Unfinished Business

RE-REVIEW: Eric Carr – Unfinished Business (2011/2025 RSD)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 42 Redux:  Eric Carr solo #2 (Reissued).

ERIC CARR – Unfinished Business (Originally 2011, 2025 Culture Factory)

Beloved drummer Eric Carr has two posthumous “solo albums”:  Rockology and Unfinished Business.  Both contain previously unreleased songs written and performed by Carr, some of which are polished up and finished properly, some of which are basic demos.  2000’s Rockology compilation contained a treasure trove of unheard goodies for the fans, but since there is always more to sell, another batch of tracks were unearthed to mark the 20th anniversary of Eric’s passing.  This time they called it Unfinished Business, and this time you can tell that there wasn’t much left in the vaults to release.   Yet, somehow, the Carr estate found even more tracks to release.  In 2023 a “remastered” version of Rockology was released for Record Store Day.  It included five more tracks, including very harsh demos from 1967, and 1974.  It also included a few alternate versions of previously released tracks, of limited value.  Then in 2025, and hopefully for the last time, five more tracks were coughed up on a similar reissue of Unfinished Business.  It is now an hour and 14 minutes long, so buckle up for a bumpy ride.

Getting the cosmestics out of the way first, Culture Factory do a fantastic job with these reissues.  The CDs are designed to look like vinyl.  Rockology was reissued on a black CD, and Unfinished Business is a lovely blue.  While the last album was designed to resemble the Kiss solo albums, this one looks like Creatures of the Night.  The style and obi strips for these reissues mean they also match each other.  Inside is a two-page booklet with very small print, and a sleeve for the CD, featuring two Kiss-era photos of Eric:  One from Creatures and one from Animalize.

There are a few Eric interviews and audio clips included, and the album opens appropriately with Eric introducing himself.  The first song is an updated version of “Just Can’t Wait” from Rockology.  Like a classic early 80s Bon Jovi song, it had slick hooks and hit potential.  This fine demo was just crying out for a lead vocal to finish it off.  This was completed by Ted Poley of Danger Danger.  Though the backing track lacks the fidelity of a proper Kiss recording, the song has taken shape as the shoulda-coulda-been hit that it is.  Eric would have been proud and very happy to hear it as a finished song, even though it sounds like you’re playing an old cassette.

The unfinished “Troubles Inside You” is a demo with regular Kiss collaborator and Beatlemania member Mitch Weissman.  It was recorded at Gene Simmons’ house, but the old cassette must have deteriorated pretty badly.  The music is barely audible, though hints of a good song shine through.  It clearly needed work, particularly on the chorus.  Weissman is on lead vocals, and Eric programmed the drum machine.  It sounds like a Creatures outtake, but this demo is truly chore to listen to.

There are a couple Kiss songs here for the diehard fans.  “No One’s Messin’ With You” is accompanied by an audio clip of Eric explaining that he insisted on singing a song this time.  Yes, that means this is yet another demo of what would become “Little Caesar” from Hot in the Shade (Another called “Ain’t That Peculiar” was released on the 2001 Kiss Box Set.)  This is an almost completely different set of lyrics, although it does have the “Hey Little Caesar” chorus.  In chronological terms, this version probably falls between the other two, with lyrics still a work in progress and a different verse melody.

Disappointingly, some songs here are not recorded by Eric Carr.  “Carr Jam 1991” and “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose” are not demos.  They are remakes by Zo2 drummer Joey Cassata as a tribute.  Sonically both sound great, but why do we need these?  For “Carr Jam”, we already have a Kiss version which has Eric Carr on drums and Bruce Kulick on guitar.  This one has a guitarist named Benny Doro playing all the electric instruments.  Giving Cassata credit, he plays homage to the Fox’s drum hooks and style very admirably.  “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose” with Paulie Z on vocals, belongs on a tribute album.  Not an album billed as an Eric Carr CD.

“Carr Jam” is followed by an interview about Eric’s audition, but it is followed by one of the very worst tracks in terms of quality.  This is “Shandi”, from Eric’s Kiss audition tape, with brand new acoustic backing music.  Unfortunately, Eric’s shaky voice (or a warbly tape) makes this totally unlistenable.  We have to assume it’s the tape, because nobody would dream of sending this to Kiss as an audition.

Two more Kiss outtakes include the legendary “Dial L For Love” and “Elephant Man”.  These were written for Crazy Nights and Revenge, respectively.  Neither were finished by Carr.  “Dial L For Love” has the bones of a good song with a unique 80s riff, including harmonics.  Eric only managed to finish the lyrics for “Elephant Man”, but here it is given music and life by a group of musicians including the late A.J. Pero of Twisted Sister, and ex-Europe guitarist Kee Marcello.  Singer Bob Gilmartin did a great job of it, turning “Elephant Man” into a cross between ballad and rocker, and something Kiss actually could have done on Revenge. “Elephant Man” does not feature Eric, only the lyrics he wrote, but it actually turned out pretty good.  We’ll allow this one, even though Eric isn’t on it, because there was no better way for us to hear his lyrics.

Eric’s Kiss bandmate, Mark St. John, found the cassette tape for “Midnight Stranger”.  It is another unfinished riff.  Mark was slated to overdub brand new solos for this instrumental, but he too passed before he could finish.  This is the original cassette demo.  The riff sounds like a brother to “Carr Jam”.  They are definitely related.  One has to assume that Eric gave this tape to Mark at some time during the making of Animalize.  Obviously, neither Mark nor Eric would be allowed to write on the album, so this is an interesting oddity.

Rockology featured a good Eric original called “Eyes of Love”, which Bruce Kulick finished by adding his guitar.  This version has Eric’s lead vocals backed by a new recording by Benny Doro and drummer John Humphrey.  Obviously, the Kulick version is the go-to.  This version doesn’t add much in terms of value to the fan.  It’s an artificially created “new” version, to flesh out an already dubious CD release.

“Through the Years” features some Eric Carr drum solos edited together, and dedicated to Bill Aucoin (who also features in an audio clip).  The drum solos themselves will sound familiar, as many ended up in “Carr Jam” and Kiss concerts live.

Finally there is a 1967 recording by Eric’s first band The Cellarmen, with Eric on lead vocals.  At the time of the original release for Unfinished Business, this was considered something really rare and special, but it turns out they had more that they were hanging on to.  Now, we get two more Cellarmen tracks:  1967’s Beatles-y “I Cry At Night” and 1968’s “I Found You (One I Adore)”.  These tracks sound pretty decent considering their age.  An official release like this is certainly welcome for these old tapes.  The late 1960s are alive again when you push play.

Several of the remaining bonus tracks are quite long.  Into the 1970s, we have a lengthy jam of “Down By The River”, performed by Salt and Pepper, recorded in 1974.  According to the CD, that is Eric on lead vocals and drums.  It sounds like when Deep Purple Mk I used to do slow psychedelic cover versions, complete with slamming drums.  Not a great cover, but certainly of interest to Eric fans.

“Get Down” is an overlong disco demo by Creation, dating to 1974.  This one is complete with a horn section, sax solos, and organ.  The surviving tape quality limits its listenability.  It’s interesting not only to hear Eric play the disco beats (quite awesomely), but also to hear him sing this soulful style.

Rewinding to 1972, Salt and Pepper also covered “Black Magic Woman”, this time keeping it to about five minutes.  Eric’s drumming on this is absolutely thunderous.  Though it is hard to shake the Deep Purple Mk I vibes, comparing Eric to Ian Paice on this is not out of the question.

The final track, a cover of “Listen to the Music”, dates back to 1977 and is recorded by Mother Nature Father Time.  This is a nice pop rock song with twangy country guitars.  Eric’s vocals are present but a bit muffled, making it hard to fully enjoy the tracks.  It is a pretty impressive version of the song, with ample accompaniment.

Never mind that the five bonus tracks from Rockology and the five from Unfinished Business could have been released as a single standalone disc, a third Eric Carr album perhaps.  That’s what should have been been done, for the fans who are tired of endless reissues.  Let us hope that more tracks don’t mysteriously turn up on a third go-round of reissues.

2/5 stars

 

 

THREE-VIEW: Eric Carr – Rockology (2000/2023 RSD reissue)

ERIC CARR – Rockology (2000 EMI/2023 Culture Factory RSD CD release)

This release provoked a bit of controversy early in 2023.  Vinyl fans and collectors were pleased that Eric Carr’s collection of unfinished tracks, Rockology, was being reissued on LP.  They were doubly elated by the retro-1970s cover art that fit in with the original 1978 Kiss solo albums.  It even came with a poster to match the original four solo albums, and the CD was printed on a disc replicating a vinyl look.  The packaging, with obi-strip and brilliant black and orange coloration, looks sharp.  They even threw on five extra bonus tracks that weren’t on the 2000 release or 2011’s Unfinished Business.

Unfortunately, much like 2011’s Unfinished Business, the bonus tracks are hardly-listenable throwaways and castoffs that were never meant for public consumption.  What’s more, like all RSD releases, the LP and CD copies were so poorly distributed that fans were soon paying ridiculous amounts of cash on the second-hand market.  Music should be accessible and affordable to everyone, but this reissue was hardly worth it for what amounts to fancy packaging and five ragged unreleased tracks.

We’ll start this review by discussing the five bonus tracks.

Part One – the five bonus tracks

First up is a “long demo” of “Tiara”, a ballad from the original Rockology.  The original track was 4:28 and this “long” version is 23 seconds longer, but it is a completely different demo version.  It is much rougher and laden with occasional noise.  The lyrics are incomplete, as Eric improvises “do-do-do” vocals over  the instrumental opening.  Bruce Kulick provides overdubbed lead guitars, but sadly it sounds like a poor quality cassette.  This is the kind of thing we got too much of on the Unfinished Business CD.

Another “alternate demo” is next, of “Can You Feel It”, a song that Eric hoped Bryan Adams would cover.  Like “Tiara”, this demo is earlier and much rougher.  Similarly incomplete lyrics over a drum machine.  The liner notes claim it’s Eric Carr playing drums, but it’s obviously a drum machine.  Shoddy liner notes.

An “accapella” version of “Eyes of Love” is just a rough multitrack vocal take with no backing music.  It’s not the exact same vocal take used on the other demo version.  It is of limited enjoyment.  It doesn’t sound like there’s a pop guard on the microphone, therefore, lots of noise.

Finally, something we’ve really never heard before:  A 1967 version of the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”.  This is a very rough sounding tape with lots of noise, but due to its age, we’ll allow.  It’s a fairly faithful take of the Beatles classic, with Eric on lead vocals and drums.  It features his band The Cellarmen and is the earliest Eric Carr recording yet to be released.  A difficult listen, but at least something of value.  You’d think they could have used AI noise reduction to get rid of that crackling sound.

The last of the five bonus tracks is a 1974 original called “Stranger” by his band Creation.  Eric is on drums alone this time, with bandmates John Henderson and Sarita Squires (also the songwriters) singing lead.  It is a decent soul-rock song and one of the better sounding recordings.  Though the drums are not the main feature of the song, and buried back in the mix, you can hear Eric’s personality shine through his fills.

Part Two – the original album (review posted 2018/06/19)

The late Kiss drummer Eric Carr was frustrated towards the end.  He was writing good material, but it was always being rejected by Paul and Gene.  In the press, Eric would tow the company line and explain that everybody else had such good songs, that there was no room for his.  In his heart, he was hurt and felt shunned.

Eric Carr wasn’t just a drummer.  He could sing lead, and he could write.  Kiss’ single “All Hell’s Breaking Loose” was an Eric idea.  He co-wrote “Don’t Leave Me Lonely” with Bryan Adams.  Although his writing credits on Kiss albums were sparse, he had plenty of material in the can.  2000’s Rockology is a series of those demos, some in a near-finished state and some left incomplete.  Much of this material was intended for a cartoon Eric was working on called The Rockheads.  10 years later, Bruce Kulick finished recording some guitar parts and mixed it for release.  He also wrote liner notes explaining the origins and Eric’s intentions for each track.

Eric didn’t have a particularly commercial voice, falling somewhere south of a Gene Simmons growl.  There’s no reason why Gene couldn’t have sung “Eyes of Love” from 1989, which has more balls than a lot of Hot in the Shade.  This demo has Eric on drums and bass, and Bruce Kulick on guitar with a solo overdubbed in 1999.  It doesn’t sound like a finished Kiss song, but it could have been tightened up to become one.  Same with the ballad “Everybody’s Waiting”.  It sounds custom written for Paul Stanley.  But it was 1989, and nothing was going to displace “Forever” from the album, nor should it have.

Many of the demos have no words.  “Heavy Metal Baby” features Eric scatting out a loose melody.  This heavy and chunky riff would have been perfect for the later Revenge album, had Eric lived.  In a strange twist, several of the best songs are instrumentals.  The hidden gem on this CD is the unfinished “Just Can’t Wait”.  It could have given Journey and Bon Jovi a run for their money.   Eric, Bruce and Adam Mitchell wrote it for Crazy Nights, and you can almost hear a killer chorus just waiting to leap out at you.  This potential hit could have been the best song on Crazy Nights, had it been finished.

“Mad Dog” has nothing to do with the Anvil song of the same name.  The chorus is there but the verses are a work in progress.  This hard rocker from 1987 was probably too heavy for what Kiss were doing, though it would have added some much needed groove.  “You Make Me Crazy” is in a similar state of completion and boasts a tap-tastic solo by Bruce.  Apparently this demo was originally called “Van Halen” and you can hear why.  Two versions of a song called “Nightmare” exist, including a really rough one without drums.  This incomplete song could have really been something special.  It has a dramatic feel and different moods, and was probably too sophisticated for Kiss, though any number of 80s rock bands would have been lucky to have such good material.

The last batch of tracks show off the Rockheads material.  Whether Eric’s cartoon idea ever would have happened or not, the advent of bobble-heads and Pops would have made marketing easy.   The songs are virtually complete though the drums are programmed.  “Too Cool For School” is a little cartoony, which is the point, right?  For keyboard ballads, “Tiara” showed promise.  It’s not the equal of “Reason to Live” but it demonstrates a side to Eric unheard before.  Next, Bruce says that they always wanted Bryan Adams to cover “Can You Feel It”.  It would have fit Adams like a nice jean jacket.  Not that Adams really needed the help, it would have been awesome on Waking Up the Neighbors.  The set closes with “Nasty Boys”, nothing exceptional.  It sounds like a song called “Nasty Boys” would sound…or anything by 80s Kiss really.

Part Three – the packaging and remastering

The selling point for the majority of fans for this reissue was the packaging.  The original cover featured Eric in 1989 or 1990, obviously without makeup.  The new version is designed to look like an Eraldo Caragati portrait matching the first four Kiss solo albums.  It does, after a fashion.  It doesn’t have the depth or realism of a Caragati, but it matches.  The aura colour is orange.  Inside, there is a poster that similar recalls the original four from 1978.

The liner notes from the original CD release are missing.  This is unfortunate.  As such you don’t get the stories or context or knowledge from Bruce Kulick about the background of these songs.  Instead you get a CD that looks like a record.  This is pressed in black plastic, and has actual ridges on the face side that look like record grooves.  The play of the CD is inhibited in no way by this.

The remastering is much louder.  It does sound like somebody messed with the tapes.  “Eyes of Love” sounds like it has more echo on the drums compared to the original.  Is this due to more echo being applied, or more being audible due to the raised volume?  Possibly just a listener-induced effect, but it does sound different.

If you want but don’t have Rockology yet, seek out the reissue.  If you’re dying to make a display of the five lookalike solo albums, get the reissue.  If you don’t feel like listening to rough demos with tape crackle bonus tracks, run away like a fox.

 

Original score: 3/5 stars

Reissue value:  1/5 stars

Original mikeladano.com review:  2014/04/24

REVIEW: Eric Carr – Unfinished Business (2011)

The KISS RE-REVIEW SERIES Part 42:  Eric Carr solo #2.

EC_Unfinished_Business_2011ERIC CARR – Unfinished Business (2011 Auto Rock Records)

Even though 2000’s Rockology compilation released a treasure trove of unheard goodies for the fans, there is always more to sell.  For the 20th anniversary of Eric’s passing, another batch of tracks were unearthed.  Some are mere filler, some are pretty decent.  Fans of the beloved  drummer will have to sift through the bad to get to the good.

There are a couple Kiss songs here for the diehard fans.  “No One’s Messin’ With You” is yet another demo of what would become “Little Caesar” from Hot in the Shade.  A third called “Ain’t That Peculiar” was released on the 2001 Kiss Box Set.  This is an almost completely different set of lyrics, although it does have the “Hey Little Caesar” chorus.  In chronological terms, this version probably falls between the other two, with lyrics still a work in progress and a different verse melody.  Then there’s “Shandi”, from Eric’s Kiss audition tape, with brand new acoustic backing music.  Unfortunately, Eric’s shaky voice (or a warbly tape) makes this totally unlistenable.

One of Rockology‘s highlights was “Just Can’t Wait” which was crying out for a lead vocal to finish it off.  This was completed by Ted Poley of Danger Danger.  Though the backing track lacks the fidelity of a proper Kiss recording, the song has taken shape as the shoulda-coulda-been hit that it is.  Eric would have been proud and very happy to hear it as a finished song.

The unfinished “Troubles Inside You” is a demo with regular Kiss collaborator and Beatlemania member Mitch Weissman.  It was recorded at Gene Simmons’ house, but the old cassette must have deteriorated pretty badly.  The music is barely audible, though hints of a good song shine through.  Two more Kiss outtakes include the legendary “Dial L For Love” and “Elephant Man”.  These were written for Crazy Nights and Revenge, respectively.  Neither were finished by Carr.  “Dial L For Love” has the bones of a good song with a unique riff.  Eric only managed to finish the lyrics for “Elephant Man”, but here it is given music and life by a group of musicians including the late A.J. Pero of Twisted Sister, and ex-Europe guitarist Kee Marcello.  Singer Bob Gilmartin did a great job of it, turning “Elephant Man” into a cross between ballad and rocker, and something Kiss totally could have done on Revenge.  “Midnight Stranger” is another unfinished riff.  Ex-Kiss guitarist Mark St. John was slated to overdub brand new solos for this instrumental, but he too passed before he could finish.  This is the original cassette demo.  The riff sounds like a brother to “Carr Jam”.  They are definitely related.

“Carr Jam 1981” is, unfortunately, not the original unaltered Elder demo.  It is a cover by drummer Joey Cassata, and a very authentic one at that.  Same with “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose”.  Just a cover, not a demo, by Cassata’s band Z02. Pretty good stuff, at least.  New backing music was recorded for “Eyes of Love”, a song previously released on Rockology.  The Rockology version with Bruce Kulick on guitar is superior.

Finally, some real serious archival treasures:  an Eric Carr drum solo basement tape (same as his live Kiss solo), and a 1967 recording by Eric’s first band The Cellarmen!  That’s Eric on lead vocals too.  It definitely sounds of its time. Added filler include a few interview bits and clips, including one with former Kiss manager Bill Aucoin about Eric.

If the first Eric Carr CD release was best left to hardcore fans, it’s doubly true of the second one.  This is a fans-only release, period.  It is highly unlikely anyone else would get much enjoyment from this low-fi set.

2/5 stars

Although Carr’s loss was devastating to both fans and the band, there was no question Kiss would carry on with imminent Revenge….