Just listened to this album for the first time in my entire life...

I would suggest an extensive study of the entire collection up to "The Elder" --- that is about the time it all went to SHITE--
Unmasked was "decent" --- the rest --- meah
 
I remember vividly when Def Leppard's 'Pyromania' was released. It was the first album in which I liked every single song.

I learned the entire album in a single Saturday.
 
Is playing music to an audience painted in white face not frowned upon yet by the PC brigade?

I know the black and white minstrels were put out of business for using the opposite colour :)
 
When I was a kid...it was all about their persona, them playing live, blood, fire. It was awesome. I didn't know their music so well, but really liked the show. Many of their songs, mostly newer, are just ehhhh. Just a jingle.

But, some of their early stuff really rocks!! Like....

Shock me!!
Christine Sixteen
Strutter
Deuce

Overall, they earned their stay in Rock N Roll history.

101px-KISS_starchild_face.svg.png

101px-KISS_devil_face.svg.png

101px-KISS_space_ace_face.svg.png

101px-KISS_cat_face.svg.png
 
"I hear my song and it pulls me through"
"I feel so good, I'm so alive
I hear my song playin' on the radio"
 
Okay...

I've finished listening to Kiss's early era albums up to and including, Love Gun.

My reaction?

Wow.

To be honest, the repertoire was not as aggressive-sounding as I was expecting, from a musical perspective. Some songs, like "Let Me Go, Rock and Roll" from Hotter Than Hell are just good ol' fashioned rock and roll. Musically, my biggest challenge was to put myself into the '70s and try to envision how aggressive these albums may have seemed then. I paid little attention to music until the hair-metal days of the '80s, so that colors things for me a bit. I suppose that may be one reason why I like the unmasked, '80s stylings with Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr. But, to some extent I disagree with characterizing them as heavy metal group. Their unmasked era does have a hair metal quality...I concede (and like!) that. But, judging strictly by music (not makeup) they strike me as more of a rock to hard rock group.

I will say though..."God of Thunder" from Destroyer really starts to get into some ahead-of-its-time metal territory.

The album, Rock and Roll Over, had a pretty consistent hard rock drive throughout. Musically I enjoyed it...but it also had the most baudy lyrics!

Of course, most Kiss songs are replete with innuendo and double-entendres, but Rock and Roll Over was the most consistently explicit in it's lyrical content over all, in my opinion.

From what I listened to I think prefer some of their tried-and-true hits the most. Musically, "Deuce" is probably my favorite. "Cold Gin" is very catchy. I'm not a drinker, but I actually picked up my guitar and figured out the main riff. Pretty cool sound. I understand Ace came up with that song, right?. Of course, "Rock and Roll All Nite" is iconic. It's fun and I like its styling too. My 30th anniversary was yesterday, so "Beth" kind of grabbed me. Yup. That's a keeper. (Yes, I choked up...my wife and I got away for our anniversary...she was sound asleep while I listened to that song. Okay, I admit it...I'm a sentimental softie. Good song, that "Beth".)

I think I am seeing a little bit of the Kiss appeal. They are almost consistently upbeat (if not, shall we say..."suggestive"!) in their songs. Few songs are melancholy. It's almost as if their mission was to keep you loaded on adrenaline as much as possible.
 
Have you sampled the SOLO albums ??
the ones each member did?

Dude--- your in for a treat -- especially on Aces album---

just some good ol ROCK N ROLL tunes man
 
eSGEe said:
Have you sampled the SOLO albums ??
the ones each member did?

Dude--- your in for a treat -- especially on Aces album---

just some good ol ROCK N ROLL tunes man
Click to expand...

Nope. I haven't listened to them.

I can't decide if I want to listen to those before all of the unmasked (I haven't heard all of it) or later stuff.
 
smitty_p said:
Okay...

I've finished listening to Kiss's early era albums up to and including, Love Gun.

My reaction?

Wow.

To be honest, the repertoire was not as aggressive-sounding as I was expecting, from a musical perspective. Some songs, like "Let Me Go, Rock and Roll" from Hotter Than Hell are just good ol' fashioned rock and roll. Musically, my biggest challenge was to put myself into the '70s and try to envision how aggressive these albums may have seemed then. I paid little attention to music until the hair-metal days of the '80s, so that colors things for me a bit. I suppose that may be one reason why I like the unmasked, '80s stylings with Bruce Kulick and Eric Carr. But, to some extent I disagree with characterizing them as heavy metal group. Their unmasked era does have a hair metal quality...I concede (and like!) that. But, judging strictly by music (not makeup) they strike me as more of a rock to hard rock group.

I will say though..."God of Thunder" from Destroyer really starts to get into some ahead-of-its-time metal territory.

The album, Rock and Roll Over, had a pretty consistent hard rock drive throughout. Musically I enjoyed it...but it also had the most baudy lyrics!

Of course, most Kiss songs are replete with innuendo and double-entendres, but Rock and Roll Over was the most consistently explicit in it's lyrical content over all, in my opinion.

From what I listened to I think prefer some of their tried-and-true hits the most. Musically, "Deuce" is probably my favorite. "Cold Gin" is very catchy. I'm not a drinker, but I actually picked up my guitar and figured out the main riff. Pretty cool sound. I understand Ace came up with that song, right?. Of course, "Rock and Roll All Nite" is iconic. It's fun and I like its styling too. My 30th anniversary was yesterday, so "Beth" kind of grabbed me. Yup. That's a keeper. (Yes, I choked up...my wife and I got away for our anniversary...she was sound asleep while I listened to that song. Okay, I admit it...I'm a sentimental softie. Good song, that "Beth".)

I think I am seeing a little bit of the Kiss appeal. They are almost consistently upbeat (if not, shall we say..."suggestive"!) in their songs. Few songs are melancholy. It's almost as if their mission was to keep you loaded on adrenaline as much as possible.
Click to expand...

Love that you kept your mind open enough after all these years to listen to these albums without preconceptions and just appreciate what they were doing at that time. I have never thought of them as anything but a hard rock band. A very, very good hard rock band. The makeup, personas, stage show, marketing hyperbole would have gotten people's attention but they would have never become as huge or influential if the music wasn't great.

I don't have an absolute favorite from the early albums. There are so many great songs throughout them all that in some way they have all melted into one big mash of Kiss songs in my head. I love the first album because its such a strong opening statement, but then Destroyer is so refined and RaR Over just rocks (and I will say that "I Want You" is probably my favorite Kiss song of all). Man, I just love Kiss.

Adrian is right by the way. Ace's solo record is as good as any of the other early Kiss albums.
 
smitty_p said:
Nope. I haven't listened to them.

I can't decide if I want to listen to those before all of the unmasked (I haven't heard all of it) or later stuff.
Click to expand...

Dynasty is where is all went wrong for me. Couldn't bear to listen to it, was like a different band made it. Then with Unmasked they just went for the '80's pop-metal sound and never looked back, so I started looking away.
 
one of the first ROCK songs I learned to play on gutiar -----

so many of the UKNOWN songs on Kiss albums are as good or better than the "known" hits----
 
gball said:
Love that you kept your mind open enough after all these years to listen to these albums without preconceptions and just appreciate what they were doing at that time. I have never thought of them as anything but a hard rock band. A very, very good hard rock band. The makeup, personas, stage show, marketing hyperbole would have gotten people's attention but they would have never become as huge or influential if the music wasn't great.

I don't have an absolute favorite from the early albums. There are so many great songs throughout them all that in some way they have all melted into one big mash of Kiss songs in my head. I love the first album because its such a strong opening statement, but then Destroyer is so refined and RaR Over just rocks (and I will say that "I Want You" is probably my favorite Kiss song of all). Man, I just love Kiss.

Adrian is right by the way. Ace's solo record is as good as any of the other early Kiss albums.
Click to expand...

Can you tell me what people don't like about Gene's bass playing?

I've read comments on Youtube where people diss him as a bass player. I admit, he's not like a funk or MoTown bassist, but the earlier, studio albums let his bass work be a bit more obvious. It's actually kind of catchy.
 
gball said:
Dynasty is where is all went wrong for me. Couldn't bear to listen to it, was like a different band made it. Then with Unmasked they just went for the '80's pop-metal sound and never looked back, so I started looking away.
Click to expand...

Did they have a different producer?

From what I understand, Ezrin did a few albums...then Aucoin did some.

It's kind of a mystery to me.
 
smitty_p said:
Can you tell me what people don't like about Gene's bass playing?

I've read comments on Youtube where people diss him as a bass player. I admit, he's not like a funk or MoTown bassist, but the earlier, studio albums let his bass work be a bit more obvious. It's actually kind of catchy.
Click to expand...

Nope. Most of my life I've been hearing that he sucks from haters, but hearing that he's pretty damn good from listening to the records.
 
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