The Kiss Studio Albums

[captainkurtz]

I love Rock and Roll over.  I rate it higher than Destroyer.  Great artwork too..

[The Picnic Wasp]

To help prevent RSI here's something that popped into my YouTube feed today.

https://youtu.be/cdfNbfNbb5g?si=RnBmNwZluLGvFLBS

It always amuses me when Paul has those little digs at Gene. All part of the game I know, but to his credit he takes it very well.

[captainkurtz]

To help prevent RSI here's something that popped into my YouTube feed today.

https://youtu.be/cdfNbfNbb5g?si=RnBmNwZluLGvFLBS

It always amuses me when Paul has those little digs at Gene. All part of the game I know, but to his credit he takes it very well.

Will watch this later, but Paul has become a real douche.  Much prefer Gene.

[captainkurtz]

You just know that they're going to part ways and then only ever meet in the boardroom.  Gene and Paul, for men that have worked together for half a century, don't seem to have too much of a brotherly bond...

[Thenop]

It's not that bad. They have been at odds at some point, mainly in the 80s when they were out to prove themselves, but not anymore. It's more of a game in public. They have the same interest always, their families know each other very well.

It's really a brotherlike relationship they have.

When they break up at some point, and that will not be after the last show, they could go on forever as a legacy band, just not a touring band, they still have that connection.

[captainkurtz]

I remember Shannon publicly criticising Stanley after the latter publicly criticised Simmons after he had made some I'll judged comment after, I think Robin Williams death.

Would have been funny if Simmons had criticised Stanley after his ridiculous LGBT statement he made recently, that no one had asked him for....was complete gobbledigook.

[Slim]

Love Gun (June 1977)

Once again, an album that I bought as a teenager, probably in 1978. I liked it, it did 'stick' unlike Rock and Roll Over and I played it often although I've never been completely convinced by it.

It does have some banging tunes and makes a substantial contribution to Alive II - including I Stole Your Love which is an absolute highlight of that second live album for me - proper, kicking, highly-charged rock'n'roll - and of course the title track which is deservedly a classic.

One thing that struck me while listening to Tomorrow and Tonight is its obvious debt to the Stones. I think it was probably conceived to be in the same vein as Rock and Roll All Nite. It doesn't have nearly the same power or energy. It's not one of the better songs on this album and it's probably my least favourite of the live songs on Alive II. But slowed down a little, with a bit of Keef attitude on the rhythm guitar and a bit of swing on the drums, it could have had a nice swagger. In particular I think that the distortion on the rhythm guitar robs it of a bit of bite.

The trouble is - Eddie Kramer, while a very capable sound engineer, was to my mind not a great producer. These songs are well-recorded but they aren't really well-produced, even allowing for the proposition that he preferred a more authentic, "live" sound. A really good producer (for example) wouldn't have put that phaser on the drums for a couple of bars in one of the Rock and Roll Over songs. I can't remember which one but it really sounds superfluous. And more to the point he would have got more out of the songs on both these albums.

No assessment of Love Gun could fail to mention Christine Sixteen, a song which necessarily divides opinion. I note that Geoff Barton, well known to Rush fans as a champion of the Canadian trio's work in the UK music press in the '70s but also a huge Kiss fan, is uncomfortable with it in the present day. Well - personally I like it. Gene's spoken section that starts with "I don't usually say things like this to girls your age.." never fails to raise a laugh.

Actually rock songs about underage girls are not that uncommon, Led Zeppelin and Motorhead both contributed one to their canon. At least Gene Simmons had the good taste to ensure that the fictional Christine had at least reached the age of consent. I think that's commendable.

Shock Me, Frehley's debut as a singer, is one of the better tunes and deserves its place on Alive II.

But - Hooligan. A real low point. Did Peter write these lyrics?

Dropped out of school when I was 22
What can I do to satisfy you?

I mean - Gene's lyrics come across as dumb sometimes but at least they have a sense of humour. Speaking of which - how could he have missed a clear opportunity to rhyme "perfection" with "erection" in Plaster Caster? It's a bit late now but let me help:

The plaster's gettin' harder
And my love is perfection
A token of my love
It's my erection

The album closes on another low point, Then She Kissed Me. Why? Who is it supposed to appeal to? I just can't imagine what they were thinking.

To sum up - some classic songs, a couple of good tunes even among those that didn't get an airing on the live album. But a couple of clunkers. To me it's an improvement on Rock and Roll Over but nowhere near as ambitious or powerful as Destroyer.

I think this is the last album of the real-deal, classic Kiss period closed off by Alive II.

[Thenop]

Love Gun was recorded in little over 3 weeks with the same team that did Rock and Roll Over. The biggest difference was the venue:it was recorded at the Record Plant, the studio Kramer and Hendrix built.
Stanley went in to demo his songs and they were recorded verbatim. In fact Love Gun (the song) is, apart from the solo and drums, all Stanley. Guitars and bass. I Stole Your Love and Tomorrow and Tonight were done in similar fashion. If we ever get to Alive II you will get to learn how love T&t really was.

Simmons on his turn did all the bass and guitars on Plaster Caster. Christine Sixteens piano player of duty is Kramer and those 2 songs plus the quite boring Got Love for Sale were demoed with the Van Halen brothers.

Hooligan is indeed horrid, the main lyric was written by the studio engineer, I can only imagine what Criss conjured up here..

Then She Kissed Me was Stanley's idea. I'm sure he's not too happy anymore now..

My favourite Simmons song here is Almost Human, I just love that one. It is so character like, just fantastic.
But my no. 1 song here has to be Shock Me. Finally Frehley sings and the main riff for this thing is really quite something. As is the solo. In fact all solos on Love Gun are very good. Ace became a lot better player as years progressed.

As an album it flows OK, but it is a typical album for a successful band. A handful of great songs with filler for the rest of the album.

It was released June 30th 1977, the band finished up in the studio on May 29th.. I'd like to see any modern day artist try that...

It's also the first Kiss album with special inserts, in this case the fold out gun. Not necessarily as a gift to the fans, although it is sold  like that, no it was mainly to outsmart pirated copies. They could print the albums, but copying the insert was something else. Clever business again..

[captainkurtz]

I love signed prints...and I love the artwork for Love Gun.  Here's a promo poster from 1977. Beautifully signed at some point in 96.

[Slim]

Alive II: Side 4 (October 1977)

Since there's a studio half-album tacked on at the end of Alive II, I thought it was worth a brief re-evaluation here.

I bought Alive II at the end of 1977, I've always loved it and most times I listened to it, I listened to the studio side as well. For sure I wouldn't have played these songs as often as I did if they weren't packaged with a brilliant live album - nonetheless I do think this is mostly pretty good stuff.

To me the first four songs lean a bit more into beefy, more generic hard rock than Love Gun or Rock and Roll Over. Possibly not quite as much flamboyant energy as you expect from Kiss tunes of this period, generally. That said, apart from Any Way You Want It, another inexplicable early '60s period piece that does nothing for me at all - these are strong songs.

I was fascinated to learn that Rocket Ride is actually an Ace solo tune with Peter on drums - the Spaceman performs all the guitar and bass parts, as well as the vocal. The little guitar solo he tacks on at the end is pure Jimmy Page.

On the other hand, he doesn't appear on the other songs at all, something I didn't find out for many years later. I was always impressed with the lead guitar on Larger than Life, especially. It's Bob Kulick.

I guess relations must have been a bit strained at this point. Nonetheless, between the four of them and the hired help they came up with a pretty creditable short chapter in the studio canon here.

[captainkurtz]

Alive II was definitely the end of an era...although the next studio album was another of my favourites...they were certainly less of a 'band' by that point.

[Thenop]

Ace was absent for all but Rocket Ride. BTW, that not Criss, that's Anton Fig on Rocket Ride, he would go on to do Ace's solo album, Dynasty and Unmasked as well.

I love Rocket Ride and Think Larger than Life is quite good. The other 3 songs I find less interesting. Kulick was brought in under strict orders to sound like Ace, keeping up appearances. But of course he sounds totally different. The first phrase on the LTL solo immediately raises eyebrows, Frehley? No way.

The best part about Alive 2 is how it is a 7 track studio album. Tomorrow and Tonight was tracked the same day as Larger than Life and Hard Luck Woman was tracked at an afternoon soundcheck. Neither song was part of the live show. But since they did not want any overlap with Alive! they needed to fill some gaps. They had an 75 minute show that included Take Me and Hooligan, opened wit I Stole Your Love (never understood why they did not used that for an opener on the album) but there was also old material, the would have not been able to release a 2LP that way.

It was quite clear the band was wildly disfunctional by now, only exacerbated by the following 4 solo albums, a big part of the Kiss legacy, and the subsequent shift in style.

[Slim]

I've just brought my vinyl copy of Alive II down from the loft to have a sentimental browse through the packaging.



Here's something that interested me when I was 17. The album came with a picture booklet, pictured below called The Evolution Of Kiss.

The centrefold image is a group shot, but it's actually a composite of two different photos.



How do I know this? Well - if you look carefully, you can see a dismembered guitar headstock sprouting out of the mic stand on the right.

[Thenop]

Well spotted. When it came time to do the cover, there was no material to make up a cover shot. That's how the cover came about, picking separate shots to create a unified look.

The Gatefold inside was basically setting off all Pyro at the same time. They probably had 10 cameras rolling and clicking  at the same time. Imagine missing a shot like that!


Very cool that you kept the book intact btw, not many of those survived.

[captainkurtz]

Enjoying this thread.  Thanks chaps!