2025 in 2025: Day 146

Psychic Lover - PSYCHIC LOVER

LOGMAN's gateway drug to Japanese rock! And it is not that I forget how awesome they are, it is more that I end up forgetting to just put them on and rock out. This album seems to be mostly anime-related songs and themes, but I do not care. They could be commercial tunes and I would still love them. 冒険王ビィト! is genuinely one of the most feelgood songs on the planet.

Highlights: 冒険王ビィト!, 冒険者 ON THE ROAD (Album Version), TAKE MY SOUL FOREVER, 特捜戦隊デカレンジャー

8.5/10

Psychic Lover II - PSYCHIC LOVER

It is going to be a full on PSYCHIC LOVER morning. And I am thankful for that! More shredding guitars and massive gang vocals and raising my fist in the air. Holy balls to the wall that opening riff in SWAT ON デカレンジャー is ridiculous! This album may actually be even more consistently awesome than their first!

Highlights: LOST IN SPACE, SWAT ON デカレンジャー, WONDER REVOLUTION, 鼓動 -get closer-, LET'S TRY TOGETHER

9/10

PSYCHIC LOVER III -WORKS- - PSYCHIC LOVER

More, you say?!? This is more of a compilation of random songs and remixes and even a couple of solo songs by each member. 

Highlights: NO NAME HEROES, SURVIVAL, いざ行け! ビートル, デカレンジャーアクション

8/10

Psychic Lover IV -BEST- - PSYCHIC LOVER

Quick note of honesty; this was the actual album, but then I shed it of everything except the 'new' songs. Then added a few singles that were later released in different versions. IMAJO is phenomenal.

Highlights: Prisoner, FLASHBACK, JUMP!

9/10

PSYCHIC MANIA - PSYCHIC LOVER

And we are not done yet! Another compilation that was originally two-discs, but again I removed the stuff already in my library, to make a more streamlined compilation that kicks even more booty. If only they had named their last studio album Psychic Lover V as well... Oh well, at least I will get to hear that next week!

Highlights: タギルチカラ!, Duet してください (斉木ックラバー ver.), Searching for Truth, 特捜戦隊デカレンジャー 10 YEARS AFTER

9/10

Psycho Circus - Kiss

I have all but given up actually writing proper reviews, so please read my most read Kiss review! I think some Brazilian Kiss fan group shared it for some reason. Big Tommy Thayer haters and felt my pain? RIP Ace!!!

Highlights: Into the Void, Raise Your Glasses, Psycho Circus, I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll

7/10

Psycho Circus Live Bonus Disc - Kiss

Post-reunion tour Kiss is an interesting beast. This is where it became more gimmick than ever. Still a decent listen, though. I really need to watch some Kiss concerts this weekend.

Highlights: Let Me Go Rock & Roll, 100,000 Years, Black Diamond

7/10

Psyclone - Jimmy Barnes

This may well be my first time listening to this album. Something about mid-90s Barnesy just never grabbed me; he seemed to reject the awesome pop hooks and had clearly been listening to some alternative music. And I do not like the way his vocals are produced. This is very straight-forward rock; the guitars and drums all sound the same the whole way through.

Highlights: Change of Heart, Stumbling, Because You Wanted It

6.5/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 1326

FREE PALESTINE

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.

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