This is one of my favorite posts in the past couple of months, if not the entire thread! Awesome job! I'll respect the "don't ask" part of your message and just say I hope you heal well and as quickly as can be expected under the circumstances. Please keep the reviews coming! Look at this period of being laid up as your chance to get caught up with us in this thread! (OK, maybe not, but I wish you well regardless. I realize that may not sound as appetizing to you as I'd like it to). to someone who can cite "Black Diamond" and "Save Your Love" as two of their favorite KISS tracks! And I'm at the realization that many (all?) of the "Like" 's I have received on your behalf were most likely from your wife! Tell her she rocks! Seriously, get better and hopefully you can share some more classic reviews with us. They're definitely a breath of fresh air around here!
I have seen some of it. I saw an early scene where they were driving in a van and I found Daphne in the Starchild makeup oddly arousing. Whew, thank god I didn't admit that out loud. And I didn't finish the movie because.........I was busy........IN THE LADIES ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have most of the MOR albums and they're awesome. Love me some Chris Goss. He's great in interviews too. He's a huge fan of Yes and talks about them often.
But that really wasn't his point. There was a post a long time back where Vinnie was playing stuff like Beck and whatever backstage and people asked him, "why don't you do more stuff like that??". He replied, "it's boring". Vinnie had clearly grown beyond the blues influences of his early days and gone on to something else. Never mind what he played was always based on pentatonic scales, he still felt that stuff was beneath him. Make no mistake: Vinnie is an exceptionally talented player but he's not John McLaughlin or Yngwie Malmsteen either (no matter if he desired to be or not). Vinnie was about learning scales and then playing them as fast as possible with a ton of flourishes to add flair.
I always have loved him for his reverence of Cream and his voice having a striking resemblance to Jack Bruce. Not to mention he's a brilliant producer and A+ songwriter to boot. Damnit, I'm deviating again >:/
I guess you understand his point better than I do. I find his mindset, in terms of how he thinks about music, and his thoughts about other artists, to be so alien to my way of thinking that it's just hard to proceed. I probably didn't express that very well. Suffice to say, as much as I'd enjoy spending time discussing music with pretty much every other current or former member of KISS, I don't think Vinnie and I would really have any common ground from which to commence a discussion!
Vinnie is interesting as a topic of WTF. I like/really like his work with KISS while some think of him (and perhaps he thought of himself) as a once in a generation talent. So he leaves KISS in 1984 and by 1988 his career is effectively over. At the age of 35 or 36.
I remember feeling let down when "Fire Woman" came out and it made me not want to check out the rest of Sonic Temple. In 1987, Electric is one of my favorite 30 minute or so, in and out, wham bam thank you ma'am shots of pure rock (kind of like, say, an early Van Halen or Montrose or, heck, early KISS album) and with Sonic Temple they were kind of getting overproduced.
Aw, bless you @npgchris, you're a gentleman, thank you so much for your kind words! You just brought a big smile to my f'ed up face haha! I shall try and do my best to keep the reviews coming, my friend, because i'm in here for a week, at least, anything that helps keep me focused or active really does sound appetizing! I don't know for sure exactly which posts my lady has "liked" but the first thing I asked for was my laptop so I could catch up here and we had a laugh about that!! She does indeed rock and i'll tell her you think likewise! (that'll pretty much garuantee she'll 'like' your posts in the future haha ) tbh, i've never been so glad to see her face as I was three days ago....cried like we were kids! Ok, so... bearing in mind that I still don't know the exact details of what happened...but apparently, I was side swiped by a drunk driver as I was coming home from work on my bike. It was raining and a guy in a SUV just lost it coming round a bend towards me and that was it. Boom! Next thing I know, i've came to in hospital pretty confused with my good lady looking over me. I suffered a concussion and can't remember a thing about the accident other than what i've been told must have happened by the police. Today, i'm actually more upset that my bike and my cell phone were destroyed...mostly my phone as there was a bunch of stuff I hadn't managed to transfer to my pc yet, plus it still had a few messages from someone no longer here, so it's made me sad losing that! But, yeah, glad i'm still here and I thank you, and a few others, again for your warm words! Best to you all!!
SILVER SPOON Pretty decent track. Today was my first time hearing it. I seem to remember Bruce, in an interview, commenting on how he was proud of the slide work he did on this one. Umm, was there even any slide on it? I'm too lazy to go back and re-listen, but the solo didn't sound like it was done with a slide. Agree with whoever said they could've trimmed a whole minute off the end. By 3:45, they had made their point. But hey, we've got to fill up this shiny new toy--the CD--with at least 60 minutes!
Ok, I got the date wrong for the debut album, sorry, nevertheless, I'm just gonna trawl through the albums in chronological order as much as I can and lay down my thoughts. I'll try and cover one per day but that may not always be do-able. I can't honestly remember if i've heard this album as a whole. HOTTER THAN HELL (1975) GOT TO CHOOSE I don't know if it's just me but, I wouldn't have chosen this song as the album opener, don't get me wrong, I like it but it's fairly slow here and, from the kick off i'm at it again, that is, comparing studio cuts to versions from Alive (I can see this being a pattern until the songs from the Alive set have been passed). The tempo difference floored me on a fresh listen because it doesn't seem to drag half as much when a few bpm extra are thrown at the live renditions. Still, as for the song itself, the opening riff and bends are neat, the vocal harmonies are sublime and Ace's solo is tres cool. The soundstage is similar to the debut but the overall production sounds kinda flat compared to it.... that might just be my ears though. 7/10 PARASITE What a song! The opening riff is beautifully sludgy, and it's another that carries that menacing and dark vibe, especially the way the vocals hang the 'eeeeyes' bit on the chorus. I dig how the drums break from traditional beats when accompanying the vocals and only shift to a regular beat for the main riff, plus there's some nice fills and snare work from Peter...even if i'm not sold on his kit sound...in fact, everything sounds a bit muddy and distant to me. I like the little sort of octave riff in the middle and i'm hearing that Ace's leads are comp'd from a few takes but it gives it a cool jam band vibe. I would have much preffered this as the album opener! 9/10 GOIN' BLIND What an odd little tune, not one I can remember hearing much, if at all tbh, but it slinks in at a crawl with some nice open sounding guitars and some nice runs on the bass from Gene. Again, it reminds me of the Beatles on downers when it gets going, I also think the vocal would have suited Paul more as Gene sounds a bit too rough for this one, imo. I do like the chorus when both Paul and Gene sing it...well, hard to tell if it's Paul but, yeah. Simple yet effective solo from Ace drives it home nicely. As I said, not one i'd heard much but I quite liked it. 6/10 HOTTER THAN HELL Ahh, I like the live versions i've heard but it sounds so plodding and dry here that I swear I thought I could hear a mouse fart inbetween the beats. I love the break in the middle with Ace's leads swapping speakers but they're kinda buried by the drums being so upfront. They could have been recorded a lot better, imo. I also don't like the reverb on the vocal, it kinda seperates it from the dryness of the music a little too much and I like the backups more. It's played well but there's something I can't put my finger on that irks me about this version. It also reminds me of another song but I can't think what. 7/10 LET ME GO ROCK 'N' ROLL A fairly simple rocker filled with lots of interesting guitar breaks/leads. The production seems to suit the energy of this one and it sounds a lot fuller than the previous number. The double-tracked vocals do annoy me on this one but it's nothing major in the grand scheme of things. After a few beers at a show, you just know you're gonna dance to it regardless. 6.5/10 ALL THE WAY I can't ever remember having heard this song before either, I like the drum breaks but i'm preferring the chorus to the verses. Incidentally, the double tracked vocals through the second verse don't bother me at all here so, go figure. Ace's guitar sounds really muddy on the solo but it's got a charm about it. They've definitely got good songs in their arsenal but I don't think this is one of them! 4/10 WATCHIN' YOU I dig this song on Alive but i'm not sure i've heard the studio version, or the second side of this album now that I think about it. I like how everyone comes in bit by bit for the opening riff then when it kicks in, the riff has changed completely. It kinda sounds like a doped up 'Immigrant Song'. The vocal harmonies again are on point as per usual and I absolutely love the vocal lift at the 'tryin' not to stare' part. Tons of interesting guitar interplay on the studio take compared to the live version. 8/10 MAINLINE Even although Peter puts in a good vocal, the song doesn't do much for me as a whole. The solo is ok I suppose but i'm struggling to find any positives on this one, sorry. 3/10 COMIN' HOME Geez, can the production get any ****tier on this one? It sounds like a demo compared to others. The guitars sound really murky and buried in the mix. Again, i'm struggling to find anything to latch on to and it may be a little harsh to say, but this is a filler/background track for me. 3/10 STRANGE WAYS Never heard this one before either, pretty good vibe from it and some great stuff by Peter, both on drums and vocals. It's a really heavy sounding song for KISS and it's another that has a pretty dark undercurrent running through it. Ace's solo is pretty cool and dirty and I like the envelope filter, or whatever the effect is, that's on it. It's a grower so i'll probably give it a few more spins. 7/10 Final thoughts, I wish the production was a bit better and I would have maybe liked it more if they'd had less joints before recording, the tempos seem to drag for the most part, imo. At this point, I still like the debut the best. Overall rating for Hotter Than Hell 6.5-7/10
Silver Spoon - After reading everyone's reviews, I can see that I am in the tiny minority who digs this tune. The lyrics have always connected with me. Like @Deuce66, I grew up in the middle of butt-**** nowhere in a very blue collar family, and made my way to the big city to live a white collar existence. In the alternate Kiss universe in which I dwell, I can always connect my daily existence to a Kiss song. Just by coincidence, today I took my wife on a little excursion to see the first house - let's be honest, a delapdated shack - that I lived in until I was 8. It is located in a tiny town of no more than 200 that is frozen in time as a run down, economically depressed ****hole. I wasn't born with a silver spoon, that's for certain. Anyway, Silver Spoon resonates with me. I would venture that Paul loves the song because the message resonates with him. It comes from a genuine place, so I don't really understand why some are puzzled by why he ranks it as his favorite from HITS. Is it a classic? No, but I like it - female backing vocalists and all. I love the bridge.
@Diamond Star Halo We went to Hat Creek today but the stagecoaches were not running so we went on to Clinton. Nice little town. We are going back this Monday to the BBQ Buffet joint. Some smoldering in the mountains. Hope you are enjoying Cariboo as well. I looked thru the CDs at a flea market but no Kiss albums.
Nice! I remember going to Hat Creek on a school field trip. It was pretty interesting, so you'll have to try going there again if you get a chance. As for the Clinton flea market, you're probably more likely to find a Buck Owens CD rather than Kiss. I lived in 100 Mile House when I was a teenager - a 45 minute drive north of Clinton. It's pretty similar to Clinton, but it's a larger population centre with more restaurants and shops. It has the same "Wild West" vibe though. Lots a nice lakes and outdoor activities. And yes, we are having a great time in the Cariboo. In two more days we head back to the big city.
Ultimate Classic Rock: Gene Simmons Shrugs Off Devil Horns Trademark Criticism: 'I Can Do Anything I Want'
The Cult rock. Loved them the first time I heard them. Something about Ian Astbury reminds me of Morrison. First two albums are great. See that no mention of you know who!
Long after our civilization falls, I can imagine future archaeologists scratching their heads after digging up one of these.