KISS: LIVE AT THE RITZ (1988)

Another fabulous Father’s Day Score from the Family from Aux33 Records in Montreal!

“Live At The Ritz” has to be one of the most bootlegged live shows of KISS or it has to be close as its a radio broadcast from the summer of 1988 just as KISS was about to embark on their European Tour.

Being that this is a radio broadcast and its already 34 years old (yikes!) it sounds good as this show is out on many different formats as well as many different covers.

This version is no different as its a limited pressing of 500 copies in which I have number 387 and on orange vinyl to boot!

So for any KISS fan out there you know that this cover is all wrong! That is the cover of the KISS “Monster” album from 2012!

Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are pictured on the front cover as well. We all know that Tommy back in 1988 was in “Black N Blue” and Eric Singer was drumming for Gary Moore and others as they were no where near being in KISS at the time. Mind you Simmons produced the “Nasty Nasty” album by Black N Blue around this time so there is a bit of a connection!

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had ditched the makeup eight years earlier in 1980 and on board with KISS at this point time was Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr(RIP).

I’m thinking maybe they slapped the makeup cover on as a selling feature or maybe the people putting this together had no clue.

Then again the credits listed on the back cover featuring the two lineups are correct, so who knows. Imagine if they had gotten those wrong?

Either way it’s a great show to have on vinyl as for some this is “KISS ALIVE 3” and fair enough as I’m onboard with that theory.

I have reviewed this already a few years back when Mikey Ladano sent me the tracks so an actual breakdown of this album you can find elsewhere around here.

I will add its a nice looking set with it being a triple gatefold and all three records being orange as well.

Record Three- Side B is the selling feature as its a great audio recording of KISS being young and going for it before Alive broke them big in the year 1975 and changed them forever!

Pretty cool little 5 pack of KISS tracks featuring original KISS homeboys Peter Criss and Ace Frehley in the mix as well. How about that live version of “Let Me Know.”!?

That pic above is the inside layout with the correct version of the classic lineup of Simmons/Stanley/Carr/Kulick.

The pic below is the 70’s classic lineup of Frehley/Criss/Simmons/Stanley. 

I’m really glad to have this added to my collection and finally getting a live version of “Bang, Bang You” on vinyl! (insert laughter here)

All kidding aside this is the warts n all recording of KISS at the back end of the 80s and its a great representation of that era of the band.

KISS: OFF THE SOUNDBOARD:TOKYO 2001

I have to say that as a fan, Mean Gene and Starchild can frustrate me at times with all the silliness that they try and sell us diehards.

KISS though has done the right thing and have issued what hopefully will become a series of shows recorded directly off the soundboard that are now available to us domestically instead of buying bootlegs at inflated prices.

KISS Tokyo 2001 is just that. A killer live show. 21 songs the full meal deal and if you’re wondering, Paul Stanley’s voice is spot on throughout the show.

Now you could say do we need another KISS live album? Yup I say as if its going to be done in a bootleg style and features the full show than I’m onboard.

The real charm for me is four things..

1- This album features the short lived lineup of Stanley-Simmons- Frehley and Singer.

2- No “Beth”

3- Some rarely played songs like Ace’s “Talk To Me” and the Stanley’s solo version of “I Still Love You” are a couple of tracks you wouldn’t expect to hear.

4- Ace playing guitar on songs like “Heaven’s On Fire”, “I Love It Loud” and “Lick It Up” that the Spaceman was not originally on!

I could go on and talk about all the other tracks but thats why you have guys like Ladano and Snowman around. I let those boy’s do the heavy lifting and I take the easy way out!

Sure you get all the hits as well as you can see below by the track listing but it’s those little things that I mentioned above that make this soundboard recording one excellent spin.

I really hope at some point that KISS release other soundboard shows as I think Eric Carr should get his due with an official KISS live release.

The First Eight Albums That I Ever Purchased…..

 

 

A few days ago  blogging Pal Joe ( MR 1537)  and moi had a discussion  and we were talking about Queen albums and Joe mentioned that his first 6 albums that he ever purchased with his own money were Queen albums.

I thought that was awesome and Joe as well named off his Top 10 Queen albums which was wicked as well! ( I would have bumped up The Game a few spots myself on the  Top Queen album list but Joe’s List. Joe’s Rules)

Still Though it was a great conversation and it’s always fun to read and see  what other people have picked out when it comes to music!

Now this timeline I just kept from early 1979 to the end of 1979 (the year I began buying albums) So here it goes.

Feel free to comment about your First ever purchased album whether its 1 album or 100 albums..it doesn’t matter let’s have some fun folks!

The only album I can recall in order of my first ever purchased album  was from no surprise here folks…..

That’s right KISS has the distinction of being my first ever album purchase and that wasn’t even  in Canada but in the U.S.A. That honour would go to Mikey Ladano’s fav U.S City that being Duluth Minnesota! As some of you readers know growing  up my pal John Young first discovered KISS as he had The Originals. I was blown away I had to get KISS.I needed KISS and once in Duluth at Miller Hill Mall I spent my allowance on KISS ALIVE 2. Talk about impacting a 11 going  on 12-year-old at the time!

KISS delivered  a Double Album, Three Sides Live! Fourth Side Studio! Double Gatefold Sleeve! Booklet! Tattoos! Super Loud Crowd! Gene Simmons on the cover looking like some Kabuki Satanic Warrior with that blood like crap spewing from his bottom lip! I was sold and enlisted in the KISS Army!

The rest of these albums are not in any order of my purchase but they are what I owned in 1979!

New England and that would be no doubt reading in some Rock Mag in 1979 that Paul Stanley produced this band from Boston called New England. New England never achieved super stardom but in my own little world they kicked me in the ASS as these four Fella’s played with a huge style of their own! Loud Guitars/Cranked up Hammond/Great Lead and Backing Vocals all wrapped up in a tight little 40 minute  package…

While reading away feverishly in whatever Rock Magazine I could get a fix on I came across an article on a band from Rockford Illinois called Cheap Trick who were getting a ton of play and sales on a live album called Live at the Budokan. Course in the magazine there is a KISS connection and that would be that Cheap Trick opened a ton of shows for KISS. That was enough for me. Sold …. and amongst all these shrieking Japanese girls hollering for Drummer Bun E Carlos the Tricksters still packed a wallop but with finesse .Easy loveable catchy like songs delivered with a great rhythm yet sloppy lead guitarist named Rick Nielsen who was the main writer as well who had a lead singer named Robin Zander who could sing the headlines on the front page of your newspaper and make it sound cool! Rounding out the quartet is  Bassist Tom Petersson who looked cool. Played it cool and blew my mind at that young age that he only played 8 & 12 String Basses!!! Must also mention like KISS, Cheap Trick taught me about Gimmicks. Trick had their own  Gimmick with Two Cool Looking Guys and Two Dorks. They made it work!

KISS in 1979 was huge in my world. Even though looking back People were tiring of them and they were tiring of themselves! I had no idea so when KISS delivered their new studio album Dynasty I was all over it, Kiss could do no harm in my world! They still looked bad ass. No one knew what they looked like. The Lead Guitarist Ace Frehley realized he had a ton of talent and that  Gene and Paul were holding him back musically while Peter Criss from his disaster of a solo album was partying it up in 1979  like it was 1999 and only drummed on one track on Dynasty(Dirty Livin) Kiss was in shambles yet when they released this album it still delivered a hit between my eyes!

As you have read here a few times before KISS was my first ever Live Show in Duluth back in October of 1979. Support act was Judas Priest except they no showed! Still it didn’t matter as shortly after the KISS show I sauntered into our local Sam The Record Man and the there it was in the New Release Racks! Unleashed in the East! When I dropped my needle on the grooves of this album it blew my mind! I had never heard dudes do twin lead guitar solos before. Glenn Tipton/KK Downing just soar out of the gates at the beginning of Exciter and their riffage together and apart is so unbelievably tight! I never heard guitars played with such furiousity! Course you have a Lead Singer named Rob Halford who sings in all kinds of crazy octaves throughout and the pace is tighter than the running of the bulls and that’s thanks to Drummer Les Binks who plays the drums right on this (ahem) live release unlike later live Priest albums where Scott Travis overplay’s everything but still man….

So after KISS ALIVE 2 in the summer of 1979  out on a family trip somewhere in Southern Ontario I purchased KISS Double Platinum which is my first dabble with a Greatest Hits set! Since I didn’t own any other KISS than Alive 2 this was a no brainer plus KISS had all there classic tracks up till 1978 on it. 21 tracks in all. Actually the running order of the album featured some good stuff which a lot of it I had never heard before which was basically the material from the first three KISS studio records. Still have no idea what the deal was behind Strutter 78 but whatever KISS had to sell product so the Army would buy. Come to think of maybe Stanley should do a Strutter 18???! Speaking of which I looked at the tracks on Double Platinum and you know what? Out of the 1,776 different KISS Greatest Hits that are available to buy. I will go on record as saying that this is the best one….

The success of Cheap Tricks Budokan album got me all hyped for the new CT record and that would be the fantastic Dream Police album that proved to me that the Tricksters could deliver a studio album on par with a classic live album as a followup! Course Trick in the mid 80’s  for a period skidded right off the tracks but let’s not go there shall we??! Dream Police was chalked full of  lyrical quirkiness and a real slick sounding Hard Rock sound. Dream Police also used strings on a few tracks and it worked and it did not make me gag! Back in 79 the Dream Police were stuck inside my head!

And what would fall under the WHAT THE F**K WAS I THINKING  category would be the Gene Simmons 1978 solo album! Gene I guess you could say was my early go to guy in KISS. He looked ugly. Spat Fire. Spewed Blood. Wrote cool tunes like Ladies Room/Calling Dr Love/Christine 16 so when I had a chance to buy another KISS album I bought this when I could have bought another KISS studio album! Yeah bizarre huh? Egocentric was this album. 500 Guest musicians and a ton of name drops on the back of the album cover. Some cool rock tracks like Radioactive/See you in your Dreams some sap,like the cover of Wish You Upon A Star. Some bizarre stuff like Living in Sin in which during the song you hear a phone ring as  Cher works on giving The Demon a phoner boner. Some Horndog filler in Tunnel of Love.  Some would call this diversity.  Looking back on it. Mean Gene recorded an album of chaos that would come to my mind now.

Thanks for reading as I thought this was going to be a short snap shot of my early music dabbling so I appreciate it if you made it through my ramble!

 

 

Peter Criss: Tossed And Turning!

 

Special Saturday Post! 

Check out my Pal Mikey and his Good Friend Uncle Meat’s spin on the KISS’s Unmasked  album for a Triple Header Post Today! More value bang for the Buck around these parts!

Click the Link Below Friends…

http://wp.me/p2hc2t-eHK

If you have been reading my Yammering for months now! Thanks I appreciate it. You would probably know or if you don’t recall my earliest favourite bands were AC/DC/Aerosmith/Cheap Trick/New England/Queen/Van Halen & KISS.

Kiss were the first band that I had started listening to back in 1977 and my first ever live show two years later in October 1979 on their Dynasty Tour which touched down in Duluth. You can read my first ever blog posted here at Arena Rock back in August 2014 here….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/1979-the-return-of-kiss-2/

Seven months later (May 1980) Peter Criss gets the boot out of Kiss! Wowzers! Whut? This doesn’t happen to bands or does it? My 12-year-old noggin(1980) at the time couldn’t fathom it!

Sure Aerosmith had changed members but around 1980 they were caput kinda until 1982 when they released the criminally underrated Rock In A Hard Place.

By The time AC/DC came to me it was Back In Black! Sure there was a member change as Bon Scott died and Brian Johnson replaced him so that doesn’t count.

Cheap Trick,VH and Queen all had the four original guys that started the band so how does Paul Stanley,Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons do this?

Did Peter use all the Maybelline and the other guys in Kiss got pissy pants? Who knows! Dudes in bands don’t get divorced well not until now(1980) Silly young DeKEs!

I posted that clip at the top it’s interesting to hear $immon$ comments in regards to Criss quitting.  Simmons says Peter doesn’t want to tour anymore whereas Criss says the exact opposite that he will tour and he will be the Quarterback of the band  calling the shots! Did Peter even tour in the  early 80’s? Don’t be thinking so.

Who knows the truth? Like Nuno & Gary  from Extreme  said 11 years later in 1992.  There’s  Three Sides To Every Story.

1-Yours- which in this case is Gene & Paul

2-Mine- which would be Peter Criss

and #3 which is the …..

Truth– is there such a thing when a longtime member splits?Ha…none, all the way from Blackmore splitting from Deep Purple a couple of times to Sam Hagar being fired or quitting depending  on whose spin your believing. Tons of Drama with a lot of my favourite bands. You know the culprits! One of the funniest ones was the whole Motley Crue debacle of 92. I won’t elaborate as this is a KISS post but man I think I gotta post something about it in length….

Having said that….

 

When it comes to leaving a band it basically fizzles out the ex members career who splits while the band he quit from  continues and moves forward.

In Criss’ deal he splits Kiss when their career is in nosedive mode in North America but Pete soldiers on releases a solo album titled Out Of Control and it was like if Peter was playing his tune’s on the deck of the Titanic when it went  down in the Atlantic Ocean! No one cared even super Kiss Fanboys like myself and buddy Muc! We all passed on it.

Look Mikey! CD Japan!

Kiss hired Eric Carr(RIP) and after the dismal showing of 1981’s The Elder Kiss had a smidge bit of a bounce back with(the fantastic) Creatures Of The Night (1982)even Kiss knew they had to do something so off comes the war paint and viola a resurgence in sales and MTV video spins….

Peter Criss’ solo career went straight into the bars  and it wasn’t until Gene and Paul wanted to make quick cash decided to give Pete and Ace(Ace is another story for another time) another go round in 1996….

 

 

 

 

KISS/Animalize Live(Official Radio Broadcast) 1984

A Huge Round Of Applause For My Good Pal HMO Who  Came Through And Sent Me An Copy Of This Kiss Radio Broadcast from Dec 8th 1984! Today this post hits on well Dec 8th 2016!

KISS 1984 was on the  upswing after the Successful Non Makeup Bounce Back of Mr HMO’S fav Kiss record Lick It Up.  Gene and Paul after the 1983 into early 1984 Lick It Up Tour kicked Guitarist Vinnie Vincent to the curb and began auditioning guitarists and Mark St John (RIP) got the Golden Ticket and became the New Guitarist in Kiss and played some decent riffs on the Animalize album most notably on Thrills In The Night where St John tapped into all things 80s Metal Shredder Style and plays a wicked slick guitar solo….

Anyhoo St Johns arm went numb and he couldn’t play and Gene And Paul hired Bruce Kulick who along with Eric Carr went on the road to promote Animalize and with MTV ruling the airwaves a concert was recorded and edited (Ha) for broadcast which was also released on VHS.

I had a copy of this on VHS and its 80’s KISS! All gloss/ Stanley a mess in the wardrobe department and Gene with that Crazed Road Warrior like look with a Wig?? HMO! Can you confirm Gene’s use of the Wig here? He had his hair trimmed short for that acting role in Tom Sellecks Shatty Movie Runaway. 

Ramseeeeeeeeey! (Ged It?)

So Here’s Those Fun Loving Ding Dong’s KISS and me at the time (1984)taking my hard-earned allowance and making yet another Cash Donation to the Kiss Fund and just loving it back than and even now as it was great to hear this album in full!

90 Minutes of Unedited KISS and Hilarious Stanley Crowd Banter…Frigg Yeah ….

Let’s Do This!

The Tracks…..

1. “Detroit Rock City” Paul Stanley, Bob Ezrin
2. “Cold Gin” Ace Frehley
3. “Creatures of the Night” Stanley, Adam Mitchell
4. “Fits Like a Glove” Gene Simmons
5. “Heaven’s on Fire” Stanley, Desmond Child
6. “Thrills in the Night” Stanley, Jean Beauvoir
7. “Paul Stanley’s guitar solo”
8. “Under the Gun” Stanley, Eric Carr, Child
9. “War Machine” Simmons, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance
10. “Eric Carr’s drum solo”
11. “Young and Wasted” Simmons, Vinnie Vincent
12. “Gene Simmons’ bass solo”
13. “I Love It Loud” Simmons, Vincent
14. “I Still Love You” Stanley, Vincent
15. “Love Gun” Stanley
16. “Lick It Up” Stanley, Vincent
17. “Black Diamond” Stanley
18. “Rock and Roll All Nite” Stanley, Simmons

Basically this Set List is KISS pushing 80s Product and I basically Licked It Up! Sorry Folks that was gross….

Track 7 is kinda disturbing as Paul Stanley plays a solo!??  No Ace Frehley…..No Vinnie Vincent and Paul is not going to let New Dude Bruce Kulick solo  so whats a Starchild do? He solo’s……His band his deal but Gah…. Great Rhythm Player but not a solo thingy….

Speaking of Paul someone posted all of his stage banter from this show into one 8 minute Video clip that’s on YouTube! This is pure 80s Arena C**K Rawk GOLD! It does not get any better than  this. Think about it for a second as Stanley uses up 8 Minutes of Kiss’s 90 Performing minutes to banter and toss down another 5 minutes with the guitar solo…hahaha…

Here ya go Folks….Starchild in the 80s…..

HA! It does not get any better than 80’s Stanley Raps……

The band itself when Paul isn’t doing his Stand Up Comedy Routine between tracks play these songs at Hyper Speed. The Tempos are all sped up which is very noticeable now and not so much back than as  I was just buying into what KISS was selling and KISS themselves were  trying to keep up to all the bands at the time that were coming at them and passing them in Record and Ticket Sales.

Watch Below as Demon and Paulie want you to dig em..84 Style!

Isn’t the Thrills In The Night live vid classic!? Hardly any camera time for new Guy Bruce and during the solo they show Paul in slow motion jumping from the ramps instead! Haha….I will give Paul a few bonus points for his Killer Sideburns…Those Burns Are Bad ASS! Love Gene’s somewhat aloofness. Gene looks stunned to me. Must have gotten notice before this performance that the Runaway Movie tanked quicker than Kiss’ Elder album….

So for KISS it was like “We will show these Bands how it’s done!” Perhaps at the time it was the way to go as KISS was a new band themselves so to speak. Getting new members and ditching the war paint.

I really dug this Live Flashback as it brings me back right to my youth  and by than KISS themselves were fast tracking to the age of 40….

If you’re a KISS fan and come across this show in any way/shape or form. Pick It Up as it’s a good Flashback from a Genre that we can discuss forever!

Geez theres a part of me that wants this era of Kiss  to come back. I think I have officially lost my  mind!

THANKS HMO…..!

Kiss/Rock N Roll Over(1976)

Since It’s Halloween Today …Ummmm  How About Another KISS Review….???

Gonna try to keep this one short but when it comes to my fav KISS studio albums my TOP 3 would look like this..

1-Alive…..2-Rock N Roll Over….3-Creatures Of The Night..

Yeah I know Kiss Alive is a Live album(cough/cough) but we all know the deal as it was tweaked merciless in the studio but on any day of the week if we’re actually talking about studio albums I could flip between Number 2 and 3 all the time….

Starchild/Demon/Space Ace & Petey The Cat belt out some decent Kiss N Roll…. 

The Song’s…

1. “I Want You” Paul Stanley  3:04
2. “Take Me” Stanley, Sean Delaney  2:56
3. “Calling Dr. Love” Gene Simmons  3:44
4. “Ladies Room” Simmons  3:27
5. “Baby Driver” Peter Criss, Stan Penridge  3:40
6. “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” Simmons  3:47
7. “Mr. Speed” Stanley, Delaney  3:18
8. “See You in Your Dreams” Simmons  2:34
9. “Hard Luck Woman” Stanley  3:34
10. “Makin’ Love” Stanley, Delaney  3:14
Total length:
33:18

Ah Man… I miss those under 34 minute albums and Rock N Roll Over delivers as Kiss teams up with producer Eddie Kramer and everyone roll’s up there sleeves and get down to it…

Stanley shows up with 5 tracks the best being Mr Speed that has a real cool like opening Riff and even though it’s a rock track it’s got a different vibe than say Take Me which is your typical Stanley straight ahead Goofy lyric rock track but on those day’s when its Goofy Time Take Me fill’s a void as it’s a Crash Course  in C#*K Rock.

$immon$ throws his 4 cents in with 4 pretty good rock tracks and he’s no ballad Guy well maybe the lyrics to Dr Love are about as close to a ballad as you could find but nice use of the cowbell on this track and Gene’s other tracks Ladies Room/Love Em Leave Em/See You In Your Dreams are just your simple straight ahead Chick Tracks! Not Rocket Science here Folk’s but catchy never the less!

The most interesting  track here has to be Hard Luck Woman written by Stanley but sung by Peter Criss who sounds like Rod Stewart and this is a well crafted rock track with nice acoustic playing with Criss’ drums propelling the Kiss Ship forward.

Speaking of Criss. He even gets his own tune here.  Baby Driver which is an ok track but still to elbow something on here with the Gene and Paul show calling the shot’s is saying something unlike Ace Frehley who did not contribute anything song wise but still plays some real good lead guitar on Rock N Roll Over….

 

 

What You Think Is Cool Is Not To Others

 

So being that today is October 6 2016 it serves an important date in my life as October 6 1979 was my first ever live  concert and that was KISS/John Cougar( Judas Priest were a no show! Gah!) at the Duluth Arena, 37 years ago=Yikes! Here’s some footage from the Dynasty Tour that I saw as a young Whipper Snapper! Cool to watch this now after so much time as KISS is unravelling at this point! Peter Criss plays Black Diamond at super speed while  hollering the lead vocals while Ace is completely Blitzed! Give Em Credit Folk’s at least Ace and Petey emphasized Rock N Roll.

My folks were real cool. Got my 11-year-old ass down to Duluth and friends of my parents eldest son and his girlfriend took a young geeked out Deke’s to the show and basically ruined me forever! Ha!

Actually I reviewed this show as my first ever post from Aug/14. Check it out …..https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/1979-the-return-of-kiss-2/

So Kiss was on the decline in 79(great album title wouldn’t it be? Decline In 79? Better yet a better name for my blog!) I didn’t know Kiss was hitting the skids. I was too young to notice. Kiss wanted it that way! I bought 1980s Unmasked ( sold it to my pal Tbone than shortly after required it back) 1981’s The Elder I bought it along with my pal Muc. I made it known publicly I had bought The Elder whereas Muc kept a lid on it….haha…

So once I entered Highschool (Grade 9/Sept 1981) Kiss was finished in the minds of many. Fair enough but being 13 just about to turn 14 I didn’t care so once day I wore my Kiss Dynasty Tour Shirt to school and I received t a tongue lashing and smart ass remarks about Kiss not being cool! What was I to do?

Like a smart 13-year-old I kept my Trap(mouth) shut! It did not matter as the Grade 11’s looked huge so I wasn’t gonna mess with em! One of them even doused me with their Mothers Perfume for a real beautiful like stench that lasted the whole afternoon at school! Ha!

Basically the Dynasty shirt got put away and it didn’t stop me from listening to Kiss but it did stop me from wearing my Dynasty shirt to school.

1982’s Creatures Of The Night was a step in the right direction but Kiss was still hurting as there Duluth show was cancelled due to lack of tickets being sold. Kiss though soldiered on and it’s funny as once the Makeup came off and Kiss released 1983’s Lick It Up many were back on board!

So much so that a fella named Jeff Law seen the Lick It Up show in Toronto and he picked me up a Lick It Up T-shirt from the show! He told me KISS packed out Maple Leaf Gardens….

Yup I wore it to school! No problem/No comments not even from the 5 Knuckleheads( who were in Grade 13 at this point) who were bugging me two years earlier!

Kiss slapped off the makeup had a bounce back while I took the Kiss T out of the drawer and wore back at school…….

This post you may think  has irked me all these years. No it has not one bit but it just goes to show you how you may feel about one thing whereas the General Public is not thinking how you re thinking….

Stick To Your Guns….

What comes around goes around comes around! 37 years later I came across this T-shirt site in the U.S and I clicked a bunch of bands and viola they had in stock the  retro Dynasty Tour T’s(see pic below)! This is an exact duplicate of the Shirt I bought at my first ever concert! Wowzers! Instant Purchase By Deke’s….

Try Dousing Me With Yo Mama’s Perfume Now MotherF**Ker!

As you were…

 

 

 

 

KISS Rocks Vegas(2016)

New Release……

First of all I have teamed up with Fellow Rocker Blogger Mikey Ladano and we did a Double Shot of KISS Rocks Vegas! Two spins on it …..click the link below for some fine writing….

https://mikeladano.com

Silly Demon and Silly Starchild and more importantly Silly Deke’s! Why you ask? Thanks for asking and I will tell you all why right now!

So when  KISS as they always do in the Hype Department  were plugging their latest release KISS Rocks Vegas  I scoffed at it!  Seriously though another album with the Same OL Same OL?!

We all know by now that Kiss Live albums are  fixed and stitched up in the studio than sent out to the shops where Deke’s will split with his hard-earned cash and drop yet another dollar sum into Gene and Paul’s Bank Of Zillion’s! (Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are on the payroll so they aren’t gonna make any trouble whatsoever!)

So with that here comes KISS Rocks Vegas and  well Shocker! It wasn’t available on the music(audio) side of iTunes? Whut? Yeah of course I checked. I’m basically a 48-year-old KISS CrackHead. Whatever Gene and Paul stuff in the KISS pipe I will inhale the Kiss Smoke and do as they say!

I had to put on my thinking cap as to how I was gonna get the audio side only. Do I actually go to a store and buy the DVD and CD combo package for $24.99? GAH! I would watch the video maybe once. I just want audio!

I went to the movie side of iTunes and there it was the actual Kiss Rocks Vegas for $9.99 SD OR $12.99 HD. I figure I could buy the live video as the tracks are separated into chapters and its like having the audio ( as well the video is playing )but its on my iPod so I’m not watching the video as I’m on my bike or walking. Plus the thought of Old Man Stanley shaking his arse doesn’t do it for me…Audio it is…..

Speaking of Stanley love how he always disses The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in the press but yet on the Vegas clip he tells the crowd “That they’re looking at a band in the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame” Haha.. You gotta love those Stanley raps between the song’s “Let’s Get Started!” Too give Paul his due he keeps the yapping to a bare minimum and I’m good with it..

I took yet another hit off the KISS PIPE! I pushed click and bought the damn thing!

‘Kiss Rocks Vegas’ Track Listing:
1. “Detroit Rock City”
2. “Creatures of the Night”
3. “Psycho Circus”
4. “Parasite”
5. “War Machine”
6. “Tears are Falling”
7. “Deuce”
8. “Lick it Up”
9. “I Love it Loud”
10. “Hell or Hallelujah”
11. “God of Thunder”
12. “Do You Love Me?”
13. “Love Gun”
14. “Black Diamond”
15. “Shout it Out Loud”
16. “Rock and Roll All Night

Yeah Kinda the same ol same ol as I said! (Detroit Rock City/Deuce/Love Gun/Black Diamond/Rock N Roll All Night)

Of course Kiss opens with Detroit Rock City and were off. It’s a good version but I still like the version from Alive 2  better as  the Alive 2 version of Detroit Rock City was live or not is open for debate but that was when KISS was flying on all cylinders(1977). Something to do with it being my first ever purchase live album when I was 11 also has something to do with it.

Second track Creatures Of The Night kicks ass and it’s so good the tempo Stanleys voice seems like it’s in good shape a little wear and tear but man KISS is on fire here. Cool Drum action by Singer.

Psycho Circus/Parasite/War Machine and especially Tears Are Falling are played at  a top-notch level. Well……. by Kiss’ standards of top-notch! Tommy Thayer plays some decent licks throughout the show! Dude has his shit together and it shows. Thayer of course keeps the Ace sounding solos sounding like Ace but before everyone goes nutso remember  there are more than a few KISS studio tracks out there that everyone thought it was Ace but it really wasn’t! (Hired Guns to play like Ace,get paid and  to keep your mouth shut)

I Love It Loud/Lick It Up(with a snippet  The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled tossed in for good measure)/God Of Thunder ( played at a slower lumbering pace which suits it fine is exceptional! )are also performed well. It’s hard to say if KISS actually fixed this thing up or left it alone. I’m tending to think they did not monkey round too much in the studio as at times Stanley’s voice drops a bit while Simmons sounds a little strained at times making it sound like an warts n all live album! Actually the production has a little rawness/bit of an edge to it! That is unheard of on KISS live albums!

To be totally honest I can’t really listen to yet another live version of Rock N Roll All Night of course I know the deal that IT has to be played but for a fan like myself who’s been listening to KISS for almost 40 years!( Holeeeeee Sheeeeeit) I just don’t want to hear it ..

Thank Goodness Gene and Paul didn’t put Singer doing Beth on the live version I mean I see if you buy the deluxe Rocks Vegas on the acoustic portion which is an added bonus( I didn’t get it so I can’t comment on the performance in case you’re wondering) Beth is done acoustically which come on guys Beth is Peter Criss’ track. (KISS did the same move back in 1988 when they got Eric Carr(RIP) to sing Beth on the Smashes/Thrashes/Hits compilation which was a total cheap shot towards the X drummer. Poor Carr man he had too or else….) Now I see on this latest 2016 tour Singer is out in front singing Beth…..

I must add that Simmons plays some real decent bass licks on this release (check out his Bass riffing on Hell Or Hallelujah )as people are more enamoured in the fact that Gene spits blood/firebreathes but the OL Demon Buzzard steps up here man….Give him his due!

KISS Rocks Vegas is a good buy. As for the Fan boy in me when I see tunes like WarMachine/Creatures Of The Night/Parasite/God Of Thunder and Tears Are Falling added I will take a KISS hit and Exhale!

 

 

 

Kiss Live On “Friday’s” (1982)

Friday’s was a late night Saturday Night Live  type show that featured amongst others, Larry David,Michael  Richards ( Pre Kramer From Seinfeld Fame)

Just like SNL  Fridays would feature a Musical Artist and one episode KISS with their  new styling haircuts,purple  headbands(Mista Stanley) snazzy early 80s costumes  and a new drummer in tow(Eric Carr RIP). I was 14 when Kiss appeared on Fridays. (Jan 15 1982)

It was just under two years earlier I seen The Dynasty Tour(October 6 1979 )  with a massive stage  and an original drummer (Peter Criss) As a 12 year old my mind was blown by this show and to this day it will come as no surprise to many that it’s still blown!

But here’s  KISS  heading full throttle into the early 80s and confusing the general public  (myself ) and I think themselves! The Elder concept album as we were all lead to believe sank faster than my Grade 9 Math Mark while The Gene And Paul Show must have wondered what happened as no kids we’re buying Kiss Lunch Boxes anymore!

Kiss 1981 rolling into 1982 =Sinking Ship…..

Case In Point- Septemeber of 1981 I started Highschool(Grade 9 ) and early on wore my Kiss Dynasty Tour Tee from 1979. I was mocked by the older kids and I only than realized that Kiss was not cool anymore whatsoever! The only two guys that owned The Elder were Moi and My Buddy Muc!(Muc kept it on  down-low I’m sure to avoid the hassle I got! Hahahaha….I should have sold Muc down the river as well) Tbone who if you recall I sold Kiss Unmasked to a year earlier (1980) in what I believe was the first Pawn Shop Transaction ever in Thunder Bay didn’t want to know about The Elder as well!

Ha! Sooooo it’s basically down to this…Gene,Paul,Eric Carr,Deke and (closet Kiss Fan ) Muc who actually kinda liked The Elder!

The Frehley tracks were of course good(Dark Light,Escape From The Island) Simmons tracks like “I” we’re solid others like Mr Blackwell were meh! Stanley actually kicked the doors in with The Oath but man he’s a singing some kinda falsetto but whatever Eric Carr shows up nails down some double bass drumming to make The Oath a good track! Just  A Boy was too much of a deptarture from the Kiss sound and as a 14 yr old it was like “WHUT THE FLUTE!” is going on here?…Kiss wanting to be taken seriously? Nah! Ask the Dorks who hounded me for wearing the Dynasty T! Conform Or Be Cast Out! Guess DeKEs was cast out!

So back to Friday’s! Heres Kiss and I posted the 3 songs played that night (The Oath/A World Without Heroes/I) …

Gotta Hand it to Ace! There is the Spaceman all pickled up (on National TV) but still being Rock N Roll (is the solo Ace plays on the live video anything like the one on the album?)  while Gene And Paul are wanting to be taken serious while new dude Eric on the drums is just glad to be on the payroll of playing  drums and not having to clean stoves for a living!

A World Without Heroes is Gene wanting to be taken serious but I dunno man with that haircut and song! It’s ok but to me the Demon is God Of Thunder not some acoustic driven song where In the promo video he bats a tear at the end of the song! Ummmmm make that a Double WHUT!

“I ” is a pretty decent track! Stanley and Simmons trade off some vocal lines just like the good ol daze of yesteryear when Kiss were cool (like 4 years earlier in 1978!)  Carr plays some good drums and I always laugh when Gene sings the line “No need to get wasted” and the Space man is orbiting around next to him playing his Les Paul! Haha…..

Watch the audience shots they almost don’t  know what to make of this new version Kiss!

Many didn’t and later in 1982 Kiss released what I feel is one their  best studio albums Creatures Of The Night and once again no one cared so by 1983 off comes the Grease Paint and Boom! Here’s the new studio opus Lick It Up and lots of fans are back aboard the Gene and Paul Money Train! ….

A dude I went to school with whose name was Jeff(Breaking The ) Law seen Kiss at Maple Leaf Gardens on the Lick It Up tour and brought me back a Kiss T …..

Yup! I wore it to school and the masses left me alone!

Funny how after a year and a half and a band taking off their war paint people’s opinon changed about Kiss!

Welcome To Music Biz Kids!

Shout It Out Loud/The Story Of KISS’s Destroyer

Picked up this book in Vancouver at the Indigo Book Store and I was surprised  to see this  as I didn’t even know it existed!(released in 2015) Amazing that author James Campion could write in a detailed amount 330 pages of one album being a Kiss album to boot and to keep me interested!

Just like another great book that I recently read and reviewed which was Greg Renoffs Van Halen  Rising book chronicling only VH’s early years up to 1978 which you can check out here….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/rock-101van-halen-rising-by-greg-renoff/ Shows me that you can write a book detailing a band and even though that bands main guys may not be involved in the book you do your homework and seek out those around that had a hand in the beginnings of a band(Renoffs Book) or the Destroyer book that chronicles the making of what many consider the best recorded Kiss album(Destroyer)

Campion in his book details the Destroyer album from the origins pre Destroyer when Kiss was selling out theatre’s (pre Kiss Alive) but hardly selling any albums. Kiss and their 3 studio albums before Alive(self titled,Hotter Than Hell and Dressed To Kill) failed to make any kind of dent on the charts. Kiss and Neil Bogart(Boss man at KISS’s label Casablanca Records ) decided to release the double live Alive as Casablanca Records was in huge financial dire itself.

Of course Alive saves the day. Kiss hits huge pay dirt and wants to make a serious album. So the search begins!

Campion quotes resources and past interviews but the Ace(no pun) In The Hole here is he did direct interviews with Jay Messina,Corky Stasiak and Bob Ezrin. Those three are responsible for the Production end of things on Destroyer as they give excellent inside to the recording of the album from the beginning of the sessions to the end note of Do You Love Me.

I always knew that Frehley didn’t show up for Sweet Pain but how about 4 (maybe 5  tracks as they all have a hard time remembering if Wagner played on Flaming Youth)tracks that are on Destroyer that supposedly Ace didn’t play on!?

Which ones you ask?  Other than Sweet Pain. How about Great Expectations?  Mmmm Beth ?! The biggest shocker though is God Of Thunder? WHUT?!….No Ace….by the sounds of it!

Ezrin brought in Dick Wagner(RIP)! Who’s  Dick you ask? Well other than playing a ton of lead guitar for Alice Cooper Wagner supposed did a ton of uncredited lead guitar work on Aerosmith’s Get Your Wings album.  Another Ezrin produced album. If you weren’t cutting the mustard in the studio Bob would call Dick!

What might even be more shocking is that Peter Criss played drums on the whole album! Criss does add that Ezrin tortured him take after take to up Pete’s game!

Beth like all the songs on Destroyer  are detailed in the book with very in-depth info from Ezrin and Crew. What kind of guitars were used. What kind of Amps. The book even mentions that Ezrin had to toss Gene and  Paul out of the studio so Criss could get his lead vocal done on Beth as Demon And Starchild were smirking and making fun of Criss!

Back to the  God Of Thunder mystery.  Did Ace or didn’t Ace play on the track. Campion when writing the book sat down with Ezrin and they listened to the  solo in God Of Thunder! Ezrin couldn’t exactly remember if Ace had played it or didn’t but Ezrin added that if Dick Wagner says he did,than as Ezrin adds Wagner did!

Of course no one back than knew this and good on everyone involved on keeping a lid on it! Course Simmons probably had a lawyer drop in a few times to make sure everyone knew their place in regards as keeping Kiss as how we know them.  Imagine back than if everyone knew Ace didn’t play on certain Destroyer tracks…..

Ken Kelly who did the awesome painting of Kiss on the cover is even interviewed! No stone is left unturned here folks!

Campion as well updates on currently what ever one involved with the making of Destroyer is currently up to.

Also what was real interesting is towards the end of the book Campion puts in his detective hat and if you recall on the Destroyer studio  version of Detroit Rock City of the dude getting into his car and hearing on the radio that a person was killed and of course by the end of the song the car skids out and  you hear the car crash.

Interviews at the time (1976) had Stanley saying that a Kiss fan had died on their way to a show. So Campion started digging around through various archived media to see if Stanley’s claim actually happened or didn’t! Give this dude credit man he did his homework and well I’m not telling you what the outcome was! Was it a true story or was Stanley hyping the KISS P.R Hype Machine Circa 76!

Not saying….

Hey! I can’t tell everyone everything.

Ok here’s a little food for thought!

Well how about I leave you with one more little detail! When Destroyer was first released it shot up the charts and shot down the charts real quick! Kiss freaked out. They were wondering did they over do it with too much bombastic flair that went over their fans heads? At one point there was talk of the whole album after its release being Destroyed and yanked off the market!

Beth being out as a 45 single believe it or not saved this albums ass!  You can also see why Kiss returned to producer Eddie Kramer and released the fantastic yet straight forward Rock N Roll Over! Don’t know how true all of this is but you know how some of those Kiss guys roll. I tend to believe it that at one point Destroyer could have been Destroyed! (Imagine how much those copies would be going for in 2016!)

If you come across this book pick it up or track it down on the Amazons of the world. Well researched  and it was cool to read a whole book on just one album!