it.  I didn’t ask for this, and I considered it a huge invasion of my privacy.  I also considered it an invasion of my privacy when he called my parents behind my back at their home.  Yet, when I wanted him to listen to me, the only person who could possible change my fate, he didn’t listen.  He waited to talk.  He lectured.  The bullying situation at the store had reached unacceptable levels, and he was so biased towards certain people, that I had no hope.  None at all.

I went from being the lone classic hard rocker, to completely alone.  It was a very dark time in my life.  I am sorry if my old friends do not understand why I had such anger for the people in charge.  I know I am not the only person to feel alone, but what happened, happened.  It was an emotional time and I wrote about it emotionally.  It was a necessary expulsion of bad feelings and poison.

But not Poison.  Today there’s nobody calling me Cheeser.   They might shrug and wonder why I need so much Poison, but the difference is respect.

#1156: To What Lengths? (Shelf Wear)

RECORD STORE TALES #1156: To What Lengths? (Shelf Wear)

We, as collectors in this community, generally buy our music on a physical format to listen to it, but also value its condition and cosmetic perfection.  We don’t want creases in the inner sleeve, or banged-up covers if we can avoid it.  We especially don’t like being the ones responsible for damage.  It does happen.  Sometimes it’s as simple as pulling a favourite CD or LP out of its designated filing location too many times.  Scratches and scuffs appear on the jewel case or sleeve, if not protected.  Most people protect their vinyl LPs in plastic, and a small minority of CD aficionados do as well, which mitigates damage to just those moments you remove the packaging from that sleeve: the dirt and oils in your hands, the dust in the air, the light wear from handling.

If you’re new here, this is a judgement-free place!  If you go to tremendous degrees to protect your jewel cases (I had one customer who bought them 5 at a time and insisted each one be in its own separate little bag) then I applaud you.  I wish I had your discipline, honestly.  I’ve cracked and scuffed many-a-case over my years as a fan and collector.

Another fact known to CD collectors:  Many, especially in the 1990s, came in specialised jewel cases that could not easily replaced if damaged.  The best you could hope for was a Krazy Glue solution.  Example:  Pet Shop Boys’ Very CD in 1993, which came in a unique, opaque orange case with lego-like bumps on the front and a sticker with track listing on back.  It had a matching orange tray inside.  Fortunately, these were a bargain bin perennial and if you broke you case, you could buy a replacement for under $6 bucks.  If not, you could do a reasonable repair job with glue.

Coloured jewel cases were another variation.  With collector’s allure, Alice In Chains’ self-titled CD in 1995 came in two variations.  The common one was a yellow case with a purple inlay.  The very rare reverse was purple case with yellow inlay.  So rare in fact that in my 12 years in music retail, I never saw a copy come my way without one or both components damaged.  Less rarely, Kiss’ 1996 CD You Wanted The Best, You Got the Best came in a wine-red case with yellow tray.  I may or may not have swapped some at my store with plain cases, allowing me to keep the wine-red and yellow for myself, for other Kiss releases.  Perhaps I did.

 

 

Regardless of how you acquire such packages, the ideal collection has them relatively intact for the duration of their stay at your home.  How to do ensure this to the best of your ability?  As implied, I don’t want to put every CD I own in a sleeve.  However, I do make sleeves for discs like the above.  Simple ones out of clear comic bags (for example) cut down to size.  They even make sandwich bags in the exact right size if you feel lazy.  Remember:  no judgement!

Of course, this cannot prevent breakage all the time.  If you have ever moved house with boxes of CDs, you probably endured some damage.  When I moved, I did two important things:  1) I insisted only I handled the boxes marked “CDs”, and 2) I packaged all specially-cased CDs in a special padded box, also handled by myself.

Another variation, and perhaps my favourite, is the engraved jewel case.  One of the most common is the Prince “Love Symbol” CD, fairly easy to find multiple intact copies.  My most treasured engraved case is Deep Purple’s 25th anniversary edition of In Rock.  (Now we’re over 50 years…)  I bought my copy in 1996, in Toronto, at (I think) Sunrise.  It was there or HMV, and I was present with the mighty T-Rev, who braved the streets of Toronto with no air conditioning on a hot summer day in my Plymouth Sundance.  He drove – I wouldn’t.  I cradled my precious Purple in my arms so carefully on my way home.  I could see easily that the signatures and text on the front were in the plastic of the case, and not printed on the booklet.

I made a plan, and carefully executed it.  My solution protects my CD to this day.

Using a Swiss Army knife, I carefully slit the right side of the plastic wrap, all around the entire CD, and removed this side flap.  I then carefully coaxed the CD out of its plastic home, and upon success, pushed it back in.  I had created a little sleeve that protected my new purchase upon my shelves.  It still functions today, and my copy of In Rock still looks pretty good despite hundreds of plays.

Fingers crossed!

 

#1155: When Bob Came Back

RECORD STORE TALES #1155: When Bob Came Back

My best friend, Bob Schipper, spent most of the summer of 1986 out on Alberta with his brother Martin.  The two of us had been joined at the hip for summer after summer.  He was gone for about six weeks:  the majority of the holidays.  He was excited to have some independence out there with his brother, far from parental supervision.  I missed him terribly.  It just wasn’t the same without him.  My partner in crime was gone, and I was lonely.

We wrote back and forth.  I’ll never forget the day my first letter from Bob arrived in the mail.  My mom came into my room excited that my letter from Bob had come.   I could have cried, I missed him so much.  His letter did not disappoint.  It was loaded with drawings and stories, and I read it over and over.  It helped alleviate the pain.  I wrote back immediately of course.  I think I wrote my letter on the family computer.  Bob wanted one so badly.  In his letter, he said “When I come back, I’m getting a computer and a dog.”  My parents laughed at that.  They knew there was no way his parents would agree to a dog!  Bob was showing that independent streak that he was picking up.

I was counting the days until he came home.  We had so much to discuss.  Bob had missed six weeks of WWF wrestling!  There were heel turns he knew nothing about.  I had new music to show him on my VHS collection.  Most seriously though, I was weeks away from starting high school.  Bob was going to show me the ropes and help me buy school supplies.  He knew exactly what I’d need and what to be prepared for.  While I was excited to start highschool, far from the Catholic school bullies that tormented me for eight years, I was also extremely anxious.  I didn’t know the building and I had heard about hazing “niners”.  I needed reassurance.

One day in mid-August, Bob came home.

I gave him some time…a little bit…to settle back in.  Then I raced over and rang that doorbell.  His mom always greeted me with a warm smile.  Bob had great parents:  Tina and John.   They treated us so well.  I can still see his mom’s smile and hear her voice, every time she greeted us at the door.  Then Bob came downstairs.  We didn’t hug or shake hands.  Kids didn’t do that back then.

“HEY!” I said.

“HEY!” he returned.  Simple as that.

We went out on the back porch, and talked and talked and talked.  There was show and tell, gifts, and stories.  Importantly, Bob had returned with Kiss.

The vinyl copy of Killers that he brought home with him is the very copy I own today.  I think he also arrived with Kiss Alive II on cassette.  I taped both immediately!  Taping Kiss records from Bob meant I didn’t have to tape them off creepy George next door.  There were a few songs we were quickly obsessed with:  “All American Man”, “I’m A Legend Tonight”, and “Nowhere To Run”.

Bob also brought home for me an unusual gift:  a defused hand grenade!  Imagine putting that in your luggage today.  I don’t know what happened to it.  I should still have it in a box of stuff in storage somewhere.  It was hollow inside, but heavy as hell!  I played with it so much I eventually broke the pin off.

It wasn’t a long visit.  Bob promised to help me with school supplies before the end of the summer, and he was true to his word.  I knew he’d also shield me from anyone looking to haze a “niner”.  I just couldn’t wait to get back at it with him:  drawing, creating, listening to music, watching wrestling, and raising havok everywhere we went.  It had been a quiet summer, spent collecting GI Joe and Transformers figures, and playing with them in the yard by myself.  But now…the kids were back.

 

 

 

 

 

MOVIE REVIEW: Role Models (2009)

ROLE MODELS (2009, 99 minutes, Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott)

Directed by David Wain

All those “bro” movies are from the same mold, aren’t they?  They still make them too, variations on a theme.  The same general plotline always applies:  there’s a pair of funny but crude friends, who have a love/hate thing going on.  There’s a girlfriend (or fiance), usually a professional of some kind, to win or win back.  There are usually dick and fart jokes.

Role Models is all this, so I won’t go and tell you that it’s different from Knocked Up, Superbad, or Mr. Woodcock in any significant way.

Except one way.

.

Role Models is a love letter to the Hottest Band in the Land.  One of the writers clearly loves them, and knew how to make that funny.

In one of the earliest scenes, Scott throws Love Gun into the car tape deck.  “Kiss?  Nobody likes Kiss.  Paul Stanley is sick of Kiss,” says Rudd.  Yet, the song “Love Gun” is a recurring motif in Role Models.

Here’s the plot in a nutshell:  Two guys work for an energy drink company called Minotaur (think Red Bull, but in gross green).  Their job entails doing presentations to kids in highschool to stay off drugs, and drink Minotaur instead.  (“We’re selling nuclear horse piss to kids” – Rudd.)  One day it all goes wrong for Rudd and his girlfriend Beth (get it?  See where this is going?), played by Elizabeth Banks.  Rudd goes a little nuts at a presentation, and his giant minotaur truck ends up mounting a horse statue in the school yard.

Luckily, Beth is a lawyer and cuts Rudd and Scott a deal with the judge (without the two even having to appear before him, how convenient for a 99 minute movie).  They have to volunteer with “Sturdy Wings”; sort of like a big brothers program.  They each have to mentor a child for a set number of hours.  The program, run by a hilarious Jane Lynch, is only mildly creepy.

As the two protagonists get to know their assigned “littles”, Scott teaches his new friend about Kiss.  “These guys look like clowns,” says lil’ Ronnie.  Scott explains that they’re not, they’re actually really rich Jewish guys, and all their songs are about fucking!  This interests his young friend, who then starts dancing to “Love Gun”.

“You pull the trigger of my…Love Guuuuuuuuuun!” goes the familiar song.

“See Ronnie?  His dick is the gun!” explains Scott helpfully.

Meanwhile, Paul Rudd’s little buddy Augie is played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse (known to you as McLovin).  Augie loves fantasy role playing (LARPing), and takes Rudd to a battle.  Rudd is not impressed (“I just spent the afternoon with Gleep-Glopp and the Floop-dee-doos”), but decides to help Augie when he needs battle companions.  There’s a memorable camping trip that ends with a naked Seann William Scott, but it’s balanced out by Wings jokes (including a fake Wings song called “Love Take Me Down to the Streets”).

Without spoiling the epic ending (complete with a sword battle, a siege, and  Ken Jeong), except to say that before credits role, you will hear at least two more Kiss songs, and see the four main characters dressed in Kiss makeup and battle armor.  No explanation is given for how the quartet threw the armor together in a mere afternoon, but details do not matter in a film like this.  Prepare for a climax that finishes the movie on a hilarious note.

Other great talents in this movie included Joe Lo Truglio and Ken Marino, so check it out if that sounds like your kinda thing.  And especially if you’re a Kiss fan.

4/5 stars

2/5 stars for non-Kiss fans

REVIEW: Gene Simmons – The Vault (2018) Final Score, Best Tracks, Worst Tracks & Summary

Previous Reading: 

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
Disk 10 Review
Bonus Disk Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are the best tracks of the 165 included?  What about the “action figure” and coin?  What’s the final score?

GENE SIMMONS – The Vault (2018) Final Score

Part One:  The Best Songs

Every song that was scored 4/5 or higher is listed below, in disc order.

Disk 1

    • “Are You Ready”   5/5
    • “I Confess”  4/5
    • “Legends Never Die”  4/5
    • “In My Head”  4/5
    • “I Wait” 4/5

Disk 2

    • “Hate”  4/5
    • “Within”   4/5
    • “In Your Face with Ace”   5/5
    • “I Wanna Live”  4/5
    • “If It’s Too Hot, You’re Too Cold”  4/5
    • “Rain Keeps Fallin’”   4/5
    • “Bells of Freedom”   4/5

Disk 3

    • “Christine Sixteen”  5/5
    • “Tunnel of Love”   5/5
    • “Got Love For Sale”  4.5/5
    • “Hell Or High Water”  4/5
    • “Domino”  4/5
    • “Only You”  5/5
    • “True Confessions #2”  4/5

Disk 4

    • “Plaster Caster”  4/5
    • “X-Ray Eyes”  4/5
    • “Charisma”  5/5
    • “Radioactive”  4.5/5
    • “Calling Dr. Love”   4/5
    • “It’s My Life”  5/5

Disk 5

    • “See You Tonite”   4/5
    •  “Once More Chance”   4/5

Disk 6

    • “Whatever Turns You On”  4/5
    • “Hold On”   4/5

Disk 7

    • “Suspicious”  4/5
    • “Everybody Wants”  4/5
    • “Promise The Moon”   5/5
    • “Pride”  5/5
    • “Mirage”  4/5

Disk 8

    • “We Rocked It All Night”  4/5
    • “She’s Rotten to the Core”  4/5
    • “S&M Love”  4/5
    • “Bad Bad Lovin’”   4.5/5
    • “Chrome Heart”  4/5

Disk 9

    • “It’s Gonna Be Alright #2”  4/5
    • “Everybody Knows #1”  4/5
    • “You’re All That I Want”   4/5
    • “Damn, I’m Good”   4.5/5

Disk 10

(none)

Disk 11

    • “Obnoxious”  4/5
    • “Just Begun to Fight”  4.5/5
    • “Dorothy Lamour”  4/5
    • “My Uncle Is A Raft”  4/5

Part Two:  The Worst Songs

Because there are so many songs in the two star range, every song score under 2/5 is list here in track order.

Disk 1

    • “Something Wicked This Way Comes”  1/5

Disk 2

(none)

Disk 3

(none)

Disk 4

(none)

Disk 5

    • “Dreamer”   1/5

Disk 6

    • “Beautiful”   1/5
    •  “I Dream 1000 Dreams”  1/5
    • “First Love”   1/5

Disk 7

    • “Dog”  1.5/5
    • “Never Gonna Leave You #1”  1/5
    • “I Ain’t Comin’ Back”   1.5/5

Disk 8

(none)

Disk 9

(none)

Disk 10

    • “Granny Takes A Trip”  1/5

Bonus Disk

    • “Feel Like Heaven   1.5/5
    • “It’s Funny, But It Ain’t No Joke”   1/5
    • “Love By Invitation”    1.5/5
    • “Queen of Hearts”   0.5/5
    • “Leeta”   1.5/5
    • “Put on Your Slippers”  1.5/5
    • “Nancy”   1/5

Part Three:  Action Figure, Coin, and Book

The much-ballyhooed Gene Simmons “action figure” is…a statue.  It’s a very nice statue, but there are no moving parts.  You can’t pose Gene with your other Kiss action figures.  Even the MacFarlanes were slightly poseable.  It’s quite large and heavy.  Very solid.  Though mine is sealed and hard to examine up close, You can see the sculpt is excellent.  It’s a very high-end likeness.  The paint details on the face appear to be quite nice, and you can even see a silver zipper going up Gene’s black leather jacket.

The coin is just a hunk of metal.  Drill a hole in it and hang it around your neck for fun.

The book is loaded with info, but not as much as you’d like.  Gene sometimes repeats stories, especially when it comes to Ace Frehley and Peter Criss misbehavin’.  Though Gene usually tries to highlight who is playing on which songs, it’s not always clear.  In some cases this information is lost, but it would nice to see credit breakdowns in the notes.  It’s loaded with sketches, lyrics, unreleased photos, and other assorted curiosities.

Though heavy, and housing all 11 discs within, the book does feel flimsy along the spine.  It is also a dust magnet.  It is a shame it didn’t come with some kind of slipcase.  Fans are going to have to improvise their own storage methods.  I’ll probably put mine inside a tote bag.  It is also a shame that the CDs themselves slip in and out of cardboard sleeves, but that was expected.

Part Four:  Average Score

This isn’t to say there isn’t a lot of filler on the Vault.  It only looks like there isn’t because I chose to list songs under two stars only.  There are simply too many 2 star songs.  It would get tedious.  However, there is a surprising amount of good stuff on this set too, and otherwise perfectly listenable tracks.  “Mongoloid Man” may be offensive, but it does rock.

One cannot overstate the importance of finally have the three historic Van Halen recordings.  This is something that never seemed particularly likely until the Vault.  Other demos of value include “Only You” and the Bob Dylan sessions.  There is clearly enough good material here to justify buying.  The amount of repeat songs under different titles is irritating, but that’s how Gene writes.  He re-uses ideas until they either make an album, or don’t!  For better or for worse, you’re getting a lot of those unreleased tapes right here.  Most of them involve material for his two solo albums.

Let’s face it:  Kiss die-hards want these collectible demos, for a number of reason.  One is that we’ve been reading about some of these song titles for decades.  Second is that many of them feature Kiss members in addition to Gene, such as Eric Singer, Eric Carr, Tommy Thayer, Bruce Kulick, Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley.  They also include almost-members such as Bob Kulick and Anton Fig.  For all intents and purposes, many of these tracks can be considered Kiss demos, released under the Gene Simmons name.

The disc with the best score was Disk 3 at 3.83/5, with its Van Halen demos elevating it.  The lowest scoring disc was Bonus Disk at 2.16/5.

The average score for all 11 discs:

3.04/5 stars

However, here’s something important to note.  The final score doesn’t matter.  Not at all.  Gene Simmons throws everything at the wall.  He writes, and he re-writes, and he keeps going until he has 165 songs jammed onto a box set.  The value here isn’t simple.  It’s not something you can break down into numbers.  The joy of hearing Eddie Van Halen doing whammy dives on “Tunnel of Love” cannot be quantified.  The value of certain demos like “Only You” overshines mere numbers.  This box set’s value will continue to pay musical dividends as we listen and listen again for years to come.

Thanks for joining us for this journey through the Vault!

 

 

REVIEW: Gene Simmons – The Vault – Bonus Disk (Disk 11) (2018)

Previous Reading: 

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
Disk 10 Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those keeping score at home, this bonus CD contains tracks 151-165 in the Vault box set, 15 more than originally promised!

GENE SIMMONS – The Vault – Bonus Disk (Disk 11) (2018 Rhino)

As Gene notes in the book, there are many different versions of “Feel Like Heaven”…the most notorious of which is not on this box set.  The “Vulgar Version” as we’ll call it is still just a bootleg.  If you don’t know what it is, don’t ask.  This demo of “Feel Like Heaven” is the most primitive, with Gene singing and playing bass over the sound of a vintage drum machine.  This song is getting a bit repetitive, but this version definitely belongs only on a bonus disc.  1.5/5

“Obnoxious” is a surprise.  It has a punky quality, but it also shares a chorus with “Reputation” which is an unreleased Kiss song from the 70s.  “Obnoxious” is pretty good, daresay I prefer it to “Reputation”.  The low-fi arrangement of bass and harmony vocals, with minimal guitar and no drums is really cool.   Clearly it wasn’t intended to be released as-is, but I wouldn’t really change much.  It sounds like Kiss.  Sometimes things are best left primitive.  Who knows?  4/5

Remember when the Kiss 40 compilations came out?  They featured a brand new Kiss song called “Samurai Son”, featuring a Japanese girl group called Momoiro Clover Z.  Although Kiss praised them at the time of the compilation album, in the liner notes here, Gene called them “basically dancers”.  Ouch!  Gene’s song submitted for the Kiss 40 compilation was “Mina-San, Mina-San”.  Though ultimately, “Samurai Son” works better, “Mina-San, Mina-San” has a vintage Kiss vibe that the other song lacks.  Really, the only thing wrong with this version is that Gene had to do all the vocals himself including the female backing vocals.  So, it’s not perfect, it’s a little cringe when the backing vocals come in.  Again, this is a demo – for demonstration!  The song was not chosen and therefore never properly finished.  3/5

“Just Begun to Fight” is a title long mentioned in collector’s circles.  Unbelievably, it’s really good.  Gene notes it uses the same chords as “Dr. Love”, which is something that comes up frequently in this box set.  The chorus shares commonality with “Burning Up With Fever”.  Strangely, this might be the best use of them!  “Just Begun to Fight” is vintage Kiss.  Slow, powerful groove and a killer upbeat chorus.  You can hear where Ace Frehley would lay down his solo.  Gene recorded this song in 1978 with forgotten studio musicians.  I would have liked to hear this song finished.  Solid!  4.5/5

“It’s Funny, But It Ain’t No Joke” sounds like a low quality early 80s Kiss song.  It’s fast and is fully written with lyrics and backing vocals, but it ain’t no good.  Pun intended.  There’s a pretty dreadful bridge to enjoy, and a caveman guitar solo to burn your ears out.  1/5

The song “Love By Invitation” was entirely written around one jazz chord that Gene liked.  That chord repeats a lot.  Gene doesn’t think this song was ever presented to Kiss.  It doesn’t matter.  Same results.  Sounds like Unmasked era.  Cool sax solo at least.  1.5/5

“Dorothy Lamour” also goes back to the Unmasked era, with Anton Fig on drums and Holly Knight on keyboards.  This has an oldies rock and roll feel, but heavier.  It has that 1950s sound with the bopping piano.  Anton provides a solid backbeat.  You can instantly hear a huge rise in quality over the previous drum parts on this disc.  This doesn’t sound at all like a demo.  This sounds like a finished album track with a great chorus accentuated by backing vocals.  A song like this could have worked with Kiss, had they wanted to go back to that sound.  Reminds me a bit of a toned-down “Bloody Luxury” by Whitesnake.  4/5

“Queen of Hearts” is not the Hot in the Shade song.  This is a keyboard demo written with Pepy Castro around the time of Unmasked.  It is truly dreadful, sounding like a lullaby for your nightmares.  If it were a song by Jan Terri, it would be her best track, but it could be Gene’s worst.  0.5/5

Written in 1966, but recorded in 1980, “My Lorraine” is…something.  Gene strums some pretty chords on acoustic and then breaks into a bad falsetto.  For the second verse, he goes back to his normal voice.  It’s a fine little folky song, but easily and justifiably forgotten.  2/5

“Leeta” is marginally better.  This bad Beatles-y ballad was previously released on the Kiss Box Set.  This old recording by Gene’s band Bullfrog Bheer reveals that Simmons had diverse tastes, but really hadn’t decided what he wanted to do.  He was, and still is, willing to throw anything at the wall and see what sticks.  However, if “Leeta” was a Beatles song, they would have given it to Ringo.  1.5/5

“Put on Your Slippers” originates in 1969, and Gene talks of the “folly of youth” in the liner notes.  He wanted to be like Paul McCartney, and write and play all the instruments himself.  He describes “Put on Your Slippers” as inspired by the Beatles’ “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window”.  See above note about Ringo.  1.5/5

 

Back to 1978, drum machines and keyboards!  “Gypsy Nights” is so corny it’s hilarious!  It sounds like an AM radio song from the era.  It is fine, up until the bridge, which is just from another song altogether.  The smooth guitar solo is nice, but…wow.  Just wow.  2/5

Back in 1987 on the Kiss eXposed video, Paul Stanley teased Gene about writing songs such as “I Love Eskimos”.  Gene responded by saying, “That’s not too far off.”  And here we have “Eskimo Sun”…also known as “Only You!”  The melody is familiar, but the song is otherwise very different, and not very good.  It’s interesting to finally hear the “Eskimo” song that Paul was joking about, and it’s fascinating that it’s actually “Only You”, but wow, this is really not enjoyable listening.  2/5

Mercifully coming closer to the end, “Nancy” is another Bullfrog Bheer song.  You can imagine Gene writing this stuff, taking it so seriously, thinking he is the McCartney of the next generation.  Meanwhile, the song he wrote is utter crap.  1/5

And finally, written for Gene’s late uncle George comes one of the most surprising songs of all.  “My Uncle Is A Raft” goes back to the 10th grade, performed with friends.  It’s a delightful little folky jig that sounds like something from the 1930s.  It’s hard to say it’s a great song, because part of its appeal is its low-fi authenticity which lends of a comedic vintage quality.  It ain’t bad though.  The “yee-haw!” in the middle of the song says it all.  This is an upbeat little number that sounds like it’s from another era entirely.  Fascinating and delightful.  4/5

What a weird disc this was!

Average score by song:   2.16/5 stars, the lowest of the set.

Next time, we will sum up the box set and look at the extras.  The Vault isn’t finished yet.

Bonus Disk 11 Track length and songwriters (from Wikipedia)

1. Feel Like Heaven (3:07) Simmons
2. Obnoxious (2:37) Simmons
3. Mina’San, Mina’San (2:13) Simmons
4. Just Begun to Fight (3:27) Simmons
5. It’s Funny, But It Ain’t No Joke (2:32) Simmons
6. Love by Invitation (3:21) Simmons
7. Dorothy Lamour (2:31) Simmons
8. Queen of Hearts (3:14) Simmons / Castro
9. My Lorraine (1:58) Simmons
10. Leeta (2:25) Simmons
11. Put on Your Slippers (2:24) Simmons
12. Gypsy Nights (2:55) Simmons
13. Eskimo Sun (3:08) Simmons
14. Nancy (1:27) Simmons
15. My Uncle Is a Raft (1:16) Simmons

REVIEW: Gene Simmons – The Vault – Disk 10 (2018)

Previous Reading: 

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

REVIEW: Gene Simmons – The Vault – Disk 9 (2018)

Previous Reading: 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome back, creatures of the night.  For those keeping score at home, this CD contains tracks 121-135 in the Vault box set.

GENE SIMMONS – The Vault – Disk 9 (2018 Rhino)

Gene wrote “It’s Gonna Be Alright” with Mikel Japp, who was a Paul Stanley co-writer.  This was written for Creatures, and this 4:29 version appears on that box set.  Japp came up with the opening lick while the rest came from Gene.  It’s a good song, though too upbeat and pop for Creatures.  The drum machine is just a placeholder, but even with the drum machine, it’s a good song already.  The guitar part is catchy and Kiss-like.  It would have fit into that Kiss Killers sound.  3.5/5

“It’s Gonna Be Alright #2” was re-done with Bruce Kulick in the mid-80s.  This is more fleshed out, with solos and harder-edged guitars.  The drum program is more sophisticated and it’s more suitable for an album like Asylum.  A real shame that songs like this were not chosen in favour of weaker compositions.  Some songs might not have fit the direction of the album, but perhaps the direction of the album was at fault.  4/5

“Everybody Knows #1” is performed with Tommy Thayer, who plays a very similar acoustic guitar part inspired by “Rock Bottom” from Dressed to Kill.  The electric guitars kick in, along with a massive chorus.  This would date back to the Hot in the Shade era and absolutely should have been on that album.  The answering vocals are killer and it makes you wonder what Paul Stanley could have done with those backing vocals.    According to Wikipedia, the Japanese version of Asshole contained “Everybody Knows” as a bonus track, but it is unknown which one.  4/5

“Everybody Knows #2” is a very different version.  This one is more 90s and alterna-rock.  It could have worked on an album like Carnival of Souls or Psycho-Circus.  While it is still a good song, the previous one is superior, though that might just be a matter of taste.  The chorus is intact but a lot of the hooks I liked are not.  3.5/5

A very special demo is ahead.  “You’re All That I Want” was of course the closing song on Kiss Unmasked.  Gene says this is the only demo he has with Paul Stanley assisting.  Therefore this is the Starchild’s only appearance in this box set, and perhaps therefore the only “true” Kiss demo.  It’s like a shock to the system to finally hear Paul singing, nine discs in.  This demo doesn’t have the pep of the final version, but they were going for something harder edged.  The acoustic guitars are very crisp and unlike anything on the Unmasked album.  This demo just proves that Gene and Paul are better together than apart.  4/5

“Kids With Painted Faces” is the third version of “I Am Yours”, here re-written with new lyrics including one about playing air guitar to Ace.  The Beatles influence still comes through.  This is the song Gene compared to “All the Young Dudes” due to its anthemic guitar melody.  One lyric is pretty poignant:  “There is no Kiss without you.”  True, Gene.  True.  3.5/5 

“I Wanna Rule the World” is another variation of the “Now That You’re Gone” / “Mirage” idea.  It sounds as if the Beatles moved to Seattle in 1992.  It’s quite intriguing.  There was a certain simplicity that was happening with melody in the 1990s, and this demo shares that quality.  It is not bad, but the rough and distorted recording does it no favours.  It is important to remember that “demo” means “demonstration”.  You would literally record an idea to relay or demonstrate the idea to another person, either for them to perform it themselves, or see if they are interested in it.  3/5

“Rule the World #2” is a completely different idea with a similar title.  In the liner notes, Gene explains he does this to make box sets harder for reviewers to write about (kidding!).  This is a very grungey, alternative song with droning guitars and a distinctly 90s sound.  This is one of the songs Gene wrote with Scott Van Zen.  It’s pretty good, and if Kiss had just made more albums instead of drying up creatively after the reunion, this might have come out on one of them.  3/5

“Damn, I’m Good” starts with Gene coming up with the CCR-inspired chord ideas on acoustic.  It then fades into a funky electric demo with Eric Singer.  Gene notes that he re-used some of the lyrics in this song in multiple other songs in the box set, including opener “Are You Ready”.  Now, you don’t often associate Gene Simmons with funky rock, but “Damn, I’m Good” cooks.  Kiss could not have done a song this funky without Ace Frehley, which is to say, though it is only mildly funky, it would benefit from the guy who wrote “Torpedo Girl”.  In short:  this is a different song and it may turn off some listeners.  I think it’s great.  4.5/5

An instrumental version of “Dial L For Love” appeared on Eric Carr’s posthumous Unfinished Business album.  Now here is a full version with drums, lyrics and Gene Simmons singing.  Bruce Kulick also appears, and Adam Mitchell helped finish.  It has a cool 80s riff with the harmonics that were currently in vogue.  Had it been included, Gene says it would have been on Animalize or Asylum, but I think his memory is a bit faulty.  This sounds more like Crazy Nights era.  It should have had Eric Carr singing.  The chorus sounds up his alley.  3.5/5

“Just Like the Movies #1” is the only song Gene wrote with singer / songwriter Stephen Bishop.  This might be a good thing.  It’s hard to hear what Gene was going for.  It sounds like something circa Unmasked, with complex pre-recorded drums and a dancey sound.  In fact some of it did end up in “She’s So European” if you listen carefully.  You won’t read that in the liner notes.   Gene liked the title as a chorus idea:  “Just like the movies, I feel like Romeo.”  The idea seems like it has something usable, but this recording wouldn’t have been it.  2/5

“I Know Who You Are” ended up on Gene’s first solo album as “Living In Sin”.  This early demo features Joe X. Dube of Starz on drums.  Though this version still features prominent piano beats, it’s more rock n’ roll, and Kiss-like, than his solo counterpart.  You can almost hear where Gene would want Ace to lay down a fat solo.  Gene says all this is based on an old song idea called “Drive Me Wild”.  3.5/5

“Sweet Temptation”, or part of it anyway, was used in “Only You” on The Elder.  It becomes the “I can’t believe this is true, why do I listen to you?” part.  The rest was discarded.  Which is fine.  The chorus is not memorable.  It’s fascinating how these songs come to be.  Of course, as we have discussed, perhaps the older demo of “Only You” is better than the final, but here’s the missing element that was needed to created the Elder version.  2/5

“Are You Always This Hot” is a late-80s shredder song featuring Bruce Kulick and co-written by Adam Mitchell.  The solo is all whammy and tricks, and the tempo is that uptempo plod that Gene was good at on albums like Animalize.  “Are You Always This Hot” is a song title we’ve seen printed in magazines and books for years, but I always thought with a title like that, it was a Paul song.  Nope!  All Gene.  2.5/5

“Fourever” goes back to the same sessions as “Bad Bad Lovin'” aka “Dr. Love”, so you know how old it is, though this version sounds newer.  It features prominent sax, and was inspired by the Dave Clark Five.  It’s basically Gene singing about himself and Kiss, but it’s certainly not the first time.  It’s pretty good, mostly because of the saxophone and cool shouted backing vocals.  It could have worked with Kiss, who did eventually incorporate sax into some of their music.  3.5/5

Average score by song:   3.3/5 stars

 

Disk 9 Track length and songwriters (from Wikipedia)

1. It’s Gonna Be Alright (4:30) Simmons / Japp
2. It’s Gonna Be Alright #2 (3:15) Simmons / Japp
3. Everybody Knows #1 (3:55) Simmons
4. Everybody Knows #2 (3:45) Simmons
5. You’re All That I Want (4:06) Simmons
6. Kids With Painted Faces (3:15) Leader / Simmons
7. I Wanna Rule the World (5:01) Simmons
8. Rule the World #2 (4:08) Simmons / Van Zen
9. Damn, I’m Good (3:29) Simmons
10. Dial L for Love (3:42) Simmons / Mitchell / Carr
11. Just Like the Movies #1 (2:45) Simmons / Bishop
12. I Know Who You Are (3:28) Simmons
13. Sweet Temptation (2:48) Simmons
14. Are You Always This Hot (3:01) Simmons / Mitchell
15. Fourever (3:05) Simmons

REVIEW: Gene Simmons – The Vault – Disk 8 (2018)

Previous Reading: 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onto Sonic Boom and some other albums.  For those keeping score at home, this CD contains tracks 106-120 in the Vault box set.

GENE SIMMONS – The Vault – Disk 8 (2018 Rhino)

“We Rocked It All Night” is an autobiographical song written for the Sonic Boom album.  Though modern sounding, it also has a throwback vibe.  It would have fit well on Sonic Boom and you could make an argument for its inclusion.  It has a cool old-time rock and roll vibe while remaining modern Kiss.  Gene can’t help referencing back to “Rock and Roll all Nite” in the lyrics, and it’s alright by me.  4/5

“She’s Rotten to the Core” is a Gene Simmons / Bruce Kulick composition not to be confused with “Rotten to the Core”.  They are two different songs.  It can get very confusing going through these demos!  Gene likes to re-use titles and lyrics.  This also has a vintage Kiss sound to it.  Catchy chorus, circa Rock and Roll Over.   “She’s rotten to the core, and I don’t care!”  Really good tune that would have worked well on a number of Kiss albums.  4/5

“S&M Love” is the same musical idea as “Sweet & Dirty Love”, recorded with Tommy Thayer.  These originate with an old Gene song called “Jelly Roll”.  This version of the song has lots of tasty slide guitar action and sounds pretty much ready for an album.  It’s better than the version on Asshole.  It’s more rock and roll.  4/5

“Sweet & Dirty Love #2” with Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer is a dirtier demo of the same song.  It’s a lot rougher sonically but with just as much slide.  Good, fast & heavy.  Too much it doesn’t sound as good.  3.5/5

“Jelly Roll” is the original idea.  You can hear the riff there, and suddenly a younger Gene Simmons is singing the same melody that we just heard.  There’s a certain AC/DC vibe here without the slide guitar.  Perhaps it was too fast and straight-ahead for Kiss, who knows?  A song like this easily could have been on Love Gun.  3.5/5

In this Vault, we often hear later versions before we hear the originals.  “Just Gimme Love #2” is a Thayer & Singer update of a song we’ll hear later on.  It has a cool “Kickstart My Heart” beat and tempo.  Lo and behold, this song later became “You Wanted the Best” on Psycho-Circus.  The chorus is different, and maybe a little more Kiss-like.  Thayer’s solo is in the Ace ballpark.  Regardless, it’s not quite the song that the final version would be, though it’s pretty good.  3.5/5

“You Wanted the Best” is of course the re-written version considered for Psycho-Circus.  Gene explains in the liner notes that Ace and Peter were largely absent from the sessions not because they were underskilled as we were told before.  Now Gene says it’s because the two wanted to renegotiate their contracts last minute, so they were forced to start working with Thayer on the album.  This song was intended to be sung by all four members and ultimately that’s exactly what happened when Ace and Peter “came to their senses”.   There are some cool lines here that didn’t make it into the final version here such as “Yeah, we’re back baby!”  3.5/5

“Just Gimme Love #1” is now, finally the original 1970s version of everything we’ve just heard.  It is from the same recording session that yielded “Love Is Blind” and other songs.  It’s kind of crazy how Gene wrote this music for his band and they didn’t get around to it for 20 years.  This original idea is less breakneck and more in the vibe of old school Kiss, but the chorus doesn’t have the right vibe yet.  It’s a little clunky, but Kiss obviously would have made more more their style.  Since the idea here is a little more primitive, the rating is lower.  3/5

You gotta love Gene’s titles sometimes.  “Hit the Ground (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is)” is a Singer / Thayer demo with improvised lyrics just to get the musical idea down.  It originally came to Gene while in a car so he sang into into a cell phone to record it.  There’s something cool here, but it’s just a fragment of a song, not a complete idea.  2.5/5

Pete Townsend inspired the big chords on “Who Said So”.  It definitely sounds like a Who outtake, and Eric Singer sounds like he’s going for a Keith Moon vibe on some of his fills.  Tommy Thayer is on guitar as Gene counts out the sections to the band.  “Bridge, two, four!”  They are literally hashing out the song live in the studio.  There could have been something here.  As it is, it’s just the basis of an idea.  2.5/5

“Bad Bad Lovin'” is crazy.  We already heard another version of “Bad Bad Lovin'” that became “Dr. Love” on Disk 4.  Now Gene revisits the idea in 1978 and sounds more like Alice Cooper or Lou Reed in a sing-talk voice.  There’s a saxophone.  This is cool.  Some of the words later became “Good Girl Gone Bad” on Crazy Nights, but largely this sounds like “Charisma” on Dynasty.  Gene doesn’t say so, but this can be considered a prototype for “Charisma”.  4.5/5

Jumping ahead to Revenge, “I’m Paralyzed” eventually ended up on that album.  Bob Ezrin has a writing credit and joins on the chorus.  It’s a very cool demo, but the chorus is not the final one.  It doesn’t quite fit, but of course they would fix that later.  Drums are programmed and Gene played the guitar with a coin a-la Brian May, to a get a certain chug chug sound.  Not bad stuff.  3/5

“Chrome Heart” is a Bruce Kulick / Gene Simmons demo from a post-Crazy Nights era where Kiss needed to rock a little more.  This song smokes!  Bruce Kulick always brings a certain level of quality.  This is better than most of Gene’s songs that made it onto Hot in the Shade.  How do songs like this get lost?   Yet another song that should have been released on an album.  It does sound like some parts turned up elsewhere.  4/5

Gene really likes these big Mountain chords that inspired “Goin’ Blind”.  “‘Til the End of Time” is a similar idea, mostly instrumental with Gene scatting improvised lyrics.  There was potential here to create a similar slow, determined and emotional song of heavy construction.  3.5/5

This disc closes on a pretty clean demo of “Thou Shalt Not” from the Revenge album.  All the music is there, but none of the lyrics aside from the title.  There are empty spots that Gene intended to fill with words.  It’s kind of funny to hear that.  Good idea with a final song that was album-worthy.  3/5

Average score by song:   3.46/5 stars

 

Disk 8 Track length and songwriters (from Wikipedia)

1. We Rocked It All Night (3:25) Simmons
2. She’s Rotten to the Core (3:33) Simmons / Kulick
3. S&M Love (2:40) Simmons
4. Sweet & Dirty Love #2 (3:24) Simmons
5. Jelly Roll (1:54) Simmons
6. Just Gimme Love #2 (3:40) Simmons
7. You Wanted the Best (3:41) Simmons
8. Just Gimme Love #1 (3:34) Simmons
9. Hit the Ground (2:10) Simmons
10. Who Said So (1:55) Simmons
11. Bad Bad Lovin’ (3:15) Simmons
12. I’m Paralyzed (3:40) Simmons / Ezrin
13. Chrome Heart (3:36) Simmons / Kulick
14. Till the End of Time (3:15) Simmons
15. Thou Shalt Not (3:07) Simmons / Damon

REVIEW: Gene Simmons – The Vault – Disk 7 (2018)

Previous Reading: 

Record Store Tales #600:  The Vault
Disk 1 Review
Disk 2 Review
Disk 3 Review
Disk 4 Review
Disk 5 Review
Disk 6 Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some good and bad songs ahead.  For those keeping score at home, this CD contains tracks 91-105 in the Vault box set.

GENE SIMMONS – The Vault – Disk 7 (2018 Rhino)

“No Conscience” comes with a Vinnie Poncia co-writing credit, which probably dates it back to the Hot in the Shade era.  Not much else is said about its genesis.  It’s an interesting hard rocker with what sound like drum machines.   It’s very much in the mould of that late 80s Kiss sound and could have been a B-side.  In the case of Hot in the Shade, a lot of the demos were polished up for the final album.  This needs some polishing, but it’s a little like finding a lost gem.  3/5 

Gene talks about writing “Suspicious” with Black ‘N Blue for In Heat, which dates this track back to about 1988.  There’s a clear “Stayin’ Alive” reference with the “Ah, ah, ah” in the chorus.   It’s not bad and would have fit very well on Hot in the Shade better than some of the songs that made it.  There’s a cool solo (must be Thayer) and the hooks eventually bore their way into your head.  Sounds a little like Trash-era Alice Cooper too.  4/5

“Everybody Wants” is a great song.  This is another of the Silent Rage demos.  The vocals aren’t recorded well enough to really make out the words, but the chorus has hooks.  It has a bit of a Dokken vibe, in a good way.  As we go through the Vault we keep running across songs that should have made onto Kiss albums.  Here’s another.  Which one would it fit on?  That’s the trick.  Maybe Kiss should have just made more albums.  4/5

“Promise The Moon” is interesting.  The chords go back to a song called “Sentimental Fool” written with Bob Kulick.  However, an instrumental (with prominent bass) was bootlegged as “The Unknown Force”.  On the Creatures of the Night box set, another version is titled “Tell It To A Fool”.  This isn’t information you’ll find in the liner notes.  This is coming from me using my ears.  Long have I loved that “Unknown Force”, demo and wished for a better version.  Here it is, with full lyrics, guitar solos, and everything else.  This song is stellar.  There were plenty of albums this could have fit on.  Gene reveals that he wanted Black ‘N Blue to do the song.  That would have been a waste.  This should have been Kiss.   I am overjoyed to have this song in my collection at last.  5/5

“All You Want Is a Piece of My Heart” is an Adam Mitchell song featuring Tommy Thayer.  It’s a bass groove, with some unexpected acoustic guitar overtop the metal riff.  It needed to be properly fleshed out, but there is definitely the skeleton of an idea here that had potential.  Sounds very Hot in the Shade with that acoustic.  It’s difficult to rate because there’s a terrific chorus and some cool guitar work, but also some sections that sound unfinished.  3.5/5

“Pride” is an early 2000s song, but unlike the other Asshole material, this one is really good!  Unbelievable!  How does stuff like this end up buried on a box set?  There’s a soulful chorus and a joyful arrangement.  It’s hard to describe.  It’s pop, not rock, with piano and a knack for a hook.  It’s criminal for a great song like this to sit unnoticed on an 11 CD box set that very few people have.  5/5

“Through the Night” and “Sweetheart of the Radio” are two earlier Simmons songs that eventually transformed into “Mirage” during the early 90s.  This Thayer demo has a strong beat and numerous hooks.  Once again, how does stuff like this get left off albums?  This song is all but finished, with “woah-oh-oh” vocals and some serious Thayer pyrotechnics.  For those who love that 80s Kiss sound, this song is right up their alley.  Gene says the bridge was later used in “Now That You’re Gone” and “I Wanna Rule the World”, but I didn’t notice.  That’s five songs all connected together!  4/5

Gene’s Simmons Records protege Bag (just Bag) was responsible for “Dog”.  It ended up on the Asshole album, unfortunately, because it’s garbage.  I don’t know what Gene was thinking on that album.  The only good thing about it is this big giant Jimmy Page-like guitar part that isn’t in the song enough.  1.5/5

“If I Had a Gun” is one of the few good songs on Asshole, and it’s another Bag song.  This demo is a lot like the finished version, just less adorned with all the accoutrements.  Some may like it, some hate it.  I like the “Uh-oh, uh-oh” falsetto vocal hook.  I think it’s a good song.  3.5/5

Onto Carnival of Souls.  One of the most remarkable songs on that album was a Bruce Kulick / Gene Simmons song called “I Walk Alone”.  Why remarkable?  Because it was Bruce Kulick’s debut on lead vocals.  This is an earlier version with a different chorus, and Gene on lead vocals.  Sounds like Eric Singer on drums.  It has ballady elements, but also slams quite hard on the chorus.  It’s hard to rank compared to the album version.  There are things to like about both.  3.5/5

“Seduction of the Innocent” is another Carnival demo.  It’s quite remarkable, but the melody idea is the oldest on the box set.  It dates back to 1964.  Gene wrote it when he was 13 years old and called it “My Girl Brought Me Chocolate Ice Cream”.  He finished it decades later with Scott Van Zen.  In the liner notes, Gene spends a good amount of time talking about growing up as a poor immigrant.  Not being able to speak English, and then gradually being able to understand Beatles songs.  Using a broken TV speaker and cabinet as a makeshift amplifier.  You can hear the Beatles in the song, but that may just be what Gene refers to as a “Middle Eastern” melody, a style familiar to him from his youth in Israel.  Fascinating history, but also a pretty good song that made it to the final album much like this demo.  3.5/5

Suddenly we jump to Animalize.  “Lonely Is the Hunter” should be familiar, but Gene takes a bit of a shot at Paul Stanley in the notes.  He says he prefers the greasy feel of the demo, and says he wasn’t there in the studio when Kiss recorded their version, saying it was Paul’s project.  Gene, of course, was busy filming Runaway with Tom Selleck.  This demo does have a sleazier groove, and hits in a way that might have more vintage Kiss in style.  Gene may have a point about Animalize, but it was his fault for not being there.  3.5/5 

The next few songs go back to 1977 and a Motown influence.  “Never Gonna Leave You #1” was recorded in a closet on a 4-track recorder.  You can hear what Gene was trying to achieve.  He didn’t.  Perhaps some of it wound on Gene’s solo album.  There’s a certain way he sings “Yeah” that is similar.  1/5

“I Ain’t Comin’ Back” is a better attempt from 1977 at the above sound.  Marginally better.  The beats are better.  The chorus is something pretty smelly.  Limburger.  1.5/5

“Never Gonna Leave You #2” is an update with Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer.  Finally he got it right.  This is a rock version.  Gene seems to prefer the Motown version.  I don’t.  This could have been a solid Kiss B-side.  3/5

Average score by song:   3.06/5 stars

 

Disk 7 Track length and songwriters (from Wikipedia)

1. No Conscience (3:35) Simmons / Poncia
2. Suspicious (3:22) Thayer / St. James / Regan
3. Everybody Wants (2:24) Simmons / Damon
4. Promise the Moon (4:00) Simmons / Kulick / Thayer / St. James
5. All You Want Is a Piece of My Heart (3:53) Mitchell
6. Pride (3:11) McCormack / Simmons
7. Mirage (3:30) Simmons
8. Dog (3:32) Chuaqui / Simmons
9. If I Had a Gun (3:27) Chuaqui
10. I Walk Alone (3:27) Simmons / Kulick
11. Seduction of the Innocent (5:09) Simmons / Van Zen
12. Lonely Is the Hunter (3:02) Simmons
13. Never Gonna Leave You #1 (2:22) Simmons
14. I Ain’t Comin’ Back (2:57) Simmons
15. Never Gonna Leave You #2 (3:19) Simmons