2025 in 2025: Day 81

The Game - Queen

When I was young, I would see reviews of this album that proclaimed a 5 star album and I really didn't quite get it. Now I absolutely do. It is pretty much pop rock perfection with a bit of a little bit of a throwback to old rock'n roll. And a side of super strong funk. Who thought Don't Try Suicide was a good idea? The bridge is great, but boy those lyrics are... a choice. This is not my favourite Queen album, mostly because it is the least 'Queen' sounding at times, but it may well be their most enjoyable listen.

Highlights: Dragon Attack, Another One Bites the Dust, Rock It (Prime Jive), Sail Away Sweet Sister

9/10

Gangnum Style - PSY

I do not trust anyone that cannot enjoy this song. It is a party.

10/10

Gangnum Style/2 Legit 2 Quit Mashup - PSY (feat. MC Hammer)

How do you make an awesome more awesome? Mix it with another awesome song! It is basically just Gangnum Style with the 2 Legit chorus at the end, but that is a very good idea.

10/10

Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio

Sadly, I do not have this full album. I should sort that out one day, because Coolio sure did have some cool(io?) moments. Especially the theme song for Kenan & Kel. That was a fun show. Coolio was a fun dude. Hip-hop should be fun sometimes.

Highlights: Gangsta's Paradise, 1 2 3 4 (Sumpin' New)

9/10

Garbage - Garbage

In hindsight, I feel like a lot of pop music today owe a lot to what Garbage brought out; that whole alt rock with electronicness was not really being done before them, and they really pushed it hard. I always find the guitars on this album way over produced, but I think that is intentional on their part to really work with the whole electronic thing. Also, I heard a live version of My Lover's Box that showed me they didn't really capture the real awesomeness of Shirley Manson. I would like to one day get the reissues, but I am glad I do not have them yet, because I have so much to listen to already that I do not need to add 60 remixes of Milk.

Highlights: Supervixen, Vow, My Lover's Box, Fix Me Now

8/10

Gene Simmons - Gene Simmons

I'm going to listen and review this without reading any of my earlier post to see if my position changes... and... nope. Possibly the worst album that I will not only continue to own and store in my iTunes library, but also plan on upgrading because I am stupid.

Highlights: Radioactive, See You in Your Dreams

5/10

General Ulysses S. Hospital - The Shit

This is probably the least memorable of The Shit's vast and incredibly discography. Seems to be mostly about poo and being sick? And ends with a party jam about sex? But before that is an ode to the poet Snoop Dogg and some philosophical musings on religious figures like Buddah and Jesus and the Michelin Man.

Highlights: Buddah vs. Jesus

6/10

Generation Swine - Mötley Crüe

The popular opinion is to trash this album. But LOGMAN does not subscribe to conventional ideas and thinks this album rocks and has done since 1997. Sure, it is a bit of a mess, and Bryan Adams somehow helped make one of the worst ballads ever (which is like the opposite of his powers), but gawdam some of these songs are fun as nuts. 

Highlights: Flush, Shout at the Devil '97

7.5/10

Generation Swine (2003 Remastered) - Mötley Crüe

Yeah this is pointless; just the bonus tracks from the re-release, because I'm too cheap to even buy a single Mötley Crüe remaster, apparently. I like one of these...

Highlights: Kiss the Sky

6/10

Generation Terrorists - Manic Street Preachers

My biggest take away from this album is it really needed an edit. While it features two of the Manic's best songs ever - possibly best songs by anyone ever? - and some other great rockin' tracks, there is a bit of filler that just makes the album drag. So cut some of that and give the whole thing a remix and you have yourself a killer album, perhaps?

Highlights: Motorcycle Emptiness, Stay Beautiful, Nat West - Barclays - Midlands - Lloyds, Methadone Pretty

7/10

George Harrison - George Harrison

Well, that certainly is a change of pace! This is George at possibly his most happiest and chilled, just a collection of nice pop songs. Some of them really good, actually. Even a song in reference to F1. Imagine being so successful in your career you can just take a year off to follow the F1 championship around the world...

Highlights: If You Believe, Faster, Love Comes to Everyone, Blow Away

7/10

Get a Grip - Aerosmith

Wow, I can not remember the last time I listened to this album. And my memory is really hazy about what I thought about it, because it has been a helluva jam today! Aerosmith with some hard rock boogie really does hit the spot. And those epic songs like Livin' on the Edge and Cryin' are just awesome. Bruce Fairbairn was dang great producer.

Highlights: Eat the Rich, Livin' on the Edge, Shut Up and Dance, Cryin', Amazing

9/10

Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes

Jack White sure does love his Whammy pedal. And I guess he just discovered various percussion instruments, because they are all over this album; marimbas, shakers, bells. It is like listening to one of DRA's stupid Garageband albums. In fact, The Nurse sounds exactly like one of those songs! It could easily be from a DJ Reggie album.

Highlights: Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, The Denial Twist

5/10

Get Nice! - Zebrahead

This ticks all the boxes for what I want in a pop-punk album; great riffs & hooks, singing about middle finger to the world, and just do your thing and have a great time. Even some references to Mötley Crüe and pro-wrestling! In true LOGMAN fashion, I have the Japanese version of this album that features two bonus tracks and holy balls they are worth it!

Highlights: Nothing to Lose, Get Nice!, Nudist Priest, This is Gonna Hurt You Way More Than It's Gonna Hurt Me, Light Up the Sky

9/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 662

2025 in 2025: Day 47

The Craft: Music from the Motion Picture - Various Artists

This is a whole bunch of 90s artists covering a bunch of 'classic' songs. Luckily for me, this includes a few of my favourite artists! We get Our Lady Peace doing a fairly standard remake of The Beatles' epic Tomorrow Never Knows, Letters to Cleo doing a song by The Cars, and then crap like Tripping Daisy completely ruining Jump Into the Fire. Bah gawd the LCD Soundsystem cover is a million times better, as is the original. But the real highlights are Heather Nova covering Peter Gabriel's I Have the Touch and some band called Love Spit Love performing the theme from Charmed! Yes, that is how I best knew the song and this version; it wasn't until many years later that someone told me it was actually a song by The Smiths. I like this version. I like Charmed. I have been meaning to watch that again - I never actually watched seasons 7 and 8...

Highlights: I Have the Touch - Heather Nova, How Soon Is Now? - Love Spit Love, Tomorrow Never Knows - Our Lady Peace

6/10

Crazy in Love - ITZY

This may be the most inconsistent ITZY release; there are some killer songs - and some that are right up there with the best of their songs - but there are also some of their worst songs on here. Or at least one bad song and a few weak ones. But yeah, those good songs are awesome. LOVE is a perfect ballad and Chillin' Chillin' is the most fun you can have - and hilariously both songs are exactly 3:30. Fun!

Highlights: LOCO, Sooo LUCKY, LOVE is, Chillin' Chillin'

7/10

Crazy Nights - Kiss

I'm not sure I need to write about this again? Maybe I do? Crazy Crazy Nights always hits hard. This album is just 80s good fun and makes me want to get a hot chocolate. It's cold, okay?

Highlights: Crazy Crazy Nights, Reason to Live, Turn on the Night

8/10

Crazy World - Scorpions

This is only the song Wind of Change. It is probably the only Scorpions song I have ever heard. Maybe I should hear more someday...

8/10

Creatures of the Night (40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) - Kiss

This is two discs of demos and rarities from the Creatures of the Night sessions. Because listening to a bunch of Kiss demos has always worked out so well for me... but actually, these are not so bad. Things kick off with the *exclusive* tracks from Killers. I like them more than I apparently did during Kissathon II. Then it is demos for a song from Lick It Up, a song Peter Criss recorded on Let Me Rock You, the songs that appeared earlier/on Killers, a bunch of Gene's solo nonsense, a couple of songs recorded during the making of The Elder? And a Bryan Adams song. So anything BUT a song that actually was recorded for Creatures of the Night. I would actually complain, but I'll damned if the demo for Not For the Innocent isn't a million times better than how it actually ended up on Lick It Up; Paul singing the chorus is soooo much better! Also, It's My Life is here in demo form. And that song is awesome. Even without Ace doing some vocals. So this is not a total loss, although Chrome Goes Into Motion does sound legit like Spinal Tap. Then we are on to outtakes? So actual Creatures of the Night songs. Mostly. And mostly pointless. Unless you want to hear some bad guitar playing while Paul fumbles his way through I Still Love You a couple of times. At least the drums in the Saint And Sinner outtakes are massive. Gene's mouth-guitar solos are kind of fun, too. 

Highlights: Rock and Roll Hell [Take 2], I'm a Legend Tonight, Nowhere to Run, Not for the Innocent [Demo], It's My Life [Demo]

6.5/10

Creatures of the Night (1985 Remix) - Kiss

Ha! The last track on the Creatures of the Night (40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) was the 1985 remix of Creatures of the Night. The first track on this album is the same song. So between the outtakes and then having this song repeated, I'm a little over this already. I wrote about this version of the album before and I stand by what I said. I definitely prefer this tracklisting. One day I might remove this album and just rework the tracklisting of the 'proper' version. One day...

Highlights: The better tracklisting

8/10

Creatures of the Night (Remaster) - Kiss

There was a noticeable volume jump to this from the 1985 remix, so I moved to turn it down. But then I decided I've been listening to this album for a while now and I want to hear it loud. It is much better. Also, the original mix is better than the 1985 mix. 

Highlights: Keep Me Comin', Rock and Roll Hell, I Love it Loud

9/10

Criss (Special Limited Edition EP) - Peter Criss

The Cat is a pretty fun song. The nursery rhymes are odd and mocking Gene and Paul always wins points with me. Did he end it with him hissing at people or something? This dude singing on Show Me is okay, I guess. He made a Queen reference, I think, so he also wins points with me. I seem to like him more than I did during Kissathon II. Like might not be the right word, but I was certainly harsh then.

Highlights: The Cat, Beth (Acoustic)

6.5/10

Criss Cat #1 - Peter Criss

Oh, that album title is not correct. This has been a fairly Kiss heavy day, which is at least proving easy for me to write about! Blue Moon Over Brooklyn is nowhere near as bad as I wrote initially. Or maybe it is just relative to how awful Peter Criss got later in his career? I also wrote that Down with the Sun is an instrumental? There are a lot of vocals - perhaps I was just referring to the music side of the song? Because the outro section is really good. Genuinely solid album!
Highlights: Bad Attitude, Walk the Line, Good Times, Down with the Sun

7/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 363

Music Talk: Kiss Goodbye - Day Three

I'm kicking my day off with MTV Unplugged. This was actually a tough decision; I wasn't sure if I make today the last day or increase to four, and add a day of all the 80's and 90's stuff. And then the question would be where to put that in my journey - do I do it today so that I end tomorrow on great stuff, and I can sandwich it between good times? In the end, I decided to continue my focus on the original line-up by kicking it off with their reunion. And, quite honestly, this is the best fucking album and a great way to start a day when you just want to sleep but have to get up and do life.

The only downer to this approach is I'm pretty much going to just be listening to live albums, so I'll just be hearing the same songs all day. But these are all great live albums and they are playing great songs, so it's not that bad. Then we hit the fun "live" compilation of You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! I've already listened to, like, 80% of these tracks on day one, but this was an excuse to crank up Room Service and Two Timer, because I just love those tracks and these fake live versions are great. No one does fake live better than Kiss. 

Now it's time for a an actual reunion-era concert, thanks to the "Off the Soundboard" series - it's Kiss Live at Donington 1996! I have some bootleg video of this that sadly is not pro-shot, but I should totally sync the two up and watch some time. I've seen enough to know they all get a bit samey-samey, but goddamn I do love me some reunion tour stuff. And this is a very good concert that I enjoy a lot.

And we're now in the Psycho Circus! Ok, fine, I will listen to some Tommy Thayer. At least here I can kind of pretend it isn't him... and we do get Ace and Peter on one song, so that's something? I threw in It's My Life from The Box Set, because it was recorded around this time and it's actually a very cool song. And that bonus disc of live stuff is great as well.

Now we hit The Millenium Concert from the Alive box set, which I will forever label as Alive IV. I'm digging it today; I kinda like the slower tempo a lot of the songs have been given (even if some of the tempos are a little inconsistent), and everyone sounds in good form. It is so obvious Beth is not live that it is just downright hilarious. And just when I'm saying the slower tempos are cool, here they go and throw me the most pedestrian version of Rock'n Roll All Nite that probably only makes you want to party every other day...

And that will do me for today. I was going to finish off with Live in Tokyo from the "Off the Soundboard" series, but I don't have time. So instead, I will give Dressed to Kill another spin. Because I can.

Music Talk: Kiss Goodbye - Day Two

So Kiss had their "final" concert the other day, which has led me to making this a bit of a Kiss week on the ol' iPhone playlist. I was originally planning on a full-fledged Kissathon III: the timing felt very appropriate, because it was about 10 years ago I did the original Kissathon blogging, and it being the end of Kiss and their 50th anniversary, it just felt it was time to take an expert-level approach to this and include a whole bunch of stuff that I skipped last time and has been released since, such as Eric Carr's "solo album" and all of Gene Simmons' solo work (yes, even including the dreaded vault - 8 discs of demos that would likely make me laugh or die of boredom)... but then I realised that I really don't have the patience to deal with Tommy Thayer again.

So instead, I made the bold choice to just do a Monday of the OG line-up. From the self-titled album through to the solo albums. And with a nice strong matcha, I gotta say... I had a great time. A great reminder of why I love Kiss so much. If I hadn't been exhausted from being awake for almost 24 hours and walking a millions kms, you can bet I would have picked up my guitar and jammed out to Dressed to Kill before bed. And I don't really need to talk about those first 12 albums, because 10 of them are pure awesome, 1 is pretty decent, and the last just hilariously awful. But I will reiterate that self-titled to Alive! is gold. I'm really hoping that Kiss can put together some type of awesome box set to commemorate that period next year. And maybe finally give Hotter Than Hell a remix while they're at it?

Of course, I am still waiting for my Diamonds and Pearls box set to arrive (well, not anymore - it arrived while I'm typing this), so I had to plan for another day of Kiss greatness. Which actually works for me, because then I can tick off the fake OG line-up albums.

So this morning I started things off with Destroyer {Resurrected}, which is now my official "go-to" whenever I want to listen to Destroyer. Honestly, I love how alive the mix is; the whole thing just lifts the energy to a higher level. Plus, it's great having an actual Ace Frehley solo on there instead of Bob Kulick and Dr. Wagner. Which leads me to my current listen... the Destroyer 45th Anniversary box set.

Not doing 100 hours of demos was a great choice. Because these demos are dumb. Admittedly, I do enjoy hearing Paul Stanley sing God of Thunder, and maybe It's the Fire could have been a decent song if they had finished it off, but the rest are either songs that eventually became better songs, or just Gene making a lameburger.

Now I'm on to the 3rd disc, which consists of single versions and remixes. And the real highlight - Ain't None of Your Business, an actual studio outtake from the sessions. It's some cover song? And was going to be Peter's song on the album before he gave them Beth. Kisstory would be completely different had that not happened; this album might not have been such a success, Kiss might never have reached the heights they did, and Ace Frehley might not have spent 40 years incorrectly thinking he had won a Grammy! Anyways, Ain't None of Your Business is actually much more like Peter's songs on their earlier albums, but doesn't fit in with the style of Destroyer at all. So I like it a lot.

Finally, we get a disc of the band live in Paris on the Destroyer tour. It's hilariously terrible quality. Almost has hilarious as Paul Stanley's guitar playing. But it's high energy fun that I can only wish I was watching instead of just listening to. Every time I listen to this box set (this would likely be the 3rd, at best) I convince myself I could never justify purchasing it at the exorbitant Kiss-style price tag. Then I see that atmos mix of Destroyer and the big silliness of the box set and I think to myself  'ooh I should get that next time I see it on special'.

Yes, I'm a moron.

Then we move on a 1977 concert from the "Off the Soundboard" series. This is better quality than the '76 show - which you would expect from a soundboard recording. I'm a fan of any live set that opens with I Stole Your Love, so this one is an immediate win for me! In fact, this setlist is almost completely songs from Destroyer to Love Gun, so that makes this quite different. Again, that is a plus! For some reason, the bass disappears every so often. Since this is a soundboard recording, I can only assume that means Gene hadn't yet learned the art of miming to backing tracks....

On to Double Platinum. I talked about that before. It's a Kiss compilation, but with added stuff to make the songs... more... something. And then we're on to Dynasty and Unmasked to close out the day. Maybe Greatest Kiss as well, since that's a full-on awesome compilation of the original line-up. All of this is awesome.

Prince may have to wait another day so I can action another day of Kiss.

KISSATHON 2015: Finished Business

Victory!

Kissathon blogging is finally complete! And what fun it was - I'm sure you had a great time as well. Now let's have a look at the overall results and determine where Kiss are the shit and where they are just shit...


Best Kiss Studio Album:
DRESSED TO KILL (1975)
No surprise. They wear the suits on the cover because they knew they'd be accepting this award.
Runners Up: Love Gun, Hotter Than Hell, Creatures of the Night

Worst Kiss Studio Album:
MUSIC FROM "THE ELDER" (1981)
This was quite close, and quite frankly I'm surprised Sonic Boom or Monster didn't take this. But I guess those albums had a few songs that weren't totally awful, whereas The Elder was just a joke.
Runners Up: Sonic Boom, Monster, Lick It Up

Best Solo Album:
ACE FREHLEY (1978)
Very close decision, but there is no denying the brilliance of Ace's solo debut.
Runners Up: Trouble Walkin' - Ace Frehley, Anomaly - Ace Frehley, Space Invader - Ace Frehley

Worst Solo Album:
GENE SIMMONS (1978)
Not as close as you would think. I really can't believe that some people can pretend that is a good album. Then again, some people try and pretend Music From "The Elder" is a good album. Some people are fucking stupid.
Runners Up: One For All - Peter Criss, Peter Criss, Out of Control - Peter Criss

Best Compilation:
GREATEST KISS (1997)
Less of a surprise than Dressed to Kill pulling out Best Studio Album. Especially considering my review basically saying it was near perfection - total spoiler alert if ever I saw one.
Runners Up: You Wanted the Best You Got the Best!!, 12 Picks - Ace Frehley, Double Platinum

Worst Compilation:
SPACEWALK: A TRIBUTE TO ACE FREHLEY (1996)
Good. Because not even an awesome Ace Frehley song can cure me from the Balschko's disease this album gave me.
Runners Up: Love Gun - Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc, The Box Set Disc 1, The Box Set Disc 2

Best Live Album:
MTV UNPLUGGED (1995)
This was extremely close - honestly only a fraction in it!
Runners Up: Alive!, Alive IV, Alive III

Worst Live Album:
ONE LIVE KISS (2009)
I just realised this was a pointless category - totally thought there were more live albums than there actually was.
Runners Up: Psycho Circus Bonus Disc, Live+1 - Frehley's Comet, Alive II

Best Album of the Makeup Era:
ALIVE! (1975)
Quite surprised to see this score so much higher than everything else because I thought I had been harsh on it. But it is pretty legendary - now you know why!
Runners Up: Ace Frehley, Dressed to Kill, Love Gun

Worst Album of the Makeup Era:
GENE SIMMONS (1978)
Well, that will teach you, Gene...
Runners Up: Music From "The Elder", Sonic Boom, Monster

Best Album of the Non-Makeup Era:
ALIVE III (1993)
I guess, technically, Unplugged was still the non-makeup era. But it had an unfair advantage by including the original lineup and being mostly songs from the makeup era. And being awesome.
Runners Up: Revenge, Crazy Nights, Asylum

Best Album of the 70s:
ALIVE! (1975)
These results are just a repeat of the Best Makeup Era results, for obvious reasons...
Runners Up: Ace Frehley, Dressed to Kill, Love Gun

Worst Album of the 70s:
GENE SIMMONS (1978)
Ha! In your face again, Gene!
Runners Up: Peter Criss, Rock and Roll Over, Kiss

Best Album of the 80s:
TROUBLE WALKIN' (1989)
Of course Ace's masterpiece would take this title. No other album in the 80s even came close!
Runners Up: Creatures of the Night, Killers, Live+1 - Frehley's Comet

Best Album of the 90s:
ALIVE III (1993)
Again, I've taken out the compilations because they have an unfair advantage by being made up of 70s Kiss. Alas, Kiss didn't actually release a great deal of original material in the 90s...
Runners Up: Revenge, Psycho Circus, Criss EP - Peter Criss

Worst Album of the 90s:
SPACEWALK: A TRIBUTE TO ACE FREHLEY (1996)
Ugh, I had to be reminded that album existed...
Runners Up: Cat #1 - Peter Criss, Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions, Criss EP - Peter Criss

Best Album of the 21st Century:
ALIVE IV (2000)
I probably should have just done the Century thing instead of the decades. Wouldn't have changed much, though.
Runners Up: Anomaly - Ace Frehley, Space Invader - Ace Frehley, Destroyer {Resurrected}

Worst Album of the 21st Century:
SONIC BOOM (2009)
Fuck you, Tommy Thayer!
Runners Up: One For All - Peter Criss, Monster, Live to Win - Paul Stanley

The Middle:
DESTROYER {RESURRECTED} (2012)
I thought it might be interesting to see what scored in the middle of the pack...
Runners Up: Frehley's Comet, Kiss, The Box Set Disc 4

The Other Side of the Middle:
REVENGE (1992)
So Destroyer {Resurrected} was number 30 - this is number 31. Surprising to see how far down an album like this scored, considering I really like it. And the ones that follow. Kind of shows the depth of awesome Kiss are when things don't actually start getting bad until after 40.
Runners Up: Unmasked, Rock and Roll Over, Psycho Circus Bonus Disc

Best Album:
GREATEST KISS (1997)
It's the best of the original line up - the best line up by far. So this album is a great compilation. Surprised to see it edge out MTV Unplugged, but is what it is!
Runners Up: MTV Unplugged, Alive!, Ace Frehley

Worst Album:
GENE SIMMONS (1978)
Kind of surprised to see it take the spot for worst of all, but it really is a terrible album. If you think otherwise, you should consider suicide. Please kill Tommy Thayer on your way out.
Runners Up: Music From "The Elder", Sonic Boom, One For All - Peter Criss

YUME NO UKIYO NI SAITEMINA (2015)

The school girls would not allow Kiss to join in their game of hop-scotch. Especially with Tommy Thayer...

This is an EP with Momoiro Clover Z - a Japanese all-girl pop group. And it is just the same song done in two different ways: the first is sung in Japanese by the girls (with backing vocals from Kiss) and then it is performed by Kiss with Momoiro Clover Z providing backing vocals. I kind of prefer the Japanese version. Most likely because of my love affair with J-Pop. BUT the Kiss version (called Samurai Son) is probably just as good.

Not a bad song and a fun way to end Kissathon 2015.


Highlights:
Uh, Kiss rocking out with J-Pop. That is absolute good times.

Lowlights:
Tommy fucking Thayer



Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

DESTROYER RESURRECTED (2012)

You should be dancing, yeah...

Destroyer! Kiss! Actual Kiss and an actual awesome fucking album!!!

Thank Prime they re-released this album when they did, otherwise my lasting impression of this whole exercise would be the shit I just had to endure. But Destroyer is here to wash away the pain. And with a new improved mix and remastering? Count me the fuck in!!!

And that's really all there is to it; this is Destroyer with improved sound. And actually improved, not just some garbage promo line where they've actually ruined the sonic qualities with a shitty remastering job (looking at you, Duran Duran). The whole thing got remixed and it shows, because this album has never sounded better. Plus, Ace gets his solo back in Sweet Pain. Because Kiss needs more Ace and less Wagner. Unless we're talking Dr. Wagner, Jr.

Because everyone in the world needs more Dr. Wagner, Jr.


Highlights:
Detroit Rock City, King of the Night Time World, Shout It Out Loud, Do You Love Me?

Lowlights:
Rock and Roll Party - that could have easily been left off the album and no one would have been hurt. But otherwise, fuck you! It's Destroyer with improved sound!



Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

MONSTER (2012)

A Kiss tribute band crashed the Rammstein photo shoot...

These guys again???

Well, things are off to a better start with Hell or Hallelujah - admittedly a pretty cool song, if not for a terrible attempt at a guitar solo from Tommy Thayer. Same goes for Wall of Sound. I'm a Freak is a terrible name for a song but the song itself isn't quite that bad, if a little contrived. And by a little, I sure as hell mean totally. Maybe this album isn't going to be as bad as Sonic Boom? Maybe Gene and Paul have remembered how to write memorable songs that rock without being lame? Maybe Kiss are just as awesome as they've always been??

Nope.

Gene sings about going Back to the Stone Age and tries to make another shittier version of God of Thunder with The Devil is Me, Paul goes back to his usual crap with Shout Mercy and Eric Singer gets saddled with the corniest garbage possible, thanks to Paul and his never-ending quest to write another rock'n roll anthem. Spoiler alert: All For the Love of Rock & Roll failed yet again. And then we get Outta This World with mother fucking Tommy Thayer again...

Look, I get it - you are now 'The Spaceman'. But the problem is, we all know you really aren't. And it's bad enough that you steal all of Ace's guitar riffs and makeup and everything else that made him Ace, but you steal the whole gimmick about being from outer space and try and write garbage songs about this stuff? Seriously, just fuck off. Fuck the fuck off. And die. Fuck off and die.

Fuck off, Tommy Thayer.

There are other songs, but fuck writing about them. This album is shit and Tommy Thayer can just fuck off.


Highlights:
Is this a joke? Fuck you.

Lowlights:
Outta This World exposing all the levels of awful that Tommy Thayer possesses



Verdict = 4 Very Sad Tears of The Catman

SONIC BOOM (2009)

The mad scientist, Dr. Kiss, sent his 4 henchmen out to hypnotise the people with their brand of awful rock'n roll...

Kiss are back! With a new lineup! And... Tommy Thayer...

Fuck!

First thing I'll say, is that Paul's voice just does not sound like it used to. He sounds old and tired. Which happens when you sing like he does non-stop for 40 years. He's still cool, so I'll let it slide a little. Gene has stopped trying to sing all glam-metal, so the old voice thing works for him now.

The music? Well, this is just about as generic as you could ever imagine from Kiss: riffs that sound like they've been borrowed from previous songs, choruses that are desperate for a hook but have contrived lyrics about living life and working hard to be a rock star, refrains that go "Ah ah-ah-ah ah". It isn't that this stuff is terrible, it's just that it isn't really that great and is all really predictable.

Of special mention are songs like Never Enough, which comes across as the crappiest remake of Nothin' But a Good Time by Poison. That's an awesome song. Never Enough is quite crap. But not as bad as Stand - the verses are fine and sound like something off Psycho Circus. But then that chorus is the single cheesiest and most bullshit thing Kiss have ever done. Oh no, they just outdid it with the bridge section; bad enough they rip off themselves but to shout "Just look over your shoulder!"? Who the fuck they think they are now, the Jackson 5?? It's so bad, I'm surprised zombie Eric Carr didn't rise up and stab them all with his drum sticks before forming a new improved version of Kiss with Peter and Ace. That would have been the best choice of band to perform at the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame.

You know, for all the claims that Tommy Thayer is an awesome guitarist, he sure doesn't do anything impressive on this album. Other than rip off Ace riffs.

Oh fuck, this album continues. Surely it gets better, right?

Wrong.
In fact, it just gets worse. Well, that's not entirely true - I like hearing Eric Singer sing, and All For the Glory is possibly the best song on this album. But like every other song on this album, it suffers from Super Try-hard Anthem Disorder. That's a real disease. Scott Stapp probably suffers from it too. Anyway, after that song it is just a barrel of clichés, from Danger Us ("Danger you/danger me/danger us!") to I'm an Animal (I thought you were supposed to be The Demon? And why are you stealing riffs from Lenny Kravitz?).


But the shit really hits the bottom when Tommy Thayer takes over on When Lightning Strikes. Stealing clichés from Ace's Spaceman character and using them to make a clichéd rock song with your shitty vocals? Yeah, shit doesn't get any worse than this. By the time Say Yeah offends me with its sheer terribleness, I'm ready to tell these guys to fuck off.


Highlights:
No one will think Ace Frehley was in any way responsible for this horse shit

Lowlights:
The chorus in Stand, Say Yeah, Tommy Thayer and his inescapable suckitude



Verdict = 4 Sad Tears of The Catman

ANOMALY (2009)

The sea monster used its x-ray glasses to see through everyone's swimsuits...

Ace is back!

Seeing as everyone else had already released albums, it made sense for Ace to finally show the 21st Century how it is done...

Foxy & Free is a great rockin' opening in true Ace style. Then he kicks up the heavy notch with Outer Space. I'm glad he's still rolling with the whole Spaceman gimmick, even if he isn't allowed to wear the makeup or anything. Ace calls someone a Pain in the Neck - I can only assume he means Paul and Gene. Or maybe even Tommy Thayer. Just because. Fox on the Run is a fairly harmless cover of Sweet's classic 70s groove. I prefer the original, but Ace's version is still pretty cool. Ace makes awesome instrumentals, and Genghis Khan is no exception. In fact, it is probably quite high on the example list.

Both Too Many Faces and Change the World follow the same Ace rock formula, before we get hit with another instrumental, Space Bear. A Little Below the Angels is pretty humorous when the little girl is singing and Ace is telling her a story or something. I'm not sure what was going on there. Sister is so kick ass, I wouldn't be surprised if it was like a b-side from Trouble Walkin'. It's a Great Life has some sort of 80s groove mixed with Ace's usual rock groove. That works well when I'm wearing my groovepants. Then we get the final Fractured instalment - Fractured Quantum. And it is absolutely one of the best, which is saying a lot considering how amazing Fractured Mirror and Fractured III are. I can not stress just how awesome Ace's instrumental work is. I wish I was able to meet him again so I could tell him.

Yeah, I met Ace.

Because I have graduated from novice level, I get a bonus track - The Return of Space Bear. It is just Space Bear with Ace re-enacting his legendary dialogue from The Tomorrow Show, where he was smashed off his head and claimed he was a plumber that played the trout. It is comedy gold, especially watching Gene get very grumpy at Ace getting attention instead of him.

Nice to have you back, Ace!


Highlights:
Genghis Khan, Sister, Fractured Quantum

Lowlights:
That it took 22 years for Ace to sort his shit out and make another album



Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

THE BOX SET (2001)

The Kiss Ice Block! Now with added black for pointlessness...

Kiss box set! Full of demos and the usual songs you find on every other compilation!

Things kick off with the greatest demo of Strutter possible. I can't begin to explain why, but this version makes me smile and groove. It is awesome. Then we get the original Wicked Lester demos - the band Gene and Paul were in before Kiss. It is just hilariously laughable rubbish. They sound like a mid-60s flower power hippy band, which is equally hilarious considering Gene has said in interviews how much he hates hippies. The original version of She is fucking laughable - sounds like some sort of flower power remix, complete with soft falsetto vocals. Bahahahahahah. And then Love Her All I Can is actually EVEN FUNNIER!!! This is like The Room of music recordings.

Back to Kiss demos. I'd say these were less funny, except Gene forgets half the lyrics to Let Me Know and then fucks up the bass line on 100,000 Years. Oh cool, now we get a Paul demo from 1966 called Stop, Look to Listen. Holy fuck, his singing is actually all kinds of horrendous here. Then the guitar solo turns up and is like "You want to hear terrible? I'll show you terrible!". But then the lyrics just stand over both and say "Fuck you both - we are the worst part of this song!!!". Just to compound the fun even further, we are treated to a Gene demo from 1969 called Leeta. It's very much in the style of Gene being The Beatles. If The Beatles are the worst band in the history of the universe.


The rest of the first disc is just Kiss songs from the first 3 albums that I have listened to a few times but are still awesome so I shan't complain. They're certainly better than listening to Wicked Lester again.


Verdict = 3 Smoking Les Pauls and a thumbs up


Disc 2 is more of the same; some bad demos mixed in with songs from Alive! through to Love Gun. Highlights include the demo of God of Thunder where Paul sings lead vocals, an early demo of Calling Dr. Love that is called Bad, Bad Lovin', and a demo of a song called Love is Blind where Gene once again thinks he is The Beatles eating a shit pie.


Verdict = 3 Smoking Les Pauls and a thumbs up


Disc 3 is the most pointless so far; a couple of demos and a live version of Talk to Me mixed in with tracks from Alive II through to Creatures of the Night.


Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Pauls


So Disc 4 steps up the pointless game to serious levels of "WHY?" by not even being an interesting collection of songs from the 80s. Seriously, it's like they aren't even trying right now.


Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Pauls


At least Disc 5 contains a few songs that aren't available elsewhere; we get the Unplugged rendition of Got to Choose that was left off the album for reasons of being silly, Nothing Can Keep Me From You from the Detroit Rock City soundtrack, which is a bit of a sappy ballad but actually done well compared to the usual sappy bullshit Paul tries to dish up. And there's It's My Life - not the Bon Jovi song, surprisingly. Great song.

Pointless fucking box set though - if it weren't for the fact it collected a lot of awesome Kiss songs in one place, it would score very poorly because almost everything that was previously unreleased is either terrible or hilariously terrible.


Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Pauls and a thumbs up

ALIVE IV (2000)

Having reached the end of things they could do on stage, Kiss decided to try their hand at some Photoshop magic...

I call this Alive IV because it was supposed to be and I refuse to acknowledge the album that became Alive IV due to Tommy Thayer. I've also put it here in the Kissathon because it was recorded New Year's Eve 1999/2000, so it chronologically makes sense to me.

That said, it isn't too bad. I'm sure there is a fair bit of studio trickery going on and probably some Tommy Thayer guitar work inserted for giggles. And Peter's tempos are a bit all over the place - particularly in Do You Love Me? and I Love it Loud. Otherwise, this has kind of grown on. I mean, I loved the reunion tour and this just makes me kind of relive it.

Kind of. They didn't play 80s Kiss songs on the reunion tour and Tommy Thayer wasn't playing guitar.

Fuck that Tommy Thayer guy.


Highlights:
Deuce, Shout It Out Loud, Firehouse, Let Me Go Rock'n Roll, 100,000 Years, Love Gun, Black Diamond, Rock and Roll All Nite

Lowlights:
That sneaky suspicion that Tommy Thayer is listening to this at home and pointing to the speakers going "That's me!"



Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

PSYCHO CIRCUS - LIMITED BONUS DISC (1999)

When your kids are misbehaving these holidays, take them to the Kiss Circus and let them know how much you want them to die...

I forgot about this. After the initial release of Psycho Circus, they re-released it with a bonus disc that contained 6 live songs. Being the schmuck I am (and particularly was in 2000) I had to replace my perfectly fine copy of the album with this so I could get the bonus disc. I justified it by pointing out my original copy had a crack in the lenticular case, while this version did not.

Yeah, that's how lame I am.

Anyways, these are fairly standard for me. Probably because I've watched Kissology a few times so this is exactly like that without the visual fun of Kiss in makeup and moving around explosions. Let Me Go, Rock'n Roll is absolutely phenomenal here, as is 100,000 Years, But Into the Void is super disappointing. And Within is just the sonic definition of awful.

A mixed bag of lollies and spiked slugs.


Highlights:
Let Me Go, Rock'n Roll, 100,000 Years

Lowlights:
Within



Verdict = 3 Smoking Les Paul Guitars and a thumbs up

PSYCHO CIRCUS (1998)

I always wondered why it was so easy to fade out Ace and Peter's faces on this '3D' cover...

Kiss are back!!!

The first album from the original line up in almost 20 years!!! Except it turned out Ace and Peter were barely allowed to be involved. But hey, their faces and names got to be plastered on the cover so that meant something...

The opening track is actually pretty darn awesome. Very much classic Paul, complete with him doing a cool ass solo. Within sounds like it came straight from the Carnival of Souls reject pile. Paul keeps going for his anthem thing with I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock'n Roll. Damn, that is a long ass song title. Ace gets in on the action with Into the Void and it is all kinds of awesome. Just classic Ace rockin' out styles. Then Gene decides he needs to cheese this shit up like it's his solo album in 1978 with We Are One. This song is where you realise you are not really listening to a Kiss album because there is no way Ace would play on a cheese ball sandwich like this. Hilarious lines like "You are me, I am you/What you see is all true". Apart from the credits to this album that say Peter Criss on drums, right Gene?

Shit gets even sillier with You Wanted the Best; everyone just spouts off lines about how much they hate each other and stuff, but then Gene says 'Hey the fans want us as a band so let's just play music and make them happy!'. SO MUCH FUCKING IRONY

Raise Your Glasses is Paul actually hitting that bullseye on the anthem target. I love this song so much I've ripped it off for one of my own. Just remind me to come delete that sentence when I become a big famous rock star and make millions off that one song. From the best song on the album, we go immediately to the absolute fucking dirge that is I Finally Found My Way - the schmaltziest, corniest, most terrible fucking ballad anyone in Kiss has ever even attempted. I pity Peter Criss for being saddled with this poor excuse for a song and being expected to make something of it that didn't resemble a pile of shit. I get that Paul Stanley just wanted another Beth, but he should have written something better. Or just used one of Peter's old songs. Nobody bought Let Me Rock You - just redo Let It Go as a band and it would have been one of the best songs on the album. Instead, we got this. Just no. NO. Fuck, no no no NO NO NO!!!

Dreamin' is some sort of dark brooding lost love song. So not Kiss, but Paul Stanley makes it work. Then we close off with Journey of 1,000 Years, which is some weird mess filled with strings and horns and Gene being boring and singing about crowds roaring. But because I play on a hard level, let's have that bonus track In Your Face, a song written by Gene but with Ace on lead vocals. It's nothing special.

Just like this album.


Highlights:
Psycho Circus, Into the Void, Raise Your Glasses

Lowlights:
I Finally Found My Way, Tommy Thayer getting to live out his dream and pretend to be Ace Frehley



Verdict = 3 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

GREATEST KISS (1997)

Someone doesn't know the alphabet very well - their names don't start with those letters...

A big Kiss compilation!

And by "big", I really just mean lots of songs because this focuses purely on the first 6 studio albums. And why not? They are pretty much the best Kiss albums possible and this was a tie in to the reunion tour, so why waste time on the 80s?

The exception, of course, being God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II. Because that is the greatest song ever and can be on any CD it wants. Otherwise, this is 17 songs from a span of 3 years plus 2 songs from Dynasty, and every single one of them are different barrels of awesome. Oh wait, there is another exception - the new 'live' version of Shout It Out Loud. Which is even better than the original version. Though as someone who actually has the Tiger Stadium concert on DVD where this was recorded, I admire the studio trickery used to make it sound so good.

When the weakest track is God of Thunder, you have yourself a basically perfect Kiss Compilation. When I need Kiss and can't decide on an album or period, this album is my go to.


Highlights:
Pretty much everything, but special mention for the new version of Shout It Out Loud

Lowlights:
The Tiger Stadium concert not actually sounding as awesome as that song would lead you to believe



Verdict = 5 Smoking Les Paul Guitars and a hearty thumbs up

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1997)

A rare photo from Cher's collaboration with Pearl Jam...

Kiss are back from the future with an album recorded with a lineup that no longer exists!

Make sense? Not my fault Kiss went back to the makeup and awesomeness before they were ready to put this music out to the public.

Anyway, this was the mid-90s, so Kiss were doing their best Soundgarden impersonation. Gene is all angry on Hate and it actually works. Then Paul really turns up the alt. rock vibes with Rain and Master/Slave, which is admittedly based on a really cool riff. It's just the riff doesn't really go anywhere after that... Childhood's End is a cool song. I Will Be There isn't; it is right up there with Paul's sappiest ballads. I'm not sure why he doesn't just make a solo album and put all his cheesy ballads on there instead.

Luckily, Paul shows he can still rock with Jungle, which is a really bad ass tune. So Gene takes that as his cue to ride the suck train with the most plodding, heavy, brain-numbingly boring song possible - In My Head. After that it is just on to generic alt. rock styled songs with mostly decent choruses. And Bruce Kulick says goodbye with his only lead vocal contribution ever, I Walk Alone. This song is all kinds of brilliant and is basically a solo song, because I'm pretty sure he played everything except the drums. Oh wait, Gene and Paul do some backing vocals at the end. And Bruce does some backwards guitar solos. Wowsers!


Highlights:
Jungle, I Walk Alone

Lowlights:
I Will Be There, In My Head, It Never Goes Away



Verdict = 3 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST!! (1996)

You know in Futurama when that weird thing broke through the sky and was basically making love to everyone with it's tentacles? Insert witty joke about that in relation to Kiss here...

A live compilation!

As the best possible way to cash in on the reunion, they put together this compilation of songs from the first 2 Alive albums, plus some previously unreleased 'live' songs. And the vocals on those totally don't sound like they have been re-recorded in a studio or anything...

Album kicks off with Room Service. I love Room Service and this version is pretty cool as well. Even if the modern vocals stick out like a thing that sticks out super obviously. Then we get Two Timer - so they are just running through Dressed to Kill? I wouldn't complain about that in any way whatsoever... but sadly that's about all we get from that album. It's a crime they don't play more songs from that or Hotter Than Hell. Let Me Know is really groovy live; a bit slower and I really like the ending. I've scoured the internet for bootlegs and can't for the life of me find any live concerts where these songs have been performed.

Makes me think maybe something is up here...

I question the wisdom of putting Rock Bottom on here when the live version is nowhere near as awesome as the unplugged version. Some random live version of Take Me makes a random appearance as well - a very welcome appearance, no less. It's an awesome song that should appear on more Kiss compilations. Otherwise, it's all just Kiss classics from the live albums so they are great.

Easy mindless but enjoyable cash in attempt? Absolutely. But when has Gene ever been about anything else?


Highlights:
Room Service, Two Timer, Let Me Know, Take Me (the rest of the album is solid as well, for obvious reasons, but these are the standouts - for further obvious reasons)

Lowlights:
The super obviousness of the vocals on the 'previously unreleased' tracks



Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Paul Guitars and a thumbs up

MTV UNPLUGGED (1995)

Having lost all their costumes and make-up in a robbery, Kiss started busking to make ends meet...

Ooooh Yeah!!!

This album is proof that you don't need electric guitars and amps to make the best rock'n roll in the universe. And what's even crazier, is that some of these songs sound even better unplugged than they did in their original studio incarnation!

Songs like Comin' Home and Goin' Blind, where the studio version was still pretty good, are now totally enhanced by the massive drumming of Eric Singer and the thoroughly improved singing of Paul and Gene. Seriously, all three are barrels of awesome throughout this show. But especially Eric Singer. But especially Paul Stanley. Sure Know Something is even more powerful than the studio version. Rock Bottom finally sounds like a gawdam rock song. How on Earth is the acoustic version a million times more rocking than every other electric version out there??

It isn't until track 9 that we get something I can even pretend to complain about with See You Tonite. I'm not sure why they chose a boring song from Gene's awful solo album when they have like 342 albums to choose from at this point in their careers, but whatever. It isn't totally awful and is at least better than the original version. And it isn't Tunnel of Love or Man of 1,000 Faces or something...

Besides, Paul makes up for it with I Still Love You, where his singing hits that point where the audience is melted and Godzilla is forced to retreat to his bedroom and cry into his journal. And after he's relaxed to the soothing melody of Every Time I Look at You (complete with a live string section), the world implodes with the return of Ace and Peter! And then after they perform a couple of classics together, because the world has now been turned upside down and we all live in Bizarro-land, Bruce and Eric come back out and everyone rocks the house as one big happy family. Including the greatest version of Nothin' to Lose ever, with Eric singing lead and Peter singing the chorus, and the rowdiest version of Rock'n Roll All Nite possible - complete with Ace and Peter singing the final verse between them, and then Ace and Bruce engaging in duelling guitar solo.

Just phenomenal stuff.


Highlights:
The whole motherfucking show

Lowlights:
That there were actually some awesome songs left off the CD, including a country version of God of Thunder and Spit



Verdict = 5 Smoking Les Paul Guitars and a hearty thumbs up

CRISS (1993)

The Phantom of the Opera was ready for war...

Peter Criss returns!

The Catman hits us with his first bit of music in 11 years. And it's a short EP of songs that sound very much like they are from 1993. The Cat features a funny line about Gene and Paul going up a hill and then he does some screams like he is mocking Paul. Entertaining, for sure. Then Show Me features some other dude singing. What is it with Ace and Peter thinking they need someone else to come in and sing other songs to make things more interesting? Especially here, where this guy has a kind of screamer voice like Peter so doesn't really add much diversity. Except make them sound more like Candlebox or something. Good Times is actually pretty groovy. What You're Doin' is just like that second song, except more forgettable. And then we close off with a nice acoustic version of Beth. I dig that.


Highlights:
Making fun of Gene and Paul

Lowlights:
Coming across as some low-rent Candlebox wannabe band at times



Verdict = 3 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

ALIVE III (1993)

Kiss tried their best to battle their way out of the phantom zone...

Explosions!

This album was my first exposure to a lot of the 80s & 90s songs that Kiss perform on this album. Sadly, they don't perform many of these nowadays so it is cool to have them on here. I once read something that said these performances with Eric Singer on drums was like a racing car driver taking your normal everyday car for a crazy spin. I'm not doing that metaphor justice in anyway whatsoever, but it's totally true, because with him behind the kit the classic tracks all have a very different feel. It isn't bad - it's kinda fun, actually. The only kind of downer is that Bruce Kulick is such an epic guitarist that he just ignores the classic licks and shreds all over the old songs. That's less fun sometimes.

I Just Wanna is actually way cooler than the studio version. Paul gets the crowd to say a naughty word very loud. What a bad man! I Was Made For Lovin' You gets a hard rock attitude and quite frankly this is my favourite version. I don't care if it wasn't really recorded at a concert. Same goes for Lick It Up - the 'favourite version' part, not the 'recorded at a concert' part. Though I'm equally not concerned, I guess. Take It Off is in the same category, though I prefer to know this was live otherwise the section with the strippers would be really awkward...

Paul sings the shit out of Detroit Rock City, God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II is in some ways just as awesome as the studio version, and then things end in a weirdly patriotic manner with The Star Spangled Banner. I'm not sure why, but it makes me want to stand and salute.


Highlights:
Lick It Up, Forever, Detroit Rock City, God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II, The Star Spangled Banner

Lowlights:
Lack of Ace Frehley guitar licks



Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Paul Guitars