My Amazon Reviews: Kiss "Creatures Of The Night"

Kiss Figure Out That Being Heavy is a Good Thing.
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The old school fans of Kiss had been drifting away for a period when Kiss reconvened for "Creatures of the Night." Bored by the pop metal of "Unmasked" and left confused by the weird concept album of "Music From The Elder," it was too much even for Peter Criss, who'd already bolted and was replaced by the terrific Eric Carr, and Ace Frehley, who still appeared on the album cover but was replaced on the disc by future Kiss members Vinnie Vincent and Bob Kulick. There's even a funnier story behind Ace's departure/cover shot; allegedly Kiss's contract stated that at least three of the original members had to be in the group or their contract could be renegotiated. Since Kiss's fortunes were on a decline, they faked Frehley's presence as long as they could in an attempt to avoid rewriting the conditions of their contract, ergo their royalty rate.

Even with that scenario in place, Kiss came on strong with "Creatures Of The Night." The title track was one of the heaviest tracks they'd ever recorded, and Carr pummels the drums in a way Criss could never manage. Simmons stops being a demon clown and goes for the jugular for "War Machine." Paul Stanley digs deep for a loverman blues rocker titled "I Still Love You," one he liked enough to include it when the MTV Unplugged reunion happened a few years down the road. Then there was a rock and roll stomper aimed at the same anthemic status as "Rock and Roll All Night" and "Shout It Out Loud," "I Love It Loud."In fact. there's only one true clinker in the batch and that's Simmons, who just couldn't resist one more cliche in "Rock and Roll Hell." But that's a solid 8 out of 9 songs.

Still, "Creatures of The Night" did not return Kiss to previous heights of glory. They'd have to radicalize their appearance (good-bye make up) and keep the tougher sound for "Lick It Up," the real comeback.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Toad The Wet Sprocket "PS: A Toad The Wet Sprocket Retrospective"

Leapfrogging the Competition
4 Out Of 5 Stars

They'd have pulled three stars just for the fact that they lifted the band name from a Monty Python "MTV News/Rolling Stone" parody skit, but then Toad The Wet Sprocket were a band that didn't want to be conventional. They had an acoustically based rock-pop foundation that was lead by singer Glen Phillips and bandmates that all crafted songs for the band. Phillips, along with guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss lead off with a pair of modest albums, "Bread and Circus" and then "Pale." The songs "Way Away," "Come Back Down," and a different version of "Jam" come from this first duo, and show the band mastering an REM style of jangle pop.

The band refined their sound quickly and the next two albums were the band's watersheds. "Fear" came first and popped up Toad's first top 20 single in "All I Want." Easily one of the better jangle pop songs top come from the 90's, it masked the albums darker themes. "Hold Her Down" is a diatribe against sexual abuse, while "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" is a lush take that follows the good things that life serves you, just as the title states. There was also the stately waltz-time "Walk On The Ocean." "Dulcinea" (which translates roughly in Spanish to a sweet lady) contained more of the same themes, with a sense of whimsy. But the singles were also the toughest of Toad's career to date; "Fall Down" (which squeaked into the Top 40) and an edit of "Something's Always Wrong," again using REM as a starting point. In my opinion, the best two Toad The Wet Sprocket CD's.

It took a couple of years and an odds and ends compilation titled "In Light Syrup" (again with the Monty Python references, from which the jangly "Good Intentions" comes from) before 1997's "Coil" appeared. Toad seemed a bit more somber, and they must have liked the album a lot afterwards, as "Come Down," "Crazy Life," and "Whatever I Fear" all made this best of's cut. It was also the band's highest charting album, peaking at #19. There's three new songs, a redone version of "PS," and the two previously unreleased in the US tunes "Eyes Wide Open" and "Silo Lullaby." Both are good representations of the band's overall sound and dynamic. I may have even bumped this up an extra star had they included their version of KISS's "Rock and Roll All Night" set to roughly the same arrangement as "Walk On The Ocean." But not to be.

Taken as a whole, this is one of those Greatest Hits collections that serves the band well. There are a couple of songs I would have wished for ("Windmills" would be a big one for me), but I am certain every fan has a quibble to make. "PS," by playing with the recording chronology, feels like an album made as a whole and not as a collection culled together without thought. That's how all best of's should be, and Toad The Wet Sprocket" get the treatment they deserve.

PS: Glen Phillips still records and tours, and has several decent solo CD's under his belt.

     

One of the Great 70's Live Albums
4 Out Of 5 Stars

During the great live album glut of the 70's, it seemed every band had a double live set in their back pocket. Thanks to Peter Frampton and Kiss proving that not only could you break a not quite successful band to commercial success, but you could sell these records in tonnage, everyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd to The Tubes were putting their act on disc for all the world to listen to. For the really good ones, it could help define the band. "Live and Dangerous" did just that for Thin Lizzy.

Having broken in the states thanks to "Jailbreak," there was a lot of talk that Lizzy's studio work just didn't measure up to the band's, and especially the late, charismatic frontman Phil Lynott's stage presence. Recorded in London (1976) and Toronto (1977) for the tours supporting "Johnny The Fox" and "Bad Reputation" respectively (and like many other 70's live acts, heavily touched up in the studio), the band was at their creative peak. That means you get stunning versions of "Jailbreak" and "Don't Believe a Word," you also get songs like Bob Seger's "Rosalie" and some should have been hits like "Dancing In The Moonlight" and the lighter "Still In Love With You," where Lynott's presence shines through.

This was also the prime Lizzy lineup: Lynott, Brian Downey, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham. Thin Lizzy knocks these songs out with the kind of energy fanatics knew was missing from the regular albums. The twin guitars are set for stun, and Lynott's underrated bass playing pins it all together. Interband troubles would start after this release in 1978, so this marks the close of a chapter in the band's history, covering many of the major songs from the band's catalog. If all you know of Thin Lizzy is "The Boys Are Back In Town," then "Live and Dangerous" is a great introduction to a great rock band whose career was ultimately cut short too soon.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Judas Priest "The Chosen Few"

Cool Idea, OK Compilation
3 Out Of 5 Stars

This compilation of 17 Judas Priest songs is probably more interesting for its liner notes than the music. Which is pretty amazing, since Judas Priest are one of the top metal groups of all time. However, what sets "The Chosen Few" apart from most collections is the concept. Other hard rockers were invited to select a favorite Priest song and then contribute a brief word or two about why this song, above all the others Judas Priest have recorded, was the choice cut among the hundreds Priest have released.

It makes for some interesting insights. Who would think that David Coverdale of 80's hair band and Randy Blythe of thrash metal band Lamb of God would have something in common? Well, it seems they both have an affinity for Priest's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi With The Two Pronged Crown." Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper both favor "Living After Midnight." Or who would have thought that one of the more maligned Priest albums, "Turbo," would find a champion in Korn's Jonathan Davis, who liked it because of the synths, not despite them.

Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and others pull out their fandom hats and pitch in. It makes for some fun reading, as the participants are about as agog at the idea of contributing to a Judas Priest compilation as the rest of us mere mortals. It also helps that some otherwise passed-over songs, like "Dissident Aggressor," "Beyond The Realms of Death" or "Turbo Lover" make the cut. If you're already a fan of Rob Halford's operatic metal yowls or the twin guitar leads that characterize any great Priest selection, then this CD will probably be unnecessary, a collectable at best. However, if you're a newbie into this legendary band's decades long discography, "The Chosen Few" makes for an interesting gateway drug.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Kiss "Monster"

Dinosaurs Still Stomp the Earth
3 Out Of 5 Stars

For their 20th studio album in 40 years, Kiss lean into their strength as old-man rockers. "Monster" treads the same stomping grounds as past Kiss albums like "Revenge" or "Sonic Boom," doing their utter best to capture passed glories, while still rocking righteously. Paul is still in fine voice and Gene is still in big ego. Expecting anything else?

Well, you shouldn't be. Kiss has been Stanley/Simmons with sidemen since Ace and Peter left almost three decades ago. They have carried that with aplomb and made plenty of good music, even if the themes have not changed all that much. Gene still sings about being the demon and headed "Back To The Stone Age," they still try and flaunt outsider status on "Freak," and Tommy Thayer is coached to sound as much like Ace as he can on "Outta This World." Drummer Eric Singer does his time on "All For The Love of Rock and Roll" to keep up the appearances of a democratic, four man band.

Make no mistake, though. This is the Stanley/Simmons machine, with Paul still strutting his stuff (the love on an elevator saga "Take Me Down Below" and the first single "Hell or Hallelujah") and Gene is still in arrested development ("The Devil Is Me"). The lone concession to trying something out of character is the a capella opening on "Eat Your Heart Out." As for the rest of "Monster," you've heard this before. It's not a bad Kiss album, it's just Kiss being Kiss.

Meanwhile. more from the oldman rock brigade....

     

My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Starz"

You say You Want Action?
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The 1976 debut album from Starz is one of those great bands that somehow came inside of inches before missing the great brass ring, even though this and the follow-up album, "Violation," were as good as or better than the bulk of hard rock in the period. And having recently noted the passing of seventies Hard Rock Guru/Manager extraordinaire Bill Aucoin, it's also worth mentioning that he and his partner/lover Sean Delaney were the ones who discovered and nurtured Starz (then The Fallen Angels).

They pulled in production legend Jack Douglas and the band set about recording the kind of album they wanted to play along with Aerosmith's "Get Your Wings." They had a pair of hard-riffing guitarists (Richie Ranno and Brendan Harken) a Charismatic lead singer in Michael Lee Smith, a mad-cap mustachioed drummer in Joe X Dube and a solid bassist in Pete Sweval. They already had honed their live act to a point where they were the object of a bidding war, so when it was time to lay the tracks down, the only difference between the album and the demos here as bonus tracks is more weight to the sound and some judicious editing.

Arena ready rockers like "Boys In Action," "Detroit Girls" and "Live Wire" still sound as catchy now as in 1976, and their first attempt at a hit with "She's Just a Fallen Angel" was their attempt at a "Dream On" ballad. "Pull The Plug" was a faux-controversy-bait song that fantasized what Micheal Lee Smith would do if he was Karen Ann Quinlan's boyfriend. (Which got the predicted response from rock haters and defenders of decency everywhere; more press for the group.)

And like so many bands from that stable, they sported a killer logo. Rumor even has it that Kiss pressured Aucion to not sign Starz to Casablanca because they were worried about the competition (and causing a rift between Kiss, Casablanca and Aucoin, but made Ranno and Gene Simmons into admirers of each other - Ranno is on Simmons' solo album). "Starz" is a minor gem of 70's hard rock that, if you have admiration for any of the parties mentioned in this review, should make you happy.

     

My Amazon Book Reviews: Bryan J Kinnaird and Sean Delaney "Sean Delany's Hellbox"

The strange, sad case of Sean Delaney
3 out of 5 Stars

Sean Delaney was a linchpin in the creation of KISS, and has been slowly, quietly been deleted from the band's history. When Casablanca evaporated and Glickman-Marks allegedly stole his money, Delaney ended up broke and homeless. "Hellbox" was his attempt on beginning to set the legacy straight. Unfortunately, Delaney died in 2003 at the age of 58. His recorded conversations were then transcribed by Bryan Kinnaird.

The result is a mess of a book with some tantalizing details. Delaney pulls no punches, saving some of his harshest allegations for Neil Bogart and Howard Marks. He has a love-hate relationship with his former proteges, in particular, Gene Simmons. But the books is so thin (I read it in roughly two hours) and riddled with factual errors and typos, it becomes difficult to accept Delaney's accusations. For instance, he repeatedly referees to "Dressed to Kill" as KISS's second album, and even gets his own albums by The Skatt Brothers mixed up.

Part of this can be blamed on Kinnaird, who could have edited and corrected the most glaring errors (Janice Joplin for Janis, etc), but that doesn't help ease the strain on Delaney's more incredible stories. On the other hand, Delaney's life story and tales of 60's New York City are wonderful, as are the road trip stories with the newly (and not yet famous) minted KISS. It's nice to hear some of the KISStory from a perspective outside the band, and "Hellbox" adds a much needed chapter to that legacy.