Sunbathing in the Kiss house always gets rough
After a good but not amazing effort on debut, Kiss moved to LA to make their follow-up. Unfortunately, the LA smog consumed the recordings and made everything sound like it was fighting its way out of sludge. Which is a shame, because this album rocks hard!
'Got to Choose' is one hell of a cool opening song, and anyone that ever disses Peter Criss' skills as a drummer should listen to his awesome fills in 'Parasite' - probably the heaviest Kiss song to date. 'Goin' Blind' is their first attempt at a slow song, I guess. Ace's solo is awesome. In fact, Ace's solos on all these songs are killer. The title track, 'Hotter than Hell' is a solid rocker, then you get the high energy of 'Let Me Go Rock'n Roll' - which is so damn awesome it was their show closer until 'Rock'n Roll All Nite' came about.
Then 'All the Way' is your classic stomping groove while Gene makes fun of some woman for talking too much kind of song, followed by another heavy classic 'Watchin' You'. Next, Peter hits us with his song for the album 'Mainline'... and it's... there...
'Comin' Home' is apparently written about how unhappy they guys were in LA and wanted to get back to New York. Then Peter says 'Hey guys, my last song wasn't good enough' so he sings the Ace written 'Strange Ways' and the world explodes from the awesome and the album has no choice but to end.
Notice I have nothing bad to say? That's because this album is awesome with a fist pumping in the air while I head bang. The only negative is the production, because this album could have sounded so much better had it been recorded well. Also, 'Comin' Home' sounds so much better on 'Unplugged' it's hard to take the original version seriously now. And I don't really know how an acoustic song can rock harder than the same song in electric form.
Highlights:
Got to Choose, Parasite, Hotter than Hell, Let Me Go, Rock'n Roll, Strange Ways
Lowlights:
The sludgey production that makes everything sound muffled. Or just covered in grime.
Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Pauls
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