Author Topic: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation  (Read 136002 times)

nec13

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #75 on: June 07, 2009, 12:15:00 AM »
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo2Aypi0R2c[/youtube]

A disturbing video in so many respects.

And Buck Dharma. He's no Paul Stanley.
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mcphee from the forum

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #76 on: June 07, 2009, 10:27:39 PM »
While I am still going to follow this thread and enjoy the process from a clinical standpoint, I am distancing myself emotionally. You've shoved a rusty dagger in my back, Buffcoat, and twisted it around and around, causing my heart to cry warm tears. And also blood. Why? Why you ask? Because Shout it Out Loud is one of the best songs they ever wrote (if not the very best). And, whether or not they were just ripping themselves off, it's a much better song than Rock and Roll All Night. A few reasons for this:

1. Paul sings most of it.
2. The lyrics are unbelievable. Paul at his most winningly "I love my life and you should love yours, even though it's clearly nowhere near as awesome as mine." I mean, c'mon: "If you don't feel good / there's a way you could"? It doesn't get much better than that.
3. "Rock and Roll All Night" alternates between music's oldest double entendre and a paean to partying sung by a guy who doesn't, and hasn't ever, "party/ied." "Shout it Out Loud" is about actually having a party. Calling your friends over to hang out. Playing music loud. And that's about it. It's basically a Jonathan Richman-level manchild jubilee.
4. "Rock and Roll all Night" sounds like the Bay City Rollers doing a Van Halen cover. Which is a fine enough thing, I suppose. But "Shout it Out Loud" sounds like Cheap Trick with Gorham/Robertson writing the riffs.

I could go on. Actually, I probably couldn't. But that'sonly becauseI think mytears justshortedoutmy spacebar.
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buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #77 on: June 07, 2009, 11:21:12 PM »
Well, it's about time!  I've said a lot of junk about you all's precious KISS and only now someone takes umbrage?  Shame on you, KISS Army.  Good job McPhee.


I only have these words of advice for you, McPhee.  They just came to me.

If you don't feel good, McPhee, there's a way you could.  Please don't sit there broken-hearted.
In fact, call all your friends in the neighborhood (hello!) and get your party started.
McPhee, don't let them tell you that there's too much noise.  They're too old to really understand.
Just get rowdy with your girls and boys.  It's time for you to take a stand, McPhee.  Yeah yeah.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #78 on: June 08, 2009, 09:42:43 AM »
Because Shout it Out Loud is one of the best songs they ever wrote (if not the very best). And, whether or not they were just ripping themselves off, it's a much better song than Rock and Roll All Night. A few reasons for this:


Really, I just don't like the whiny guitar.  I'm not that big a fan of "Rock N Roll All Nite," either.  But Paul Stanley would be proud of you today, brother.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #79 on: June 08, 2009, 10:12:03 PM »
A helpful fellow pointed me to this video, which is as much of "Dynasty" as you'll hear for awhile:





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uANKzbaucU



And somebody's giving Wurster's Simmons a run for his money, at least in terms of content.  Outstanding for such bad production values:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og8Iix-Fj90&feature=related


I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #80 on: June 12, 2009, 10:15:31 PM »
#7 - Dressed to Kill






Dressed to Kill is by far the best KISS cover.  Forget anything anyone writing these reviews may have said before.  There was another thread about this.  The boys look dapper and weird at the same time - and the best part is that the weirdness is largely unattributable to the fact that they're wearing clown makeup.

Gene's suit is 3 sizes too small - because it, like all the others, is actually Bill Aucoin's suit.  Paul may be the only person ever to be on tiptoes on an album cover.  Peter looks like a refugee from a doo-wop group, and Ace looks like he's posing for GQ.  Also note that, in the graphics, which consist of KISS logos, the top logo on the right side reads "KIS."  They couldn't make it work out.  Nice!

The boys were fresh off the debacle of "Hotter than Hell," which sounded like it was recorded through a curtain of low-grade mud.  This album doesn't sound great, but it's a lot better than that.  I will also mention this.  Do not look up Hotter than Hell back cover on Google image search with no SafeSearch on.  Trust me, I've done these things just so you won't have to.  Also, please tell me what Peter Criss is doing in the photo on the back cover.  I see the naked lady, and the skull, but what's up?

Good songs!  There are good songs on this record.  Not songs that stayed in the band's live catalog for long, but good songs nonetheless.

"Room Service" is one of the best Paul Stanley songs out there.  He's having fun - with the song and in the song.  Traveling around, doing it with ladies, making double entendres that really only have the second meaning.  The music isn't really hard rock, which is true of a lot of KISS stuff.  It's not exactly sui generis, but they do definitely have their own style.  This is the second KISS mention of a 16-year old girl, but not the last.

"Two Timer" and "Ladies in Waiting" are Gothic Gene numbers about women.  "Two Timer," for once, is a song addressed to one specific woman who he actually seems to be involved with for more than the 15 minutes it takes him to boff her.  "Ladies in Waiting" features some really weird lyrics from the beginning, about meat markets and selections.  It's got kind of a funky riff going on that's interesting.


"Getaway" is another number that Ace wrote for Peter, presumably as they huddled together in the freezing van outside the hotel where Gene and Paul were sleeping.  It's a typical early Peter song - sort of dumb and screamy, but nothing offensive.

"Rock Bottom," as discussed in the Alive! entry, is a great KISS song.  Ace and Paul wrote it.  The classical sounding guitar at the beginning is actually beautiful and interesting and shows off Ace's chops at a different style of guitar.

"C'mon and Love Me" is more solid Stanley.  "She's a danssa, a romanssa, I'm a Capricown and she's a Canssa..."  Paul wrote a lot on this album.  The next song, "Anything for My Baby," is sung in a strange voice that Paul didn't revisit very often.  It has several strange lines.

"She" is a decent Simmons song that dates back to Wicked Lester days.  I believe I mentioned the coda it picks up in the live version.

"Love Her All I Can" is another Wicked Lester number (hey - you try putting out three records in a year and a half without reaching into the back catalogue).  It's clear that Wicked Lester was not a KISS-style band.
 
"Rock and Roll All Nite" is a party song.  Note to Andrew WK - you could have picked a better topic to base your career on, but then again you could have picked a worse one, too.  It's a good party song, but I've never entirely understood what the fuss was about.  It's a relatively rare straight-out Stanley-Simmons collaboration.  



After this, a couple more records with great songs but some stinkers that, in the words of the prophet, "keep them from rulership."

Then the deluge.  And the solo albums.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #81 on: June 13, 2009, 01:57:23 PM »
Anybody still reading these?
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #82 on: June 15, 2009, 04:13:50 PM »
The people have (not) spoken.  Hiatus it is.
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

mcphee from the forum

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #83 on: June 15, 2009, 04:15:28 PM »
you better keep 'em coming
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Bryan

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #84 on: June 15, 2009, 04:27:08 PM »
Yes, keep it up, buffcoat!

More, please.

mostlymeat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #85 on: June 15, 2009, 04:43:55 PM »
I am reading them. What the hell else am I supposed to read? (growling voice) YOU GOT TO HAVE A PARTY!

nec13

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #86 on: June 15, 2009, 06:02:57 PM »
The people have (not) spoken.  Hiatus it is.

buffcoat, "You" are a genius my friend. Please keep writing the reviews.
Nobody ever lends money to a man with a sense of humor.

buffcoat

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #87 on: June 15, 2009, 10:49:40 PM »
#8 - Hotter than Hell


Having guilted loose a response for our fragile ego, we respond.


I got hold of some different files of the songs on Hotter than Hell.  I don't know if they were remastered, but they sounded a lot better.  Which makes me want to think about reranking it higher.  But no, we must accept the past and soldier on.


Hotter than Hell is the dreaded sophomore album from a group that produced its fourth best album ever on its first try.  Hotter than Hell dropped the same year as KISS, and it really dropped - like a stone.

Recorded in Los Angeles, which the boys immediately hated.  Paul's guitar was stolen their first day there, setting the tone for an uneasy set of sessions.

 

Wikipedia calls the album cover "striking."  A better word is "muddled," or maybe "amateurish."

Quote
The album is also known for its striking cover: the front featured Japanese manga-influenced artwork, and the back cover showed individual band shots taken by Norman Seeff at a wild party, and a composite of all four band members' makeup designs. Everyone present at the session (with the exception of Simmons) was drunk for the entire photography session. Stanley was so drunk he had to be locked in his car. Paul's drunken state can easily be seen on the album's front cover as it appears Peter Criss is holding him up while Paul holds onto Peter's leg.

The thing about being drunk is a good story.  Again, Gene gets to brag about never taking a taste of alcohol, despite having as one of his signature songs "Cold Gin."  How does he get away with that?

The picture of Peter on the back cover is particularly disturbing.  He appears to be some monster out of a 70s Conan-ripoff, lording it over a woman with drawn-on star pasties.  Creepy.  As is the poorly drawn face with all four makeup styles represented.

Hotter than Hell did very poorly, which can be attributed to several things.  One is that it's hard for a band known for a killer live show to sell studio records.  No blood, fire or makeup embedded in the grooves.  It eventually went gold in 1977, when KISS was nearing the height of its popularity and people were buying everything they could get their hands on.

On to the music.  Hotter than Hell, songwise, is actually one of the band's best efforts.  The songs just don't sound very good.  The versions aren't nearly as good as the ones on Alive! (and, in the case of Goin' Blind, the band's MTV concert 20 years later).  The songs seem unfinished, and the live versions round them out.

It's hard to rate the songs on Hotter than Hell without thinking of the superior live versions.  "Got to Choose" and "Hotter than Hell" both sound too slow - as though the band hadn't figured out what tempo to play them yet (disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about 4/4 beats and all that other shit - hey, this ain't "Creem").  

"Parasite" is an incredible song.  Some of Ace Frehley's early numbers are among the true classics of early hard rock/heavy metal.  It and "Shock Me" are among Ace's best solos.  He even gives Peter "Gene Krupa" Criss a drum solo.  Yes, ACe's a drunken louse and, uh, sometimes he comes across as not the smartest guy in the room, but he wrote some killer tunes.  Early on.  Wait for it.  My magnum opus is coming when we get to "Unmasked."

Seriously, the day they met Gene Simmons already knew how easy it was going to be to rip off Ace and Peter.  It's really not fair to pit rock's Evil Genius up against a couple of party-hearty saps from the Bronx and Brooklyn.  Even if they'd never touched drugs, they were dead meat the moment they walked into the audition.

"Goin' Blind," as mentioned elsewhere, is one of the top two or three KISS songs.  The version here is good.  It's hard to imagine how a man in his mid 20s would write and sing a song about a 93-year-old man in a love affair with a 16-year-old girl, but here it is.  I used to think this was some kind of metaphor, but, having listened to most of Gene's catalog, and having spent a lot of time in some pretty advanced literature classes, I'm pretty sure Gene don't do metaphor.  Certainly not here.  What Gene do do is innuendo.

This would have been a great transition: "Speaking of which, we have [innuendo-based Simmons song]."  But alas, Gene's three additional compositions on Hotter than Hell are pretty straightforward.

Even as a kid, the comma in "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll" didn't make any sense.  Is he asking Rock 'n' Roll to let him go?  Also, why is it "rock 'n' roll" here, while one album later it's "Rock and Roll" as in "All Nite."  And why "Nite?"  Anyway, this song is much better on Alive!  It's only 2:15 on Hotter than Hell.

"All the Way" is another relationship song.  It comes across a bit like "Let Me Know" on the first record.  Presumably the relationship here was not with Cher or Diana Ross.

"Watchin' You" is the best Gene song on Hotter than Hell.  It's pretty blistering in concert.  It's good here, but not as good.

Ace wrote two songs.  One for Paul, "Comin' Home," is really not all that good.  It's a filler song.  They resurrected it for the MTV concert, and it sounds ok there.

Ace also contributes one for Peter, as does Paul.  It's weird for the band's third singer to have songs written by the first singer and the guy who was (rightly, again) too scared to sing at this point, but, hey, it was the 70s.  Peter Frampton was about to have a bunch of hits singing into his guitar.

"Mainline" and "Strange Ways" are not very good.  "Strange Ways" is sort of gothic, which fits with the album, but "Mainline" is a dumbass rock tune which Paul probably wrote for himself and then gave to Peter when the latter begged him to write him a song.

In summary: "Goin' Blind" and "Parasite" are great.  The other good songs on the album sound better on Alive!  The rest can be safely skipped.


The next album is the last of the "classic KISS albums + Creatures of the Night."  It gets rocky after the next one, and really, really rocky after that.

Love Gun is the first KISS makeup era album where I had to relisten to multiple songs.  And, lo, a discovery: a song I'd forgotten turns out to unify these two records: "Almost Human," a Simmons number that is on Love Gun but sounds like a lost track from Hotter than Hell...
I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

Bryan

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #88 on: June 16, 2009, 09:29:46 AM »
I changed my mind. I'm not reading these any more.

mcphee from the forum

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Re: KISS: An Album-by-Album Critical Reevaluation
« Reply #89 on: June 16, 2009, 11:43:57 AM »
Not nearly petulant enough, Bryan.

At the peak of my Kiss love, at which I was probably 10 or 11 years old, the cover of Hotter than Hell made me feel peculiar. It was, I think, the Peter/Paul photos (which really show that they hadn't figured out the mean age of their audience yet), combined with the fact that Ace looks like someone's great Aunt sitting alone at a holiday function.

It was a confusing set of messages to receive at the time.
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