I like the black vs. the Fractured Mirror version. But agree w @GodShifter I don't really care for it.
Happy 1K I don't know brother. If it had been released in that version back then the falsetto alone would have sunk it. Sorry sounds like KISS meets The BeeGees. Some unions are unnatural and should never be. A crime against nature. It's so wrong it sends shivers up my spine.
For the KISStorians, when did KISS actually start using DiMarzios? I know Gene knew Mr. DiMarzio, but it's unclear when it contributed to their sound. Are there any old pix of Ace that could help date it? I still don't know how he got some of his tone.
Here's one from the cruise that KISS never played live as far as I know, check out Bruce's comments at the end.
@npgchris my wife liked that version of GOT! I'm not sure if it's because of the quality of the song or because it's Paul, but she liked it. "it's not as bad as you claimed it was! I like it why don't you? " see what I have to endure? Lol and now she is singing it. She's going to sing it all day too. I just know it. See there is a god... Cause he just put me in hell
Ace used the Ovation Breadwinner for most of the first album. It says here he put DiMarzios in it sometime in '73 but possibly replaced them before recording. Ace Frehley | Non-Les Paul Guitars | 1973-1980 Just click where it says 'Breadwinner for detailed info and pics, can't link the page directly for some reason. And then here it says he got the Les Paul Deluxe in late '73 and put DiMarzios in it before recording Hotter Than Hell. Ace Frehley Les Paul - History 1973 to 1975
The 'God of Thunder' demo is interesting because it really highlights what Bob Ezrin contributed to the song. The tempo change, Gene singing, all the weird noises and effects. In other words most everything that makes it great. I guess he didn't really transform it to the extent he did with Beth but he did a lot. __ also... She Rock Bottom Strutter Mainline
You are starting a VH Roth years song by song thread? That is great. I am starting to wonder if you are God!
Nice. Are there any engineering geeks here who appreciate "reluctance" and pickups in the same sentence: It is of course perfectly possible that Ace just put some chrome covers on the DiMarzios he had installed. Considering his later reluctance when it comes to the use of pickup covers over his DiMarzios it doesn't seem entirely likely though and a good guess would be that he had something like Gibson PAF's installed for the recording.
True. It won't be good because of not doing For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. It will be good because we aren't doing any Van Hagar albums. Goddamn, those are some hamburgers that need helpers.
Lol. I’m a fan of both Diamond and the Red Rocker, but I’ll crash any VH thread I can get my hands on.
One thing about the Paul Stanley version of God of Thunder is it makes you realize what a disappointment the Box Set was because it should have way more interesting things like this. I don't think I was ever enough of a fan to clue into the fact that Paul wrote this song that became a Gene classic. Interesting that Bob Ezrin didn't try to horn in on a song writing credit here where he absolutely would have if this demo was written by Joe Schmoe and existed in this same format.
Ok, I know I’ve severely lacked in my posting for a spell, but I’m glad I perused some recent postings in this fine thread because I just COMPLETELY lost my **** listening to the Paul version of “God of Thunder.” For someone who loves Paul’s writing and voice infinitely more than anyone else in KISS, this version completely corpses the album version because 1) Paul sings it; 2) tempo, tempo, tempo; and 3) those backing vocals. God DAMN. 11/10 - I am shock and stun
I haven't listened to 5150 since it was probably less than 2 years old (!), but I sure enjoyed it that summer that it came out. It wouldn't surprise me if it hasn't aged particularly well. That said, I am neither a Diamond Dave lover or hater, nor a Hagar lover or hater. They both have their assets and liabilities, in my mind.
Way more information and data on KISS Album Rankings that you could probably ever want! This thread has been a total blast, and was valuable in several ways. First off, it was great to go through a classic band's entire catalog with a fine-toothed comb, and to assess all of the highs and lows of this diverse songbook. Secondly, it was enlightening having the chance to read a lot of savvy, intelligent people's perspectives on KISS' early, mid-period, and late-era material. Lastly, and best of all, it was so very cool to make the acquaintance of a diverse group of folks, whose cumulative musical knowledge is pretty damn impressive! I consider many of you my friends now, and I look forward to future interactions in this and other threads here. Kudos to you all! Now that we've reached the finish line, I'm going to share a few posts that delve into the ranking of KISS' massive catalog. If you find it mind-numbingly boring, my apologies, and hey, you can bail on my ramblings at any point. First off, I'm going to share the results of a KissFAQ poll from 5 years ago, where Discussion Forum participants shared their rankings of the KISS albums. This list has some value, I think, because it represents a fairly large sampling of die-hard KISS fans' rankings. To the best of my knowledge, it is the most recent poll that has been conducted there (at least in terms of an in-depth one, which had been done a few times prior to this). I shared this before, back at the beginning of this thread, but here it is again. Gaps in the rankings represent a noteworthy gap in polling results. In other words, albums grouped together finished very close in the final tally. This poll was conducted in December of 2012, and it asked voters to include the 4 solo albums in the rankings. The results - 1. Rock And Roll Over 2. Destroyer 3. KISS 4. Hotter Than Hell 5. Love Gun 6. Creatures Of The Night 7. Dressed To Kill 8. Ace Frehley 9. Paul Stanley 10. Revenge 11. Lick It Up 12. Dynasty 13. Monster 14. Music From The Elder 15. Unmasked 16. Sonic Boom 17. Asylum 18. Animalize 19. Carnival Of Souls 20. Psycho Circus 21. Gene Simmons 22. Crazy Nights 23. Hot In The Shade 24. Peter Criss Again, albums grouped together finished very close in the final tally. A few votes for or against, and Hot In The Shade could have finished ahead of Gene's solo album, to name one example. Gaps indicate a much larger margin that would have had to have been overcome to move up or down. Next, I'll share how I voted in that poll 5 years ago, and how I rank their albums now, after this detailed analysis in 2017.
It's not that, really, I'm just not super opinionated when it comes to Van Halen. I look forward to Jason's thread, as I expect to learn a lot about the Roth years. And if the discussion continued on after that, I'd stick around. Since I don't think I've even heard any of their albums after the 2nd Hagar one.
I took forever to warm up to VanHalen and even then it was luke warm. Van Hagar even more so or is that less so.... But you'll never guess who loves Van Hagar... Yup she loves Sammy. Which all goes to prove that opposites do indeed attract. It also frustrates. She absolutely hates King Crimson and wouldn't go with me next Saturday if my life depended on it. She has no future in politics..... Or the fire escape trade, but I'll keep her for another 34 years just to be sure. (I hope none of this makes sense to you or your at least as crazy as me)