I'm Gonna Love You Ok, Peter fans, crank it up!! I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one that finds Peter's album to be ...OK..I had never heard it back in the day and I was thinking today, as I've given this record a few spins over the past week, that if I were to choose just one KISS solo album to blast at a party it would be Peter's. I think a few of the songs have a loose vibe and they're ..well...fun! Gene bored me nearly to death and I may never visit that album ever again but this I don't mind returning to. This track has an Old Time Rock and Roll Bob Seger sound to it. As a fan of soul, Motown, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and old styled r&b music, I dig the horns and here, as previously mentioned, the background vocals actually work! They give the song a gospel-styled choir-like feel and for the chorus? I find it to be pretty catchy, I think this is a good opening track, not perfect but enjoyable. I see that a few people are discussing that Peter never really liked the style of music KISS played. Personally, I don't think that's true but it's apparent that, perhaps, it wasn't his main passion, but Charlie Watts never wanted to be a rock star either but sometimes you get in with a gig, it's a pretty good gig and you do your thing. Let's take Gene for example, on several cuts on his album he summoned up his inner Beatle. This was the real Gene, he wasn't the God of Thunder or the demon, he was a character and he played up to the part. The true Gene is one who admired the pop harmonies of the Beatles and love songs and..um..Disney so it can also be said that Gene was never quite interested in the music KISS was making either. He stayed with Paul, because Paul had the hooks and the songwriting chops. If anyone was the true sound of KISS it was Paul. But more on that later! I give this song a 3.5/5...Nice opener, fairly solid track and excellent production, nice horns and background vocals along with a good vocal from Peter. It's got the Criss groove. ------------------ One thing many of us can never understand is what it's like to live everyday as a rock star and while it may be easy to fault Peter for sabotaging his KISS tenure, maybe the truth behind it all is that Peter wanted to get off the whirlwind that was KISS and was acting out in other ways? Ace sedated himself to get through it all, Peter did as well to a point but Peter dealt with his frustrations externally while Ace internalized everything, it's just a different way of handling the fame. Five years on the craziest amusement park ride you could ever conjure up in your wildest dreams will take its toll on you. So Peter got out, he wanted out, he wasn't always nice about it, but everyone handles pressures in their own way. Who knows what one of us would be like had we had to contend with the same demands day after day, week after week, year after year. Some of us may even commit acts of self sabotage just to get off the ride and breathe, you don't know unless you're in that position. I'm just sayin'.....He's still the Catman and it's obvious that Ace loved the guy to pieces so there had to be something good in there. Bring on the next track!!!!
PETER CRISS I'm skipping commenting on this thread until we're past this album. I never was a fan of his singing or his influences. I don't care to revisit this album at all. Ciao!
"I'm Gonna Love You", nice uptempo start for the album as it has that little r&b feeling, great vocals from Peter and lush backing vocals, nice horn and all the instruments just are played the way it's needed. The song is great and lively, yet strong way to start the album with. I like it a lot. It's good to see that there's atleast few people here who understand and appreciate this album. Definitely, like you said here @Exile On My Street this album would be also my pick to play at some parties, the songs have that essential loose vibe and fun with them.
I think they were a "first" for a lot of us as well. It's like the first time you get laid. You never forget it.
I'm Gonna Love You Wow is this just flat out boring or what? I'm sorry but this just bores me to tears. Sounds like crap you would hear at Holiday Inn back when they had bars. To you young people they actually had those back in the day. And you would hear some absolute horrible **** that sounds a lot like this song. And all these songs Penridge wrote that Peter took a credit for is embarrassing. Peter couldn't write a song to save his life. So unfortunately, we have to hear garbage like this song. Man this is gonna be brutal sloshing through this crap.
Yeah everybody blames his poor decisions on addiction. Some people are just delusional. Peter always over estimated his talent. If he just would have realized that he was a drummer in one of the biggest bands in the world and been happy with that, he'd been ok. But no......
They're just not....KISS like..... They're Peter! That's the thing. Takes getting use to for sure. Peace
I like One for All. It wouldn't be on a short list of my all time favorites, but it's a very good album in my opinion, and I'd probably rank it as Peter's best solo album. As I mentioned earlier, after we've gone through all of the KISS albums here, I might go back and go through all of the other solo albums, offshoot stuff, etc.. . . If for no other reason than I think that they tend to be too curtly dismissed, while I think they're all worth examining, they're all at least decent albums, etc.
Someone else might have pointed this out already, but there's no way that you're saying that Gene's primary motivation wasn't to be rich and famous? It's just that a lot of Gene's musical interests are different than Peter's. Gene probably has the most overlap with Peter's tastes (Motown for example), but he's also much more in Paul and Ace's taste ballpark than Peter is.
I did, and you were right all along I'm out until Paul Stanley's album comes along (unless anything interesting and slightly off-topic crops up!)
loved reading this thread. huge kiss fan. i bet if peters 1978 solo album had a bunch of tunes like this one the kiss fans would have been praising it as a masterpiece
So true - I was about 11 when these came out and DEEP into the band with Peter as my favorite member on most days (a most important quandary when you're 11!) so I think I gave this LP way more attention than I might have at another time in my life. In fact, I have to think my relative openness to music genres that I still enjoy today might have its beginnings with this very album as it pushed me to listen to music other than "KISS"...it certainly didn't hurt, that's for certain. As Pete sang, "I'm Gonna Love You", and that's just what 11-year old me decided to feel about this album and, even after all this time, I still do love it, warts and all...
YOU MATTER TO ME 1978 (Vastano, Morgan, Ponica) 3:15 Written originally for a band called Blue Jays who were signed on Vini Ponica’s Map City record label, “You Matter To Me” was written by John Vastano, Michael Morgan, and Ponica. The Blue Jays pre-dated both of Peter’s former bands Chelsea and Lips and, in reality, were far closer to what Peter envisioned for himself in terms a band: heavy horn section, raspy soul singer (Vastano), and a strong rhythm and blues influence. Though Blue Jays only released one album in 1970, that album was kind of a template for Peter for many of the songs that appear on Peter Criss. Peter’s version of “You Matter to Me” instead of horns, features heavy piano courtesy of Richard Gerstein underneath while featuring a synth line straight out of a Kool & the Gang tune being covered by Bill Cuomo. The synths and Fender Rhodes piano really date this song to the 70’s and that’s not a particularly bad thing, but it still must be noted. To me, the structure and instrumentation of the song reminds me of something that Hall & Oates might have done around this time. “You Matter To Me” is a very pop/r&b oriented tune complete with heavy background vocals from the Faragher Brothers. Peter’s vocal is fitting for the song and the tune moves along a good clip with some funky bass playing from Bodine and some nice swing from Criss on the drum kit. Funny enough, “You Matter To Me” would be covered again by Joey Travolta (younger brother of John) on his one and only solo album released on Casablanca Records (also a 1978 release). Unfortunately, I can't find that song or I'd link it. Again, this song is not something I particularly care for, but it’s a fine tune for its time and certainly would not be something that would not raise an eyebrow of a listener of pop radio in the late 70's when this was released.
Yeah it's a matter of taste if Peter taste's good.....no no that came out wrong... ummm OK if you like Peter put it in your.... Nooooo that don't sound right uh OK play the CD, tape or vynil It's tasty! ( Geez never thought I'd dig myself out of that hole!) Piece I mean Peace (gonna be a long day)
"You Matter To Me" Not a bad tune, yeah it's pretty dated with the synth line, but it does have that kind of nostalgic charm to it, and it's still respectable as far as how it's constructed, certaintly has more going for it that a lot of the other songs on this album.
I often wonder if the criticism leveled at Peter in terms of not liking the music KISS produced is truly fair. I think we've seen the Gene was a musical chameleon in terms of what he preferred to write and listen to (as evidence of his solo album) and the stuff he'd put together for a KISS album. In essence, both Gene and Peter were playing a role in a hard rock band that wasn't truly them. Ace and Paul seem to be closer in terms of what they played was actually them, but if Paul's Soul Station is an indicator of his preferences, he wasn't playing it straight up, either, in terms of what he cranked out as KISS. Now, musicians playing one type of music in a band that doesn't necessarily reflect their real taste outside of that band is not highly unusual. Many do this. I think the fact is KISS starting out were not good musicians and knew that they'd never be the next coming of Jethro Tull or Genesis or whomever and, due to the musical climate in NY when the started, they recognized that hard rock and glam was the music de jour so they went with that. It suited their musical talent and it created an avenue to get them noticed. Now, I think the real criticism of Peter is not being able to manage playing music he doesn't necessarily care for in order to keep making a good living. I don't imagine that any of members of KISS were good friends but they were working partners in a successive enterprise. Peter's big failing was being too arrogant and hard headed to realize he could keep a lucrative gig like KISS and make the music he wanted to do on the side. But he became such a wanker and pain in the butt the band had no choice to fire him and it affected him greatly in a negative sense. He had to know he had no writing talent and his ability to be a solo star was not in the cards. Peter just wasn't very smart.
Sounds like the drums are either double tracked or there's 2 drummers. There's the hi hat and the bell of a cymbal played in the chorus. I'll give another listen, but I'm sure that's what I heard. Headphones where are my headphones......
"You Matter to Me" Of course it's easy to see why Peter's album didn't go over well, as he follows up a tune with heavy R&B influences with some jazz-influenced, very poppy yacht/soft rock, and we're just getting started. Gene's album might not have been what most KISS fans were expecting, but it's still has one foot--well, or a toe, at least--in hard rock most of the time. I like yacht rock, soft rock, pop, smooth jazz, etc.--and I'm a pretty big fan of artists like Michael Franks and Al Jarreau, so that aspect is no block for me. In fact, I like that sort of stuff better than most middle-of-the-road rock, hard rock, etc. (And I especially like it better than most middle-of-the-road rock from the 80s on.) This is a very good pop tune in its vein, with a catchy chorus. I like the groove of it, I like the arrangement and the keyboard timbres, the smooth background vocals, etc. Also, the youtube version you linked to sounds really good production-wise--I suppose it's a remaster. "You Matter to Me" should have charted in my opinion. I wonder if Casablanca's A&R folks pushed it with the right radio stations. Were they pushing it with the stations that were playing Michael Franks, Al Jarreau, Chuck Mangione, etc.? (I'm also a big Mangione fan.) Or were they trying to push it with stations that had been playing KISS singles along with Bad Company, BTO, etc.?
Just from my angle, I wasn't criticizing him for it, just noting it in a matter of fact way. And I certainly play a lot of music that isn't my ideal--playing stuff that's not my ideal has provided the bulk of my income over the years. I took a journeyman/session musician/union gig-type of approach to my career (partially because I like variety, but partially because that's just how it panned out, too.) And noting that Peter wasn't going to be long for the band once he made enough money to be comfortable isn't a criticism either. Again, I'd do just the same thing. If I would have managed to make enough money with some situation that I could have comfortably lived off of it for the rest of my life if I had to--say if something would have enabled me to clear even just a couple million dollars, I would have lost motivation to play in situations that weren't my ideal, and I would solely do what I want to for my own enjoyment (which in my case is a Zappa-ish, pretty non-commercial blend of progressive rock and jazz fusion, as that's my wheelhouse as a musician and composer).
These first two PETER songs: sorry, but I don't understand why he would record crap like this, knowing that lots of little kids would waste their money on his album. This is even worse than Radiohead mentally murdering their non-hipster fanbase with Kid A, or Neil Young recording those 'unrepresentative' albums for Geffen. Shame on you, PETER CRASS.
That's a good catch. There's some double-tracking, including what you note with the chorus, since there's both a ride cymbal 8th note part and the 16ths on the hi-hat still. It's pretty subtle and adds a nice fullness to the tune rhythmically.
