kiss

Part 137: M.E.A.T Magazine (VIDEO BLOG)

Anybody else remember Drew Masters and M.E.A.T Magazine?

RECORD STORE TALES Part 137: M.E.A.T

VIDEO BLOG: Japanese Import! KISS Monster!

Think of this one as a coda to Mike And Aaron Go To Toronto.

And if you missed the original video, it is below.

REVIEW: Carmine Appice – Carmine Appice (1981)

Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012!  Check out the video below if you missed it.  This one bought at Paradise Bound.  If you recall, this is actually one of two drummer solo albums I bought that day, the other being Over The Top by Cozy Powell.

MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO

CARMINE APPICE – Carmine Appice (1981, CBS/Pasha)

Well hey.  He did co-wrote “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”, and that ended up being one of Rod’s more massive hits.  Why not do a solo album?

Carmine co-wrote all tracks herein, and sings lead as well.  There are a couple interesting co-writes:  “Drum City Rocker” was co-written by an unknown named Vincent Cusano.  Cusano would later change his name to Vinnie Vincent when he joined Kiss the following year.  Another alumnus from the school of Gene & Paul, Ron Leejack (ex-Wicked Lester) “Am I Losing You”.

The sound is pop rock with pounding drums, a sound I don’t mind too much.  I’ve always been a fan of Carmine’s drumming, and his drum sound here is what I like.  A big snare drum that sounds like a snare drum, lots of toms and a non-stop approach.

The songs are not great, especially dreadful is a tribal keyboard-drenched “Paint It Black”.  Perhaps inspired by Ian Paice, Carmine chose this Stones cover for a drum salvo.  He plays it very tribal but…how many people have done covers of this song and buggered them up?  Most.  The minority do it well.

Better is the ballad “Blue Cafe” with its mournful sounding vocal and keyboard lines.  The rockers fare less well, with “Have You Heard” and “Keep On Rolling” both sounding pretty weak kneed for rock songs.  The drumming’s great of course, the singing less so.  Carmine barely holds it together at times.

“Sweet Senorita” which closes side one is a Bon Jovi-esque rocker that might have been hit worthy in 1981.  Really the weakest aspect of the album is the vocal.  Carmine’s voice lacks character, sounding very much like Joe Pop Singer.  It’s too bad because “Sweet Senorita” boasts a great groove and fine guitar solo, along with memorable hooks.

Side two opens with a drum salvo!…and then this lame vocal part kicks in, “Drum city, drum city…”  Yes, it’s “Drum City Rocker”.  Why couldn’t they have left it instrumental?  It’s otherwise fine, with punchy drum fills and a great boogie!

“Hollywood Heartbeart”, much like the earlier song “Keep On Rolling” sounds like a Journey reject, without any of Steve Perry’s vocal grace.  They sound like pale imitations.  I had higher hopes for Phil Spector’s “Be My Baby”, being a personal favourite.  Thankfully this is more suited to Carmine’s style and he doesn’t butcher it.   The backing vocals are pretty sucky though.

“Am I Losing You” is another strong ballad, a good song, a decent vocal from Carmine.  I hate buying a rock album only to find that the best songs are the ballads, but in this case, that’s the way it is.  Both ballads are good and have some feeling to them.

“Drums Drums Drums” closes the album, and as you can guess, it’s a plethora of drums…with Carmine’s annoying vocals!  “Drums drums drums…” he sings.  This is followed by an awful “Heyyyyy, heyyy, heyyy–o!” section.

Produced by Richard Polodor.  It has this dry, dull sound kind like a Peter Criss solo album.

The record sleeve has an ad (expiring December 31, 1982) to send $12 to buy Carmine’s own book, The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method!  A quick Amazon search reveals that the book is still in print today, available for $18 on Amazon.

2/5 stars

Part 128: VIDEO BLOG – Mike & Aaron Go To Toronto! (now with Store Report Card!)

Join Mike and Aaron as they hunt for rare albums!

REPORT CARD

Sonic Boom, 782 Bathurst St – 5/5 stars

BMV, 471 Bloor Street West – 3.5/5 stars (Mike) 4/5 stars (Aaron)

Rotate This, 801 Queen St. W – 3/5 stars  (no rating from Aaron)

Pauper’s Pub,  539 Bloor Street West – 3.5/5 stars

Paradise Bound, 270 August Ave – 4/5 stars * note I got the name wrong in the video

Moonbean, 30 Saint Andrew Street – 5/5 stars

Sonic Boom Kensington, 201 Augusta Ave – 4.5/5 stars

HMV, 333 Yonge Street – 1.5/5 stars

Sunrise, 220 Yonge Street, 1.5/5 stars (no rating from Aaron)

 

See what Aaron bought by clicking here!

FINAL NOTE:  I procured a the Japanese import from eBay a week later, October 27, for $41, free shipping.

REVIEW/GUEST SHOT: KISS – Monster (2012)

You lucky, lucky boys and girls.  Not only do you get TWO KISS MONSTER reviews for the price of one today, but you are getting a guest review from the scholarly Tommy Morais!  This guy is one of the most fanatic rock fans I know, and one of the top rated reviewers on Amazon.ca.   

And then, after Tommy’s review, I present to you part 52 of my own series of Kiss reviews!  FYI, neither of us had read the others’ review when we did this.  Anything they have in common is coincidental!

TOMMY’S TAKE

Out of all the guest shots Mike “LeBrain” Ladano has had, it seems he knew the contributors for years and they wrote great personal stories. Well, I’ve always been the black sheep at anything I did and this is no exception. I’ve only known Mike since 2010 and we’ve never met in person. However, I know that Mike is one of the most enthusiast fan and a hardcore collector there is and his passion for the website’s content is genuine and largely impressive. Sure I have all the studio and live albums from all my favorite bands, books, magazine, flags etc. but Mike takes it one step further and owns stuff I could only dream to own and afford, his collection is like no other as you’ve probably seen here. I first came to know LeBrain when he read some of my Amazon reviews and e-mailed me about them. He was kind enough to let me know he liked some of my reviewing work, particularly the one I did for Ratt’s Infestation album (2010). I soon discovered we both shared a love for many of the same bands and we’ve been talking Rock N’ Roll since then: albums, musicians, gossips, upcoming releases what we’d like to see etc. Best of all, Mike knows his music and you cannot understate his love for music and those bands that personally, have kept me going and rockin’. What follows is both Mike’s and my review of the new KISS album, Monster. But just before here’s to your host, all his dedication and the time and effort he puts into this website which I admire and visit daily. Cheers!

KISS – Monster (2012)

I think it’s safe to say that even though they’ve truly upset and angered some fans (to the point of leaving the KISS army) Paul and Gene still command a vast KISS army around the world. With Sonic Boom, KISS was back and it was a nice return after 11 years of complete studio silence and lack of a new album. SB was mostly well received as a return to form and a great KISS album. Then there are fans who didn’t buy the album because it’s not KISS and it’s disrespectful to Ace and Peter who were the originals to have Tommy and Eric wear their makeup. I understand both sides completely and agree with both, but I liked Sonic Boom for what it was and three years later it’s follow up (and 20th studio!) album, Monster is I have to say, better. While I was glad that there was a new KISS album and I enjoyed it, SB sounded a little too 80’s rooted at times. However, Monster is heavier, doesn’t feel like 80’s KISS and its edgy and aggressive and did I say heavy? The guitars are turned up LOUD and the drum is almighty, the sound that comes from it is massive, anthemic and fist pumping Hard Rock formula pushing far into Metal territory and as a fan, that’s good. It helps that there are no ballads either. At this point it shouldn’t be about “Fake KISS” and so on like there was a lot of talk on the Sonic Boom Amazon page, the music should stand on its own. Buying the new KISS album was always like an event, an obligation in some way whether it was Love Gun or Dynasty or Crazy Nights and now, Monster.

Opening track and first single “Hell or Hallelujah  is in your face heavy, and I was surprised at how fast it sounded. To me it sounds like something from Love Gun in ’77 like “I Stole Your Love” meets the speed of “Gimme More” from Lick It Up or perhaps another fast 80’s KISS tune. It works really well, it’s anthemic, it’s pure KISS and Paul sings it like he’s on fire and the backing vocals just get it done. “Wall of Sound” is Gene being the real demon Gene Simmons again. He’s menacing and attitude comes throughout, it’s one of the best songs on Monster. “Freak” is a track that I love if not just for the lyrics, they’re representative of KISS in a way and Paul does nicely here, it’s catchy and hits it home. “Back To The Stone Age”, now this is what I’m talking about! The sound is massive, heavy and Gene’s voice, he’s got that angry demon voice we all love. The lyrics are cool and very Gene, there’s even a neat little breakdown and it’s one of the best songs here absolutely. “Shout Mercy” is undeniably catchy and has that classic, quintessential chorus that made their classic songs memorable and radio staples, and the “whoohoos” back vocals add to the catchiness, you’ll see.”All For The Love Of Rock And Roll” is one that I quite like, it’s slower paced and less aggressive and Eric Singer does a wonderful job on the vocals (“All For The Glory” was one of my favorite songs on SB).On an album where pretty much the songs are heavy it’s nice to have something to balance it out, and while not a ballad this song does just that. I could almost see it as a single on radio. “Eat Your Heart Out” starts out with just the band singing and nothing else, those harmonies sound great and you know it’s going to be a cool track. It kicks in and doesn’t let you down, another strong one. “Outta This World” is sung by Tommy Thayer and it fits the Spaceman persona nicely, I much prefer this one to the song he had on Sonic Boom, it’s a good rockin’ track I was impressed by Tommy and he comes off as more of his own this time around. “Take Me Down Below” has obviously sexual innuendo and the reason this one is special is because Gene and Paul share lead. Gene has his story that’s reminiscent of “She’s So European” from the 1980 Unmasked album (talks about a lady, standing there, champagne, perfume, now she’s standing next to me, very Simmons) and Paul comes up with something and then the chorus and it works nicely I wish they did this more often. The only song that didn’t really do it for me was “Last Chance” but while it’s not awful I think the album might have ended stronger without it. I haven’t gone through every song or every little detail but I think you get the idea of my appreciation.

I was initially worried about the album being delayed as usually that’s never a good sign, but the album is excellent and those fears were unfounded it turns out. They’ve been at it for 40 years now (almost) and it doesn’t show, they have that drive and that passion in the sound. I think it shows more of their influences too, in one song I detected a really Zeppelin-ish part and so on which I think was great.

Gene really surprised me on Monster with his lyrics, voice and attitude he really contributed amazing stuff time around that exceeds what he did on the previous album, I think his songs may just be the best ones here. It’s not a retro album, its KISS being KISS and kicking it up a notch and sounding tighter and heavier and it works extremely well. Sonic Boom grew on me, Monster I loved immediately (SB had that extra re-recorded KISS Klassics CD and live DVD but Monster stands proudly on its 12 songs people).

To me Sonic Boom wasn’t a five stars KISS album, while very good it didn’t take it to the next level which is exactly what Monster does. Is it the perfect KISS record? Look at this point it’s better than I could have anticipated, exceeds the last one which was really good and it stands on its own, plus they’re heavier this time around and it’s the record they needed to follow up SB with. To me it’s full marks on this one, Monster really is a Monster and it impressed me! Nicely done and I don’t say just because I’m a die-hard fan with everything they’ve made. Initially the band talked about having another painting as the album cover much like Destroyer or Love Gun and that didn’t happen, a slight let down. Now I’d just love to see KISS play a big chunk of this album in a LIVE setting, they sound made for the stage and I can only imagine how well it would work.

5/5.

I’ll leave you alone and let you read what you came here to read and what we’ve all been anticipating, LeBrain’s review of KISS’ new album, Monster. I’ve been anxious as to what Mike thinks and we haven’t even discussed it yet, I’m anxious to read it myself. Enjoy!

LEBRAIN’S TAKE

CHECK OUT MY QUICKIE VIDEO ON THE 3D COVER ART!

KISS – Monster (2012 3D lenticular cover, iTunes editions)

Right from that opening guitar salvo there’s no question:  it’s Kiss.  And Kiss have made a remarkable album.  Not only is Monster a logical follow-up (and up-ratchet) to Sonic Boom, but it shows that Kiss are not afraid of growth.  Monster succeeds in sounding like new Kiss, where Sonic Boom succeeded in sounding like old Kiss.  Nothing wrong with that, I like Sonic Boom.  But I already bought that album once.

Immediately you will notice that Monster is heavier, both song-wise and production wise.  It sounds as if Kiss are attempting to scale Mount Zep.  Songs like “Wall of Sound”, “The Devil Is Me” and “Back to the Stone Age” are all classic Gene attitude, totally up his alley and he kicks them in the ass.  Listen to his bass kickin’ it on “The Devil Is Me”!  Actually I want to draw special attention to Gene as a bass player on this album.  Producer Paul Stanley wisely chose to place emphasis on Gene’s bass, and meanwhile Gene decided to throw in some of the tastiest bass-licks from his bag o’ tricks.  Nobody will ever compare Gene Simmons to Geddy Lee, but there is absolutely no question that Gene’s bass playing is perfect for these songs.

Meanwhile, there’s Paul:  yes, his voice is really rough in spots, but he works around it successfully.  Eric Singer and Gene Simmons can be heard backing him on a song like “Freak” (another great tune) creating that classic Kiss sounding harmony.  The combination of all four Kiss singers helps conceal Paul’s roughness.  And besides, every once in a while he goes for the high notes, and using them sparingly makes you appreciate them more.  The first single, “Hell Or Hallelujah”, demonstrates how Paul still manages to kick ass in the studio within the confines of his voice.

At first the only song I wasn’t digging was “Eat Your Heart Out”.  It threw me, right from the a cappella harmony that opens the song.  Now, I’m digging it.  From Gene’s signature slinky bass to Eric’s cowbell and Paul’s sly backing vocals, I love this song.  It’s an upbeat party tune like you want from Kiss.

“Outta This World”, written solely by Tommy Thayer, is his vocal showcase.  It’s another great song, not too different from his previous “When Lightning Strikes”.  It’s a great example of Tommy’s songwriting prowess.  Clearly, this is the right guy right now for Kiss.

Not to be outdone, Eric Singer’s lead vocal, “All For the Love of Rock and Roll” (written by Paul) is my current favourite song.  It’s probably the most “rock & roll” sounding of all these new Kiss songs.  It has a certain guitar jangle that would have been at home on some of the first 6 Kiss albums.  Think “Mr. Speed”.  Eric has always been a great singer and I don’t understand why Kiss didn’t take advantage of this, by having him sing lead on albums back in the 1990’s.

Gene and Paul trade vocals on “Take Me Down Below”, but even better is “Last Chance” which closes the album.  At first, by the opening bass, I’m thinking “Plaster Caster”; but then the riff kicks in.  When Pauls sings the chorus, Gene’s infectious “Ahh, ahh ahh’s” under it seal the deal.  This is a great tune.  Hope it makes the live set.

Best Buy and iTunes have a bonus track:  “Right Here Right Now”.   The beginning is like Kiss meets AC/DC!  Then it slides into an old-school Kiss singalong rocker.  Awesome tune, shame some people won’t get a chance to hear it.

MVP:  Gene Simmons.  Not only did he contribute some great songs, but his bass kicks this whole album in the nuts.  Not to mention he’s singing a lot more backing vocals, which just makes it sound more like Kiss!

Most improved:  Tommy Thayer.  To quote the  Heavy Metal OverloRd himself, Tommy is throwing in fewer “second-hand-Ace-isms”.   I agree heartily!  He sounds less like Ace, and more like Tommy.  Just listen to his solo on “Wall of Sound”.  Ace wouldn’t have played something like that.  Which is fine — Kiss don’t have to keep trying to sound like 1977 anymore.  They should (and did) try to make an album that sounds like one that these four guys — Gene, Paul, Eric and Tommy — would make in 2012.  And that’s just groovy.

5/5 stars

OF NOTE:  I have not yet located the Japanese edition.  Oh, but I will.  Bonus track:  “King of the Night Time World” live.

BOOK REVIEW: Dale Sherman – The KISS FAQ

I’ve had numerous requests for some rock book reviews.  So let’s start with a new release:  Dale Sherman’s The KISS FAQ!

DALE SHERMAN – The KISS FAQ – All that’s left to know about the hottest band in the land (2012 Backbeat Books)

Dale Sherman’s written two of the best unofficial Kiss books:  Black Diamond, and Black Diamond 2.  Both are noted for their almost OCD level accuracy, objectivity, attention to detail, and ample Eric Carr content.  Sherman was lucky enough to get some really excellent Eric Carr interviews, and his perspective is one that isn’t often reflected in Kiss written works today.

A new book from Sherman was very welcome to this fan.  According to the author, this book is about “the various topics that fans discuss at the hotel bar after a Kiss expo,” and that about covers it!  The minutaie.  The tall tales, myths and truths.  The who-played-what-when.  Lists, lists, and lists.  The albums, the personalities, and the personas.

There are also some nice black and white pictures of memorabilia and artifacts from the author’s collection.  The author seems to have a large collection, so there are plenty of pictures to leaf through.  Colour would have been nice, but then I wouldn’t be paying $22.99 for the book, would I?

Don’t expect writing with a lot of flare, but do expect encyclopedic knowledge.  My one beef is this.  I’ve already read Black Diamond and Black Diamond 2 numerous times, and there’s quite a bit of overlap between those and The KISS FAQ.  It’s not the same text, but the subject matter overlaps.  The compensation for this is that The KISS FAQ is up to date, where Black Diamond and Black Diamond 2 were both circa the reunion era.

As a Kiss fan who likes to pretend I already know it all, I enjoyed this book.  It was like a refresher course in Kiss.  There’s lots of obscure facts I’d forgotten about.  It was a helpful reference when I did my recent series of Kiss album reviews.  Recommended.

3.9/5 stars

Part 115: The Rockmobile!

RECORD STORE TALES PART 115:  The Rockmobile!

In the early 2000’s, somebody thought it would be a good idea to spend money on some company cars.  Now, I’m no accountant.  I’m no expert on finances.  But I would have thought it would make more sense to pay mileage cheques on time than to buy a mini-fleet of cars!

They were Azteks.  They were painted in our store colours and had G-I-A-N-T store logos plastered all over them.  It was like driving a giant logo board.  They were hideous.  I only rode in one, once.  They tried to get me to lease one though.

“Hey Mike.  How would you like to drive one of these babies?”

Wha?  Why would I want to when I had my own car that I bought, that wasn’t a big ugly moving billboard?  Let me tell you something people.  They weren’t just ugly, they were fugly!

I guess the idea here was advertizing;  mobile advertizing.  I’m not too sure if that worked.  I don’t know how many people driving down the street would see a car like that and go, “Quick honey, write down that phone number — I need some CDs!”

SAM_0492

Coincidentally, GM slashed the price of the Aztek right around the time we got ours…

I think two or three people drove the Azteks.  I heard they weren’t that great.

One afternoon working in the head office, I overheard a phone call.  A customer was calling in to complain about somebody driving one of our Azteks.  I knew it was Meredith, one of the favourites.  She must have pissed someone off in traffic, like “Hey, that idiot in the CD Car cut me off!  I’m phoning their boss.”  I’d hate to own one of those and somebody see it in my driveway.  “Hey, that’s the guy who only gave me $1 for my Mellencamp!  Let’s go egg his house!”

So, I happily drove my own car instead of one of those ugly RockSuckmobiles.  They were phased out a couple years later.  The great experiment had presumably failed, because the Azteks were no more.  Never to be seen again.  Thank God.

 

 

Part 112: Klassic Kwotes IX!

RECORD STORE TALES PART 112:  Klassic Kwotes IX!

1. “I just have this image of Josh shaking his ‘thing'”.  Not actually spoken in-store, this was found on the ground on a piece of pink notepaper, after a gaggle of school girls had left the store.  Odd.

2. “I’ll tell you something, somebody’s getting fat off that Gumbo thing!” said the surly old man when I showed him the price of the Forrest Gump soundtrack.  Too rich for him!

3. “So how is the new N’Sync CD, is it decent?”  Why would you even ask this question of a guy wearing a Kiss shirt?

4. “I hear good things about it.”  My response.  This was a standardized response for if you hadn’t heard the album in question, or had heard it but hated it.  For example, “How’s the new Nickelback?”  The correct answer would have been, “I hear good things about it.” 

5.  Another standardized answer for questions like that:  “If you liked their last album, you’ll like this one.”

6. “Can I try these out?” said the guy holding about dozen discs, 10 minutes before closing time.  (Luckily, we had a policy of shutting down the CD players 15 minutes before close to avoid these situations.)

7. “Sorry man.  These things are on timers.  I can’t even turn it on.”  This is what you said if a simple, “No, sorry man, we’re closing,” wasn’t good enough.  And people believed it!  There was a neat trick.  The headphones were hooked up to these little amps.  But if I shut down the amp, there was a good 20-30 second delay before the music died.  So I covertly could flip a switch to kill the amp, walk across the store, and be doing something else before the customer’s music stops.  Then when they’d say, “Hey, the music stopped, I don’t know what happened,” I would respond:  “Sorry man.  Those things are on timers. We’re closing and they automatically shut down at this time.”  This was reserved for the jerks who abused the players.

8. “Sorry man, this CD is too scratched for me to take,” said I, to the customer selling the disc.  His classic response?  “Fuck!  That’s what you said when I brought it in last time!  But this time I fuckin’ buffed it in Turtle Wax!”

9. When we first opened, we had a big huge sign that said “WE PAY CSAH FOR USED CDS“.

10. The man from the sign company came in to fix the sign.  He said to me, and I swear to God I’m not making this up — he said to me, “That’s Bill.  He spells ‘cash’ wrong on every sign.”

BONUS 11! “Hey man.  You spelled ‘cash’ wrong on your sign you know.”  No kidding?  And Bill fuckin’ spelled it wrong, not me!

Part 108: Building the Store, Part 2

RECORD STORE TALES PART 108: Building the Store, Part 2

Last time, Statham posted something about a dream he had, of us putting together our own record store. I wish I could have had the experience of opening a store without doing work!  The reality of it varied.  On the couple of times I helped set up a store, it was hardly glamorous.

The first time was when we opened up the first store that I managed.  It was the biggest one so far, lots of stock, all crap. Junk. Shite.  Basically what we did was, maybe starting six months in advance,  just buy lots and lots and lots of stock.  Before long we had, I dunno, maybe 5000 discs, all garbage.  Dozens of Jann Arden, Spin Doctors, Michael Bolton…I had so much Michael Bolton that he took up three fucking rows!  I even had rare Michael Bolton.  Nobody had rare Michael Bolton!  Nobody wanted rare Michael Bolton!  Then you’d go to the Metallica section, nothing.  Kiss, a couple copies of Kiss My Ass.  And we had soooo much country.  We had buckets of country.  And rap artists that you nor I have ever heard of. 

Waltz back over to the rock section and browse the classics.  Did we have any Floyd?  Nothing.  Led Zeppelin?  Just the tribute album, Encomium.  Meat Loaf?  Bat 2, but not Bat.  We had a couple of Rush discs, like Counterparts, but nothing from the 70’s.  No Maiden.  No Miles.  No Dylan.  No Hendrix.

We had no standardized pricing scheme back then.  So, if I was pricing Eric Clapton’s Unplugged at $9.99, the guy next to me might have priced it at $11.99 because maybe he liked it more.  It was very subjective.  Sometimes you knew what a CD was worth brand new and based it on that, sometimes it was so common that it didn’t matter, and sometimes nobody had a fucking clue.  We’d try to fix the pricing it as we went, but it was slow.  After we opened, a customer would come up with three copies of the same album.  “This one is $8.99, this one $9.99, and this one $11.99.  Is that because one is more scratched?”  Logical question!  But no, we just cocked up.

It took weeks to manually input and price all those discs.  Shelving them took a couple more days. Making the header cards, setting things up, all told we were at it for maybe a month.  Then the big day came and we did our opening.  We were only half-equipped:  there was no second computer yet, and only half of our CD players for listening station had been bought.  Signs were still arriving to be put up.

I’ll never forget our sign that showed up that said, “WE PAY CSAH FOR YOUR USED CDS!” 

Regardless of how crappy the stock was, it sold!  I couldn’t believe it!  There were only a few decent albums and I figured once they were gone, that was it.  That wasn’t the case at all.  People kept buying the old rap and country discs.  Tanya Tucker?  Check!  We had lots!  And people were buying it!

Then, used stuff started coming in at a rapid pace.  Crazy stuff too.  I remember this one huge Tangerine Dream box set coming in, on the Thursday of the first week.

After we opened and good stuff started coming in by the box full, all the hard work seemed like it was paying off.  But the setting up was long and tedious, and I couldn’t stand Todd, who was also on setup duty.  But who gives a crap?  I spent weeks doing nothing but data entry while listening to music (our own music, which we brought in – of course).  I rocked a lot of Deep Purple those weeks.  It was awesome.

I remember that I had just found two Purple albums that I wanted:  Concerto For Group and Orchestra, and King Biscuit Flower Hour.  I also rocked Purpendicular, which had just come out, as much as I could.   Todd didn’t understand the music at all.  All he was interested in listening to was Floyd, nothing else.  He played Bush once or twice, but otherwise it was all Floyd.  He really, really liked P.U.L.S.E.  And he just murdered Floyd for me, for a long time.

When I listen to albums like Concerto and Purpendicular, it brings me right back to doing data entry in that store.  Not a bad soundtrack to work to.

REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (Resurrected) (2012)

Thought I was done with Kiss reviews? Hah! It never ends! They keep putting this stuff out, and I keep buying it! Ain’t it the way?  

KISS – Destroyer (Resurrected) (2012, originally released 1976)

Here it is, the much ballyhooed Bob Ezrin remix of Destroyer.  Ezrin went back to the original master tapes and remixed the album himself, toughening it up while not tampering with the arrangements.

It is necessary?  Nah.  I don’t think so.  I had high hopes for this remix, that it would shed some serious new light on these classic tunes.  But, it really doesn’t.   “Flaming Youth” sounds more or less the same.  You can hear some more acoustic guitar on “Beth”.  Other songs might have some echo where there wasn’t before.  Perhaps in some cases, the layers of guitars are more individually audible.  The drums are definitely heavier, which is and isn’t a good thing.  I’m always a fan of big, big drums, but somehow they’re drawing too much attention to themselves in this version, especially on “Do You Love Me”.  On the other hand, Peter Criss fans will be in nirvana to hear him bashing his kit like never before in “Sweet Pain”.

Bob Ezrin contributes liner notes to this package.  He explains choices he made back then, and choices he made today on the album.  He says that many of the effects such as echo and reverb were on the master tapes and could not be changed.  The goal in this remix, he says, was making the album more “immediate and modern”.  I agree that it is more modern sounding.  I like that Ezrin included some alternate takes and forgotten moments here and there.  I just find the whole thing to be a bit of a novelty, and a bit stingy.

Besides the entire album remixed, you also get another version of “Sweet Pain”:  One with the original guitar solo, and one with a very different take.  Seeing as Destroyer wasn’t a long album to begin with, I’m disappointed that the empty disc space isn’t taken up by something like demos.  Ahh well.

We all know Gene.  More is coming.  You’ll buy it.  Wait and see!

3/5 stars

NOTE:  The mighty Heavy Metal Overload notified me of a flaw in “Flaming Youth”:  about half a beat is missing near the beginning, about 4-5 seconds in.  Once you hear it, you can’t un-hear it.