My Amazon Reviews: KISS "Sonic Boom"

Let's Put the 'X' in sexagenarian!, 4 out of 5 Stars

From the Rock and Roll Over inspired cover art to the bonus disc of re-recorded "Kiss Klassics," Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (the along with painted faces of Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer), "Sonic Boom" wants you to party like it's 1976. The good news is that the album is pretty darn good considering the band's age. Hearing Gene sing "maybe it's time to take off your clothes!" at age 60 (from "Yes I Know") is kind of silly. At the same time, "Sonic Boom" packs as much punch as the last truly decent KISS album, Revenge. "Stand" could easily be a KISS Koncert anthem.

One also needs to remember that the members of KISS are really, and I mean really, wealthy. In a USA Today article of the day "Sonic Boom" was released, Gene bragged about being worth $100,000,000. So it's not like he and Stanley have anything to prove musically. With that, the album delivers all you'd expect from a rock album rooted in the seventies. There's sleazy sexism ("Yes I Know" and "Hot and Cold"), power rock anthems ("Say Yeah," "Stand" and "All For The Glory") and some serious rocking on "Modern Day Delilah." I even dig the goofy pun Stanley came up with when he barks "Danger you, danger me....dangerrrrrr-us!" Amazingly, it all works.

It works even better if you imagine that it's 1978 and Love Gun was in the cassette box along with Live, Van Halen and The Grand Illusion on your car seat. If that was you, "Sonic Boom" will take you back. The bonus disc will also bother you. While it sounds like a dress rehearsal for the new tour, the new band doing note-for-note recreations of most of the major Kiss Katalog (even the Michael Bolton/Paul Stanley ballad "Forever") is going to remind you that these guys are getting up there. "Christine Sixteen" sounds horrible re-sung, and one of the best things about the original trio of albums was the gritty hunger that clawed out of the speakers when you first discovered Hotter Than Hell or Deuce. Maturity doesn't re imagine these songs well.

Given the bonus CD isn't the big reason for picking up "Sonic Boom," well, it's worth a deuce to buy it. For guys eligible for their AARP cards and still kicking out, the album helps put the "X" is sexagenarian.