AEW Star Chris Jericho brings his KISS Unmasked cover band Kuarantine to Columbus, Ohio, Friday, June 30th
Read MoreUnmasked - The First KISS Non-Makeup Fantasy Draft
Regular readers of Pencilstorm know when it comes to covering the band KISS, we do not shy away from controversy. (Click here for 12 stories) But when Scott Carr and myself started discussing ways to evaluate the KISS non-makeup years, we knew we had to do better than a standard ranking by one guy. Remember that Cheap Trick list that one guy did? It was fun, like, 5 years ago, but times change. People deserve more in 2018. Hell, just the other day, some guy drove an electric car into space with most of its expensive booster rockets returning to Earth without crashing. That's some mind-blowing Jetsons stuff. Or as the Scientologists say, "Progress.".
So with fantasy baseball season coming up fast we thought, what if six guys had a fantasy draft pulling songs from the KISS records Lick It Up through Revenge, plus the two unreleased songs from Smashes, Trashes and Hits? Now, that would be interesting. Something never attempted before by mankind. How would random folks value this period in the band's history? Or shall I say......KISSTORY!!!
Hold on KISS Kruisers, I can hear you bitching....yes, we left off Carnival of Souls because everybody knows that's not a real record. The two people who have listened to that record can do a draft and we will be happy to publish the results on Pencilstorm.
Anyway, in pursuit of the truth, we set out to find a diverse group of owners. And when I say diverse, I mean it in the RUSH rock n roll definition: a bunch of white guys who don't spend five nights a week together in the same bar. Let's face it, white guys are pretty much the only demographic that sat through all of Hot in the Shade. After a lengthy vetting process conducted by a search committee, the following players were invited to join the league:
Matt Walters - I was christened a KISS fan at 3 in 1977 while living on Long Island by my then-16-year-old badass babysitter Donna Knappie. I would never be the same. After Peter and then Ace left, I lost interest, and I never really listened to the albums in the '80's until way later. The non-makeup era definitely has some of my least favorite albums, although I've grown to appreciate many of the songs on those albums over the years. I've seen KISS six times, including the Kiss Kruise III first night, considered one of the greatest and most surprising set-lists in KISStory. My KISS war-room is now in Oak Park IL, just outside of Chicago, complete with an acoustic guitar, KISS Alive Forever, and my trusty Ace solo album poster.
Scott Carr - You may know me from numerous music-related stories that have been featured on Pencil Storm, many of them about Kiss. I also play guitar in Radio Tramps, a very active cover band from Columbus, OH. When I'm not doing gigs with my band you can usually find me at Lost Weekend Records, an indie record store in Columbus.
My Kisstory dates all the way back to my youth when I first saw Kiss in concert during the Destroyer tour in July of 1976. From that day forward I have been a fan. The good, the bad and the ugly.....I've been there for it all. I saw Kiss a total of five times during the original make-up years and then numerous times during the non-makeup and reunion/farewell years. I've met all four original members of Kiss at different times over the years and have also met Eric Carr, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer. I am hoping to meet the elusive Vinnie Vincent in June at a Kiss Expo in Nashville. 42 years om, I still love talking about and defending The Hottest Band In The World....KISS!
David Martin has seen Kiss perform live nine times and once asked Ace Frehley to autograph an empty McDonald's sack. He lives in Kansas City.
Colin Gawel - decided to give up a promising career in business for a nomadic life of rock n roll after being exposed to KISS Alive at the young age of 6. He thinks Paul Stanley's solo record is better than Ace's, saw every tour of the non-makeup era and is known to hijack random facebook threads and steer them into KISS conversations. He founded Pencilstorm for precisely this purpose.
Mike Lovins - plays in the band Bava Choco. Spends his spare time taking pictures of people wearing Vinnie Vincent t-shirts. Once spotted carrying a copy of Hot in the Shade around mid-town Manhattan for no apparent reason.
Jeremy Porter - KISS was the first band I discovered on my own, not through perusing my parents' record collection. Alive! was the first record I bought with my own money. Ace Frehley was the first rock star I ever wanted to be. My interest waned as the original four lineup dissipated and I discovered punk rock, but some 25 years later I found myself sucked into the Kiss "Unplugged" episode and I saw that there was greatness in the post-makeup era too, albeit a bit more diluted than on those classic albums. Fast forward another 23 years and I'm locked in my home office, picking songs in this fantasy draft, and remembering that time I spotted Bruce Kulick literally across the terminal at LAX and rushed over to introduce myself. "Who?" my wife asked innocently, trying to keep up. My drafting war room is in Detroit where I will be researching with my band: Jeremy Porter and The Tucos.
Up next: The draft lottery will be held Saturday February 10th at Cobo Hall in Detroit to determine the order of the draft. Stay tuned KISS nerds. - Colin Gawel
A Public Service Announcement for KISS Fans: Mandatory Holiday Viewing - by Anne Marie
My son is a huge James Franco fan and he recently suggested Why Him? for family movie night. Why Him? came out last December. Set at Christmas time, it features Bryan Cranston as Ned Fleming, Hollywood's version of a Midwest normal dad, going out to California with his wife and son to spend the holiday with his daughter at Stanford to meet her new boyfriend. As a comedy, it's pretty much a ripoff of the Meet the Parents storyline, but it has some funny moments and I especially liked Keegan-Micheal Key's character, Gustav.
As we watched it, and repeated reference was made to the fact that the Flemings' favorite band was KISS, and KISS was on the soundtrack and worked into the very fabric of the plotline, I thought, "How has Colin not mentioned this? This must be on his annual holiday watch list." And when I asked him, I was floored when he responded, “I don’t know that one! You have one-upped me on KISS! How is that possible?”
How is that possible?!? This is the dude whose blog has more than 30 articles devoted to KISS, who has himself written multiple articles about the band, one in which he describes an entire Sunday morning devoted to Googling Kiss setlists and then watching the videos on Youtube and another in which he compares the finer points of Paul and Ace’s respective solo albums, and who can expertly steer any conversation towards the band, to wit this recent Facebook discussion which began as which Rock Hall nominees would become inductees in 2018, and then became which bands were fully formed on their debut album, and then somehow became an all out KISS-o-mania celebration:
James Baumann I always think of The Pretenders and The Clash as the answers to this question. R.E.M. is a good choice as well.
Colin Gawel Scott Carr I don’t think they really hit stride until Heaven Tonight. Love the debut but it’s pretty quirky.
Matt Walters KISS’ debut is pretty hard to beat, although they weren’t really “fully formed” in the sense they weren’t a whopper with cheese yet. 😉 The Jam, The Beastie Boys, Exploding Hearts (RIP), Television all have 5/5 debuts, too. I might also throw Franz and TVOTR in there too. Also You Am I but nobody’s ever heard of them.
Peter Nichols Colin Gawel Sh*t, I forgot "Get The Knack".
'Twas brilliant!
Peter Nichols I mean, the drumming alone deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
James Baumann Matt Walters Love me some You Am I.
Steve Elshoff Van Halen.
Steve Elshoff Jeff Buckley.
Colin Gawel Matt Walters KISS is but sonically it just doesn't have the goods. Alive is really the record in my opinion.
Colin Gawel Van Halen ! duh. Facepalm.
Kyle Siegrist Metallica Kill 'Em All
Kyle Siegrist Colin Gawel IMO the Kiss debut lp is their best, but I agree Alive put them on the map.
Colin Gawel Kyle Siegrist best songs no doubt but I always play Alive for folks. Actually, they probably hit their peak on Destroyer. Artwork - sound - songs - all that jazz.
Colin Gawel Or possibly Crazy Nights.
Scott Carr Rock And Roll Over beats Destroyer all day long.....
Colin Gawel Scott Carr now you are just trolling me. Everybody knows I’m a Destroyer guy.
Scott Carr hehe....
Kyle Siegrist Remember I'm not really a Kiss fan like you or Scott. For whatever reason I personally just like thier debut best. I also really like The Elder.
Colin Gawel In other KISS related news I guess the greatest book ever written is being re released and I’m not talking about the Bible.
Scott Carr Colin Gawel I thought you were a Crazy Nights guy????
Scott Carr that book is anazing...
Colin Gawel Guess the author was on Eddie Trunk and an updated version coming out. And rumor has it Vinnie Vincent is on the cover. Seriously.
Matt Walters vinnie's also on the back cover! It's a commemorative edition specifically highlighting how overrrated he is by certain fans of the band ;)
Matt Walters I think this discussion about KISS vis-a-vis the "fully formed on the debut" comment is really interesting. On KISS boards, the debut typically is a solid #2 among fan aggregate polls (behind RARO - usually Hotter than Hell is third and Destroyer is f...See More
Colin Gawel Kyle Siegrist I think reasonable people can agree The Elder is better than The Wall.
Rick Kinsinger Am I the only one who suspects that Colin's motive for this entire thread was to turn it into a discussion about the KISS discography?
Kyle Siegrist Colin Gawel yeah that's a no brainier
Nate Puderbaugh Oasis "Definitely Maybe"
Pete Vogel Some of my fave debut albums: VH, Boston, Foreigner, The Cars, Tom Petty, Led Zep. All broke new ground, IMO.
Scott Carr Rick Kinsinger isn't that why all Facebook threads are started?
Colin Gawel Matt Walters I can't find pre order for updated KISS touring history? Can you help a brother out?
Scott Carr ColinGawel I think the only place they are taking orders is through pledge music.....
Colin Gawel Scott Carr good tip. Stumbled on many other Kiss books in my quest. You read that Elder one?
Scott Carr yeah The Elder one is good. If you have the solo album book, it's done by the same guy. Lots of info....
Matt Walters Colin Gawel I believe it sold out. Let me check the FAQ
Scott Carr Colin Gawelhttps://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/alive-forever
So if you, like Colin, are a KISS fanatic who hasn't seen Why Him? yet, or if you are just looking for another Christmas-themed raunchy comedy to pass a couple of hours, Why Him? is currently on demand.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
* * *
DO NOT EVEN GLANCE BELOW HERE OR WATCH EITHER OF THE VIDEO CLIPS IF YOU WANT TO BE FULLY SURPRISED BY JUST HOW KISS "PLAYS" INTO THE MOVIE.
Your Abbreviated C-Bus Record Store Day Preview
Record Store Day 2017 is upon us. Make plans now to throw some cash at some tasty new platters and support your local record store. Click here for the complete list of all Record Store Day releases. Below are some choice picks from a handful vinyl junkies.
Jim Johnson - Sales & Mktg. rep for AllianceEntertainment. Drummer.
Drive By Truckers-Electric Lady Sessions
Doors-Live at the Matrix '67
Ramones-76-79 Singles Box set
U2 picture disc of Red Hill Mining Town
NRBQ 50 year retrospective
Cars-Live at the Agora(Cleveland)
Dennis Wilson- double LP
Springsteen-Live Hammersmith '75 (4 LP set)
Brett Ruland (Spoonful Records)
Atomic Bomb Band (Performing The Music of William Onyeabor)
Shocking Blue - At Home
The Meters - A Message From The Meters
David Bowie - BOWPROMO
Luna - Penthouse Deluxe
Click here for Spoonful Records RSD event page.
Kyle Siegrist (Lost Weekend Records)
Fleetwood Mac - Alternate Mirage
Son House - Oberlin 1964
Grateful Dead - Vancouver 1966
The Cure - Acoustic Greatest Hits
Columbus Blood 4 Compilation
Scott Carr (Lost Weekend Records)
Cheap Trick - The Epic Archive Vol. 1
David Bowie - Cracker Actor (Love In Los Angeles 1974)
The Cars - Live At The Agora 1978
Big Star - Complete Third Vo. 3 - Final Masters
Ramones - '75 - '79 Singles Box
Lost Weekend has all kinds of cool RSD events going on including portable screen printing and live performances including Lydia Loveless. Click here for the Facebook event page.
And don't forget to visit Used Kids Records. Click here for their list of events.
Pat Dull - this year I am looking forward to the Cheap Trick 2x lp of *somewhat* rarities (many already on CD bonuses), and anything on Parlophone! In the future, the Steve Abini re-recording of In Color would be the perfect RSD release! Also the legendary 2x lp version of Combat Rock (my least favorite Clash LP tho) called "Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg."
This Month In Music History - Alice Cooper: Muscle of Love by Scott Carr
November, 20, 1973 - Alice Cooper: "Muscle of Love" is released.
"The album in the plain brown, slightly greasy wrapper"
Muscle of Love is the seventh and final album from the original Alice Cooper Group. It was released on November 20th, 1973 and was the follow up to the hugely successful Billion Dollar Babies album which was released in February of the same year. Muscle of Love was considered a failure upon it's release as it peaked at No.10 on the Billboard charts and only attained gold status whereas Billion Dollar Babies had made it to the No.1 position on the charts and sold in excess of a million copies.
Muscle of Love was an attempt by the band to make a straight ahead rock and roll record without all the trappings and theatrics that they had so carefully crafted with their previous albums. Muscle of Love was the bands first album to not be produced by Bob Ezrin since their breakthrough 1971 album Love It To Death. It was originallly reported that Ezrin dropped out of the project because of an illness but later reports indicated that Ezrin was at odds with the band.....mainly guitarist and chief songwriter Michael Bruce.....over the direction the album was taking. It was decided that Jack Richardson and Jack Douglas would co-produce the record in Ezrin's absence. The result is a solid collection of songs that have aged well. Over the years Muscle of Love has become a fan favorite and many feel it is right in line with all the other Cooper classics of the day. Two singles were pulled from the record..."Teenage Lament '74" and the title track....but neither track managed to make much of a dent on the singles chart. Other highlights on the album include "Working Up A Sweat", "Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo)", "Never Been Sold Before", "Hard Hearted Alice" and "The Man With the Golden Gun". "Man With the Golden Gun" was originally intended for the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same name but the band turned the song in too late and the song was not used in the film......so the band decided to include on their album.
The packaging of the album is unique as it came in a shallow corrugated cardboard carton with a stain intentionally printed along the bottom of the carton. Many of the records were returned by retailers because they thought the cartons had been damaged in shipment....so it's actually pretty tough to find vinyl copies of this album that don't have a "cut-out" notch on one of the corners that indicates it as a return.
This album marks the last time the original Alice Cooper Group would record together as it was decided that Alice Cooper (the group) and Alice Cooper (the man) needed a break from each other. Alice would release his first album as a solo artist in 1975....with his very successful Welcome To My Nightmare. It was originally thought that the group would reunite for another record after Alice finished up with Welcome To My Nightmare....but this never happened and three of the original Alice Cooper Group members formed the band Billion Dollar Babies and released an album entitled "Battle Axe" without Alice. "Battle Axe" was a bomb and the band disappeared soon after.....Alice would continue on with his solo career and is still releasing new music and touring to this day.
In 2011 The Alice Cooper Group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and later that year the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper Group joined Alice in the studio for the first time since the Muscle of Love record and they contributed to a few songs on his Welcome 2 My Nightmare album. Sadly Alice Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton passed away in 1997...so a full Alice Cooper Group reunion wasn't in the cards.
In recent years Alice has been performing the title track from Muscle of Love in concert.....which is a nice tip of the hat to an album that many have forgot about. If you are an Alice fan.....I'm sure you have heard this record before but if not....I highly recommend that you give it a listen.
This Date in Rock n Roll History: KISS Releases (Music From) The Elder by Scott Carr
(Music From) The Elder is the ninth studio album from KISS released on November 10, 1981.
After the less than impressive sales of their 1980 release Unmasked, which saw the band take a turn towards a more pop-oriented sound, it was initially teased in the office KISS Army newsletter that the next KISS release would be "hard and heavy from start to finish — straight-on rock and roll that will knock your socks off." Ultimately what they delivered is without a doubt the strangest album in the KISS catalog. Instead of a no frills straight ahead rock record....the fans got a concept record based on a story by bassist Gene Simmons. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, who had previously worked with the band on their 1976 Destroyer album and had also worked with Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd and many others. The idea was to make a record that would showcase KISS as serious musicians and try to pander to the critics who were never too kind to KISS.
The Elder was truly a transitional record for the band as it was their first release with new drummer Eric Carr who had replaced departed original drummer Peter Criss a year earlier when Criss bowed out to begin his solo career. Eric toured throughout Europe with KISS on their Unmasked tour and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the band and brought a level of energy that had been missing on their last tour with Criss.
Initially there were big plans that would tie in with the release of The Elder.......there was a movie planned, a new tour was on the horizon with a whole new stage show and a new look for the band......they had all cut their hair shorter than it had ever been and the new costumes were a more streamlined look than the previous costumes they had for the Dynasty/Unmasked tours, and there was also talk of several sequels that would continue the story of The Elder. As quickly as these plans were announced....they were soon cancelled. The movie idea was scrapped and the tour never came to be.
Picture Disc for single "World Without Heroes". Olivia Newton John's influence was hard to escape during this period in American music. CG
The only live performance of any material from The Elder was on a late-night sketch comedy show on ABC called Fridays. Fridays was ABC's short-lived answer to NBC's Saturday Night Live. KISS appeared on Fridays and performed three songs from The Elder......"The Oath", "A World Without Heroes" and "I." This is the only time any material from The Elder was performed live until August, 1995 when KISS taped their MTV Unplugged concert and surprised fans with "A World Without Heroes." After the MTV taping it seemed The Elder had been put back into the closet to never be heard from again.....until recently when KISS played "The Oath" on their fourth annual KISS Kruise.
The Elder was quite a dud sales-wise for the band.......it would be their commercial low point and worst-selling album of their entire career. At the time most fans weren't sure what to make of this new serious KISS record that sounded more like a Pink Floyd record than a KISS record.....a lot of fans felt let down by their comic book heroes and began to move to bands like Motley Crue, who released their iconic debut album Too Fast For Love the same month as The Elder . A new breed of rock and metal bands were coming out of LA and taking a lot of influence from the early days of KISS.....black leather, studs, fire and really raw rock music. These bands were filling the void that KISS had left behind and it would take another year or so before KISS would begin to get their career back on the right track.
As time has passed The Elder has become a fan favorite....although there seems to be no middle ground for this record....you either love it or you hate it. The members of KISS have pretty much disowned the album and rarely have any positive things to say about it. I personally love it and it is ranked in my top 5 all time favorite KISS records. I liked that they were trying something completely different....to me it sounded fresh and interesting but I completely understand why it didn't work on a mass level. People want KISS to rock and roll all night and party every day....they don't want them singing about the recruitment and training of a young hero (The Boy) by the Council of Elders who belong to the Order of the Rose, a mysterious group dedicated to combating evil. And an elderly caretaker named Morpheus. It's hard to write catchy songs about that kind of stuff.
There always seems to be interest surrounding The Elder.....On November 16, 2011 it was announced that pre-production had begun on an independently produced adaptation of Music from "The Elder" .......no word on when or if this project will ever get off the ground....but the film company has released a teaser trailer for the movie.
So...Happy 33rd birthday to the weirdest and most controversial album in the KISS discography.......
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps and Returning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.
Editor's note: Obviously, I was going to first embed the footage of KISS performing said material on ABC Fridays. UNTIL, Scott dropped the bomb that a "new Elder" movie is currently in production being made by Seb Hunter, a cultish looking figure from the U.K. It's due for release in 2014 and it may or may not be a hoax. Brilliant. My jaw is on the floor this is sooooo awesome. I think Brian Phillips and myself may have a reelin' and rockin' candidate. Check out the trailer below before enjoying KISS in all their 1982 glory.
Under-rated as musicians. CG