RECORD STORE TALES Part 152: Carnival of Lost Souls
The Year: 1996
The Place: Dr. Disc, Hamilton Ontario
The Guilty Party: Me
Remember when the original Kiss reunited back in ’96? It was a huge deal. Everybody was talking about it. What very few people were talking about was the studio album that the previous Kiss lineup (with Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick) had completed prior to the reunion. That album, Carnival of Souls, was shelved to avoid confusion.
It was, however, leaked. Or, at least most of it was. It revealed a new, grungier Kiss ready to take on the likes of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Not a bad album in fact, and some songs such as “Hate” and “In My Head” were downright vicious. A buddy of mine, Len Labelle, hooked me up with a poor-sounding cassette. It was better than nothing.
Both Gene and Paul pooh-poohed the idea of a release. You’d read things like, “We don’t know when it’s coming out,” or “We have no plans to release it right now.” But I was digging that tape and I wanted a CD, dammit!
T-Rev, Tom and myself were at a record show in Hamilton, and we stopped at a local Dr. Disc. I went over to the Kiss section. I saw two discs, both at $30 staring me in the face: the ultra rare Japanese import Chikara, a greatest hits album, and a bootleg copy of Carnival of Souls…
I had a limited budget and could only buy one. I chose Carnival of Souls. I’ve never seen a copy of Chikara again. And Kiss officially issued Carnival 9 months later, rendering my bootleg obselete. I can’t give it away, today.
It was a bad call, Ripley! Bad call!
So what about this bootleg that I bought? Well, it has a few notable features.
The title is wrong. The title on the bootleg is Carnival of Lost Souls.
The wrong lineup is on the front and back covers. They show the original Kiss, in makeup.
Even though it says it’s “the complete 11 track version” on the front cover, Carnival of Souls has 12 tracks. Missing is “I Walk Alone”, the lone Bruce Kulick lead vocal.
The songs are in the wrong order, and most have the wrong titles.
For example:
“Hate” = “Hate (Is What I Am)”
“Master & Slave” = “Tell Me”
“Rain” = “I Think It’s Gonna Rain (Down On Me)”
“It Never Goes Away” = “It Never Ends”
“In the Mirror” = “(Take A Look) In the Mirror”
“I Confess” = “You Confess”
At best, this is now just a weird oddity that sits in my closet, unlistened to, unwanted, unloved, for the rest of eternity. There’s $30 I’ll never get back again. Yeah, like I said, it was a bad call!
I was out with a friend named Shannon. Me being the geek that I am, I thought it would be a good idea to take Shannon to a comic book store. So I did. Off we went to uptown Waterloo, to my favourite comic book store in the whole universe, Carry On Books.
The owner, Andy, warmly welcomed us and immediately started trying to sell me some Star Trek goods. I said, “Not today, Andy. Do you have anything Kiss?”
He did. He had this Kiss 24kt gold-plated framed Destroyer CD. It was $250. But he was willing to sell it to me for $200 if I paid cash.
Sure, why not. Sold.
Shannon and I ran down to the cash machine, and I eagerly inserted my card. Selected the dollar amount. Waited. And waited. And waited. The machine spat out my card, and a statement saying I’d taken the money out. But no money emerged from the machine!
I stood there for a moment before saying, “Shannon, is it just me, or did no money come out?”
I was ripped off by a cash machine!
I repeated the transaction, this time getting the money, but my bank account was lighter by twice the amount!
Shit!
I went back to Andy’s store, told him the tale, bought the Kiss plaque, and went into the bank to get my missing money back. Turns out I would have to wait for them to cash out that night and see if they balanced. And I wasn’t going to be in town! I was headed to the cottage later that day. I had to wait the weekend through before finding out the fate of my hard-earned dollars.
Thankfully, when I called the bank on the Monday, they had found an overage and refunded my money. But for that entire weekend, I had worried that I paid $400 for this Kiss plaque!
CODA: And today, the plaque is still worth…just $200 on eBay. Oh well. An investment, it wasn’t. But it does look cool on my wall. Thankfully I also kept the box, these things are often only worth their full value with the box intact.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 145: Cassettes Part I – T-Rev’s Tapes
I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but back in the day, us Record Store Dudes were expert mix tape makers. I’ve been making mix tapes since I got my first dual cassette deck, back in 1985. It was a Sanyo. Thanks mom & dad.
I made all sorts of mix tapes. I made mixes of whatever tunes I was into at the time. I made mix tapes for girls that I liked, sneaking in the odd commercial Judas Priest tune like “Parental Guidance” in order to sway them to the dark side. I made greatest hits tapes. I distinctly remember an Ace Frehley greatest hits tape I made, 90 minutes. The first 5 songs were classic Kiss hits that he sang. The next 5 were from his first solo album. Then on side two, 5 songs from Frehley’s Comet and 5 from Second Sighting. I also made a Kiss hits tape from the post-Double Platinum period, basically all the singles from Dynasty through to Asylum.
When I first met T-Rev almost a decade later (1994), I had met a kindred spirit. He was doing the same thing! He made hits mixes for Guns N’ Roses. The Four Horsemen. Van Halen. And so on and so forth. But in a lot of ways, he had taken it to the next level.
Trevor had an artistic ability above and beyond me, he was really really good at art. That’s why we used to get him to make all our store signage. So it probably should have been no surprise to me that he put equal effort into his cover art. He did a beautiful job on the Guns and Van Halen mixes!
Somehow these ended up in my possession. I don’t even remember how anymore, but here they are. It looks to me like not only did T-Rev did awesome cover art, but he numbered all his mixes and must have had a numerical filing system. The Guns mix appears to be a Part II, and is #34 in his library. Van Halen must have followed shortly behind at #38. I also ended up with an early mix of his, number #14, called What De Hell!!
I’m really glad that I found these! It brings back a lot of memories of the early days at the record store. There was no such thing as blank CD’s yet, and even if there was, T-Rev didn’t have a computer to burn one on yet. Tapes were our canvas, and they even had a longer running time than a CD. 90 minutes was our standard, but you could even go as high as 100 without losing too much sound quality.
Not that there was much sound quality!
Thanks for loaning these to me T-Rev! If you still have something to play them on, I’ll send ’em back to ya if you want them!
In alphabetical order, here’s Part 3: 88 albums that meant the world to me in the 1990′s but never got the respect I felt they deserved.
King’s X – Faith Hope Love (most KX discs didn’t get the attention they deserved!)
King’s X – Dogman
King’s X – Ear Candy
King’s X – Tape Head
Kiss – Carnival of Souls (while you can’t argue it wasn’t a sellout, it sure wasn’t wimpy!)
Leadfoot – Bring It On (Karl Agell and Phil Swisher ex-COC)
Marillion – Brave (what a brave, brave album)
Marillion – Radiation (a lot of people don’t like this one, but I consider it a highlight for them)
Duff McKagan – Believe In Me (diverse, fun and pissed off)
Kim Mitchell – Aural Fixations (a little soft, but Kim in the 1990’s was scarce indeed)
Kim Mitchell – Kimosabe
Motley Crue – Motley Crue (they were better without Vince, honestly)
Vince Neil – Exposed (…and Vince wasn’t doing too badly himself)
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (it sold by the buckets, but I think today it’s ignored which is a shame)
Poison – Native Tongue (Ritchie Kotzen took them to a new level of maturity and virtuosity)
Pride & Glory – Pride & Glory (Zakk Wykde’s first album without Ozzy, and one of the best)
Queen – Innuendo (in North America, most of what Queen did went ignored before Freddie passed)
Queensryche – Promised Land (spacey and mature)
Queensryche – Q2k (riffy)
Quiet Riot – Terrified (the only thing they’ve done since the 80’s worth playing)
David Lee Roth – Your Filthy Little Mouth (I didn’t need to hear Dave do reggae but it ain’t bad)
David Lee Roth – DLR Band (John 5 on lead guitar…crank it up)
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.
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.
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