PAUL STANLEY’S SOUL STATION – Now and Then (2021 Universal)
Reviewing Paul Stanley’s new album, Now and Then featuring his new band Soul Station, is probably the most challenging task I have ahead of me this morning. It’s difficult for several reasons, primarily three. Full disclosure.
Paul Stanley might be my favourite artist of all time.
His voice is in decline and this is always evident.
How can I review Paul’s soul covers without comparing to the originals?
The truth is I like soul just fine, but the bulk of my collection is made of different grades of rock. I have an Etta James CD. I’m far from qualified to review this. But I have to, so I’ll try.
Paul’s band is 10 members (excluding himself) augmented by a horn and a string section. 18 musicians are credited total, with Paul as “lead singer”: the first time on any of his albums where Paul plays no instruments. Unexpectedly, Paul’s Kiss bandmate Eric Singer is Soul Station’s drummer.
There are 14 tracks: nine covers, and five originals. You can’t accuse Paul Stanley of taking the easy route.
Remember when Kiss were accused of going Disco in 1979? “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” really sounds Disco, and certainly there’s nothing wrong with the flawless arrangement, from the lush strings to the punchy horns. In fact, Paul’s diminished voice is the only noticeable weakness. He covers for it pretty well. He used to belt it out all time; now he usually holds back in a soft whispery falsetto. A performer has to adapt to their limits at every age. Good tune. But this is a new Paul Stanley and he’s not the best singer in his band. He’s just the lead singer.
The first original, “I Do”, sounds like the real thing. It’s a light ballad, arranged with the strings and full band treatment to sound pretty much just like the covers. But the really surprising original is “I, Oh, I”, a terrific upbeat dance-y number. Not only does it sound authentic but it’s also catchy as hell. You could imagine it in a rock arrangement, and Paul points out in the liner notes that he wrote, arranged and orchestrated all his originals.
“Ooo Baby Baby” is a Smokey Robinson cover, and like the original it’s in falsetto. It’s one of the harder songs to listen to. “O-O-H Child” is better, though no substitute for the original. Paul does well on the upbeat tracks with plenty of melodic hooks. One of his backing singers take the lead on a few lines. And although Eric Singer does a mighty job on the drums, he is a rock drummer playing soul, and that’s evident in the fills. The groove of the 70s just isn’t something that can be recreated easily.
You can tell by the title that “Save Me (From You)” is a Paul original. Sounds like a leftover from the Live To Win album, jazzed up for the Soul Station. That said, it’s a pretty good track. It’s a nocturnal rumble that does really well standing up to the classics. It cannot be denied that Paul Stanley has a knack for writing a melodic song. All of his writing credits on Now and Then are solo credits.
“Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” is not bad. It’s the falsetto again, but massaged in the studio, and backed by the Soul Station, this one makes the grade. Nobody doubts Paul’s genuine love of this music. In the liner notes he takes ample time explaining his roots with Detroit soul. And it was him that was hanging out in New York Disco clubs, when he decided he could write one of those songs for Kiss.
“Whenever You’re Ready (I’ll Be Here)” is a duet with one of his backing singers; upbeat, well done. “The Tracks of My Tears” exposes the weaknesses in Paul’s voice but there are plenty of backing singers to cover for him. That aside, it’s another great Soul Station cover. “Let’s Stay Together” (Al Green) underwhelms; I mean how can it not? The best thing I can say is that it’s better than Michael Bolton’s version. “La-La — Means I Love You” also kind of just sits there, threatening to send the listener off to sleepytime land. Fortunately, Paul’s original “Lorelei” revives the album, with upbeat melodic charm. Cool guitar solo on this one too.
Two more covers to get through — “You Are Everything” (no thanks) and “Baby I Need Your Loving”. Fortunately the latter song closes the album, on an earnest upbeat note with Paul giving the lungs a little exercise. Solid ending.
Observation: I enjoyed Paul Stanley’s Soul Station more the first three or four times I played it — as background music. When it comes to listening intently, it didn’t capture me.
Observation 2: Peter Criss got shit all over for trying to make an album somewhat like this back in 1978.
If Paul had released a mini-album (or extra large EP) with only seven or eight tracks, I think we’d be praising his originals and taste in covers. Unfortunately chinks in the armour appear too frequently on the bulk of the album. Good background music, but not an outstanding set.
GETTING MORE TALE #576: “Why’d You Lick My Pee-noose?” The Sausagefest 2017 Countdown
By the time it was all over I fairly surmised that, personally speaking, Sausagefest 2017 (the 16th annual) was the best one yet.
There are many reasons for this. One happened by pure change.
The weather reports for the weekend were changing daily. I contacted Uncle Meat on Wednesday to tell him they were calling for rain all weekend. He responded, “No they’re not, are you new?” But they were! And the next day, the forecasts had changed again.
By our Friday departure the skies were partly cloudy, but we’ve seen worse. After we arrived and set up our tents it started pouring for a short while. The old fire pit was flooded. When the rain stopped the decision was made to move the location for the Countdown, uphill on dry land. This was the first time the actual location had ever been changed after 15 years down by the river. It turned out that this was the best possible decision. The new location was wide open, more conductive to mingling and conversation, and as you have seen, provided some beautiful photographs. The new location will be permanent from now on.
I felt one of the reasons things went so well for me was good preparation, but that may not be the case. Uncle Meat also had a great time, and was so ill-prepared that he only arranged a tent to sleep in when we were halfway there! Way to be ready, Uncle Meat!
The vibe was right from the get-go and the Countdown began on time.
Highlights from the first night included some lesser-heard tracks:
Queen – “We Will Rock You” – the “fast” version
Deep Purple – “Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic”
Kiss – “Shock Me” – live version from Alive II with solo
The Beatles – “Helter Skelter” – mono version
Queen – “My Fairie King”
Mercyful Fate – “Into the Coven”
There were lots of cool tunes this year: 87 in total including tributes (more on those later). “Indians” by Anthrax was a perfectly appropriate song this year too, since I pulled a large chunk of my own recorded bits from the Brocket 99 CD, a spoof of reservation radio stations. (I voted for “Indians” as #22 on my list.)
And plenty more! You can check out the Countdown list yourself. It was also a treat hearing Ray Charles’ “Mess Around”, which you probably know from John Candy in Planes Trains and Automobiles. Rainbow’s “Light in the Black” was a personal favourite for my air guitar workout.
The comedy sketches were on-point, and I had tears streaming down my face laughing so hard. The Lord of Lamb, Zach Britton, wrote a sketch regarding my insistence that a Bacon Big Mac is not the same thing as a Big Mac. Bacon is not in the Big Mac song, therefore a Bacon Big Mac is not the same thing. Britton rebutted me successfully, and hilariously. “Loosey Goosey” is now a catch-phrase. As a peace offering, he gifted me a bottle of Big Mac sauce.
The first night it rained, but it mattered not as we huddled in our waterproof tents. We were up by the crack of 10:00 to grab breakfast at the Spatula – not the “Flying” Spatula anymore, please note. They have officially changed the name of the place, but still offer the “Flesherton Fill-up” for breakfast. Not as large, nor as good as it was in the past. On the way up, Uncle Meat yelled “Loosey Goosey!” at anyone we passed on the road.
You have to give credit to our Spatula server Heather. I sat with Max “I’m kind of a big deal” the Axe, and I got to witness him working his magic on Heather the server. He promised her the last CD copy in existence of one of his albums. What a deal! Max told me I had a good singing voice. Was he hitting on me, too? Wayne also had a golden line at the store Top of the Rock, with the girl who was distributing bags of ice. “Are you the ice lady? Ice to meet you!”
There was a new exciting twist this year at the 16th Sausagefest. Submitting lists (aka “paying your rock and roll taxes”) has long been a problem. Some people are always prompt. Those people were rewarded with an extra song, a “tribute” this year. Mine was The Police – “Next to You”. That was a blast for air guitar. You can see by the list at bottom, only eight people got tributes. That means only eight people got their lists in on time without nagging! Due to the amount of time it takes to compile the votes and actually record the Countdown, it was decided that this time, you must vote for 2018’s songs by the end of the weekend. And so Saturday afternoon was spent socially compiling lists. It was weird seeing a bunch of guys at Sausagefest with clipboards and pens, furiously writing, colluding and discussing. It was also successful. All lists are in. There will be a whole year to compile and record for 2018!
The second evening had more great rock. Ghost, Dunsmuir, The Sword, Iron Maiden, CCR, Floyd, Purple, Tenacious D, Sabbath and Zeppelin…all building up to the top ten. Not only building up to the top ten, but also setting up the very first Sausagefest live theater….
There were plenty of fake-out tracks in the top ten, as they pretended they couldn’t read the songs written on Uncle Meat’s upper thigh. Sabbath, Rush and Metallica were played eventually. After the #2 track “The Immigrant Song” (Zeppelin), there was an announcement made.
Tom, father of four, the co-founder, the Captain himself, wanted to take a step back. Recording the Countdown was no longer possible for him, due to family demands at home. This made sense, since the guy does have four rugrats and was absent from some of the top ten due to a supposed argument with his wife about it. They saved the announcement for the #1 spot. Only one person was told in advance, and that was the immortal Lord of Lamb himself, Zach Britton. As the song lyrics state, “He is the reason we still do this shit.” He was given a 20 minute heads-up to collect his emotions.
As the announcement was made, they said there would be no #1 song this year. They’d play it first in 2018. Instead, they played the traditional “Happy Trails” by Van Halen as Tom clinked glasses and shook hands with attendees. And then Zach got up to make a speech. He was obviously still shocked and upset by this sad turn of events.
His speech began as expected: melodramatic, sad, and stirring…until it was interrupted.
There was a 4 minute 30 second gap built into the Countdown…specifically timed for Zach to start his speech but not finish. All part of the pre-planned “live theater”. Then….
“ZACH BRITTON!” boomed the speakers.
Suddenly the Countdown recording continued, as a pre-recorded Bucky urged Zach to shut the fuck up and sit back down because he had just been pranked! Tom wasn’t retiring. Zach didn’t have a clue, nor did any of the rest of us! We all bought it, hook line and sinker, even though Tom has 12 months to record for 2018. It seemed so believable especially with that supposed “argument” with his wife built into the recordings. So I raised my goblet of Romulan Ale to Zach “the Lord of Lamb” Britton for being a great sport and a diamond geezer! The “live theater”, the first ever attempted at Sausagefest, was a tremendous success. As Uncle Meat said afterwards, “They will never ever trust us again.” It easily could have gone sideways, if Zach didn’t stand up to make his speech. They were counting on him and he fell right into it. Brilliant live theater!
The actual #1 song, played after the live theater, was “Cygnus X-1” by Rush, a fantastic song on which to close.
The following morning, we packed up to go home. As per usual, Uncle Meat kept singing and repeating one sentence. This year, it was a ditty called “Why’d You Lick My Penis (Rectum)”.*
“Why’d you lick my pee-noose…why’d you lick my pee-noose, rectum…” Over and over again. You can hear this on the Sausagefest video.
We made our way home, but for many of the guys, it was time to rock again. Five Alarm Funk played a free show in London on Sunday night, and a few tired ‘Festers trekked out to party some more. Totally fitting, since Five Alarm Funk had three songs on this year’s Countdown.
What a Sausagefest! Best one ever? Until next year, maybe….
PETER CRISS – Let Me Rock You(1982 Casablanca, 1998 Mercury CD reissue)
Life after wasn’t easy for the cat known as Peter Criss. His first post-Kiss album was met with indifference, and the superior second LP suffered the same fate. This marked an 11 year gap before the Catman released anything else. Let Me Rock You, Peter’s third solo album in total remains his best to date. It has a number of Kiss konnections, including a song written for Kiss by Gene Simmons. Looking further down the credits and you’ll find Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, Paul Stanley’s co-writer Adam Mitchell, and a young upstart named Vincent Cusano, who features into the main story very soon.
Let Me Rock You is the better of the Criss albums for a number of reasons. One is that is has superior songs, often pulled from outside sources. Another is that returning producer Vini Poncia gave it a harder rocking sound. It’s still nowhere near a Kiss LP, but the adult contemporary leanings are severely curtailed. Opener “Let It Go” has a little bit of the familiar R&B beat that Criss likes, but is otherwise a steady rocker. “Tears” (Cusano/Mitchell) is a pop rocker that missed the mark just enough that John Waite was able to make it a hit a mere two years later. Peter’s version is less overblown, and daresay more likeable.
Most of the songs have a vague pop rock vibe circa 1982: “Move on Over”, “Destiny”, and “Bad Boys” sound like rock hits from the period. Bon Jovi’s early excursions are not too far from this. A Russ Ballard song called “Some Kinda’ Hurricane” fits the same mold, but a second Ballard tune (the better of the two) is completely different. “Let Me Rock You” is doo-wop right out of the 1950s. If “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” is OK, then so is “Let Me Rock You”. In fact it’s the most fun track on the album.
The unfortunate cover of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” adds nothing to the party except a reminder that Peter Criss will never be as good as the artists he so admires. The worst track is Stevens’ ballad “First Day in the Rain”, which might have been a better song performed by…anyone else. Peter sleeps right through this one and some listeners will have a hard time finishing. Keep going though; Stevens plays a sweltering guitar solo. Elsewhere on the album, Steve Lukather contributes six string.
By far the most historically interesting track is the Simmons-penned “Feel Like Heaven”. A snip of the original Simmons demo, for consideration during the Music From the Elder sessions, can be found on the previously reviewed Kiss – Deadly Demos CD. It’s too funky and danceable for Kiss, but Peter sounds more at home. It is a shame that the (very vulgar!) Simmons original has yet to be released. Until then, feast on the Peter Criss version, which is good enough for now.
Although Let Me Rock You was the first album to feature Peter’s unmasked face, it failed to sell and Peter entered a long period of obscurity. A short-lived band called Balls of Fire was followed by a project with another ex-Kiss member called Mark St. John (who joins the main story in 1984). He wrote with Buffalo’s own Phil Naro of Talas, and did a guest shot on Ace Frehley’s 1989 solo album Trouble Walkin’. His biggest humiliation had to be when a homeless imposter claimed to be him with little difficulty since nobody had seen Peter Criss in so long. It didn’t seem too unbelievable…even if there was no resemblance at all.
(l) Criss (r) imposter
At least Peter has one decent solo album, and that album is Let Me Rock You.
PETER CRISS – Out of Control(1980 Casablanca, 1998 Mercury CD reissue)
The ex- kitty-cat landed on his feet rather swiftly. A few short months after his departure was announced, Criss released the first solo album ever by an ex-Kiss member. Unfortunately for the Catman, fans were already scared off by his 1978 album. Anyone who was flabbergasted or confuddled by Peter’s penchant for light rock steered far clear of Out of Control. They were correct to do so. Out of Control is a virtual carbon copy of the 1978 album.
At least Peter didn’t mislead anyone into thinking this was a rock album. The very opening, “By Myself”, is one of the softest songs Peter’s ever recorded. Not a bad one, mind you, but not a song with mass appeal. Peter Criss wasn’t about to become the next Rod Stewart. His control over notes is not as strong…they are “out of control” so to speak, and his voice wavers.
“In Trouble Again” is far better. Peter played all the drums on this album, and there’s some cool stuff happening on “In Trouble Again”. It’s the most rocking tune on the album. It’s back to ballad town on “Where Will They Run?”. It’s dominated by the synthesizer, and it has a cool and light breezy rock vibe. It even has a sax solo by George Young (not the one that’s Angus’ brother). By track four, Peter is eager to tell us “I’ve Found Love”. You’re in for a fun and upbeat number…but Peter just can’t hold onto a note! He returns to rock and roll on “There’s Nothing Better”, which sounds like an old R&B classic even though it’s a Criss/Penridge original. Well done on that one.
There’s a very corny title track here, which has a pseudo-disco beat: “Out of Control” is cheesy and fun all at once. It’s the string cheese of danceable rock. Is that such a bad thing? Not unless you’re lactose intolerant, or allergic to cats in general. Sadly, “Words” is pretty horrid. Peter also turned in a pretty lacklustre cover of The Young Rascals’ “You Better Run”, also famously covered by Pat Benatar and some guy named Robert Plant. That’s tough competition. “You Better Run”? More like “Don’t Even Bother”.
The closing track “Feel Like Letting Go” is one of the best tracks. It feels like a followup to Peter’s album closing epic “I Can’t Stop the Rain”. The strings and piano make them spiritual brothers. Did the lyrics have anything to do with Kiss? “I feel like letting go…but my heart keeps saying no.” Maybe, maybe not. Peter seemed to be trying to separate himself from his former band, in order to establish himself. The artwork and songs don’t offer clues as to Peter’s previous job. Paul, Gene and Ace are thanked in the fine print.
In fact there is only one real wink to Kiss fans, and it was on a hidden track right after “Feel Like Letting Go”. Paraphrasing a line from “As Time Goes By” (1931), he sings quietly “You must remember this…a Kiss is still a Kiss…”
I’ve done it, and you have probably done it too: Getting in an argument online with a total stranger over racially charged politics. We live in new times. It’s the era of Trump, Trayvon, and Mike Brown. We live in the years of racial profiling and travel bans. Just when we think we’ve made amazing strides including the first black US president, we seem to be heading backwards just as fast.
Daryl Davis is a musician. Most notably, he was the keyboardist in Chuck Berry’s band. He’s played with B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Platters, and knows all the greats. He’s a very talented but also intelligent and compassionate man. Upon watching Accidental Courtesy, I wondered if music really is his first calling. It seems that Davis’ true talents may just be sitting down and talking. “When two enemies are talking, they’re not fighting,” says Daryl.
Although this movie is about a musician, it’s not about the music. Music does play a small role. The first time Davis experienced race-related hate, he was the only black child in an otherwise white marching band, and didn’t understand why things were thrown at him. He thought, maybe they were playing the music poorly. His parents had to explain to him, “They don’t like you because of the colour of your skin.” Life was never the same after that.
Accidental Courtesy isn’t about his music career, but about what Daryl Davis has done with the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists. Since 1990, Davis has sat with various members of the KKK, both high ranking and rank-and-file. Very few people can rival Davis for his knowledge of the Klan’s history and practices, so much so that Klan members have even approached him to learn. Over long periods of time, after truly and sincerely befriending Davis regardless of his race, 26 Klansmen eventually turned in their robes to him and gave up the Klan.
It’s bizarre to see men who don’t believe in the mixing of races show up at Davis’ wedding to a white woman, to celebrate with him. His friendship with them trumped their belief system. It’s strange to see a black man invited into a KKK home, and vice versa. It’s certainly unusual to see a fully robed KKK wizard sitting and shaking hands with a black man, simply enjoying conversation and company.
In the film, Davis also sits with the Southern Poverty Law Center, who seem less moved by his “person to person” method of combating hate. They prefer to use a bigger stick. What was surprising is how much flak he took from representatives from Black Lives Matter in Baltimore. Here, he was mocked by two dropout activists for “only” converting 26 KKK members since 1990. What was especially shocking was that the Black Lives Matter reps refused to continue to the conversation. To them, he was worse than a white racist; to them he betrayed the cause. All these white supremacists were willing to sit down and shake hands with Davis, but Black Lives Matter gave him the most difficult time. They actually got up from the table and berated and belittled him before cutting the conversation off completely. He was even treated with more respect by the KKK leader who refused to acknowledge the holocaust and said that blacks should be grateful to whites for freeing them. It’s troublesome to think on what that means.
Certainly not everyone approves of the methods of Daryl Davis. But in this day and age of social media, it’s more important than ever to talk. Not online, not on Facebook, Daryl advises. In person, where people can get to know each other, see each others faces and expressions, actually get to know one another. Talk to each other, instead of talking at each other. In this film, Davis asks questions, but rarely lectures. Davis’ technique is simply to ask what makes people tick. “How can you hate me when you don’t know me?” is a good opener. He finds out what makes them think the way they do. There is always more to the story than appears on the surface. There is always a root cause.
Some felt Daryl did more harm that good with his methods. Some feel he has betrayed his own people. But, as Daryl says in the film, whites and blacks and people of all races must share America together. That’s why we have to talk and figure out how to co-exist. If he could convince an Imperial Wizard to hang up his robes, that is one small step to making the world a better place. Black Lives Matter and the Southern Poverty Law Center have their own methods. That does not negate the inroads that Davis made, just by talking.
There doesn’t seem to be much accidental about Daryl Davis’ courtesy. It’s all very much on purpose. Davis has a rich tapestry of friends behind him, some of whom have given up on hate. If they can, why can’t everybody?
– Peter Criss (1978 Casablanca solo album, 1997 Mercury remaster)
Peter Criss’ dreams of superstardom died with his first solo album.
To assuage egos and blow off steam, all four Kiss members agreed to record and release solo albums simultaneously. This was done under the Kiss banner to unify them, but each member had complete creative freedom on their own.
A project like this had never been attempted before by anybody, and Casablanca records gambled on all four being equally huge. They gambled wrong. Peter Criss’ album was the biggest casualty. It sold the poorest and charted at a lowly #43 (Billboard). He assumed he was the star of the band due to “Beth” being their biggest single. He set out to make an album like that, but Kiss fans were not likely to buy an R&B ballad album.
Criss hired Ringo Starr producer Vini Poncia (his first of a few Kiss collaborations), and wrote part of the album with his old Chelsea partner Stan Penridge. He had a band of studio musicians, but was unable to play drums on the whole album due to injury. For those tracks he used Allan Schwartzberg who also played on Gene Simmons’ solo LP.
There was a clear R&B direction, the stuff that Peter loved and couldn’t play in Kiss. There are horns a’plenty and cool non-rock grooves. Opening track “I’m Gonna Love You” pointed the way: mid-tempo, loads of soulful backing vocals, easy beats and raspy singing. His drums fit the sound perfectly. “You Matter to Me” brought 70s synth into the mixture. Easy listening light rock ballads go down smooth but don’t leave you feeling satisfied.
“Tossin’ and Turnin’”, the old 1961 R&B hit, was the only tune played live by Kiss on the 1979 tour. Peter’s version of course does not sound like Kiss, but it’s a lively version suited to his style. Another ballad, “Don’t You Let Me Down”, is a tender song but lighter than light. Absolutely too soft for Kiss, but one of the stronger Penridge/Criss compositions that might have worked well covered by an easy listening artist. Unlike “That’s the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes”, which is not a good song at all.
Criss played all the drums on side one. Schwartzberg was on most of side two, opening with the quiet yet epic ballad “Easy Thing”. It has a slow build into something big and orchestrated, and for this album it works. Sean Delaney’s “Rock Me, Baby” brings things back to rock and roll, but with a mediocre track that wouldn’t be good enough for Kiss. “Kiss the Girl Goodbye” was another soft and light ballad, pleasant enough but far from outstanding. Penridge’s guitar is a delight, but the only delight. “Hooked on Rock and Roll” on the other hand is a standout akin to “Tossin’ and Turnin’”, a little bit of an autobiographical track about the Catman. “Every morning at the break of dawn, you could see him dragging home his drums.”
The final track, and one of the most polarizing, is Sean Delaney’s “I Can’t Stop the Rain”. Some love it, some hate it, but one thing for sure: it’s one of most bombastic ballads Peter’s ever recorded. Piano, orchestration and stellar guitar by Elliot Randall (Steely Dan) make for a huge ballad. Love it or hate it, “I Can’t Stop the Rain” is schlocky and bittersweet.
When Peter’s album failed to sell, Casablanca rushed out two singles. The other Kiss members only got one each. Neither “Don’t You Let Me Down” nor “You Matter to Me” made any impact. The fallout from this album was that Peter Criss was perceived as out of touch by his band and his fans. He was hoping to become a blue-eyed soul star, but his image never recovered. From this point on, Peter’s dedication to rock was always under scrutiny, and his time in Kiss truly began to tick away.
November/December 1995 was freakin’ busy. We sold a lot of discs that Christmas. What we didn’t do was listen to a lot of discs! No; our boss really, really liked Don Henley and TLC. He played them ad-nauseum. Like on repeat three times in a row. I’m not kidding about that. I distinctly remember the repeat. Here are the Top Three Discs I Had to Listen to Until My Ears Bled, December 1995.
3. Boney M – Christmas Album
2. Don Henley – Actual Miles
1. TLC – CrazySexyCool
Trevor on the other hand was introducing me to Oasis and managed to get a few cool discs into rotation:
3. The Beatles – Anthology Vol. 1 (usually just disc 2)
2. Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters
1. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
We were also working with this new guy, Donnie, and we let him pick Dance Mix ’95 a few times. Unfortunately, the Big Shiny Tunes series hadn’t begun yet.
I didn’t get to pick as many discs as the others — the boss didn’t like my picks. When I did, I chose the new Def Leppard – Vault (Greatest Hits 1980-1995).
Looking back, there were also a few albums that I found utterly disappointing that season. They included:
3. AC/DC – Ballbreaker
2. Lenny Kravitz – Circus
1. Savatage – Dead Winter Dead
All three were albums that I was solidly looking forward to, but largely disappointed me. I never did buy Circus. I own the other two, but only because I’m a completest (and I got AC/DC for $3).
Finally there were three albums that really got me through that season. I had just been dumped by my first serious girlfriend and I was really angry about it. Away from work (my boss didn’t want these ones played in the store) these three albums totally spoke to me that Christmas:
3. Alice in Chains – Alice in Chains
2. Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis
1. Iron Maiden – The X Factor
Let me tell you something people: I still fuckin’ hate TLC. I’ll never go chasin’ waterfalls, ever again.
PAUL STANLEY’S SOUL STATION – Now and Then (2021 Universal)
wasn’t easy for the cat known as Peter Criss. His 
mikeladano.com 