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Kiss - Music from the Elder


New_World_Man
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I just listened to some of this somewhat controversial album on youtube. I'm wondering what Rush fans think of it since my first impression was they might have been trying to deliberately sound like Rush on this one. Not sure. Anyway, I didn't listen to the whole thing but what I heard sounded pretty good and I'm not sure I understand why it was so criticized except that maybe it was just bad timing for this kind of album. I have a few older Kiss albums and while it's true that they sound nothing like this(more straightforward rock)why should a band have to stick to the same formula all the time? Were Kiss fans really that narrow or did they all just think it was really that bad? What do you guys think?

 

Also, I apologize if this has been brought up before but I don't frequent this site as much as I used to.

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I like this album. Not sure why it's not better received nowadays.
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I was 14 when Music From The Elder came out, and at that point, I had been a KISS fanatic for 6+ years ..

 

At that point, Eric Carr had just joined the band, and KISS was coming off their first tour of Australia - a tour in which they introduced Carr and his double bass kit and heavier style ...

 

Coming off Dynasty in 1979 ( I Was Made For Loving you ) and Unmasked in 1980, KISS had made it clear that the next album was going to be a return to their heavy rock and roll sound .. The shows in Australia saw KISS bringing back a lot of the ALIVE! era songs into the set, and with all those things lined up, KISS fans were hoping for a return to the heavy KISS ..

 

Especially considering that since their last good/heavy album - Love Gun - seemed a distant memory in 1977 ..

 

By that point KISS had lost a lot of their original fans and most of those remaining were young -- I was 14, and the days of the big kids who drove the 1972 Dusters and Barracudas who liked KISS were over ... It was kids my age and younger ....

 

I admit that I was disappointed when I first heard it ...

 

It was also disappointing because here you had a new, heavy drummer - a kid who was younger, or at least appeared to be - and they didn;t put him to good use ... And it proved to be the final album for Ace, as he thought the entire things was ridiculous ...

 

I like the album now ... I don;t know if I would call it a great album - it has some very cool moments and songs, and I appreciate what they were trying to do more now than when I was 14 ....

 

Only You/Under The Rose, The Oath and Mr Blackwell are my favorites, and I think each one of those songs are excellent

 

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Edited by Lucas
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It is reach that exceeded their grasp, BUT that is not to say it didn’t have some great material. But as a concept album it was way the f**k over their heads. Just forget the concept and enjoy this song and that. Tastes better that way. Also Mr Blackwell is dreadful.
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I was a pretty big KISS fan growing up in the 70s.

 

They dropped off my radar screen after the solo albums and "Double Platinum ".

 

I saw them in the summer of 1979 and though I enjoyed the show, they just kind of faded for me.

 

It wasn't until years later that I picked up "Unmasked", "Dynasty" and " The Elder".

 

Ironically, it wasn't until "Asylum" and "Crazy Nights" until they found their way back into rotation.

 

I confess I've only heard "The Elder" a handful of times since its release.

 

In fact, I'm listening to it just now.

 

I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

 

I give it an E for effort.

 

I can really see this album growing on me, much like "Dynasty" has.

 

They threw a little bit of everything in the mix.

 

I kind of see where they were going, kind of.

 

Brave move, but perhaps not brave enough.

 

Where it is good, it is very good.

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I am playing the album this morning, and I really do not understand the hate it gets. It has some great songs.

 

Under The Rose is amazing! I love the general atmosphere and...I dunno...it's not the most outrageous concept album I have ever heard, but it's not a million miles away from Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds musically and that is also very popular...I dunno I like this album.

 

7/10

 

(I just want to say it has the song titles Under The Rose and Dark Light...two songs HIM wrote for their 2005 album Dark Light).

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With th exception of the singles they released, I've never heard a single Kiss album track after Love Gun.

 

you're probably better off

 

Even Love Gun haven't heard since I was 9 or 10. My father smashed it on the back of my bike because I wasn't practicing my accordion. "No more KISS!"

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early KISS isn't too far off from a lot of the good garage rock/glam rock of the era. they're genuinely underrated songwriters, and that gets lost in the theatrics, the accusations of "selling out," etc etc
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Ok so I tried some "classic" KISS.

 

Sorry but The Elder is the only interesting thing they have ever done musically lmao

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Let's not forget Carnival Of Souls: the concept album about a group of middle aged has-beens in a group called "Kiss" who get turned into young, Seattle grunge rockers in a quest for relevancy

 

And even still it didn’t necessarily make the songs poor. Tunes like Master & Slave, Seduction of the Innocent, and The Jungle are wonderful tracks regardless of their sincerity or lack thereof.

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Let's not forget Carnival Of Souls: the concept album about a group of middle aged has-beens in a group called "Kiss" who get turned into young, Seattle grunge rockers in a quest for relevancy

 

And even still it didn’t necessarily make the songs poor. Tunes like Master & Slave, Seduction of the Innocent, and The Jungle are wonderful tracks regardless of their sincerity or lack thereof.

 

Oh I agree, I like that album a lot

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I'm a little surprised that this album isn't even more popular with some people here. I would have expected it to be ranked as their best work.

 

this is the only place I've ever seen it praised. then again, it's a rush forum. e'nuff z'nuff would beat neil young in a poll

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I dig The Elder. This just isn't the kind of album a band like KISS would be permitted by fans and critics to release without a lot of push back. Especially after releasing 2 pop albums previously, everyone was waiting for a return to form. I think if The Elder was released later in their career it would have been better received. It's a good album in hindsight and The Oath might make it into my Top Ten KISS Songs. I even like The Elder more than Creatures Of The Night--COTN is over-rated; at least half of the songs are very stale and unmemorable, IMO.
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I'm a little surprised that this album isn't even more popular with some people here. I would have expected it to be ranked as their best work.

 

this is the only place I've ever seen it praised. then again, it's a rush forum. e'nuff z'nuff would beat neil young in a poll

This is a dumb comment.
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