Anything For My Baby...this is one I didn't like back in the day but think is fantastic now. It's a preview of what Paul would do on his 1978 solo album.
Anything For My Baby is my favorite song on the album, maybe even my favorite KISS song ever, I don't know. I'm not one for making lists but it would definitely be near the top. 10/10 for this one.
I think it's great that others love this cut, but for me it's the dud of the entire KISS repertoire. I just never connected with it and it feels thrown together to me! I'm not saying it's bad- it just doesn't work for me. On the plus side, its short. I remember listening to it as a kid and there is a subtle acoustic guitar in the second verse that has the same frequency of our landline phone at the time. I was always turning down the stereo thinking I could hear the phone ringing. It took me a while to discern what was happening.
Anything For My Baby-Ok, this is almost a straight Beatles/Dave Clark 5 thing. It's back to 1964...which is weird, because it was really when the 50's revival was in full swing. American Graffiti brought it full force here in the States, but it had been going on in the U.K. for a while. A lot of glam was really based on 50's style music...just amped up and sexed up. It no surprise then that this kind of stuff was a swing and a miss. Anyway, this thing is harmless enough, it's just well below their potential IMO.
Wow, you definitely had access to some hipper stations than I did! I never once heard "Rocket Ride", "Shout It Out Loud" or "Hard Luck Woman" on the radio. I heard "Radioactive" exactly one time on the radio; when Gene Simmons "hosted" a look at the solo albums when they were brand new. He played one song off of each. Other than "New York Groove" of course, which I heard quite a bit in 78, I never heard anything else from the solos after that. (I didn't learn until years later that labels would prepare promotional records with interview snippets and entire songs. The DJ would have a script with questions to ask, and then Gene would answer them. Of course, at the time, I figured Gene was in the local radio station for a live interview). Even more amazed that you heard stuff from UNMASKED, THE ELDER and CREATURES. I highly doubt that KISS was heard on the radio at that time in the Bay Area, even on FM rock stations that were more outside the mainstream. No doubt I would have blown a gasket in my youth if I had heard any of the tunes you cite in your quotes above! Of course, "IWMFLY" was all over the radio when it came out.
I was a suburban upstate NY kid. Huge AM radio fan 1973-1978 or so before I found out about FM. Was obsessed with Casey's Top 40. The only KISS songs I remember hearing on AM radio at all, outside of the weekly countdown, were "Rock N Roll All Night", "Beth" and "Hard Luck Woman". I knew all the other singles due to the weekly countdown, plus 1976-1979 (junior high years for me) I was a big KISS fan. That was 'Destroyer' through 'Dynasty', including the solo albums, and of course I went back to the first 3 albums plus 'Alive'. When 'Unmasked" came around I was on to other things. Maybe those other singles were getting airplay on FM, but I never remember hearing them on AM top-40 format radio.
"Anything For My Baby", nice little song (so short again) but surely forgottten and underrated song. Basic song and it doesn't really stand out from the other tracks, but I understand if someone feels the opposite. Peter's got nice groove going, guitars got groove and somewhat strong vocals from Paul. Definitely inspired by the 50's and doo-wop. Ok song after all, but nothing really that special for me. Maybe it has also problematic position as the previous song ("C'mon And Love Me") and the following song ("She") are much stronger than it?
This is really well stated, and gets to the heart of the matter as to why I believe KISS' music is still loved and listened to. As much as the nay-sayers want to just dismiss their music out-of-hand, it was memorable precisely because of the great and diverse artists and styles they took their influence from. It came together and helped form their distinct style. Looking at these tracks one by one, and giving them individual consideration, it makes it easier for me to see why some KISS fans are more dismissive of this album, and why others (like @vamborules) cherish it so much. It's purely "of the moment", created out of rushed necessity, and put down on tape without any analysis or preconceived notions about what they wanted to accomplish. At that time, they had been touring relentlessly and were playing as tight as they ever did as the original 4. They were young, and still very hungry, and DTK is what they came up with when they simply had to get something done. I liked the album when I was younger, and I absolutely LOVE it now. It's undiluted, pure KISS, and it'll do nicely, thank you! "Anything For My Baby" may not be a masterpiece, but it's a helluva cool tune. The remaining 3 cuts on this album are all stellar, so maybe this song suffers a bit by comparison. But I really like it.
"Anything For My Baby", a pretty basic tune even for KISS, but goddamnit, I love this song. Love the little drum fills, great bassline, love the background vocals, awesome song. If it's filler, than it's killer filler. I'll write a song! Anything for my baby Fill out the album! Anything for my baby Knock it out! Anything for my baby
Anything for My Baby- Probably the most throw-away song from the originals era. Paul sings "wheel and deal" like he had exactly 70 seconds to rhyme "steal" . I also don't care for the drum dynamic with the shuffle snare in the chorus. I think there are Wicked Lester demos better than this song (by that, I mean all of them)
It's easy to nitpick the arrangement or Peter's drumming or whatever on "Anything For My Baby", but the Starchild's passionate vocals make the song work regardless.
I've always loved Anything For My Baby. The chorus drum work is very Keith Moon like and the verses are just Peter playing solid on what sounds like a very sparse kit. Not a damn thing wrong with this track, Peter is the star and the tension between the Moon-isms and Paul's vocal in the last minute are great. Since I've gotten behind.... Getaway-nothing spectacular but I love it just the same. Love the way Ace's solo starts up, and the tone of his guitar all the way through the solo. Just a simple rock and roll song, nice to hear Gene and Paul in the backup vocals, strengthens the track. Wouldn't ever skip this song. Rock Bottom-I could swear I read that some of you dislike the intro but I'm sure I must have misread that. It's not as cool as the Fractured Mirror playing but it totally works for me as an intro. Doesn't seem too long. And then the song proper starts up and it's a total winner. Ace's simple solo lines sound so cool. C'mon and Love Me-total classic song. Great example of the importance of the Gene vocal in a Paul song (and vice versa). They forgot this in the 80's to their own detriment. Not much to say, this song would always make any KISS comp I was putting together.
ANYTHING FOR MY BABY I'm in the "love it" camp, I find it's groove irresistible. Peter's the spark who brightens what otherwise might have been classed a pretty pedestrian run through into something worthy of the company it keeps on Side B. I would have loved a guitar solo of some description though, Ace holding some nice long wailers over the fade out would have been cool. Anyway, it's a keeper for me.
SHE 1975 (Simmons, Coronel) 4:08 The origins of “She” date back to when Gene Simmons was still in school. At the time, he was in a band called Bullfrog Bheer with his friend guitarist, Stephen Coronel. The original title of the song was supposed to be “She Walks By Moonlight” (from a line in the movie Hondo according to Gene). Coronel came up with the main riff, but Gene fleshed out the lyrics and the arrangement of the song. Simmons states he had a lot of trouble with the song as he worked on it in his mother’s basement. Eventually, the title was shortened and the song became fully realized. Originally the lyrics were “she’s no good” but they were changed by Simmons to “she’s so good” for whatever reason. The song was first introduced on the Wicked Lester demos and its original state, it sounds much different than the KISS version. The Wicked Lester version sounds like a combination of Jethro Tull and maybe the Buffalo Springfield; just not even in the same ballpark. KISS would ultimately strip down the song to its bare essence and it would become a funky, groove heavy, and much darker tune than the Wicked Lester version. The riff would become almost Black Sabbathesque. That said, the FUNK is strong in this one (Star Wars anyone? Anyone?). I could see a funk band like, say, The Undisputed Truth cover "She" and I wouldn't bat an eyelash. The song has a lot of swagger and oozes sex appeal. The version on Alive absolutely slays as it stomps along like an angry brontosaurus. It also highlights lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, who in the middle does his solo which extends the song an additional two mintues or so. In live settings sometimes the song would go on longer depending on the length of Ace’s solo. The videos I’ve seen have Paul, Gene, and Peter singing in unison but on Dressed to Kill it sounds like only Gene and Paul, but I have no idea if Peter is singing as well. It doesn’t sound like it. My favorite part of “She” is the Alive version at 2:37 where Gene starts his bass line only backed by Peter’s drums. That’s groove right there, folks. Reportedly, Ace took inspiration from part of The Doors’ Robby Krieger’s solo from “Five to One” for his solo. It does sound very similar. Additionally, guitarist, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam took inspiration from Ace’s solo for his lines on “Alive”. I guess if something’s good, then it deserves to be repeated several times, right? “She” was a staple of KISS’s live set dating back to the origins of the band. It was included on Dressed to Kill due to the band’s lack of material for the album though it had been considered for the previous album, Hotter Than Hell. “She” remained in KISS’s set for many years (I’m actually not sure when, if ever, it was dropped) but at some point, Ace Frehley began using his own song, “Shock Me” as his spotlight song. My favorite version of “She” live is from a 1975 airing of the Midnight Special with Flip Wilson as the host. You can say what you want about KISS, but back in 1975, they were tight, well rehearsed, and on fire. That changed later, but they were fantastic during this era.The band that night did a three song set of “Deuce”, “Black Diamond”, and “She”. The “She” performance is really great and Peter really shines with his drumming. Ace does a great solo on this version and, if you watch closely, he does some pre Eddie Van Halen tapping. Frankly, I always thought Ace’s live solo on “She” resembled Jimmy Page’s “Heartbreaker” solo. They’re very similar (complete with the tapping element). There’s also a great Cobo Hall performance from 1976 clocking in at about a little over eight minutes with a highly energized Peter (cocaine fueled perhaps) bashing the crap out of his kit. It’s great. I promised @SammyJoe he could take the floor with some thoughts about “She” so I’ll let him post some videos or thoughts on the song when he chooses. I will link the Midnight Special performance because I think it's great.
She is ok. Maybe I'm saying that because I've heard it so many times and I burn out on some songs if I've heard them so many times over the years. Looking at it objectively, it's pretty good. But not as good as the other songs on DTK. I'd give it a B/B+, which is above average.
I got into them about a year later...but man, people must have thought they were insane and demonic! Gene during that little bass break is so evil looking. How anyone can watch this and call them a cartoon band...geez.
I can see that. It wasn't ever really a favorite for me, either. It's probably one of a few KISS songs that doesn't have a flowing melody. It's a much more basic stomper. It does have some interesting riff structures in terms of its progressions. The song is in F sharp and works off an E to A to B progression which gets changed up at the end of the verses. I haven't heard the song in years so it was fun to revisit it, but, yeah, it wasn't a favorite when I was a kid.
"She", great song that I have just loved ever since heard it for the first time. Great little funky groove going on the bass and Peter's drumming really tight, but the main thing that has always mesmerized me is again that thing Ace does. Over all, this is powerful song and performance from the band. I like the studio-version and all the different live-performances where the band is tight, on fire and having the fun around. @GodShifter you basically summed it pretty perfectly in the post. I see that you already mentioned that solo and it's origins, which was my original reason and meaning to add here. I did post this couple years ago on this forum and got it copied automatically for this song talk here: I have to share this little thing concerning the guitar-solo in "She". The original inspiration for the solo must have been from The Doors song "Five To One" were Robby Krieger plays this pretty simple, but effective and memorable thing: The Doors - "Five To One" 1968 Solo that starts around 1:12 time mark: Ace took that part to his own nice solo: Kiss - "She" 1975 2:49 time mark: Kiss - She - Dressed to kill (1975) Then later on it was also used in the following songs: Pearl Jam - "Alive" 1991 3:39 time mark: Pearl Jam - Alive Entombed - "Damn Deal Done" 1997 1:55 time mark: Entombed - Damn Deal Done I think that both bands Pearl Jam and Entombed really just made it as a tribute to Ace. Of course they had heard and known about the original solo from Robby Krieger, but it must have been very much due to Ace that they decided to copy it. And both bands guitarists and song-writers have said that Kiss were such huge inspiration and influence on them. I found out about this long time ago just by catching by listening, but one of my friend who listens to all of these bands had never even noticed this thing.
