CygnusX-1Bk2

Indeed!

The best of Sweet has been in my collection for a long time now. In fact this thread reminded me that I missed the Steve Priest (bass) version of Sweet tonight in Santa Cruz at the Boardwalk. Crap! Oh well. 1/4 of the band doesn't really cut it. The Andy Scott (guitar) version only plays in Europe. Brian Connelly and Mick Tucker are long since dead unfortunately. I do believe that Mick had some manner of influence on Neil when Neil was in England, judging by Mick's kits from that era. Definitely a progressive drummer. A lot of their stuff is hit or miss, but there are some good nuggets in their catalog for sure.

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ Aug 9 2009, 01:32 PM) http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JJVNZKDFL._SL500_AA240_.jpg ACE FREHLEY Oh, the wild-card! What to expect from the fun-but-unpredictable and previously musically-shy Ace Frehley? There was a lot of reason for curious speculation and trepidation, from both the fans and from the band too -- Frehley not having contributed a ton of music to that point and a mere two vocal-led tunes and those two only very recently. The possibility of not even being able to deliver a completed product wasn't entirely unfair or unfathomable, especially on such a tight recording schedule in the spring of 1978. Strange then when Ace not only delivered the only hit single from any of the four solo albums, but also when the entire album is largely considered the cream of the solo album crop. Personally I have a slight preference for Paul Stanley's album, but there's no doubt that Frehley dug deep and shocked everyone with an infectiously fun and deleriously entertaining album, even to listen to it still. Certainly he and Paul left Gene and Peter in the respective dust, insofar as competetive recording goes. In all honesty, there isn't a weak track to be found here. There are some quirky song arrangements and melodies to wrap your head around, such as the surf-inspired Wiped Out (which has some sonic foreshadowings of his future work on Unmasked), I'm In Need Of Love, and the strange Ozone. The former oozes with atmosphere and actually musically conveys Frehley's staggering posture in the chorus. The latter's chorus is droned over an almost middle-eastern guitar sound. I'm In Need Of Love lopes and stumbles with a trippy vocal melody and echoey slow burn riff. And yet it all works. More straight-forward rockers like Rip It Out and Snowblind blister with a very Kiss-like tempo and frankness. That the former never made it to the Kiss stage in subsequent years is criminal because it's the perfect Ace/Kiss song. The pop-laden Speedin Back To My Baby erupts with perhaps the most scintilating and orgasmic riff Ace has ever penned, not to mention a deleriously-lovely solo. Classic Frehley from stem-to-stern. What's On Your Mind borders on pop-rock, but again does it with style and hook. New York Groove provides the album its hooky anthem and its hit single. Fractured Mirror gives us a lush 12-string instrumental look at Frehley, a lilting and gorgeously layered piece. The record amounts to a taut nine songs with hardly a wasted second on it. By any songwriting and rocking standard, it's a fine record. From the guy who was such an x-factor in the band at this point and was, at best, a bit on the uncertain side, the album is nothing short of monumental. There's a reason both Gene and (especially) Paul have been quoted to have been blown away by Ace's effort. Frankly, they never saw it coming and I don't think any of us really did. It's an album that sounds wonderful, is fun, it rocks, it plays with melody and arrangements...and is both idiosyncratic and mainstream; often both within the same song. This album is truly the opposite of Gene Simmons' effort: entirely minimal with a cast and thank you list you could fit on a cocktail napkin (probably where Ace's was written). That is to say, it's focused and singular in its purpose -- to bleed no-bullshit rock and roll. It does that in spades. Grade: A Production: Stellar. Never have Ace's Les Paul tones sounded so original and signature as they do here. Eddie Kramer is clearly working with his favorite member of the band and focusing on what he does best...engineering. Combined with Frehley's surprisingly spry songwriting, the album is amongst the best sounding efforts ever put out with a Kiss logo on it. Cover: (see previous solo album comments) Reflections: Ace's was probably the third solo album I got. What I remember most was that New York Groove was the staple on the juke box at our local Pizza Hut for the longest time that year, along with the Snowblind b-side....and how rare that was, for me to find Kiss music on our local juke boxes. By far my favorite of the solo records. This one is the reason for the other 3. According to interviews I have read, seen and heard Ace was annoyed at Gene and Paul for being replaced, or rather filled-in-for on the Destroyer sessions. For Love Gun Ace wrote Shock Me as a personal test to see if he could sing lead on a track and get it on an album. He figured if he could do that then he could quit KISS and go solo, or at the very least do both. He played most of the parts himself, except for drums which was his former drummer from the band Spider, Anton Fig. For a few tracks he enlisted Will Lee on bass (some great stuff on I'm In Need Of Love especially). If this isn't the first time Will and Anton played together I don't when, but this has got to be the first released performance of the long time Letterman band's rhythm section. I imagine that Lee brought Anton in after the departure of Steve Jordan. But I digress. Ace recorded much of this album in his Connecticut home studio without the knowledge of Gene and Paul and eventually dropped the bomb that he wanted to leave KISS when he presented the album to them (or told them he was working on it, depending on the teller of the story). Gene, being Gene cautioned Ace the KISS was special and nothing to just get out of. After discussing it with Paul it was decided that all four would do solo records and be released simultaneously under the KISS banner. Marketing Genius. The covers are iconic for these albums (see, their even in my signature!) and are indelibly inked into rock and roll KISStory. Conversely, Gene and Paul having convinced Ace to stay with KISS essentially killing his solo career. Their gain was his loss. Who knows what kind of records he would have made if they would have let him go do his thing before the 80's and the car crash and drug abuse that I believe diminished Ace's abilities (sorry Ace). I don't think he's written anything as powerful since his bits on Elder. But I will admit that there is definitely something to the chemistry of those 4 individuals when they play their music together. Even with Peter being in terrible shape. I give Ace an A+.

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ May 3 2009, 06:37 PM) QUOTE (lerxt1990 @ May 3 2009, 09:34 PM) This was the image of Gene that scared the crap out of me... http://www.kissfaq.com/albumcovers/cover_alive2_large_rear.jpg Damn the internet is cool.... YEAH, that's an incredible shot of Gene. God, he used to be so cool. Now he's the biggest wanker jerk-off on the planet. But at one point he was just damn cool. Kiss being silly to some or not, that's hardly a dorky picture of him.... (Slipknot wishes they were cool). I think in Gene's mind's eye this is how he still sees himself. Which is why he comes off the way he does. KISS was so cool back then.

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ Apr 28 2009, 04:30 AM) I'm sort of the opposite. A bit of an apologist, really. While I've grown to have bigger and grander musical tastes, I still love me some good Kiss material, including the dumber songs...(Love Em & Leave Em, Christine 16, etc). Some of it's nostalgia and some of it is that Kiss are a pretty fun band, even when they're merely average and R&R 101. They do that better than lots of bands do it. And when they're great they're classic. I really think the music gets a bad rap because of the imagery. It's the almost fourth or fifth element of the band that people eventually get to...then dismiss them like they were some contrived act put together by a corporation. This wasn't the Monkees where they didn't know how to play their instruments well or one of the boy bands where they were conceived and assembled by outside parties. Kiss CERTAINLY had their finger on marketing, but hell...the BEATLES were just as, if not MORE, marketed than Kiss was 10+ years earlier. There were Beatles plush dolls, record players, etc. Sound familiar? They just did that same thing in the 70s and added a theatricality to it...which, distracting or not, worked. They were heavily modeled on the Beatles formula: four distinct personalities, images, and voices...a true BAND of individuals. But OUTSIDE of that "gimmick," many of the songs and albums worked and worked well. Otherwise they wouldn't have survived for 16 years and 7 albums sans makeup, only to reunite and become the biggest tour of '96. Those who consider Kiss a gimmick band it's really an unfair slap. Gimmickry doesn't last 35 years, regardless of what anyone thinks of their music. Don't be knocking the Monkees! I agree with you on these points. I used to be an apologist for KISS, especially during the 80's when they sucked. Alive! changed my life. It was the first record that my dad didn't play for me but I discovered on my own. We were moving from LA to San Diego when R&RAN came on the radio. I was blown away by the sound and the energy. Nothing like the Beatles or CCR that I had been listening to at age 8 & 9 (my dad was in a band and only exposed me to R&R and top 40, which in the 70's was really good stuff). KISS changed everything for me. I wouldn't have heard of Rush were it not for KISS. As for the Monkees, they were the Pinocchios of Rock and Roll. A bunch of guys thrown together to make a tv show based upon A Hard Day's Night and eventually became a real band. Their Headquarters album was a monumental accomplishment as the only non cast member on the album was former Turtles bassist and producer Chip Douglas. Granted, the show declined as did album sales as a result of the Monkees taking over their own destinies but some of my favorite Monkees tunes are from their dyas of recording their own stuff as opposed to the "Wrecking Crew" musicians backing them; though I do enjoy much of their catalog.

QUOTE (treeduck @ Apr 27 2009, 12:32 PM) QUOTE (WCFIELDS @ Apr 26 2009, 06:46 PM) QUOTE (Steevo @ Apr 26 2009, 04:18 PM) QUOTE (nappy2112 @ Apr 27 2009, 12:46 AM)hate them both..........next. Know nuttin about The Elder. Dont bother going past Unmasked either, it's all shite after that. Not all shite...........but certainly a sharp decline with very little interesting past that point.....Creatures of the Night was pretty good. Creatures of the Night was really good and so was Lick it Up and Animalize wasn't bad and they were great on the 83/84 tours. Ok I just discovered this thread apparently. Creatures is a good album. Lick It Up and Animalize are crap. I do Like Asylum though. That was the last "New" KISS album I bought until Psycho Circus.

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ Apr 25 2009, 09:15 PM) Today's rotation offers forth: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PNDX8FZYL._SL500_AA240_.jpg MUSIC FROM "THE ELDER" I have mixed feelings about this album. On one hand the band is way over their heads and out of their element here. Pink Floyd or Queen they're not. On the other, the songs aren't half bad on their own...some being downright excellent in places. But overall, even the most ardent Kiss diehard has to confess that The Elder was a misdirected and ill-timed effort by Kiss to "legitimize" themselves, while at the same time exploring a little bit of Gene-driven fantasy. What it may have in ambition in some of its bits and pieces, it lacks entirely in conceptual cohesiveness....which isn't a compliment when you're creating a concept album. It also helps to actually (or at least eventually) create a film around the story for which you've written the soundtrack. Music from....what?!?! Oops. Still there are moments to appreciate here, especially on Gene Simmons' songs. Tunes like the haunting and atmsopheric Only You (a holdover from the pre-Kiss days with different lyrics), Under The Rose, and the incredibly poignant A World Without Heroes (lyrics by Lou Reed) are fine efforts on their own, regardless of the band's inability to thread the big picture fantasy needle. Paul Stanley has his moments as well, such as on the anthemic The Oath, which, lyrics aside, probably sounds the most like Kiss. On The Oath we get a good (double-kick) sense of the heaviness Kiss newcomer Eric Carr would bring to the band in the years to come. While many fans disagree, I even enjoy Paul's successful falsetto-fest Just A Boy. Only clunkers Mr. Blackwell (just plain odd) and the overly-ambitious and terribly flowery Tony Powers cover Odyssey fall flat, the latter featuring a valiant-but-laughable vocal effort by Paul...clearly in training for his Phantom Of The Opera lead as early as 1981 from the sounds of things. Ace Frehley almost begrudgingly shows up on two songs (plays leads on a couple more), the enjoyable-though-phoned-in Dark Light and the fun but out-of-place instrumental dubiously called Escape From The Island; a title more than not befitting Frehley's desires at this point in the game. The problem here isn't the music or the melodies, many of which are very mature and complex efforts by Kiss standards...thanks in large part to the return of producer, maestro Bob Ezrin (The Wall) for the first time since the Destroyer album. Most of the shlock lies in the lyrics and the band's almost Spinal Tap-ish efforts to tell the tale of a boy hero growing up, becoming a man...yada, yada; in other words, all that homo-erotic shit no one needs to hear Paul Stanley, of all people, croon about. In the end maybe Paul Stanley sums it up best. To paraphrase, it's not that The Elder isn't a good album, it's just not a very good Kiss album. And while I'm not necessarily of the belief that Kiss only stick to suck-me/f*ck me songs, it's pretty easy to realize the band bit off more than they could chew here. It's a bit like the sonic equivalent of watching their television movie-of-the-week from 1978, Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park...during which you both enjoy the cheesy goodness, all while slinking under your seat beneath the weight of it all. In few ways was the PROJECT Music From "The Elder" a success (a total flop, commercially), but there's no denying that despite the failed concept, many good songs came out of this project. Thankfully a much-appreciated return to form was an album away. Strange, too, to consider that in just over two years, Kiss had released the incredibly poppy Unmasked, a heroic coming-of-age fantasy concept album in The Elder, and arguably their heaviest (metal) album in Creatures Of The Night. The band was in the midst of a pretty awful identity crisis as the 1970s disappeared in the rearview...and The Elder was Act II. Grade: C+ all things considered...bordering on B- when you just forget the whole concept and simply take them as individual songs Production: The production's a little muddy for my liking and not quite as crisp as Destroyer, but all the Ezrin-isms are here: rich instrumentation, overlayed strings, horns, Gregorian monks, choirs, bickering dialogue between council elders, and just about everything else you could imagine. Of course Ezrin also admits to being coked out of his flippin' mind while making the album too... Cover: Well, appreciate for one moment that it's one of the few Kiss covers that doesn't feature the band...(although that is Paul Stanley's hand). Outside that it's a bit odd, but it seems to fit the projected theme of the album. The vinyl version features a fecking annoying-ass clear plastic album sleeve that always crumpled and made it difficult to return the vinyl to the jacket. Overall I like the cover. Reflections: I remember buying this album the day it came out. Strangely I wasn't confused by the concept or the curveball Kiss was throwing here. To me, at age 12, it was just another new Kiss album. True that it was different, just as soon as the needle hit the first groove...but I didn't hold that against the band. I was naive and eager, so I didn't much mind. I still don't, though it's the not the success I once believed it to be in my pre-teens either. On a comical note, I called my local record store and bugged the shit out of them about the album before finally making my way down there later that day; what did the cover look like? Had you guys listened to it? What did you think? Their reply: "Well, it'different." Elder to me is also odd. It came out as I was discovering Rush and the ideas of concept albums. I had to hunt for it when it came out. What I didn't know at the time was the the songs were reordered by the record company after the initial pressings so the concept was all but taken out of it by doing so, not that there is much of one there. I actually like many of the tunes, especially the Oath and Under The Rose (Eric Carr writing credit on that one too), and Escape From The Island (the rare KISS instrumental). I even like Mr. Blackwell and A World Without Heroes. But the Fanfare and Odyssey are kind of crappy.

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ Apr 24 2009, 06:51 PM) I've done tons of album overviews and I've done little brief snippets about Kiss, along with Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, etc...but for some reason never really talked about each release much. Kiss remains my favorite band of all-time, despite themselves...and it's the music that remains for me, forever lost in their clouds of foolishness and self-prescribed embarrassments. So to that end, let's talk about the most enduring and important aspect of Kiss (and any band)...their music. One bit of something I want to qualify first and that's that each grade is relative to other KISS albums, not The Beatles or anyone else. So if something gets a friggin' A+ it doesn't mean it's a quintessential piece of music in the pantheon of rock's history. It simply means it's benchmark Kiss album....or a poor Kiss album, relative to others of theirs. I'm putting my ipod on shuffle, so too will be each of these non-sequential commentaries. Whatever album comes up on a given day, that's the one I'll tackle. (That way people don't tune out after Love Gun. See, I'm thinkin'...!!) First up is..... http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/116G3pOAmRL._SL500_AA170_.jpg KISS: Peter Criss Ok, I said it was on shuffle. GOD! I can't help it. But I'm a man of my word, so here goes. Well, it might surprise some of you that I think it's a tad underrated. That doesn't mean great...and it doesn't suggest solid either. It's just that this record gets so much crap it doesn't deserve, especially when compared to some Kiss albums...(hint: Gene's solo offering will eventually pop up!!). What's it got going for it? For one, it's a great sound for Peter Criss, despite not being what one would deem a Kiss sound. But then again it's a solo album and quite obviously not a Kiss band album. Peter's roots are R&B (along with swing, big band, etc)...and there's a lot of that here, as well as some contemporary dance beats and nice production from Vini Poncia. It was Criss that first "dabbled" in disco and with a really good pop producer at the helm. While Kiss claims to have HATED Peter's lame ass work here, they sure didn't seem to mind having Poncia produce Kiss's next TWO albums. That said, Peter lends almost nothing to these procedings except his keen raspy vocals and that was nearly enough to pull off a decent moment in 1978; a year still admiring disco and, thanks to Grease, making the music and vibe of the early 1960s cool again. This album had both. Even most of the drumming was subbed out due to an "untimely car accident." Yet vocals are what Criss has going for him and these songs simply feel good because he sounds good doing them. Is it the kind of shit you drive around listening to in 2009 on a road trip up the coast? Probably not. I don't. But unlike some members of this band, Criss knew what his strengths were and put that foot forward in a way that was fairly entertaining. Angst-filled softies like Don't You Let Me Down, I Can't Stop The Rain, and Easy Thing play up his Camel-induced crooning to wonderful effect. You almost expect to see some black 50s doo-wop group standing behind him in matching gold jackets and pants snapping their fingers to the beat. Criss lets the retro greaser rasp out too on belters such as Hooked On Rock & Roll....replete with "whooping" female background singers. In the end it's all pretty light stuff. It's not quite good enough a dabbling in disco to scare K.C. and his Sunshine Band, nor was the retro rockin' cool enough to land a damn thing on the charts, despite some really convenient pop culture timing. So in the end, we're not talking about anything earth-shattering here. Since he really doesn't write his own material, it reads as nothing more important than a covers album...but vocally Criss is clearly inspired and the songs are generally either fun or emotional, even if they're still busy being average. But nothing here is BAD either; it's simply not Kiss and for many fans, that was FOUL enough. But it is 100% in the veins of Peter Criss, for what it lacks in "originality." For a series of albums designed around accentuating individuality, on that level if nowhere else, Criss succeeds. Grade: C- Production: I like Vini Poncia. Most Kiss fans can't stand him. He was a really solid pop producer. This is a nice sounding album, quite honestly. No real quips. Cover: I love the solo album covers, as painted by Rush's Fly By Night cover artist Eraldo Caraguti. They were painted from photos used for the cover of Kiss's Love Gun Tour Book one year earlier. Ok, the Peter Album... The last one I purchased on CD for iTunes library completion. I hadn't listened to it in years. The recording quality is so-so and much of the performances is lack luster and mediocre. When I saw the Dynasty tour in '79 they did Tossin' and Turnin' in the set, yet You Metter To Me was used in the commercial to sell the solo albums. Odd they would choose the only cover song on that album, but it is the most rocking tune on the record. I do like Don't You Let Me Down because it has a bit of a doo-wop feel to it. The Kind Of Sugar Papa likes is a stupid title but an ok song. C- will work on this one. It's the only solo record I don't really listen to. Ace's is of course the best followed closely by Paul's for me.

Now he will put that special room in the new house to good use with a drum kit and cymbals. Welcome to Guitar Center and Musician's Friend for every birthday and Christmas from now until the end of time!

Even they think Hemispheres is their most ambitious and complex piece of work. Too bad they didn't consider the key when they wrote it. When Geddy went to record the vocals he hadn't realized it would have to be so high, even for him. This is the main reason they stopped doing it. If you listen to bootlegs from the tour you can hear him struggling to sing it even back then. Permanent Waves marked a clear change of approach vocally as a result. Regardless of that Hemispheres is by far their most interesting work. It is their pre Tom Sawyer masterpiece.

I have a nice 2 disc best of Kansas. It has the classics on it like Dust in the Wind and Carry On. But I really like Portrait (He Knew), People of the Southwind, and Point of Know Return. There are others too, but these are a few of my favorites.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Apr 20 2008, 07:27 PM) My article from today's paper. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/RushBabe/Stephen/scan0001edit.jpg Well this is more than just a little impressive. Good for you. Truly admirable. You have done something really good here. Perhaps you and Stephen should be the faces of autism. Not only that you have accomplished something here that I would like to do, as far as being a published writer. Hopefully this will be the first of many.

It's been on just about every other day recently I've noticed.

Anything by the Chick Corea Elektric Band, who regrouped and are doing a few weeks here and there. They were just here at Yoshi's in Oakland for the week, this week in LA and next week in NY. I highly recommend them. Chick is an astounding keyboardist and composer. The band features Dave Weckl on drums (quite possibly the best drummer on the planet right now), Frank Gambale on guitar and Eric Marienthal on sax. The regular bass player, John Pattitucci is replaced for these dates by Victor Wooten. Absolutely stunning. Also any Dave Weckl solo albums are interesting. Steve Smith (formerly of Journey, yes THAT Journey) has a band called Vital Information that is very good as well. Gambale was with them and left to rejoin Chick. Bill Bruford did some stuff back in the 80s with Kitaro, a Japanese guitar player along with Jeff Berlin on bass. They called themselves Spice of Life. That stuff is pretty good too.

This movie is seriously f***ed up. Not a chick flick at all. Heavy duty.