Kiss Questions

[phlogiston]

I've spent the goodest part of my music listening days understanding that Kiss were pretty big and influential, but failing to see what was so special about them myself. I mean, yeah, they had a couple of catchy songs, and there was nothing particualrly offensive about anything else I heard, but they were kinda just, you know.

The last few days I seem to have remedied that a bit. I listened to Revenge all the way through a few times just on a whim, and now I think I get it. The catchy radio songs don't seem to be representative of the best stuff.

So. To my questions. And these have been asked and discussed in depth before, and are probably really easy to find out on my own, but I'm lazy and like getting others to do my hard work for me.

1) Who's mainly responsible for the guitar solos? Paul, or [Ace/Vinnie/Tommy/Bruce/the guitarist in question who's not Paul]?

2) What's be best album? I've got bits and pieces, but they're all over the place. From what I can tell, I like Revenge and Creatures of the Night album stuff the best. Are they the same era, or are there multiple peaks? I seem not to like (or at least, appreciate) the early stuff all that much. Not sure why.

I had others, but I'm meant to be working. Maybe I'll introduce them as the thread wears on (assuming that it does). They'll probably all get answered when Trix turns and posts his dissertation on the subject.

I really should go back and read the old threads, but what they hey, it's been pretty quiet around here recently.

 

[Icarus]

The guitar solos are pretty much alwasy done by the none paul guitarist.

Album - really depends on if you like 70s or 80s kiss more. I prefer 80s kiss so my favs are creatures, asylum and crazy nights. Hot in the shade does have hide your heart which is one of the best kiss songs ever.
70s kiss my favs are probably alive and rock and roll over. Most of the 70s albums do have a handful of great songs on them though.

The mid-late 80s stuff is more commercial 80s pop rock stuff which is probably why I like it the most. I reckon just wait to see what Trixxy says. His obsession with the P-Stan borders on disturbing, but he knows his shit

 

[TinMan666]

Destroyer! You've gotta have Destroyer!

Kiss was my favourite band (along with Maiden) when I was first learning guitar and getting into rock / metal music. I'm going through a bit of a revival at the moment and really digging them again. All I have here is Revenge & Alive 111 though, everything else is on vinyl at my parent's house

 

[Wrathchild]

You didn't seriously expect me not to answer this, did you?

1. Lead guitarists are typically Ace, Vinnie, Mark, Bruce or whichever session player was hanging around the studio at the time (eg Rick Derringer, Bob Kulick, Robben Ford or Dick Wagner to name a few). Paul can and does play lead on occasion, but he's not known for it.

2. Revenge and Creatures are the two best albums in terms of a metal type sound. You might also dig Carnival Of Souls, which is good in a KISS-does-Soundgarden-doing-Black-Sabbath sort of way. It's very dark in a way that KISS aren't known for, but ideal mood music for days when you feel like your life's going down the toilet. I had this on repeat play for much of last year (nuff said).

2a) I second Tinman's Destroyer suggestion and raise him the self-titled debut album. To appreciate vintage KISS at its best though, you simply must hear it live. For that, grab Alive! (1975) and Alive II (1977). The remasters of both are fantastic and best bought in batches of twelve. Paul's and Ace's 1978 solo albums get a lot of airplay around here too.

W

 

[Winmar]

Oh fuck, I can feel a Trixxi dissertation coming on.

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

The guitar solos question has been answered pretty much, with a few exceptions obviously, the solos were by:
Ace Frehley (1974-1981)
Vinnie Vincent (1982-1983)
Mark St John (1984)
Bruce Kulick (1985-1995)
Tommy Thayer (1998-Present, coz I think he played lead on the Psycho Circus album)

Best albums, it's hard to tell really without breaking it up into "eras" because the band has changed so much over the years. But here are my recommendations for each era...

If you want early "vintage" KISS, you just need "Alive!". The best songs from the first 3 albums all sounding better than the studio versions. GREAT live rock album, the best! And this era is so underrated musically too, Gene's bass playing is SO underrated, the majority of these songs totally get their drive from his bass lines, great stuff! Peter is also on fire on the drums, for the only time in his career. And there are no cheesy anthems (besides Rock & Roll All Nite) either, it's all just raw, catchy sleaze rock!

As far as the 1976-1978 classic KISS era is concerned where they were pretty much on top of the world, I would say Destroyer is criminally overrated, I don't like many songs on it at all and the production is too over the top with sound effects and strings and everything everywhere. I would say "ROCK N ROLL OVER" is the best album of this era by FAR!! Probably has one of the best guitar sounds that had ever been recorded up to that point, tons of great songs, still has alot of the sleaze & attitude of the early albums but it's also a good reflection of their larger than life vibe at the time too! But you really need to pick up "Double Platinum", their 20-track 1978 best of. 20 tracks from 1974-78 (and still plenty of classics left off too), gives you a good idea of the classic era.

Next is what I'd call the "identity crisis" era! 1979-1983. This is when (besides Australia where they were at their biggest in 79/80) their popularity really started declining, rock was being overshadowed by disco, Ace & Peter's drug & alcohol problems exploded, the original lineup split, etc. While very light & pop sounding, "Unmasked" (1980) has some EXCELLENT songs on it, Dynasty (1979) is weak though except for a couple of Stanley tracks. Then there's The Elder from 1981, their concept album, I wouldn't recommend it but I know Wrathy loves it. Then they went heavy metal again, back to their roots, with "Creatures of the Night" in 1982 with Ace outta the band and Vinnie replacing him, taking the sound into the 80s. Their heaviest album but overrated in terms of how many good songs are actually on it. Still wasnt enough to give them success though, so in '83 they took off the makeup for a new beginning, and did a similar album to Creatures but more melodic and with more good songs, "Lick It Up". That's my fave from this era but nothing from this era is "essential" really to a non-KISS fan, more interesting albums making up a chapter of their career (but with plenty of good songs among them still).

Next era is my FAVOURITE by far!!!!! The Stanley Years, 1984-1989! This is when Simmons was off making movies, Vinnie had been kicked out and now we have Kulick on lead guitar whose playing is much more suited to Stanley's songs, most of the songs were sung & written by Stanley instead of Simmons (and EVERY 80s non-makeup single & video released was a Stanley song), and the sound was all about super melodic hooks, big melodic choruses, flashy but tasteful guitar solos, and slick '80s pop-metal production. All the albums from this era are great, but my favourite is Crazy Nights from 1987! Most consistent & best production and most reflective of the era too. And if you remove Gene's songs from Animalize & Asylum, and cut out about 4 of Gene's songs from Hot In The Shade (too long that album), the rest of those albums are amazing too and chock full of huge melodic Stanley CORKERS!!!!!

Finally is the "Ignore the 80s & Celebrate Klassic KISS" era First up we have Revenge, though it has some great songs, the big slick melodic Stanley songs of the 80s being replaced with rallying anthems, heavy (but usually weak songwriting) Simmons material, etc. Alive III is mainly a mix of Revenge & Creatures of the Night material with a couple of non-makeup 80s hits and some revamped vintage KISS worked in. MTV Unplugged saw Peter & Ace jam on a few songs with them, and sure enough that led to a Reunion Tour and the band is back in makeup celebrating the classic mid-late 70s era. As disappointing as that may be in comparison to the Crazy Nights era in terms of songs though, they still fuckin slaughter every other band live.

So my picks:
Alive!
Rock & Roll Over
Double Platinum
Asylum
Crazy Nights
Hot In The Shade
Alive III

Also, for the 80s era... There is a recent best of that was part of the 20th Century Masters compilation series. There are 2 KISS ones, the first is all classic hits like every other KISS best of, but the 2nd one is all 1982-1989 so that will give you 12 of the key songs from Creatures to Hot In The Shade, all Stanley songs too except "I Love It Loud".

 

[Icarus]

Trenty, lets put the X in sex. Love's like a muscle and you make me wanna flex.

 

[phlogiston]

Thanks all. I got busy last night, and now my collection is pretty much complete. I love my cable.

Now I've just gotta get time to listen to them all.

 

[Goreripper]

Trent likes KISS.

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

Yeah they're ok.