I simply have to acknowledge creative comments like these! Thanks for making me smile this morning! Speaking of... to all of you Dads out there, Happy Father's Day! It's deathly hot here today, so this looks like one of those "stay inside with all of the blinds drawn" kind of days! No air conditioning here, either! Yikes!!
I agree with your observations, but for me, Gene's work on both UNMASKED and THE ELDER is quite good, overall. I agree that the stuff on DYNASTY was sub-par, and even though the tunes coming up on the next two records are really strong, I suspect no more than about 10-20% of the credit is due to Gene. I'm certainly not disagreeing with you, but I'm just saying that in '80/'81 he had his share of good tunes. But yeah, that well was pretty much bone dry after THE ELDER, it seems.
Horrid - there's no other word for this. This is X in Sex bad, bottom of the barrel Paul Stanley at his worse.
I did hear these tracks in real time having purchased the German import version of the LP, I think I played the thing once or twice and shelved it in disgust, these guys were so lost in fact the four tracks sound like glorified demos to my ears, Nowhere to Run is decent, the rest is really bad - there's no magic to be found here at all, for completists only.
Get On Your Knees - This track is very sub-par. It almost sounds like Paul was going for an 80's AC/DC vibe, but the guitars and drums sound weak and limp. How is it even possible to sound this anemic? And what kind of guitar solo is THAT? Paul's screechy "cat on hot tin roof" vocals are unbearable, and the lyrics are highly questionable, even by Kiss standards. This is one of the worst songs we've covered so far. It sounds like a bad demo. Did they put any effort into this at all? There really isn't very much to like about this track. 2/10.
Gentlemen one and all I hope your fathers day is great! May we always take pride in our children and they in us. May the Gods bless you and yours always! Peace Iam
Just read that Gene isn't on bass on any of these four tunes. It's Paul. Gene didn't write anything either. For a guy that seemed inspired by THE ELDER concept, he was back to sleepwalking again by 1982.
I'm not surprised at all by this, I also have doubts that Eric or a real drummer is on those four tracks.
DOWN ON YOUR KNEES Never cared for this song but remember when I was starting out on guitar, it was easy to play (I think the verses are just A-G-D). This sounds like it could be a 2nd tier Paul song from any KISS album between '83 and '89, and I do not mean that as a compliment. As far as Gene not contributing any songs to Killers, I believe early '82 is when the Friendly Demon first got the acting bug--or did something about it. I think he tried out for a few TV pilots around this time--the beginning of a decade-long absence from adding many good songs (although mercifully he went out with a bang with some good stuff on Creatures before turning into the movie mogul).
Down On Your Knees I liked this song as a wee lad, as it reminded me somewhat of Rock Bottom. Still a guilty pleasure for me now. --Geoff
I think Killers is the lowest career point for Kiss. Although Kiss had alienated their American audiences with Dynasty and (especially) Unmasked, the ill received Music From The Elder killed much of their momentum in Europe. The record label was so desperate to stop the bleeding that they conceived the Killers album. However, the band was in no shape to come up with 4 great new songs. Realistically, there was no band. They had no guitarist, and their bassist didn't play on any of the tracks and contributed zero songs. I doubt that Eric Carr is even playing drums - it sure sounds beneath his abilities. Kiss was being held together by a declining Paul Stanley with scotch tape and wood glue. It was the lowest moment.
In my world, there is no greater criticism you can hurl at a song! OUCH! As cheesy as this song may be, I'd listen to this 100 times before I'd want to listen to "Odyssey" or either of the two new songs on S,T&H. Still, I have to give it up to you for knowing how to thoroughly insult a song!
I'm in the middle of your comparison. I'd rather hear this than Odyssey for sure but not more than the 2 new Smashes songs.
I totally get where you are coming from, but is this song really that far away from any number of songs that Bryan Adams would have hits with in the coming years? Not to me. I'm not a fan of Bryan Adams, so it's not like I'm trying to compliment the song, but it feels to me like many of those empty-headed, catchy rockers that were popular in the MTV era.
Ooooo that's a bit harsh! True, deserved but dang what a spanking! Make 'em cut they own switch and drop they drawers. Ouch indeed
I didn't know about Gene not being present, although it's hardly shocking. Checking at KISSMonster, they claim that Gene is playing bass on "Nowhere To Run", but that it is Paul on the other 3 tunes. They also have this quote from Paul on the "Nowhere To Run" entry: "I don't remember much about recording it except Gene, Eric, and me doing backup vocals." There's no mention of Eric not playing on these, but that isn't necessarily definitive proof that he did. They mostly just make a point to list musicians contributing in ways outside of the "norm". Which means, a drum machine wouldn't be mentioned, only a drummer other than Peter/Eric C/Eric S on a track. It mentions that "Partners In Crime" and "Nowhere To Run" received remixes after the KILLERS release, when it looked like either one might make an appearance on CREATURES, to make the sound consistent with the production on the rest of the album. This would imply remixing the drums, of course, because of the bombastic sound on that album. It would definitely be cool to hear those remixes at some point.
'Down on your knees'. What I enjoy about this song is that; to my ears Paul's vocal sounds like a later era Bob Dylan if he was trying to sing hard rock.
"Down on Your Knees" In a nutshell--BLAHHHH! If anything KISS ever did was a misstep, it was these new tunes from Killers. Now I wouldn't say that "Down on Your Knees" is a horrible tune. It's competently played, and I can tap my toe along with it as a generic piece of rock & roll. It doesn't annoy me or anything. It's not as if I need to run and turn it off. But really, it's pretty much in the vein of any random bar band saying, "Hey, we need some originals--let's try to write something kinda like AC/DC--that should be easy." "Try" being an important word there. For my tastes, it's pretty uniformly uninteresting melodically, harmonically, rhythmically, in terms of song structure, etc. It doesn't capture any of the magic of AC/DC. KISS is one of my top 20 bands, but if their output had consisted of tunes like this and "I'm a Legend Tonight" they wouldn't even be in my top 2000. The Killers tunes really do seem like half-assed filler just to appease the record company. Luckily, the downturn detour didn't last long--they got right back on track with Creatures of the Night.
Oh we will. They have been officially released. I'll make sure you hear them the next 2 days when we talk about those songs.
Well, the guitar solo for "Down On Your Knees" starts with a proper "Get down!" from Paul so that always helps...
DOWN ON YOUR KNEES The weakest of the 4 new tracks...it just sounds like a sketch of a song, with demo vocals. The only highlight is the very short Vinnie-esque lead from Bob.
That said...I have never heard a difference in what they claim is the Nowhere To Run remix...but the Partners In Crime remix is fantastic.
