1. Each of these are real search terms, typed in by real people on a search engine like Google.
2. Somehow, each of these search terms led them to ME!
So here’s 10 more for this installment!
A week isn’t a week unless I get hits from people looking for stuff like this. I’m still assuming that people don’t know how to spell the word “lesbian”.
lebrain sex
lebrani nude 1
Here’s a good one:
why is here i go again not on reissue of slide it in
Because it’s not on Slide It In. It’s on 1987, sillypants.
This guy can’t spell the singer’s name, nor the name of the site he’s looking for.
you too runny james dio neon nights
Here’s a selection that led people to some of my Kiss reviews:
just how bad is peter criss’ ’78 solo album?
was peter criss’ ’78 solo album really that bad
why did paul feel unwanted and alone in the carnival
patty stanley stripper
jean simmons with a moustache
And finally, if this guy had his way, we’d all be speaking Anglesh:
CRISS – Criss Special Limited Edition (1993 EP, TNT Records)
At long last, Peter Criss was releasing new music, for the first time since 1982’s Let Me Rock You, over a decade prior. Tellingly, it was a mail-order only release, on a small California label called Tony Nicole Tony Records. It ran me over $40 Canadian (with shipping) to order it. It was a limited edition, all copies to be numbered and signed by the Cat himself.
An angry letter and six months later, I finally received my Criss EP to find that the hyped signature was just printed on. Yes, it was numbered (mine is #2408), but for $40…come on.
I overlooked the sad artwork of Peter’s face, half painted in his old cat makeup, and hair bleached blonde. I cracked the seal, put the disc in and hit play.
I was struck immediately by the poor production. The drums sound awful. For a solo EP by a drummer, I was hoping for better sounding drums than this. Peter’s singing was OK, but the lyrics? He does this section near the end of the the first song, “The Cat”, that was just…stinky.
Listen to this one now. Gene and Paul went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Gene fell down and broke his crown, And Paul came tumbling over.
And then his does this weird high pitched shriek that is so embarrassingly terrible, that I couldn’t believe it made it only to the album. Well, it could only get better from there.
Nope.
The same awful sounding drums, rapping, and another awful lyric:
Planes, trains and limozines, So what? What does it mean? We’re burning down like Mercury, God bless the Killer Queen.
This time the singer isn’t Peter, but a fellow with a mohawk called Mike Stone. This same Mike Stone would later end up in a band called Queensryche. And if anything was worse than Peter’s shrieking on track one, it’s Mike Stone’s singing on track two. And the song sucks, too.
“Good Times”, an electric ballad with a soulful vocal from Peter, is pretty good. It has the vibe of something that would have fit onto Peter’s 1978 solo album, without the schlock. OK, one good song. At least there’s one.
But then Mike Stone rears his ugly mohawk again, on a song called “What You’re Doing”. No, not the Rush tune. It’s not a bad song, but Stone’s truly awful singing renders it unlistenable. Finally, Peter saves this drowning EP with an acoustic remake of “Beth”. It must be remembered that up to this point, an acoustic version of “Beth” had never been released. It was presented that way in the Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park movie, but until this EP, you couldn’t buy it like that. So this is cool, and slightly different from the version that later ended up on the Cat #1 album.
I have no doubt this is very rare today, and I’ve never seen another copy. If you can find it, great. But you may not need to listen to it.
KISS – Kissin’ Time in San Fransisco (1974 or 1975 bootleg , Black Diamond Records 1994)
Early Kiss, live Kiss at least, was the best! They were young hungry punks, a garage band in makeup and heels, playing with an intensity that they never equaled even on later triumphs like Kiss Alive! or Love Gun. It was a ferocity on stage, made doubly impressive when you remember that they were weighed down by those costumes.
This widely available bootleg recording showcases exactly what early Kiss was about. Recorded shortly after the release of their second album, Hotter Than Hell, it actually sounds pretty good for 1974 or 75. You may be familiar with some of these recordings. “Deuce” for example was on the Kiss eXposed video. “Parasite” was later made available on the Kiss My Ass VHS and DVD.
What’s astounding here is just how good Peter Criss used to be. I don’t mean technically. I mean in that way that a good rock drummer just slams you in the guts and doesn’t let up. Peter Criss plays like a savage. The two best moments are “Watchin’ You” and “Parasite”. He absolutely demolishes his kit, he’s relentless, and it’s so damn fun to listen to him, young and powerful, laying waste.
Gene’s bass is very loud in the mix, and while Gene was also no virtuoso, it’s nice to hear his compositional abilities on bass. Especially in early Kiss, Gene wrote and played some very cool basslines, melodic and solid. It’s a side of Kiss that is often ignored by the critics. Gene was heavily influenced by bands like Cream and I think you can hear that.
The setlist is pretty standard, with every song later getting showcased on the aforementioned Kiss Alive! These versions are without the spit n’ polish that Eddie Kramer put on that disc, live as it was on that night. In a lot of ways, I prefer these versions. What they lack in audio fidelity, they make up for in sheer adrenaline and barbarism. Paul’s as confident as ever on stage. His stage raps are fully-formed and cocky. His “Do you believe in rock and roll?” rap is present on “100,000 Years”, with Peter Criss hammering out a consistently tribal backdrop.
The CD is padded out by a bunch of unrelated (and often misspelled) bonus tracks. “A World Without Heros” is an instrument demo from The Elder, widely circulated. So is “The Difference Between Men & Boys”, which can be found under different names. “Young and Wasted” is a Lick It Up demo (not from 1971 as stated on the back, who are we kidding?). Lastly, “(We Want To) Shout It Out Loud” is from the Wicked Lester album.
I have 31 discs of music to listen to now. And a whole lotta other goodies. Here we go!
First up – books. Peter Criss’ Makeup To Breakup, and the latest from Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Guiness’ Book of World Records. I’ve leafed through Peter’s book — all he seems to do is bitch about Paul and Gene. Review will come.
Next, Queen. A total of 8 discs of awesome remastered Queen to listen to: The Miracle, Jazz, A Night at the Opera, and Live Killers!
Next up, Rush. 6 discs in each of these two Sector box sets, including 2 DVD’s in 5.1 surround, plus 2 discs of 2112. Awesome. (I already have Sector 2 and have a review of that coming in the next few days.)
And the rest: The 4 disc Cult Love Omnibus Edition. Thin Lizzy’s Life Live (2 discs), Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra, and the new Rage Against The Machine XX edition (2 discs plus a DVD).
But that’s not all. Check out this Kiss lunchbox, these movies and vintage G1 Transformers 1988 “Bugly” action figure.
Lastly my folks got me this neat Joby camera tripod. This is going to come in handy when I make my next Transformers stop motion animated movie. I did a brief 15 second screen test — check that out too!
Hope your Christmas was filled with happiness, love, joy, and rock!
One of the weirder items that we used to see regularly were these Russian import discs. Their status as official releases was very questionable, the quality was cheap at best, and the guy that sold them wanted top dollar for them all.
His name was Serge, and he was a Russian model. Seriously. He gave me his business card one time. He was a model, and he had the perfect Fabio hair and everything. On the side, he’d bring CD’s over to Canada from Russia. They would usually come without jewel cases, just the CD and the paper cover art, so he could transport more of them. The discs often ended up terribly scratched because of this. He’d bring over “greatest hits” releases from everybody. Springsteen, Abba, Bon Jovi, even bands that didn’t have greatest hits releases like AC/DC. Often the Russians would throw on “bonus tracks” from live or solo albums.
The guy was a real pain to deal with, and most of the stuff he brought over was obscure European dance, trance, techno stuff that nobody had heard of over here. He’d assume he was going to get a lot of money for them, because they were big in Europe. But if nobody had heard of them in Canada, and they sat on my shelf for a year, no, I’m not paying top dollar for it. So, eventually Serge stopped coming in.
I bought two albums from him that I’ve never played, but bought just “for the collection”. One is a Kiss disc called Hit Collection 2000, the other by Europe, called Best Ballads.
Hit Collection 2000 is on a label called “DJ’s Club”. It does not have the official Kiss logo, just a poor attempt to copy it. There are some spelling errors on the back — I don’t know where “Detrot Rock City” is. The tracklist itself is pretty weird, containing newer songs like “Psycho Circus” and “I Finally Found My Way”, along with one track from each of the four Kiss solo albums. There are three songs from Dynasty, and three rare live cuts from the Psycho Circus Live Australian disc. This one came sealed but I didn’t even bother to open it. Even Serge’s sealed discs often ended up scratched to pieces, I don’t know how that happens because these are clearly factory sealed.
The Europe album, Best Ballads, is notable for not depicting keyboardist Mic Michaeli on the front cover, even though he plays on the majority of songs. The album contains ballads from Europe’s first monumental self-titled disc through to 1991’s Prisoners In Paradise. The Russians picked some cool songs this time: “Words of Wisdom” and “The King Will Return”, from the first album, “Dreamer” from Wings of Tomorrow, and “Coast To Coast” from Out of This World. As usual there are three “bonus tracks”; “Under the Influence”, “Lord of the Manor”, and “Elsewhere” from Joey Tempest’s 1995 solo album A Place to Call Home. Not that you would know this from the liner notes, since there are none. Just a paper sleeve.
In the end I don’t think we missed Serge when he decided not to deal with us anymore. A lot of his product sat on the shelves. In fact I tried selling my Kiss Hit Collection CD back to the store last year, and they refused to take it. Lesson learned!
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!
Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at HMV, in their 2 for $25 sale. What I came for was Japanese imports, which they apparently don’t carry anymore. Why?
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
KISS – Double Platinum (1978, 1997 foil embossed reissue)
For the record, until Record Store Excursion 2012, I’d never seen this before. It’s a pretty cool, pretty accurate CD reproduction of the original foil embossed LP. As far as appearances go, it’s superior to the usual jewel case version, and it’s even superior to the 1997 Japanese edition, which I also have. The cover is fragile, prone to scuffs and fingerprinting, so I’ve kept mine nice and safe in a sandwich bag.
I like that its embossed, not just flat cardboard. I like that the faces inside the cover are also embossed, just like the original LP. The photos don’t really do it justice. I wish I knew the story behind this. In all my years at the record store I never saw one, even though the year on the back clearly states 1997 (the same year as the other Kiss remasters). It even still has the same crappy 1997 liner notes by Robert V. Conte (who?).
I first heard this album back in 1985 or 1986, and it was my first exposure to songs like “Hard Luck Woman” and “Makin’ Love”. For years I would often recommend this album as one of the first Kiss albums for people to get. It is still an excellent introduction despite the fact that the market has been flooded with approximately 15 different compilations (rough guess) since then. It’s also still an excellent introduction even though most of the material has been remixed. (A lot of people can’t tell the difference anyway.) There’s also one “new” song, a disco-ish remake of “Strutter” called “Strutter ’78”. For me, these were the original versions that I heard!
The technical reasoning for the remixing was to make the band’s uneven catalogue sound more alike, when presented together in this fashion. The material produced by Bob Ezrin (Destroyer) sounded leaps and bounds different than the other stuff, so it was remixed to bring it to Ezrin’s level.
“Strutter ’78” was re-recorded with more compression on the drums. I still think it’s a great track, but it lacks the fire of the Kiss original. It’s more sleek. “Hard Luck Woman” has been remixed to highlight the acoustic guitars, leaving the band out until later in the song. “Rock Bottom’s” intro is presented here without the song itself, and it does work in that form, serving now as an intro to “She”. “Black Diamond” lacks the slow-down ending, and I kind of prefer this version: Instead, at the end, the song starts all over again and goes into a fade.
My only complaint about Double Platinum was always in regards to the CD version. Since the original pressing of the LP had the Kiss logo embossed on silver foil, I felt the CD reissues were cheap and didn’t do it justice, even the Japanese, which just has a dull paper cover. The domestic jewel case CD is just printed in silver ink.
Where did this come from? What’s the story? No idea. Comment below!
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.
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.
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