Opinions on "Beth" by Kiss?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by LitHum05, Sep 14, 2016.

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  1. ponkine

    ponkine Senior Member

    Location:
    Villarrica, Chile
    I absolutely love it
     
  2. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    It's a great song. I prefer the heavy stuff, but they did a great job with it.
     
  3. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    After revisiting it for the KISS thread, I think it's a perfectly exceptable song, competently written and structured, nicely sung, not a favorite but I don't mind it.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  4. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    I think it's a good song, but I sure think Peter Criss looks like a major cheese d!ck sitting on a stool at center stage in cat makeup singing it with background music none of the band can play....

    IMO ,it would of been better with acoustic guitars instead of the over blown orchestra, and it wouldn't be such an un-rock moment when performed live. It would be a better song too..

    As power ballads go Beth is among the lesser corny of them, it's the live presentation.....
    Kiss has enough problems with how incredibly corny so many of their rockers are...
    Off the same album there are two that are outright embarrassing... "Do you love me" and "God of thunder" are painfully corny... I'm on the fence about how corny "Shout it out loud" is, but the latter two are far more corny than Beth.....

    Couple these factors with Stanley talking to the audience as if a concert is a WWF event, and Kiss is unsuitable for people who take rock seriously. That said, I like a lot of their music, but there are many unforgivable sins recorded and live....

    At least the Beatles worked out a live version of yesterday that all the band members could play on..
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2017
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  5. Cyberhog9

    Cyberhog9 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Quad Cities IA
    Well Beth should have kicked some *ss when said singer came home. Just a few more hours? Sure thing.
     
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  6. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    I love Beth. Even though I didn't get into KISS until the 1980's Beth sounds like a total time capsule of a long gone time and place. It sounds like nothing else from the KISS catalogue or anywhere else. Very unique and works perfectly on an album that is full of classic songs. Very much helped but being sub-3 minutes. Classic!
     
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  7. Emilio

    Emilio Senior Member

    Others have already said it, but that's OK, I'll say it too: it's not a power ballad.

    I don't think it's a bad song. But I can imagine Gene and Paul's horror when it became a hit. "Will we keep recording ballads like this for each album we make? Will we turn into a ballad band? No way!" Well, it's happened to Foreigner after "Waiting for a Girl Like You". It's happened to Chicago after "If You Leave Me Now". These two bands kept making the kind of music they became famous for in the first place, but now the fans expected a new ballad every time. And they got it. So sometimes I wonder what would have happened if "Beth" had been written by either Gene or Paul. Of course, the obligatory Paul Stanley ballad eventually became a staple of every Kiss album. But a Paul Stanley ballad sounds nothing like "Beth".
     
  8. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    It's not in the "power ballads by the worst of the hair metal bands" category at all in my opinion. It was a cool grab-ya song that maybe surprised people KISS were brave enough to put out given their hard rock catalog. I don't get tired of it, which is rare for me.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  9. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    I wouldn't need to, the nookie would be rushing at ME! :cool:
     
  10. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    Beth is a fine song made better by Peter doing the singing. To this day from super 1976 to 2017 Beth has always been a sad song to me. Both musically and adding Peters vocals add a unique sadness to Beth. Just my two cents.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  11. Evil Strawberry

    Evil Strawberry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana,USA
    feels more like it should be on a Peter criss Solo album TBH other than that alright song
     
  12. rswitzer

    rswitzer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Golden, CO USA
    Listen to Beth and then listen to some of the orchestral tracks on Pink Floyd's The Wall. Comfortably Numb for instance. Bob Ezrin was a big fan of suspensions (chord changes) and the instrumentation is similar as well
     
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  13. dennis1077

    dennis1077 Forum Resident

    A guilty pleasure!
     
  14. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    I hated it for years. Then I heard it used during a poignant scene in the film Beautiful Girls. Now I like it a lot when I happen to hear it. Still I rarely choose to play it.
     
  15. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Great song. Almost Rod Stewarty. I don't have baggage with it. I was young and just thought of it as a pop song i liked. Cool song.
     
  16. LitHum05

    LitHum05 El Disco es Cultura Thread Starter

    Location:
    Virginia
    I think this will be considered sacrilege by Kiss fans, But I actually prefer "Forever." Does anyone here care for both "Beth" and "Forever"? Or does it tend to be one or the other?
     
  17. Vinyl Socks

    Vinyl Socks The Buzz Driver

    Location:
    DuBois, PA
    It's odd that KISSs biggest hit sounds nothing like the heavy rock they were known for...and only features one band member on the track.
    I kinda wish it had been on Peter Criss's 1978 solo album.
     
  18. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    who plays the acoustic guitar on the track?
     
  19. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    I like 'Beth'. Unusual for a heavy rock band, it was even an early song Peter wrote when he was yet in a band called Lips. The song was originally called 'Beck' btw.

    I guess the only Kiss member on this recording was Peter.
    Bob Ezrin hired session musicians and an orchestra for this tune, if I'm not wrong.
     
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  20. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    yup. found it says dick wagner played the guitar part
     
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  21. Zach Johnson

    Zach Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Hard Luck Woman is better.

    I find Beth to be a bit sappy.
     
  22. BryanA-HTX

    BryanA-HTX Crazy Doctor

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    It's alright. I don't mind it. But yes I will also agree that "Hard Luck Woman" is way superior, as many have stated on this thread.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  23. bug2362

    bug2362 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Seattle, WA
    Great if you are 13 and in the 70’s !
     
  24. Lamus

    Lamus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
  25. DamnDirtyApe

    DamnDirtyApe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Thailand
    Although several others have already mentioned this, I wanted to throw in another vote for Hard Luck Woman as being superior to Beth.

    I would say HLW isn't a ballad, but more of a typical classic pop song. Beth remains a pure ballad the entire song, as opposed to something like Crue's Home Sweet Home.
     
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