2025 in 2025: Day 59

Dream Police - Cheap Trick

I should really get the whole album, because I only have the title track and it is brilliant. In fact, I have not really heard much Cheap Trick at all. I should correct that in 2026...

10/10

Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture - Various Artists

Anyone who knows me would know how much I love that Motown sound. And musicals. So a musical based on Motown? Featuring Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson - who can sing awesome as hell like Boyz II Men - and Beyoncé pre-whateversheisnow? Patience is the most hilarious mish-mash of What's Going On? and We Are The World. Gawdam someone get me a 4K UHD of this movie ASAP

Highlights: I Want You Baby, And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going, Steppin' to the Bad Side, Cadillac Car, Love You I Do

8/10

Dreaming Out Loud - OneRepublic

This dude has a very solid voice and it is all very listenable, if not a bit same-samey and... safe. And Timberland's version of Apologize is better, IMO.

Highlights: Apologize [Timbaland version], Mercy, All We Are

6.5/10

Dressed to Kill - Kiss

My favourite Kiss studio album. If I didn't have another 18,000 songs to listen to, you better be sure I would be listening to this again and again.

Highlights: The WHOLE ALBUM

10/10

Drunken Confessions - Whiskeytown

What better way to follow that up than with a collection of badly-recorded demos of relatively average alt country songs... 

Highlights: It ended

4/10

Dude Ranch - blink-182

For all the complaining I do about Tom's voice now and after the self-titled album, it sure was completely terrible on this album. I have always enjoyed how much their drummer can't maintain that fast beat in the intro for Josie - he clearly loses timing at one point. Punk rock, yo! I realise they were still kids, so I give them a pass for writing stupid songs about Star Wars. I would probably do the same. Not about Star Wars, because I'm not a complete loser, but maybe something cool like RoboCop or The Last Starfighter. I have class. 

Highlights: Dammit, Waggy, Enthused, Untitled, Josie

7/10

dumping swimmer - シナリオアート

These cats are one of those bands that I always forget I even have in my library, but when I put them on I am instantly like 'oh wow this is so good!'. I need to listen to this more..

Highlights: カオティックダウナー, シニカルデトックス, プライドモンスター, ナイトスイマー

7.5/10

The Dunes - Ghetto Birds

One of Ryan Adams' internet radio albums. This one is short and dreamy acoustic numbers with weird lyrics. Well, at least it starts that way; about halfway through it just turns in to silly acoustic numbers and then that last song is definitely one of his 'DJ Reggie' songs that he put on the wrong album, because he ends it by saying "DJ Reggie is going home.". So, yeah.

Highlights: DJ going home...

5/10

Dusty in Memphis - Dusty Springfield

Of course I am a nerd and only have Son of a Preacher Man. Classic song. But more importantly, did Dusty see Elvis while she was in Memphis?

10/10

Duty - Ayumi Hamasaki

The first half of this album is kinda dark. The last half is super pop . It is all full of big beats and massive production and is simply perfection.

Highlights: Perfect Album

10/10

Dynamite - Jamiroquai

Return of the funk masters! I have massive love for Ken Harris' guitar playing; dude comes up with the funkiest riffs and licks that just blow my mind. Actually, the whole band are groove-meisters. It is just that the original band were so fantastic, it is hard to really appreciate them (original guitarist was a completely different style to Ken Harris, so easy to NOT compare).

Highlights: Feels Just Like it Should, Seven Days in Sunny June, (Don't) Give in to Hate

8/10

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia - Jay-Z

This a pretty much Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek. You know, dudes that would have no career if Jay wasn't looking out for them. Never going to work, Jay. Doing a song with R. Kelly called Guilty Until Proven Innocent seems like a poor choice all around. 

Highlights: Streets is Talking, Stick 2 the Script, Holla, Squeeze 1st

7.5/10

Dynasty - Kiss

Kiss does disco, but not really - A.K.A. The Rise of Ace Frehley. Dirty Livin' is so incredibly groovy and it is hilarious that I almost forgot it existed! Also hilarious is the idea that Peter Criss could have played drums on this album, when they sound absolutely nothing like him.

Highlights: I Was Made for Lovin' You, Sure Know Something, Dirty Livin', Ace Frehley being awesome

9/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 474

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

DRESSED TO KILL (1975)

The Kiss Mafia will make you an offer you can't refuse. Mostly will involve fireworks and rocking out...




You should just go back and read my original review of this album from Kissathon 2013.
Otherwise, below are my notes while listening to this album again:

Room Service = awesome
Two Timer = awesome
Ladies in Waiting = not nearly as awesome
Getaway = really awesome
Rock Bottom = awesome intro
C'mon and Love Me = awesome
Anything for My Baby = awesome
She = awesome
Love Her All I Can = really awesome groove
Rock'n Roll All Nite = awesome like a foursome

Proof that this album is just all kinds of awesome.


Highlights:
Almost every song

Lowlights:
Only realising now I should have replaced Monster and Sonic Boom with this album to make Kissathon a lot more awesome


Verdict = 5 Smoking Les Paul Guitars

DRESSED TO KILL (1975)

Pimpin' ain't easy...

When I first started doing this, this was the album I figured would win my top spot. While most Kiss fans consider the 76-77 period the best, for me these first 3 albums (4 including Alive!) are where the most fun is.

In fact, this album probably would have taken the top spot if not for 'Ladies in Waiting'. Not that the song is bad - because it isn't. It just isn't as good as everything else on the album and it always just sticks out like a dry, stale muffin surrounded by bowls of ice-cream and Snickers bars. But by Prime, those ice-creams are all such delicious flavours.

Oh I know - 'Rock Bottom' suffers the same problem as 'Comin' Home', as it rocks so much harder on 'Unplugged'. I want to go back to 1974 Kiss and play them the 'Unplugged' show so they can feel bad about making electric songs weaker than when done acoustically... before they go back to their groupies and millions of dollars. That'll teach 'em. But it is still fun, and the rest of the album is as strong and consistent as anything Kiss have ever produced. 'Getaway' is so much fun and 'Love Her All I Can' is an unappreciated gem. This album is full of killer guitar riffs. Oh, and it also happens to close with a certain rock'n roll national anthem... yeah, these guys sure know how to end albums.

This album may not have the classics that everyone knows, or still get performed live all the time. But to me, this album sums up Kiss better than any other album before or after; fun, simple rock'n roll that makes you want to "rock'n roll all nite and party every day"

Highlights:

Room Service, Two Timer, Getaway, C'mon and Love Me, She, Love Her All I Can, Rock'n Roll All Nite

Lowlights:

Only 29 minutes long. I'm not sure if Ladies in Waiting really counts - it isn't actually terrible, just compared to everything else it sounds like... well, me trying to do a Kiss song

Verdict = 4 Smoking Les Pauls and a thumbs up