Mad Dog It's not bad, I think in Peter's hands it would've been a cool groove. As said, the riff is just driven into the ground being that it's so repetitive. I think the band made the right decision by taking the riff out and just have it be part of a (much better) song.
TY brother that was a pretty groovy Post. I love this album myself, but it's extra special because of ( you guessed it) memories attached to it. It was the first, actually only KISS album I bought on the day of release. The first 3 I bought just after my first show. The rest within a week or two of release. But this one was special. When I bought an album I recorded it on cassette to play in my Van. Anyways pops and I both worked in Greenwich and on the way in I would pick out a tape I thought he might dig. He fooking loved Crimson, all the way up to Red, he never got to hear later material. So I put it in, it's a 90 min tape so there's a mix after that, and he's very quiet. Billy did he just say " put your hand in my pocket grab onto to my rocket"? Yes he did pop. A few more seconds of quiet..... he breaks up laughing. tears running down his face. He thought that line was the funniest thing he ever heard. If you could have seen his face. It just lit up with mirth. Whenever I played something he liked he would start telling the guys at work about it. So here's to you Pop!
Great points! I actually enjoy the song but if I had to pick a weak link on the album, it's the obvious choice for me.
That's awesome! Here's to your pop as well! Yea, my mom busted out laughing the first time she heard that as well. Uh! All Night had a similar reaction, LOL!
This song is better than a lot of his 84-90 period. He should have resurrected some ideas from this for that era. Otherwise Gene's stuff that made the 70's albums are better than this. I like Flaming Youth better but cool listen nevertheless.
It's not better than While The City Sleeps...or Secretly Cruel...or Hell or High Water...or Betrayed...so most of his 80's output.
Got To Chose : a kind of plodding song to start the sophomore entry. Then again that more or less describes most of the album. I don't mean that as a despairing remark, but to be sure every song on this album could benefit from just a wee bit more speed. That said and out of the way make no mistake I F N love this album. I love Paul and Gene singing together. I may be way off with this but I think Gene is playing much better on this one too. Let's face it this "KISS" was near flawless. Ace played his absolute best in this period. Paul's voice superb,the harmonies sublime. A very demonstrative KISS tune for sure.
I think I stated this before but “Got to Choose” is probably my favorite KISS song of all-time. Seriously.
It's an absolute fantastic song. I love Ace during this period. That stuttering like leads he plays, the bending, always so melodic. I really think Ace was the star. Gene played better then too, I believe you called it his walking bass. I admit to never hearing that before, but when you used that term to describe his bass, I understood just what you meant. I used to think of it as his bass strut. Lol. I can't say why but it makes sense to me.
I'm here. Just not much to say. What drives me to post is when I get an overall feeling of this thread. Actually right now it feels like it's over even though it's not yet but because it's extra bits and not actual albums which, to me, lessens what I might contribute. I didn't know that until today when I realized there wasn't as much conversation with these songs. That could certainly change but we all just went through a looooong time of ups & downs and looking at songs under a microscope. I still look a few times a day.
For all we criticize Gene's habit of cannibalizing old tunes for new tunes Mad Dog became Flaming Youth which is an absolute gem of the catalogue. Mad Dog therefore is an oddity and interesting but barely worth an extra listen. Still I'm glad to hear it and it is one demo song that I do remember from the Box Set.
Hi Jason. I've just been busy with personal stuff this week. This is the first time I've had a chance to drop by for a visit since Mon or Tues. Hopefully tomorrow, I'll make good on my earlier threat to share with you all some data on the band's album rankings that I've accumulated since we started this exercise. It's sure to make 90% of our group's eyes glaze over with far too many stats, facts and figures. It'll probably be the perfect cure for insomniacs, as well! Hopefully tonight, I'll get a chance to review all of the pages that I've missed this week. Thanks for the shout-out. At least somebody misses me!
Good to know you're okay and still here, giving all the **** you and family have been through lately. We love you and the thread would not be the same without you.
I'm several days behind, so apologies if this has already been mentioned/discussed. But the Kulick Brothers setlist from the KISS Kruise was impressive, and by all accounts, their performance was really good. I love their song choices: Bob and Bruce Kulick’s setlist at KISS Kruise VII: All American Man Hide Your Heart Wouldn’t You Like To Know Me Domino Larger Than Life Tears Are Falling Nowhere To Run Tough Love Tonight You Belong To Me Who Wants To Be Lonely Crazy Nights Turn On The Night Goodbye
The last part is an understatement (at best). Let’s be real: this thread would have been so much less without @npgchris. I think we all know that. I’m starting up my Van Halen song by song in about a week or so. Only the Roth years, though , so if you’re a Van Hagar fan do your own thread
I'd buy that! (And it's one of my least-favorite KISS albums, but I'm sure it would improve noticeably given such treatment!)
I think you’ve got your hands full with the Maiden thread (you’re welcome, btw ). I can handle the Roth stuff easily. That said, if you want to do the Hagar stuff, I’m certainly not going to get in your way. We can talk about it, though
Unlike this thread, where I was the loud mouth who had a hard time shutting up, in that thread I'll be more of an interested bystander. I look forward to learning a lot from my friends here who are very knowledgeable about VH. Even though I know the quality takes a big dip later on, I for one would still be interesting in listening to (and reading about) the later albums with Sammy, as well as VH3 (which I don't believe I've ever heard a single song off of). I look forward to that thread! Somewhat off topic, but I just read the other day that Sammy had floated the concept of a VH show with him and DLR switching off. I think the idea was each guy would sing a handful of songs, and then switch, and then switch again, etc. And I think he referred to it as the "Sam and Dave" show, or something like that, which is pretty funny. Speaking as someone who knows nothing of all of the interpersonal drama going on within that band, from a fan's point-of-view, that sounds like a phenomenal idea, that I imagine would have pleased a lot of VH fans. Apparently, neither Eddie or Alex have responded to his attempts to reach out to them, which is a shame. Also, though I don't know much about it, this whole B.S. with Eddie's son playing bass for VH, instead of Michael Anthony, seems pretty lame. Anyway, I look forward to learning about this band from you and others when that thread gets started. I haven't heard their debut album in a million years, but I know it will all come back to me when I hear those songs again. That was a killer debut, and was really ubiquitous among the people I knew back in '77.
Just wanted to spotlight this comment, as it echoes my sentiments exactly. It's a tremendous song, and really too good to be as relatively obscure as it is. The same goes for "Mr. Speed", in my book. But then you tear out a small piece of my heart when you bag on "Baby Driver" and "Makin Love". I think those two songs are stellar. Anyway, keep the classic reviews coming. They're a blast to read!
Thanks man. Yea, Makin' Love is just one of those songs I've never "connected" with for no particular reason. Also, in hindsight, Baby Driver is better than I gave it credit for, but in my head it's still the weak link.
DONCHA HESITATE I had never heard/read that it was Smalling on drums on this! I remember the box set book said this was one of the rare times where the entire band played on a demo, so I can only guess that this info has come to light since 2001? Because I don't see why they would have lied about it at the time of the box set's release. In any event, I really love this song, and I would have found a place for it somewhere. As @GodShifter noted, it's kinda funky, and it would have enriched any of their 70's albums that it could have appeared on. I would guess that Paul probably filed this one away and forgot about it, because even as late as '79 or '80 this could have fit on one of their albums. It's simple, but it's a winner, in my book! MAD DOG While this isn't top-tier Gene, I nevertheless like it quite a bit. And frankly, it slays "Flaming Youth" in my book, a song which I feel is pretty overrated. Ace's solo is so freakin' cool! Another gem from the vaults. (25 lb safe sold separately!)
Browsing around on flickr last night I stumbled across some really great pictures from one of the '77 MSG shows. KISS @ MSG NYC 1977