{"id":12357,"date":"2014-01-10T01:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T06:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12357"},"modified":"2022-01-06T19:42:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T00:42:18","slug":"the-album-by-album-challenge-kiss-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12357","title":{"rendered":"The Album by Album Challenge: KISS (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kissWelcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And in some cases, face melting is still just good ol\u2019 face melting.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And we’re back with Part II the KISS Album by Album Challenge.\u00a0 We are about to head into some murky waters also known as the 80’s KISS.\u00a0 We made it though KISSCO and now we have see KISS try and maintain some relevance and the rapidly changing world of hard rock\/metal.\u00a0 Regardless of the pitfalls, misses, and flat out failures, KISS did manage to have some pretty shining moments of greatness here and there.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sit back and let’s venture into the world of 80’s KISS and beyond.\u00a0 Here we go…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Lick It Up<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 18, 1983
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Exciter, Not for the Innocent, Young & Wasted, All Hells Breaking Loose, A Million to One, Fits Like a Glove, Dance All Over Your Face,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong> Lick It Up, Gimme More, On the 8th Day<\/p>\n

This was a really fun album to listen to. This seems to be the album where KISS must\u2019ve really seen a shift in the times and saw bands like Motley Crue, RATT, and Dokken slowly rising from the streets. They adopted a more sleazy\/glam metal kind of sound and image for this album and they actually pulled it off really well. The songs sound more like what you expect from KISS and is probably closest to the classic sound that they forged. The songs on this album are really fun to listen to and even the indifferent songs are totally listenable. Some of the songs are flat out corny. \u201cAll Hells Breaking Loose\u201d is hysterically awesome, \u201cDance All Over Your Face\u201d has me wondering if the word \u201cDance\u201d actually replaced some other word, and let\u2019s not forget this gem: \u201cOn the 8th day God created rock n\u2019 roll? Really Gene? There\u2019s only 7 days in a week. You were a teacher. You should know this. Besides that the album really is a lot of fun and it\u2019s an album that I could totally see revisiting.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Animalize<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 13, 1984
\nThe Good:<\/strong> I\u2019ve Had Enough (Into the Fire), Heaven\u2019s On Fire, Lonely is the Hunter, Thrills in the Night, While the City Sleeps,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Burn Bitch Burn, Get All You Can Take, Murder in High Heels<\/p>\n

So KISS picked up where Lick It Up left off. This album is pretty much an extension of Lick it Up and if I didn\u2019t know better I\u2019d even think that maybe these songs were all written around the same time. The album starts off really strong with \u201cI\u2019ve Had Enough\u201d and \u201cHeaven\u2019s on Fire\u201d. \u201cThrills in the Night\u201d is another really cool song that I forget about a lot but after that it all just seems to be kind of meh. I mean, nothing about this album really stands out as spectacular and it\u2019s not even as fun to listen to as Lick it Up was. I can see how this album was such a hit for them as it really found KISS looking and sounding very relevant for the times. These guys managed to ride the winds of change into the scene and managed to actually pull it off without looking or sounding like a bunch of old guys trying too hard.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Asylum<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 16, 1985
\nThe Good:<\/strong> King of the Mountain, Who Wants To Be Lonely, I\u2019m Alive, Tears Are Falling, Uh All Night,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Any Way You Slice It, Love\u2019s A Deadly Weapon, Trial By Love, Secretly Cruel, Radar For Love,<\/p>\n

First off can we just address the white elephant in the room? No I\u2019m not talking about Gene\u2019s groupies. I\u2019m talking about that shit artwork of an album cover. I remember seeing this album at 12 years old and going, \u201cOh no. This looks like it\u2019s going to suck.\u201d Well, I wasn\u2019t TOO far off as this album really didn\u2019t flat out suck. While it didn\u2019t suck there was an awful lot of forgettable material on this one. I am pretty much embarrassed to say that I liked \u201cWho Wants to Be Lonely\u201d and \u201cUh All Night\u201d but man, they\u2019re fun songs and its typical brain in the crotch KISS. \u201cTears are Falling\u201d is a pretty great song as well but everything else just seems to fall flat. Matter of fact, a couple of songs went by and I totally forgot I was even listening to KISS. Asylum isn\u2019t quite as shitty as I remembered it being but it\u2019s definitely not a great album by a long shot.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Crazy Nights<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 18, 1987
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Crazy Crazy Nights, I\u2019ll Fight Hell to Hold You, Come Hell or High Water, Reason to Live, Turn on the Night,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong> Bang Bang You,
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> My Way, When Your Walls Come Down, No No No, Good Girl Gone Bad, Thief in the Night<\/p>\n

Kicking off with one of my favorite KISS songs \u201cCrazy Crazy Nights\u201d, Crazy Nights pretty much starts off really strong going into \u201cI\u2019ll Fight Hell to Hold You\u201d but then things just get out of control from here. At this point in the game, KISS is looking around them and seeing what is selling huge at this time. Poison, Cinderella, Bon Jovi were all on top at this point and KISS wanted a piece of this. They hire songwriters Desmond Child and Dianne Warren to help them write the hits and even their gold and platinum writing implements couldn\u2019t save them. As corny as they are, I love the singles from this album (Crazy Crazy Night, Reason to Live, Turn on the Night) as for the other songs, I\u2019d have to say \u201cNO NO NO.\u201d Ha! See what I did there?\u201cNo No No\u201d? Hell, I liked it better when it was called \u201cHot For Teacher\u201d and Van Halen did it. C\u2019mon guys. You didn\u2019t even try and make that song sound like anything original. \u201cBang Bang You?\u201d I\u2019m sure Desmond Child loves his $0.35 royalty check from that piece of shit! Ugh. This is starting to look bad for the future. I may need a break before moving forward.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Hot in the Shade<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: October 17, 1989
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Rise to It, Betrayed, Hide Your Heart, King of Hearts, The Street Giveth And The Streat Taketh Away, Boomerang
\nThe Bad<\/strong>: Read My Body, Forever, Cadillac Dreams, You Love Me To Hate You, Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell,
\nThe Indifferent<\/strong>: Prisoner of Love, Silver Spoon, Little Caesar,<\/p>\n

Wow. I\u2019m surprised this album didn\u2019t come with a roll of Charmin since it\u2019s so fucking shitty. This album delivered five\u2026 FIVE songs that were good. The first three songs are so fucking good that it really hooks you and has you hoping for the best from there it just spirals out of control like someone just flushed the toilet on this big heaping turd. The songs that didn\u2019t make the \u201cgood\u201d list aren\u2019t even listenable. I literally had to skip through them because they were that fucking terrible. \u201cCadillac Dreams\u201d just may be the worst KISS song ever and \u201cLittle Caesar\u201d proves that Eric Carr was only slightly better than Peter Criss in that his contribution made the \u201cindifferent\u201d list as opposed to the flat out suck list.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Revenge<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> May 19, 1992
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Unholy, God Gave Rock N\u2019 Roll To You II, Domino, Thou Shall Not, Paralyzed, I Just Wanna,
\nThe Bad<\/strong>: Every Time I Look At You, Carr Jam 1981
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Take it Off, Tough Love, Spit, Heart of Chrome,<\/p>\n

I remember this being the KISS album I thought would be the most promising. Eric Carr had passed away and the band had recruited bad ass drummer Eric Singer. Unholy is probably one the single greatest KISS songs ever and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. The rest of the album failed to come close to touching the greateness of that song but it\u2019s not a total loss. As corny as it is, I love \u201cGod Gave Rock N\u2019 Roll To You II\u201d (sorry Argent) and \u201cDomino\u201d is just classic, creeper Gene Simmons. I always thought that song was a kinda follow up to \u201cChristine Sixteen\u201d and \u201cI Just Wanna\u201d is fun, kitschy KISS. \u201cUnholy\u201d was really the bait for this album only to discover that it was full of \u201cmeh\u201d, \u201cnot bad\u201d, and \u201cwow this flat out sucks.\u201d Not much different than any other KISS album eh?<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Carnival of Souls<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> October 28, 1997
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Hate,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong> Master & Slave, Childhood\u2019s End, I Will Be There, In My Head, Seduction of the Innocent, In The Mirror, I Walk Alone
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Rain, Jungle, It Never Goes Away, I Confess,<\/p>\n

KISS\u2019 never ending desire to try and stay on the cusp of changing trends within heavy metal experiences yet another monumental fail with this craptastic album. The first song \u201cHate\u201d actually sounded like it could\u2019ve been a great follow up on the heels of \u201cUnholy\u201d on Revenge but as this album progressed it was painfully obvious that this was a band that was trying way too fucking hard. \u201cRain\u201d would\u2019ve been a great Alice in Chains song but for KISS, not so much. There are a few songs on here that aren\u2019t completely unlistenable but for the most part even KISS realized that this thing was just a big fucking \u201coops\u201d in the diaper of hard rock and opted not to release it until the bootlegs surfaced and they figured they could at least make a buck or two off of this one. I\u2019d be surprised if they even made enough money to cover the cost of having this coaster printed up. The album closing with a song sung by Bruce Kulick is absolutely hilarious. I wonder if this was what the guys used to get rid of him.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Psycho Circus<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> September 22, 1998
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Psycho Circus, I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll, Into the Void,
\nThe Bad:<\/strong> We Are One, I Finally Found My Way,
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Within, You Wanted the Best, Raise Your Glasses, Dreamin\u2019, Journey of 1,000 Years<\/p>\n

Psycho Circus. The KISS reunion album that wasn\u2019t really a reunion (Peter Criss only sang on two songs and played drums on one song). This album came close to capturing that classic KISS vibe but it was just close but no cigar. The title track is one of the best KISS songs in years and \u201cInto the Void\u201d pretty much proved that anything Ace Frehley does in KISS is fucking going to rule. The rest of the album was just full of \u201cmeh\u201d and even the bad songs were better than most of the \u201cindifferent\u201d songs on previous albums. This album had KISS stepping into the right direction but sadly this would be the last we would ever hear of Ace on a KISS album. \u201cInto the Void\u201d is such a great song. It\u2019s a shame he was such a loose cannon and that they just could never make things work between them.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Sonic Boom<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> October 6, 2009
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Modern Day Delilah, Russian Roulette, Never Enough, Danger Us, I\u2019m An Animal, When Lightning Strikes, Say Yeah
\nThe Bad:
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Yes I Know (Nobody’s Perfect), Stand, Hot and Cold, All For The Glory,<\/p>\n

There must\u2019ve been some magic in this line up because this feels like classic more than any line up since the classic line up. For Sonic Boom, Kiss sounds like KISS. They\u2019re not trying to ride in on any trend or trying to be modernly relevant. They\u2019re just playing their asses off and this album is so much fun to listen to. There really isn\u2019t a bad song on this album and even the \u201cindifferent\u201d songs are still totally listenable. \u201cModern Day Delilah\u201d is new classic KISS and is probably one of my new favorite KISS songs. \u201cNever Enough\u201d is a really fun song but c\u2019mon guys, can you just TRY and hide the fact that you stole this song from Poison (Nothin\u2019 But a Good Time)? \u201cDanger Us\u201d is one of Paul\u2019s finest moments in years and \u201cWhen Lightning Strikes\u201d has Tommy Thayer doing a pretty good Ace Frehley with a kick ass song of his own. All in all, Sonic Boom is proof that when KISS just stops trying, they can actually do what\u2019s natural and make a great hard rock album.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kiss \u2013 Monster<\/strong>
\n Release Date:<\/strong> October 9, 2012
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Hell or Hallelujah, Wall of Sound, Back to the Stone Age, Shout Mercy, Long Way Down, The Devil is Me, Outta This World, All for the Love of Rock & Roll
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\nThe Indifferent:<\/strong> Freak, Eat Your Heart Out,<\/p>\n

No outside writers, no failed attempts at trying to be trendy or hip and KISS puts out probably their best album in only God knows how long! This album was such a shock and a pleasant surprise for me. The songs are so strong and they are played with such a fire and energy that seemed to have been gone for so long. That fire that the band had for the first few albums flickered out only to return as a spark with Psycho Circus. The flame started to burn with Sonic Boom and with Monster it\u2019s a full on fire that is showing no signs of going out. \u201cHell or Hallelujah\u201d (much like Modern Day Delilah) sounds like new classic KISS and from there on the songs on Monster continue to encapsulate that magic and fun that KISS had in the very beginning. Just when I thought KISS was clear out of ideas and that their best creative days were behind them they come out with an album that completely blew my mind and reminded me just why I love KISS so fucking much to begin with. Monster lives up to its name and it also gives me hope that we haven\u2019t seen the last of KISS for quite some time.<\/p>\n

===================================================<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,277],"tags":[8,1099,1100,1101,618,605,917,1098,1102],"class_list":["post-12357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-by-album-challenge","category-music-news","tag-ace-frehley","tag-bruce-kulick","tag-eric-carr","tag-eric-singer","tag-gene-simmons","tag-kiss-2","tag-paul-stanley","tag-peter-criss","tag-tommy-thayer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19541,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12357\/revisions\/19541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}