KISS: The Songs 1974-2012

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GodShifter, Feb 7, 2017.

  1. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    Neither are subtle, baw. :p
     
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  2. dave9199

    dave9199 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    I'm from Worcester.:D
     
  3. dave9199

    dave9199 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    Ace never liked working with Ezrin. I doubt it would've happened with him.
     
  4. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    Give me credit brother! I said it was a crazy idea from a crazy person! Lol I was just musing out loud. The shows were selling fewer tickets starting around Elder according to Wikipedia if I remember correctly. So if instead of touring, I thought, stay in the studio, buckle down and create better music. It may have been worth the gamble. And if you made something better it would pay in dividends of better sales of records & in concert attendance. KISS was more than just a working band, they were unique. They were leaders of the pack. Playing what they liked and if the "industry & critics" didn't like it they could KISS them where the sun don't shine. That was the KISS I seen New Years "75". They were Bad AS S ! I just wish they did the kind of quality work they're capable of in the 80s instead of leaning on their past laurels. LMAO I'm going in circles as if the past could be changed. They made some bad decisions and unfortunately we the fans suffered. PC was their big chance to Bring It and they Blew It! Just my crazy opinion, but there you go I say ToeMahToe you say Marinara! Peace brother
     
  5. dave9199

    dave9199 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    It's amazing the feeling of this thread went from both extremes to a general agreement and ironically on the album everyone wanted before it came out. I like the song Psycho Circus but understand how it can feel contrived. I don't know the rest of the album too well but any title like We Are One was quite a turn off. Again it wasn't believable. They are good at writing songs that feel that way.
     
  6. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    Great Town is Wooster ( that was for those non-New Englandrrs that might say WarChester) seen our boys there a couple of times. I used to make deliveries to the Tire Warehouses up that way 25 years or so ago. Beautiful area. Reminds me of the Naugatuck Valley area of CT. Pax
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2017
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  7. ejluther

    ejluther Forum Resident

    Location:
    Newtown, CT
    I know we'll get there but Sonic Boom delivers more of the "classic KISS" sound/approach than PC does if that's what fans were hankering for...it took over 10 years but it did come...
     
  8. dave9199

    dave9199 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    It's spelled Worcester but it's said as Wistah. I live in Durham, NC now and that's said as Durm. I saw Kiss twice at The Centrum; last makeup tour in 1983 and first reunion tour in 1996. Saw them once in Raleigh, NC in 2014.
     
  9. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    Do they get together (P&G) and just plot out all these bad decisions? " Hey Paul this might work out great. " OK Gene let's scrap it then and do this crap song instead" Geeezus Kriste!
     
  10. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    It's closer, I'll give you that.
     
  11. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    Groovy! There's one in Mass. but they pronounce it Wooster. NC is a beautiful state and home of the Ani Yun Wiya (Cherokee for my Anglo brothers) . Been thinking of moving down that way since I retired. Smoky Mountain region is gorgeous!
     
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  12. Cooks420

    Cooks420 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    "Here I am, here we are; we are ONE."

    As the self-proclaimed resident baby of our merry KISS KLAN, I have absolutely no knowledge as to how hyped up (or not) PC was prior to its release, and (erroneously) believed all 4 members were playing on most if not all of the tracks; I certainly know better now! In fact, all I knew at the time was McFarline was making some pretty stupid action figures of some middle-aged dudes of whom I had no connection.

    That being said - and apparently I'm in the vast minority in our thread - the title track absolutely DESTROYS. The extended intro is FAIRly CLOWNish, but I love the verse riff exploding with those three power chords, with Paul belting out that beautiful "HELLO" with the first hit. It's a wonderful introduction to the song and the album itself.

    Without going into much detail, the rest of the track is wonderfully harmonic to my ears, which is exactly how I prefer my KISS. I also enjoy the switch over to the major scale for the musical interlude.

    However, the best part of the song is at 2:05 where Gene/Tommy/Paul/Vinnie/Entwistle plays that gorgeous little one measure bass line comprised of just two notes a la the bass in The Who's "The Real Me," and it gets me every time. Again - it's one of those extremely minute musical things I fawn over inexplicably, that just sounds perfect. And I'm glad Gene wasn't playing bass on the track because I don't want to him credit for spit.

    10/10 - a top 10 KISS track for me
     
  13. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    YUP!
     
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  14. YardByrd

    YardByrd rock n roll citizen in a hip hop world

    Location:
    Europe
    @dave9199 is from Worcester MA and I was born there and lived 25 minutes west for 15 years... he's right, we pronounce it Wistah... I also ended up in NC for 15 years...
     
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  15. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    Absolutely love your enthusiasm!
     
  16. William Smart

    William Smart 21st Century Schizoid Man

    Location:
    North Haven, CT
    You say Wistah I say Woostah let's call the whole thing off! My New England accent is nonexistent! I was born in Fla. lived in the Smoky Mt. area for a few years then came up north. I seem to hear things differently? Because I've been asked more than once what kind of accent do I have. Even by my neighbors. So there ya have it. I hear funny (explains a lot) sound funny and I ain't wrapped to tight! Wotta mess! Pax

    @dave9199 went from one Worcester to another Worcester? That's a groovy move!
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2017
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  17. Diamond Star Halo

    Diamond Star Halo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Psycho Circus -

    I love this song. It's Paul doing what Paul does best - writing catchy hard rock songs with memorable melodies. I think the arrangement is great, and I really love bridge - I love how the song builds in intensity at the end. The verse is really good too. My one small criticism is the chorus - while good - isn't quite as good as the verse. I also like the lead guitar, and if Paul played these parts I am impressed. This is Paul's best song in a long, long time.

    As for the album, I do think it was a lost opportunity to a certain extent. The stars aligned and Kiss was on top of the world again for the first time in 20 years, but they still found a way to screw it up. All parties were to blame, including the producer. Ultimately, some of the material just isn't good enough, so in some ways it is inconsequential that Ace and Peter didn't play much on the album. It's a disappointment though.....

    As an aside, count me among those who hate the album cover. The band should have been featured on the front of the CD, not a clown. Weak. What were they thinking? The video for Psycho Circus is terrible too. What a joke - it's so cheesy.
     
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  18. SammyJoe

    SammyJoe Up The Irons!

    Location:
    Finland
    "Psycho Circus", pretty decent song to open the album with. Decent and ok, but not pure classic. It worked for the live-show, and I think it's good and catchy opening song.
    I think it just sounds a bit forced and Paul tries too hard to please us. Anyways, I like the arrangement and performances, but definitely like @Diamond Star Halo said, I also feel that the chorus ain't good as the verse.

    Anyways, Im not actually sure what to think about and rate the album, now looking in retrospect, it seems to a little missed opportunity. I have to remind myself of not comparing it too much to their earlier albums.
    I remember the time that this album came out, the hype and things going around was huge. It's been so long time as I haven't kept PC on rotation, so revisiting is in place.
    I don't remember all the songs from the album, it just seems that somewhere after "Into The Void", I must have changed the album as I don't much at all remember the later songs.
    Even with original members they just couldn't come up with material and album to compete with their past masterpieces. It was disappointing especially later when it came out that Ace & Peter barely were on the record.
    Maybe they tried too hard on this album, but didn't quite find the correct way and in some ways it just couldn't pass the expectations which were huge given the whole happenings and reunion of the classic lineup.
    There's something a bit goofy present on this and the whole album, but there's also plenty of feeling good positive vibes as well. Was PC really rushed album, maybe it should have given more time?
    Maybe it was just the case where people expected way too much from them..

    Some bands like Iron Maiden have successfully made reunion-era albums so great that they feel like logical continuation of their classic-albums.
    Im not gonna yet give too critical verdict as it's essential to listen to the album and songs now again, revisiting, that's the main thing here when we talk about the albums.
    Psycho Circus-album seems to be yet again another similar case to couple previous albums (mainly COS & HITS), I own it but surely I haven't listened to for ages, so it's definitely time to pay a visit these songs.
    Just as I started to read comments here, I put the album on (it's been so long time as I last listened to it) and it actually ok album so far. It' refreshing to listen to any Kiss that I haven't played to death.
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2017
  19. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    OH. MY. GOD.
     
  20. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    Remember, there is a special place in hell for people who bash Peter Criss 1978 solo album.
     
  21. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    Sadly without a single memorable song.
     
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  22. npgchris

    npgchris Forum Resident

    I haven't listened to SONIC BOOM for several years, but I just looked at the song titles, and I remember almost every one of them!

    Though there isn't anything on that album that is the equal of "Journey Of 1000 Years", I'd much rather listen to that record than PC any day!
     
  23. YardByrd

    YardByrd rock n roll citizen in a hip hop world

    Location:
    Europe
    Yes, I live there. It's called Helsinki.
     
  24. npgchris

    npgchris Forum Resident

    PSYCHO CIRCUS

    When we started discussing this album earlier today, I stated that I would have preferred that the entire thing just have been scrapped, and re-started from scratch. Judged on its own, is "Psycho Circus" a good KISS song? No, it is not. It's a song trying very hard to be grand and epic, but just missing the mark in almost every way. I'm not going to list all of the things I don't like about it, because I prefer to keep these commentaries positive. I may not get a lot of agreement from my friends, since so many of you here were down on Paul's contributions to both REVENGE and COS, but this song feels like a massive step backward compared to most of what Paul gave us on those two records.

    It could also be judged by different criteria, however. Given the poor choice to build a highly-anticipated KISS reunion album around the "Psycho Circus" concept, and given the need for a title track, and hopefully one that could evoke DESTROYER in some way, I guess this isn't a bad job from Paul. I don't envy him trying to shoehorn the "Psycho Circus" phrase into a song that aspires to be some great opening tune, plus tries to ape the feel of a KISS song(s) of yesteryear. That's quite a convoluted task, so looking at it that way, this is probably as good, or better, than could be expected. This song feels like an amalgamation of "Detroit Rock City" and "King Of The Night Time World", but not surprisingly, it falls woefully short of that level. It's unfortunately rather plodding, with a terrible chorus ("You're in the Psyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy / You're in the Psycho Circus"), and just an overall feeling that it's trying oh-so-hard to be something great, but coming up short. If I were judging it just on its own, I wouldn't rate it above a 6.5 or a 7, but judged by the difficult task of trying to check off several boxes on the "KISS, Inc. Psycho Circus master list", I'll be generous and give it an 8/10. But if I was being honest, it doesn't really deserve it.
     
  25. The Slug Man

    The Slug Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    So the Peter Criss solo album is responsible for the modern day zombies. "When there is no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth." ;)
     

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