Version #2 Side A I Stole Your Love Calling Dr. Love Take Me Got Love For Sale Shock Me Love Gun (maybe) Side B I Want You Almost Human Mr Speed Rockin in the USA Hard Luck Woman Rocket Ride
I’ll give it a go: Side A I Want You Calling Dr. Love Mr Speed Shock Me Love Gun Side B I Stole Your Love Christine Sixteen Rocket Ride Hard Luck Woman Makin’ Love
[QUOTE="Sandinista, post: 16989142, member: 31797"some of the keys stepped down a half step or full[/QUOTE] What was wrong with Crazy Nights being done in high keys?
Alright, so last week I decided to give the Vinnie Vincent Invasion debut a listen. It was. . . an experience. . . (If its an invasion then fire up the War Machine, it must be stopped!)
It was a radical shift from his New York trashy style to a more meaty howl. It took some getting used to but I grew to love Paul's eighties vocals (except for most of Crazy Nights where he is just singing way too high.)
Because Anton was a far more well rounded player than Eric Carr. That's the main reason. We discussed it during the Dynasty and Unmasked portion of this thread, but the reason Fig wasn't selected for KISS after Criss's departure was two fold: 1) Fig felt strongly about his then band Spider and its potential to make it big. 2) Anton didn't really have the 'look' for KISS. He was already starting to lose his hair and outside of wearing a wig, his image just didn't fit with the long, dark hair that the rest of the members sported and then you add the make up into the equation. Ultimately, it made little difference as Carr was perfect for the band for the time period he was in it.
Yeah, I have to feel that a grungy, heavy like Carnival of Souls vibe would not have been Paul's first choice for the next KISS album. To me, much of his singing didn't work great for the material. It just wasn't his forte. There are, of course, some good songs on the album featuring Stanley, but I have to think he wasn't 100% sold on the direction at the time.
I think I have to disagree here; I think Anton and Carr were pretty well matched. Considering Eric came from the Bohnam school of drumming, but went on to play in disco/funk and later New Wave type stuff...
The example I normally cite here is that Anton Fig went on to play with studio pros like Will Lee and Sid McGinnis with "The World's Most Dangerous Band" on The David Letterman Show. Those two, alone, had played with a wide array of musicians doing different styles of music either touring or recording. In other words, they were well versed pros who had a ton of experience in their repertoires. For instance, former drummers for TWMDB were Steve Jordan and Charley Drayton who also schooled session musicians. Carr was a more straight ahead, driving drummer rock drummer who was pretty raw. I don't think Carr possessed the ability of the nuanced playing that a band like required. Fig was a studio pro, Carr was prototypical hard rock drummer.
Talk about going out with a bang, an excellent closing track. Nice driving riff to start things off, and the whole band is on FIRE here. Those acoustic touches give it a nice atmosphere. A good all out rocker to round things out. But... As ferocious as this track is, I can't say it's one of my favorites. It's mainly a few things that bug me about it. Peter's drumming during the hook, to me, feels kind of stiff and awkward, in a way that's hard to explain. It feels clunky compared to what he does on the verses. Ace's solo, while certainly fast, is not really a favorite of mine. It's really just my personal taste here, as it feels a little too... frantic, all-over-the-place, for my liking, almost as if it was made up on the spot while the tape was rolling. Again, technically good, just not my cup of tea. There are a few other things things that irk me about it: like the delay on Paul's vocals sounds weird at times (to me), and can't say I like the LOOOOOOOOVVVE!!! bit. It also has the issue of there being no new lyrics after the solo, but that's the whole album so I can't (and don't) complain. Though if it weren't for Peter's drum breakdown (which is pretty cool, and one of my favorite things about the song, the other being that smokin riff) I wouldn't listen much past the solo. Makin Love: a great KISS song, just not one of my favorites. (Don't kill me)
If the album existed like this it would be one of the best Kiss records of all time. All killer no filler.
Honestly, it's been so long I don't remember! I'm a big believer that what we hear from a musician is rarely all they are capable of. Which is to say that I'm sure Eric was a hell of a lot more talented and well rounded than is there on less than ten years of KISS albums. And obviously Eric wasn't an original member and the band was no longer writing and recording from a position of strength so he was being told what to play. What's presented to me on KISS records tells me Anton was more of a rock n' roll guy that would have steadied them and kept them from leaning too hard to go 'metal'.
That was part of my point to @GodShifter Carr played in a variety of bands with very different styles than the BOOM BOOM BOOM of KISS.
I loved the high of Crazy Nights. I wish he had kept "Hell to Hold You", "My Way", and "Turn on the Night" in standard tuning (like the demos) instead of dropping them down a half step Eric was great though
Eric and Anton were both excellent. The band was blessed to be able to replace a much loved original member with such good musicians. Going to extend this to Eric Singer too. They all had their different styles but they all suited the songs they were presented with.
Forgot if I posted this before or not but it's worth repeating...came up on shuffle on the iPod yesterday. The end is great and a real nod to KISS fans. S.U.N. covering I Stole Your Love Sass Jordan vocals Brian Tichy guitar Michael Devin bass Tommy Stewart drums
I wrote this a long time back but I was thinking of the "big three" as Lick It Up, Heaven's On Fire and Tears Are Falling. I wasn't including Crazy, Crazy Nights in that list, in part because it was less successful than the other three. And I generally like the Crazy Nights album.
It was a huge hit in the UK, surprisingly. Going by chart positions alone, the big three over here would be CCN (#4), God Gave Rock & Roll To You (#4) and Unholy (#26).
And here in the states they'd be: Beth (#7) Forever (#8) I Was Made For Loving You (#11) And their only #1 (on the Rock Chart): Psycho Circus
"Jungle" is an awesome grungy, jammy tune, but there's nothing in it that suggests "hit". For one, it's too long for radio. Even if there was a radio edit, I don't think the song screams hit ! It was, however, by far my favorite tune from CoS. So cool to re-read some of this thread as I was going back to find my review of "Forever". It's a bit of a shame the thread wasn't indexed as it would make it easier to find stuff in instead of just hoping you can hit on the right page; sort of like throwing a dart at a map of the US and hoping you get near Des Moines, Iowa. Lastly, I'm a bit sad that many of the links for the images and videos from this thread have been deleted or are no longer linkable. That's a bummer.
