3/4’s KISS Filler Week…Kiss/Hot In The Shade

Ha,I always liked this cover you know Leon Sphinx! But what was on the inside is kinda a mess of epic perportions! Like all the other albums that Kiss released I bought quick and well I think you can gather that by now right?!

And well oh well this is my last 3/4s Kiss Week Filler Blog  and some of you are probably going where’s The Elder? Too be honest I thought it would be here but nope it has its moments of Brilliance(did I just fuckin say that) with The Oath,Escape From The Island, Dark Light,I, some goofiness like Just A Boy…some dumb Simmons rock like Mr Blackwell but man I hated The Elder in 1981 but 2015 it’s a tolerable Kiss Record(did I just fuckin say that!)

You know by 1989 Kiss was in trouble and when they plucked Hot In The Shade out in 1989 this album  it took me only about a few spins to realize that there was a tons of filler on this album.

1989 when I think of big rock records three come to mind rightaway! Motley Crüe with Dr Feelgood,The Cult with Sonic Temple and Aerosmith with Pump! 3 classics for sure in the songs (especially Pump) and in production once these albums were spun on my cd player Hot In The Shade took a total backseat! The reason it’s simple ..the songs Yep,there’s a couple of pretty good tracks but man there’s a bunch o junk here I will explain!

Hot In The Shade when I first read about in Circus or maybe Hit Parader was that it was gonna be 15 songs! Holy crap that’s impressive sez I! So come Sept of 1989 here comes Aerosmith, Motley Crüe and Limping  towards the finish line Kiss!

Gene and Paul dropped the ball with lots of so so songs, a few good ones (which I will talk about)

GOD OF BLUNDER ….BAD ROCK N ROLL

RISE TO IT- this is a good song! A bluesy intro and boom drums guitar bass it’s all here and Rise To It is off an running! It kicks pretty good cool verses,good solo and Stanley delivers a great vocal!

BETRAYED- Shit man Simmons delivers the $$$ on this track! And lookie he co wrote this with Ace Frehley oops I mean Tommy Thayer the dude who now is Ace Frehley in Kiss but it’s not surprising as Thayer was in Black N Blue a band Simmons had produced but they lay down a great song here one of Simmons best songs since like Creatures! Good solo and Eric Carr drums this thing into mashville! Good stuff two songs in two winners….

HIDE YOUR HEART-so 1989 and both Kiss and Ace Frehley  release there own versions of Hide Your Heart and quite frankly I couldn’t care less! Well,I shouldn’t be too harsh on Frehleys version as I only heard it a few times as my younger bro Todd had a copy of it on cassette tape! This studio version of Hide Your Heart is ok i mean whatever it’s single time fellas and too be honest with Ya I prefer the live version video from the HITS that I posted. Check that one out especially at the 3 minute mark when Stanley uses a woman’s high heel shoe as a guitar pic! See it to believe it!

PRISONER OF LOVE,READ MY BODY- didn’t like these songs  in 89 not revisiting them in 015!

LOVE IS LIKE A SLAP IN THE FACE-Simmons cowrote this with Vini Ponica! You remember him right from Monday’s post he botched the sonics on Unmasked! Actually I don’t mind this song it’s later day Gene singing and plodding along on his bass and well it’s a mid tempo rocker better than the two previous tracks for sure.

FOREVER-this is power ballad 101 and this song basically saved Kiss’ Ass as the record was tanking down the charts  and viola Stanley croons FOREVER  and Michael Bolton who co wrote this cashes his royalty cheque from Forever at the bank! So even if you never heard this record you have heard this song! No! I’m not showing  the vid! But I will say myself ,Tbone,Darr and Rugg have laughed and made many remarks about Simmons and his music stand in the  Forever video!

SILVER SPOON-Paul takes the vocal reigns on this one and it’s another no fascinating straight ahead rocker. Not even really worth talking about!

CADILLAC DREAMS,KING OF HEARTS- Nope and Nope!

THE STREET GIVETH AND THE STREET TAKETH AWAY-Kulick begins this track with some cool acoustic and bam into the full rock meal deal with drums,bass and electric guitar. This is one of the back end of the albums better tracks! Simmons kinda of and I say that loosely kinda pulls this one out of the fire! Check out the vid…..

YOU LOVE ME TO HATE YOU- alright than, I dunno 1989 and  I was just tired of all these big ass power ballads being everywhere and in saying that this song was no where to be found….skip……..

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL- Nope don’t care……

LITTLE CAESER- ok so after 9 years of being a good employee Gene and Paul let Eric Carr(RIP) take the lead vocals on this track. It’s too bad the song is kinda lacklustre. Nothing to really write about…..but man why did not Kiss tap into Carrs vocals more oh yeah I know Gene and Paul that’s why!

BOOMERANG- that’s what i want to do with this record but if it’s a Boomerang that means it would come back to me…um no thanks!

IN CONCLUSION-The hype for this record was sold to me on 15 tracks that Kiss was putting out and I bought the hype of course! But pretty soon after purchase I just could not wrap my noggin around this record and it quickly faded away from my sonic senses!

I think Kiss even new this as when they went out to plug this record on tour they played like 3 tracks off of it and they played mostly 70s stuff as that was what the fans wanted. The live stage was awesome and it would have been the tour to see!

My bro Todd was out in British Columbia with the family in August of 1990( I was working and did not go) and he got to see this show with Winger opening! My bro loved Kiss and man he called me a day later saying that he bought me a Kiss shirt and it had a bunch of dates on it and Thunder Bay was one of them! I was like “You fuckin kidding me?” Yep,it was there (wish I still had the T shirt)

As soon as I got off the the phone with my brother I called the Fort William Gardens(local barn/arena) to see what was going on. The lady told me they had Kiss pencilled in for Oct 7th 1990!

What a score this was gonna be for me and Tbone as we had tickets to see ZZ Top in Winnipeg on Oct 6 1990! I called the Winnipeg Arena and they too said they had Kiss pencilled in for Oct 5 1990!

BAM! So here’s the plan! Me and Tbone would go to Winnipeg a day earlier see Kiss on the Saturday night! Catch ZZ in Winnipeg Sunday night and than high tail it back to Tbay on Monday and catch Kiss on Monday night! Done Fuckin Deal!

Paul Stanley broke some ribs and a bunch of dates including The Peg and Tbay were scrubbed! Bummer man…..ZZ though was awesome!

Kiss though I think they know they released some scrap but come 1992 when they knocked out Revenge it restored my faith…man that’s a great friggin album!

Thanks for reading my Kiss Filler Week and if you dig these three records more power to Ya and I hope we can still be cool with each other! That includes you Gene And Paul! Hahahaha…..

NEXT……check out a don’t expect the expected Sonic Waves Kiss review tomorrow….

 

3/4’s KISS Filler Week…Kiss/Asylum

Well some of yous by now may be thinking ‘hey Ol DeKEs is ripping on Kiss especially after the Unmasked debacle pretty hard!” Well yes kinda but if you cruise around the site here I have reviewed some Kiss albums….for instance..

Ace Frehleys 78 solo album I absolutley love read it here…https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/sonic-waves-ace-frehleyace-frehley-2/

Kiss Creatures Of The Night which is one of there best albums

Kiss Lick It Up I  like it better now (2015)than its actual release in 1983

Kiss Animalize which is pretty good not as good as Lick It Up but did someone kick Starchild in the nutsack Cuz he’s singing hiiiiiiiigh!

See I like EM and I haven’t even really delved into there 70s output yet so ….

1985 and Kiss Is trying to find its place in the MTV world. There kinda lost they especially  Simmons who looks like a drag Queen with the look so there Ya go. 10 years earlier in 1975 Kiss were trendsetters setting the bar in all things rock with the look,sound,covers,gimmicks and marketing and here they are in 1985 following trends,a glam look,no real gimmick anymore as the greasepaint was dropped 2 years earlier(1983) and everyone and there dog was doing marketing 101 in the rock T shirt business!

Paul Stanley,Gene Simmons,new guy on guitar Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr (RIP)put on some lipstick and Uh All Night!

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN -Eric Carr man he slams the drums with some double bass drumming cymbals smashing and now here comes Kulick,Stanley and Simmons and Paul like he always does takes the lead vocal! This is actually a pretty impressive Kiss opening track. Kiss is saying hey were the old geezers here in good OL 1985 but man we can still kick it! Good start! Crank the video posted !

ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT- Gene begins and goes into his big dumbo Arena Rock. Kulick starts off with a big riff of rock! And it it’s just a straight ahead no frills Rock! I will say this the prechorus is real good but kinda everything else about this track sags but Carr and Kulick step up!

WHO WANTS TO BE LONELY- Yep a single no doubt! Paulie Stanley writes a sign of the times single that in 1985 was a little too obvious for me! I mean the chorus is cheese mo and so is this song I mean while we’re at it. What a goofy album cover. There four mugs glammy makeup 101. Just a year later (1986)Poison puts there four mugs on the cover of there debut album(Look What The Cat Dragged In) and it sold millions…..Kiss was probably pissed! Ha!

TRIAL BY FIRE-Simmons takes the lead vocal on this it’s ok nothing to write home about just glam o glam circa 85 cheese schlock. I mean a part of this track sounds like the rhythm track from Lick It Up for a few bars! Just like Any Way You Slice It the prechorus is real good but everything sags!

I’M ALIVE-Stanley’s Alive ! Woo hoo. Carr punches down some cool drumming and this is another so so song. It’s funny but Kiss is clearly running out of gas! This is like the poor mans version of Under The Gun from Animalize. Carr though keeps the shit together on this song!

LOVES A DEADLY WEAPON- holy hell Kiss punch the gas and come out of the gates a ripping man Eric Carr drives the bus on this one he’s playing like a mad man on the drums smashing them double bass drums. Kulick does all the fancy snazzy whack off dive bombs on his guitar and Gene and his vocals sound mean. It’s like someone woke up the Demon! This song rocks hard and fast and I have no probs saying that! This is a great song! Crank the video!

TEARS ARE FALLING- whoa back 2 back winners …the guitars in this track sound heavy devy and that’s Allright with us shit come to think of it I think this was the last purchase of Kiss product by Tbone  Til 1993 when he bought Kiss Alive 3 on our rock jaunt to Winnipeg to see Beatle Paul in concert that year. Anyhoo Tears is a good song no make that a great track catchy Oh Oh Tears Are Falling and Kulick rocking the geetar and big backing chorus! Great song man……well done Mr Stanley!

SECRETLY CRUEL-the beginning milli second riff reminds me of Mr Speed from Rock Roll Over. This is Simmons feel good song about how women lust over Mr Rockstar! I will give credit though Carr slams down some cowbell during the chorus. This lyrics are Genie Goofy!

RADAR FOR LOVE-Paul takes the reins on this track and man just push skip! It’s just goofy Ummm yeah filler….I’m saying no more!

UH ALL NIGHT-ummm this has to gone down for me as one of THE big dumbo rock anthems of the 80s. Frigg man I thought this song was el dumbo back than as a 18 year old and now ridicoulously dumbo rock as a 47 year old! Having said that the lyrics are what make this song fruity and well the dumb ass video to go with it didn’t help the cause! Now having said that the music is actually good but man oh man. Paul and Kiss cohorts and I shouldn’t even throw Kulick and Carr under the Kiss Cheese Bus as they were salaried employees but yeah heres Gene And Paul morphing Into the Skipper and Gilligan and them crashing the S.S Kiss Destroyer ashore and stranding all us fans on the island!

IN CONCLUSION-who knows what’s going on here with these guys. It makes sense that Tbone would abort ship after this release so to speak so I can’t blame him as I carried on buying Kiss album after Kiss album. This album had some good songs maybe 4 or so but man Eric Carrs drumming is superb on here and just like Creatures Of The Night 3 years earlier Carr steps up with the drums! This was kinda Kulicks first album and I have no quirks with his playing but like i said earlier these guys were salaried dudes so I guess dressing glam and wearing bright green and yellow gloves isn’t all that bad when the next job would be “would you like fries with that sir ?” If they don’t obey Master Simmons and Mr Stanley!

 

3/4’s KISS Filler Week….KISS/Unmasked

It’s time for the first ever  3/4’s KISS Filler Week here at Arena Rock and well hopefully I don’t get sued by $tanley and $immon$ and if I do I will tell the lawyers that Mikey Ladano made me do it! Hahahaha….no he didn’t this is all me….

Why Kiss? Umm why not sez I! I have been buying Kiss albums since 1978 and man I purchased 3 kinda snoozy duds so after all these years I’m gonna spout off and tell Ya why….

Also Kiss has  something like 450 albums(ha) so to throw 3 under the bus that ain’t too shabby…oh wait out of those 450 albums 420 of em are Greatest Hits comps!(don’t get me started!)

One last thing,don’t expect the expected in my 3/4’s Filler Week here at Kiss HQ!

1980 and oh man I had just seen Kiss live for the first time in 1979 read my very first written blog here about it.https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/1979-the-return-of-kiss-2/

So I’m still in fantasy Kissville in 1980 and Kiss unleash Unmasked except for me being a total delusional 13-year-old at the time of Unmasked’s release Kiss and more importantly their success was starting to wane people were tired of them(except me) people were buying other albums instead of Kiss(except me) my pal John Young had moved on to Led Zep(except me) get the picture!

So Gene,Paul,Ace and Petey fool me and call the album Unmasked it has a goofy album cover so when I bought it I thought ‘hey there’s probably a picture of them inside without the  make up!”  Nope I officially pronounce myself  a sucker!

Hey Gene and Paul you fooled my ass back than….not now!

Even though Petey Criss is pictured on the cartoonish goofy cover its Anton Fig that smacks the skins….everyone also involved with Kiss knows this(except me!)

IS THAT YOU-Wowzers did Stanley chirp the word Bitch??! Actually this is a good opener(not written by Kiss but by some dude named Gerald McMahon?) The production though is sterile sounding(thanks Vini Ponica). Kiss for some reason always had weak sonics on their studio 70s output(except Destroyer) why I have no idea as they were rolling in the cash but having said that the verses are good the pre  chorus Paul gets into that falsetto bullshit but saves the day with the chorus! Check out the live video posted of new boy on the drums Eric Carr slamming the song forward! Kudos to Kiss for doing a song about a female serial killer who will stick you with her knife! Too bad the album skids into track two which is……

SHANDI- umm dunno I mean this is too obvious! Back than I skipped this track nowadays when I listened to this song to jog my memory on this track I giggled! Stanley waters down this track with some pure sap! Actually this tune would have found a home on a Poison album Hahahaha…..Bandanna Micheals and Shandi a marriage made in hell! With a cat dragged in!

TALK TO ME- you know Space Ace always showed up with good tracks and especially since he recorded  one of the best Kiss albums ever Ace gives me hope boom he starts off the tune with his sound and his riff and its a good track. Thanks Ace for not losing your rock balls while Stanley’s Rock balls were hitting the town with SHANDI!

NAKED CITY- umm no…..all I gotta say is Simmons is losing steam here. Gene I’m sure was dreaming up of hiring Chris Makepeace(Meatballs) to star in The Elder movie! Ha…..focus on the rock Genie! I mean yeah this song is just a mid tempo leftover like tune from say Rock N Roll Over …no substance but the chorus is actually good,the rest of the song  …it’s just there…

WHAT MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND- Paul is panicking he’s trying to write hits and its kinda missing, this one is close though I mean after the Gene serves me the sonic puke Sandwhich in Naked City at least Paul tries to recover it with this song but It comes up short not bad not good,it’s just there! The chorus though is not too bad! Thats about it…bad,good,bad,good,Blah….

TOMORROW-power pop rocker track! Stanley at the time should have sold this tune to Rick Springfield! Paul is trying to save this from the scrap heap! Tomorrow is once again ok! Nothing earth shattering just same ol same ol in Kiss land. Single you want single whadda mean no one wants single! That’s Tomorrow. Stanley and company must have wanted to pack it in when ACDC dropped Back In Black in 1980 as well! Everyone was aborting the S.S Kiss Cruise (except me ) HEY how come no one tossed me a life-preserver?

TWO SIDES OF THE COIN-Space Ace delivers another keeper and man looking back they should have let him write the Unmasked  album! Of course the Demon and Starchild would have canned that idea!Good song and this could have easily slid on nicely on side 2 of his fantastic solo release from 1978!

SHES SO EUROPEAN- Simmons comes up with a simple straight ahead rocker that’s so so. Who knows If these tracks would have had some better production behind them perhaps they would have soared sonically. But nope Vini Ponica you can thank for this sonic sterile tank job!

EASY AS IT SEEMS-Gene and Peter or umm Anton start off this tune and its Kiss trying to be groovey! Does it work Nope…..is that really Simmons on the bass here?

TORPEDEO GIRL-this song has the best Opening on this record! Man 35 years later and i still laugh! That fuckin Ace man what a card! The song though is late 70s cheese schlock kinda surprising that this tune was written by Ace but you know what between 1978 -1980 the songs that he contributed solo wise and Kiss wise he can be forgiven! Crank the vid folks! Ha ….

YOUR ALL THAT I WANT-Simmons bids adieu with another mid tempo rocker. Nothing really good here to report! Just the same Ol same OL Kiss …..

IN CONCLUSION- Unmasked has not one but two significant things that come back to me all these years later

1-this was the first Kiss album to me to feature a real dumbo like cartoon page for a cover! Me being 13 at the time and I even knew that they were coming off the rails songwise not that I understood that back than but I just liked Dynasty more back in 1980 but Queen,Cheap Trick and AC/DC were kicking my senses pretty good.

2- Unmasked also presents itself as the first album I ever sold in my life at 14! Tbone had just  gotten a record player but all he had wa as couple of snoozed K-Tel compilations records! I needed some cash for a magazine so I sold Unmasked for like $3 or close to it! Hahaha….Tbone was staunch with his  cash back than I really had to sell verbally Unmasked to him ….I almost drove myself crazy! He relented probably felt sorry for me and flipped me the $3! Two months later I rebought Unmasked back from Tbone! Shit man Tbone was running a Pawn Shop before the word even existed!