New KISS

[murkat]

Parasite is one of the coolest KISS tunes ever IMO.

Oh yeah. Most deff.

Try playing it. the timings, riffs, slanks, minors,....

Ace was bringing something to the table that was deff serious guitar orientated stuff that end up being tolerated here and there.

The last cut on Alive, Let me go, Rock and Roll, Ace just lets go and rips it up.

[MCChris]

I'm with murkat. HTH is my favorite Kiss album with the original lineup. Interesting "dark" production.

[Turdus]

Will have to add, for studio (and I am an old Kiss fan)

"Hotter Than Hell" has a unique tone, quality to it, my fav studio because of.

The tracks were done "different" than any other studio album,

Intersting, as I always thought that record had a bit of a muffled tone to it. On DTK, the drums take on a more lively feel. Now, I'm gonna have to go back and listen to Hotter Than Hell. Kinda like on Pat Travers "Putting It Straight". The drums are very clear, for being a 70's record. Almost hard to imagine that is Nicko McBrain on that one.

[alantig]

Can't go wrong w/DTK or HTH. "Alive!" is definitely one of the first I'd recommend. I'm not as high on "Revenge" as some other folks, but for a later period album, I'd look at "Creatures Of The Night". Possibly their hardest album, although it's really just 3/4 of the band. I'm also fond of some of the albums that Kiss fans don't like - think "Elder", "Unmasked" and "Carnival Of Souls".

FWIW, "Destroyer" is considered to be the peak of Kiss's career by many, but I don't think so. I wouldn't call it weak, but I think they had stronger albums. You could probably take the first six studio albums and cut them down to four outstanding albums (but that's probably true of most bands).

Alan

[Tah-lee]

I like the Alive and Alive II albums.

I bought the Ace makeup and did this to myself...

[tmsfo]

Like a previous poster, Kiss is the reason I pickup up a guitar in the first place. I agree that Alive! is probably a good representation of the early work. I thought Creatures of the Night was an excellent return to form after some very weird/soft efforts (Unmasked). They've been a parody of themselves to one degree or another since the 70's. Mark my words - it is only a matter of time before Gene and/or Paul retires, puts ANOTHER replacement behind the makeup and then sits back and enjoys the royalties.

I've seen Kiss about 50 times over the years, and have pretty much lost interest since Thayer joined. Since Ace got sober he puts on a pretty good show. It's more of a straight rock and roll approach rather than flogging the old formula.

[Steve Haynie]

Notice how Tah-lee and Brentrocks have put themselves in Ace makeup/outfits?

There is a clue-- get Ace's 1978 solo album.

[diablo175]

FWIW, "Destroyer" is considered to be the peak of Kiss's career by many, but I don't think so. I wouldn't call it weak, but I think they had stronger albums. You could probably take the first six studio albums and cut them down to four outstanding albums (but that's probably true of most bands).

Alan

IMO, Destroyer was and is my pivotal KISS studio album. It embodies all of the qualities I looked for most in a group/album/music at that point in my life- it had all the sturm und drang, darkness, polish, attitude and guitar tone I could've hoped for. The dark and mystical side of God of Thunder just hypnotized me and there were few, if ANY anthems that spoke more to my burgeoning rock n roll teen rebel persona than King of the Nighttime World & Detroit Rock City. Lastly, there was something magical and romantic about Great Expectations which undoubtedly spoke to my red-lining libido, as well as my closely guarded romantic side

[Brooks]

Can someone here point me to a good compilation of theirs, please? Or maybe some of their outstanding albums? I do want to "get" it!

Alive!

[cynic]

There's a reason KISS concerts today are VERY similar to KISS concerts c. 1976.

I don't think there's a good, representative studio release that captures the best of KISS. I'd explore single tracks at this point, given the portion of their catalog that's been overplayed apparently hasn't done it for you.

Here's my list of what I consider their best tracks off their better albums:

Kiss: Cold Gin, 100,000 Years, Black Diamond

Hotter Than Hell: Parasite, Goin Blind, Strange Ways

Dressed to Kill: Ladies in Waiting, Rock Bottom, She

Destroyer: it's a reach, but I'd say Sweet Pain (excluding the annoying chorus vocals)

There are groups of ten that are more representative of KISS as a whole, but I don't think there are ten better tracks that capture what I felt was good about them back then.

[Armitage]

When I need a little old school inspiration, I still put on KiSS:Alive and rock along with it. Before the boo and drugs did his brain, Ace had a rock'n roll swagger to his playing that's missing everywhere else.

[LordOfTheThighs]

KISS ALIVE! is one the best albums, ever, imo. (My personal all time fav by anybody)

If someone wanted to get a real feel of what they are, the that's the one.

Yeah, it some tweaks in the studio. But if anyone thinks that all other live albums are straight off

the tape, and onto vinyl, then they may need to check into it.

Destroyer is a great album. KISS delves into it heavily for their shows. There really isn't a weak track on it.

Rock And Roll Over is my fav KISS studio album. Take Me ... probably my fav KISS song.

Ace's solo album ... a great hard rawk album. Paul's solo album, is just a hair behind it.

As Revenge was mentioned, I was never a big fan of it. Unholy and I Just Wanna are classic KISS, tho.

I've seen KISS about 20 some odd times, since 1977. Always been my favorite band, old school KISS that is.

I caught the body of Paul's broken Gibson Sonex at a Creatures Of The Night Tour concert. An Eric Carr drumstick on their

Asylum Tour. A few picks from various tours. I never left a KISS show, and felt like I got jipped.

On the other hand,I seen the Deep Purple reunion show, in the mid 80's, and wanted my money back. Blackmore stood there

the whole night, with his thumb in his ass. A KISS show ... they always play at 100%.

I love Zep, Aerosmith, Priest, Sab, AC/DC, Beatles, etc. But KISS always pushed my buttons in the right way.

[FrettyMcgee]

There's a surpising amount of KISS love here.

I'm another one who started because of KISS. My standard line is that KISS made me what to play guitar, and Van Halen made me want to play guitar well. I've been to every KISS tour since 1980, so that means I seen them through some lean years.

But really, I'm bummed out because this release (and it may be great) and the last release I've felt nothing but a big bucket of who gives a f@ck. It's mostly because of the two jokers pretending to be Ace and Peter. That, and the constant bad mouthing of former members by P & G. It turns me off completely. I had zero issue with other line up memebers like Eric Carr, Bruce Kulick, and even Vinnie Vincent because that least they where trying to carve out something of their own. Sometimes it worked, but mostly it didn't....however, they tried moving in different directions.

It just feels all kinds of wrong to have a dude lifting another guy's licks directly. $immon$ and Stanley might own the trademark to makeup patterns, but I doubt they own a playing style patent.

Bah, don't get me started!

I'm gonna go listen to Alive. Love that Frehley syncopation on 100,000 Years.

[rj2858]

I like the Alive and Alive II albums.

I bought the Ace makeup and did this to myself...

Just for that, I'm pulling the picture of your new Roccaforte!

[tommy p]

Never liked them growing up, but I did have Creatures of the Night and Ace's solo album. The drummer and bass player in my band LOVE them so I gave them another shot a few years ago and now I like something off of pretty much every album and I actually bought Sonic Boom. I think I'll be getting this one too.

[alantig]

FWIW, "Destroyer" is considered to be the peak of Kiss's career by many, but I don't think so. I wouldn't call it weak, but I think they had stronger albums. You could probably take the first six studio albums and cut them down to four outstanding albums (but that's probably true of most bands).

Alan

IMO, Destroyer was and is my pivotal KISS studio album. It embodies all of the qualities I looked for most in a group/album/music at that point in my life- it had all the sturm und drang, darkness, polish, attitude and guitar tone I could've hoped for. The dark and mystical side of God of Thunder just hypnotized me and there were few, if ANY anthems that spoke more to my burgeoning rock n roll teen rebel persona than King of the Nighttime World & Detroit Rock City. Lastly, there was something magical and romantic about Great Expectations which undoubtedly spoke to my red-lining libido, as well as my closely guarded romantic side

Even as I typed that, I was kind of surprised. Don't get me wrong - I like Destroyer, but a lot of what people criticize other Kiss albums for can be applied here. "Great Expectations" is a song I've gone back and forth on at times (mostly I really like it), but if you played that for someone who didn't know Kiss inside and out, they wouldn't peg that as a Kiss song. It sounds a bit like Kiss trying to be something other than a straight rock and roll band, which is not a bad thing, but it's the kind of thing they've said about "The Elder" and "Carnival Of Souls" (both of which I like more than most Kiss fans seem to).

And the Ace solo album is an excellent choice.

Lastly, FrettyMcgee touches on a lot of points that have made me largely indifferent to recent Kiss efforts. I don't mind so much that they've replaced Ace and Peter, but it does bug me that they're having Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer play Peter and Ace. The last time I saw them, Thayer was still doing some of the stumbling and moving like Ace, but he was getting away from playing just like Ace. But they started doing Ace and Peter's signature songs, and I'm sorry, that just rubs me the wrong way. And the constant criticism from Gene and Paul is old, but I guess they can't get over the fact that fans still recognize that there's a certain magic that happens when those four get together and it can't be replicated.

I think my favorite development of recent years was when Gene and Paul were trying to push Tommy on the fans and said now that they had better players in the band, they'd be able to play songs that the other guys just couldn't pull off. The ones I remember were "Love Her All I Can" and "Anything For My Baby", and they didn't survive to the end of the tour. When I saw Ace last year, he played both of those (better than Kiss did) - AND "Flaming Youth". He didn't really say anything, even in interviews, but it struck me as being a big middle finger to Gene and Paul.

Alan