I just listened to "Rock n' Roll over" top to bottom. Just to make sure it was they way I remembered.... OH MY GOD! Talk about a GREAT sounding record!!! Analog "Ear candy" ORGY! Almost no "distortion" on the guitars.....only analog overdrive through the various preamps, E.Q's, compressors and TAPE! This record is a "Gain staging" and "Analog/tape/tube/transistor" MASTERPIECE! WOW!........This record sounds SO GOOD!!!
KISS has consisted of at least three great singers for most of the band's existence, at least in my opinion,
The main difference between Peter and two Erics is that like him or not he had tons of personality, both as a singer and as a drummer. Instantly recognizable. Eric Carr was great for the first couple of records and after that he frankly became yet another faceless 80's hair metal drummer. Singer is a high class pro, a true sideman who can play anything but there is zero personality in him.
Then I don't know what to tell you. Ringo has been maligned in "muzzo" circles for as long as I can remember. If that hasn't been your experience, so be it. But it certainly HAS been mine.
Not going to get any complaints from me. That was one hell of a scene. The New York Dolls, KISS, The Dictators, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. The Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads waiting on the sidelines, about to take over. Works for me!
Yes........I'll concede that Peter's make-up was absolutely the worst. As far as my GF thinking "I'm the one" as I'm forcing her to grade KISS vocalists........hmnmm......I should be so lucky........I'll ask her........but I might not like the answer!
She says "Yes, I think you're the one." Now I"M thinking......"I forced you to grade KISS vocalists.....I made you sit and watch as I played Bass to side one of "Dynasty"....Then when it came to "I was made for loving you" and wouldn't let you leave until I got it right. (I haven't been played a ton of Bass recently...... Bass isn't my "main instrument"....Of course these days, unless you are one of the best, you can't afford to have a main "instrument." You better be able nail a studio level performance on just about anything you're asked for. And nail it within three takes....and that doesn't have to mean you are a virtuoso....it DOES mean that if you can't play IN TUNE AND ON TIME!.....then you have no business in a. studio.......I can't TELL you how many guys I've rushed out of a studio so I could replay their parts (Before or behind the beat is fine if it's intentional, but don't tell me that's your "Groove" when you actually just SUCK!") .....I digress, I think I have Protools P.T.S.D Somewhere in the 2000's musician's started coming in to studios, to make records. Guys who couldn't PLAY. And don't give me that "Sex Pistols" B.S.....that was just marketing. Steve Jones and Paul Cook are two of the most solid players you'll ever find. I mean guys who couldn't play.....then would look you in the eye and say "So what, just "Protools" it!" Not "Replay my part" but "PROTOOLS" MY part........That's actually what they say. .....If I never have a crappy singer look at me again after mumbling through a take, while checking on their cell phone, and say........"AUTO-TUNE BRA!" There's a reason I no longer produce or engineer anymore. I wonder what my poor GF will think when I wake up screaming "IT'S FLAT! IT'S FLAT!!! NO!! FLAT MEANS TOO LOW SHARP MEANS TO HIGH!! NO! THAT"S SHARP@! THAT'S HIGH.....DO YOU NOT KNOW UP FROM F#%$% DOWN!?!?!?!?!??!?!"
I have no idea what a "muzzo circle" is, but it doesn't sound like any fun. The only people I've ever heard knocking Ringo as "the luckiest drummer in the world" are non-musicians.
I'M not saying Ringo sucks. I think he is incredibly musical, tasteful and the type of drummer that I LIKE TO PLAY WITH! I'm just telling you what my experience has been. And yes, "Muzzo circles" DO suck. I'm not trying to "Out rank" you here. I'm just telling you what I've experienced. You don't have to defend Ringo from me. Like Peter and Stephen, I think he is a great drummer who doesn't get the respect he deserves.
Well put. Vinny can obviously do what he does quite well. I'm just not a big fan of what he does. .....although, some of those "Warrior" demos actually weren't bad. The original "Boys are gonna rock" which was cannibalized for "On the 8th day" was pretty good. I haven't heard it in a while but I seem to remember it being less "heavy metal schlock" and more "Cool Rock n' Roll song."
I "met" Vinnie as well, if I can count an autograph session for the VVI debut album. The appearance took place at a Photon laser tag arena in Fountain Valley, right off the 405.
I found a copy of King Kobra III the other day; I'd heard of them, knew nothing about them, but grabbed it because it's on MFN and it was only £1. When I got it home, I saw that one track's credited to Stanley/Simmons (It's My Life), and one to Simmons/Mitchell/Free (Legends Never Die). Never heard of either of these songs before, but I now see It's My Life was apparently released on the box set, and both songs were originally recorded by Wendy O Williams for her 1984 debut. Not expecting much from the album as it features Carmine Appice, but it sounds quite heavy, so there's that. Just a FYI for all the hardcore KISS fans, who still take their KISS lunch boxes to work every day
I told one of the stories earlier in the thread here, but now I'll edit my original comments for you: At some point, probably early 1990 I got an advanced CD of Slaughter's Stick It To Ya from someone in the industry. I listened to it and was horrified by it...so I took a hammer to it, gathered the pieces and mailed it to Vinnie at Enigma Records along with a note that said something like “I put an end to some horrible music” along with a picture of my Vinnie (in make-up) jean jacket I had commissioned and how I wanted to get him to sign it someday. (Vinnie was recording Guitars From Hell and working with KISS on Revenge around this time too.) Enigma Records folded then Vinnie disappeared...until if I remember correctly ads started appearing in metal mags in 1996 about pre-ordering The EP (which was later remastered and retitled as Euphoria). I sent in my money order and waited...I was not happy with the quality of the "finished" product of what sounded like demos with a drum machine. Shortly after Vinnie announced an in store appearance at Slipped Disc Records in Valley Stream, NY (RIP). I was freaked out-of-my-mind but I knew I had to go! I grabbed a friend to drive me out there. We were lined up out back and I remember some of the staff grousing that Vinnie was being difficult...I didn’t care, I was going to see Vinnie! Once I got up to the desk where Vinnie was signing I remember I was sweating like crazy from nerves, and I plopped the jacket down in front of him. “This is the guy!” he turned to his wife and said, then turned to me “you're the guy!” He told me he framed the letter I had sent with the smashed CD. “That is the coolest thing anyone has ever done!” He told me...I fumbled out a question “what happened to Guitars From Hell?” and he replied “aborted.” I said “I really like Wild Child, it’s dance metal!” (a quote he later used in promotional materials.) I must have handed someone some money because I walked out with the Euphoria EP but I didn’t get it signed.