Music Banter - View Single Post

Urban Hat€monger ? · 06-02-2011, 04:57 PM

Peter Criss

First of all I have to say that it's almost impossible for me to take an album seriously that has a song on it entitled That's The Kind Of Sugar Papa Likes' on it, let alone listen to the damn thing. But I shall persevere.

Now, I'm not going to start this having a full blown rant about Peter Criss, I feel that's unfair. He's a bit of a fall guy for the band. I'm not even going to give him shit for doing 'Beth' either. As a matter of fact I happen to like a couple of songs Peter Criss did for Kiss. There's Black Diamond, probably one of the highlights on the debut album. He didn't write it, Paul Stanley did. But that's not the point.
I also happen to think that Hard Luck Woman is a pretty decent Faces type ballad, which is understanding really when you realise that it was written with Rod Stewart in mind originally. Peter does his best Rod Stewart impersonation and manages to pull it off pretty well. OK he didn't write that either (Paul Stanley did) but that's not the point.

Actually this isn't really going anywhere, let's start again.

I quite like the song Peter wrote & performed on the Dynasty album, Dirty Livin' and there's another one he did on the Unmasked album too which is pretty good, but it's so long since I listened to that album I can't remember which one. But the point is I'm not here to bury Peter Criss I'm willing to give him a fair shake, so let's listen to this album.

God this is awful

The first thing that really grabs me about this album is the total lack of danger. Everything about this album is 'nice'. And I don't mean that in a good way. There's no edge to anything on this at all. All the ballads are just mawkish cheesy rubbish and all the 'rock n roll' songs sounds like they were performed by some musical theatre company. It's just this collection of bland wishy washy 70s soft rock.

Apparently a lot of these songs were written in 1971 for a band called Lips who Criss was a member of back then. Given by that point Kiss had released 6 studio albums and Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley raided their old band Wicked Lester for a load of songs on the first couple of Kiss albums you'd think that maybe they might use a couple of Criss's old songs too. Having listened to most of this crap I think it's painfully obvious why they didn't and why Lips never got signed and why these songs were sitting around for 7 years doing nothing .... BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING AWFUL.

Highlights of this album? Well if you're really going to put me at gunpoint to name one there's always Criss's cover of R&B singer Bobby Lewis's Tossin' & Turnin' Which did make it into Kiss's live tour when they got back together again after this.
Not that I want you to think it's any good, it's just not as terrible as the rest of the album in the same way that shitting yourself if you are wearing boxer shorts isn't as terrible as shitting yourself if you are wearing boxer shorts AND trousers.
It really is that bad.

There, a whole review of Peter Criss's solo album without once mentioning kitty litter.
That has to be worth something.

Rating:

06-02-2011, 04:57 PM	#120 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	Peter Criss First of all I have to say that it's almost impossible for me to take an album seriously that has a song on it entitled That's The Kind Of Sugar Papa Likes' on it, let alone listen to the damn thing. But I shall persevere. Now, I'm not going to start this having a full blown rant about Peter Criss, I feel that's unfair. He's a bit of a fall guy for the band. I'm not even going to give him shit for doing 'Beth' either. As a matter of fact I happen to like a couple of songs Peter Criss did for Kiss. There's Black Diamond, probably one of the highlights on the debut album. He didn't write it, Paul Stanley did. But that's not the point. I also happen to think that Hard Luck Woman is a pretty decent Faces type ballad, which is understanding really when you realise that it was written with Rod Stewart in mind originally. Peter does his best Rod Stewart impersonation and manages to pull it off pretty well. OK he didn't write that either (Paul Stanley did) but that's not the point. Actually this isn't really going anywhere, let's start again. I quite like the song Peter wrote & performed on the Dynasty album, Dirty Livin' and there's another one he did on the Unmasked album too which is pretty good, but it's so long since I listened to that album I can't remember which one. But the point is I'm not here to bury Peter Criss I'm willing to give him a fair shake, so let's listen to this album. God this is awful The first thing that really grabs me about this album is the total lack of danger. Everything about this album is 'nice'. And I don't mean that in a good way. There's no edge to anything on this at all. All the ballads are just mawkish cheesy rubbish and all the 'rock n roll' songs sounds like they were performed by some musical theatre company. It's just this collection of bland wishy washy 70s soft rock. Apparently a lot of these songs were written in 1971 for a band called Lips who Criss was a member of back then. Given by that point Kiss had released 6 studio albums and Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley raided their old band Wicked Lester for a load of songs on the first couple of Kiss albums you'd think that maybe they might use a couple of Criss's old songs too. Having listened to most of this crap I think it's painfully obvious why they didn't and why Lips never got signed and why these songs were sitting around for 7 years doing nothing .... BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING AWFUL. Highlights of this album? Well if you're really going to put me at gunpoint to name one there's always Criss's cover of R&B singer Bobby Lewis's Tossin' & Turnin' Which did make it into Kiss's live tour when they got back together again after this. Not that I want you to think it's any good, it's just not as terrible as the rest of the album in the same way that shitting yourself if you are wearing boxer shorts isn't as terrible as shitting yourself if you are wearing boxer shorts AND trousers. It really is that bad. There, a whole review of Peter Criss's solo album without once mentioning kitty litter. That has to be worth something. Rating: __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.