Peter Criss ~ Out Of Control (album review) ... The cat meows!

Style: pop rock, adult alternative, blues-rock
Label: Mercury
Year: 1980
Home: New York

Members: Peter Criss ~ vocals/drums/percussion
Stan Penridge ~ guitars/b. vocals
David Wolfert ~ guitars/synthesizer
Tony Mercandante ~ bass/b. vocals
Stu Woods ~ bass
Benny Harrison ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Ed Walsh, Greg Zanthus Winter ~ synthesizer
David Buskin ~ b. vocals
George Young ~ saxophone

This, Peter's second solo album, has its collection of lovers & fierce haters. Comparing it to what came before I think this album shows an increase in Peter's confidence as a musician & singer. Its like he found his legs after doing his first solo album. This is a much stronger album, & the one I would recommend to hear first. He sings with more confidence. Peter often belts out like a blues rocker here to great effect. He lets his voice fly like a bird like he's auditioning to take over from Paul as Kiss' frontman. The album also holds up & gels better musically to me than his debut, which had good moments but felt unfocused in his drive to explore new musical avenues. Though, really, I find Peter's solo career more unfocused than not, with one good album not meaning what will follow will be in the same mold. I feel he has never founds himself solo-wise, with age & changing music styles not helping, just as long as he is known as something more than just the guy who sang "Beth" & played drums. He wants to do more, & particularly do things Kiss would never dream of doing. Or, at least, softer songs, more emotional & contemplative songs, songs that groove or pop over being full of pomp & roar. Yet, the problem is that his singing career really revolves around "Beth." One should note that his solo career focuses on his singing, not his drumming. "By Myself" doesn't even have any drums. There's also no drum solos to be found. Too often it feels like he's aiming for "Beth Part II" or The-It-Sounds-Like-Beth-But-Really-Isn't-Song. That was a great song, but it was a one time only moment. So what do you do when your one hit was a near fluke in sound? Well, I'm guessing Peter has crowned himself a sort a crooner, even if "Beth" was faux-crooning. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He tries his best, but the material isn't always right for him. When he does hit a groove it becomes apparent what works for him, & what doesn't. The end result might have been stronger if it was more focused on one style, versus experimenting with different flavors. It should be noted this is really a pop album, not a rock album, though it has rock songs & elements. For some it may be a bit shocking if they are expecting Kiss. This follows more with what he was going for on his solo debut, while moving from hard rock to pop rock & back again. "In Trouble Again" sounds like it is going for an Ace Frehley groove & might be the closest thing to Kiss. The title track, "Words", "By Myself" & "Where Will They Run" is '70's pop with all the musical cliches that sound incredibly dated & a bit weak instrumentation-wise all these decades later. Think heavy on the keyboards with disco beats. They will hit or miss likely depending on how you like the classic 70's groove sound. I do like "I Found Love," which has all the keyboards but pops & rocks making it sound like a 70's hit in the making if only it came a few years earlier, & with nothing in common with "Beth." This is a highlight of the album. "There's Nothing Better" mixes things up with some Chicago blues, wailing guitars, shuffle groove & horns included. This is another highlight of the album for me, if for no other reason than its different than Kiss & really works for Peter's raspy voice. This bluesy approach is carried over for a second success in his cover of the Rascals' "You Better Run." Its raw, rough, & perfect. Though, perhaps it succeeds better than the more polished pop songs because it doesn't try to take itself too seriously. Though, "I Feel Like Letting Go" is one I struggle to recommend. It feels far too much like "Beth", but without the good lyrics. Its about as generically bland as rock lyrics come. It literally feels like he grabbed random song titles & put them together. The one thing that redeems this, or makes it a struggle to recommend, is he tears it up vocally putting his heart into it like no other song here. Its just too bad he has nothing to say. I see many Kiss fans proclaim the wonders of this album, but I really don't know if it was due to the fact it was not Kiss, over how well it actually holds up. Its not bad, but its not great. I feel like letting it just go.

Criss ~ Cat #1 (album review) ... Don't pet this cat!

Style: blues rock, hard rock
Label: Tony Nicole Tony Records
Year: 1994
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: Peter Criss ~ vocals/drums
Mark Montague ~ bass/vocals
Mike Stone ~ rhythm guitar/vocals
Mike McLaughlin ~ lead guitar

Additional: Kirk Miller ~ guitar
Wayne Johnsen ~ acoustic guitar
Dito Dodwin ~ piano/slide guitar/b. vocals
Doug Shawe, Stephen Presley ~ keybaords
Ed Kanon ~ cymbals 

Guest: Ace Frehley ~ lead guitar
 

I know Peter Criss isn't considered the greatest drummer in rock, but it shocks me continuously on this album how it features the most non-driving, bare bones & boring drum patterns ever. At times it felt like a beginner's drumming. I struggled to even find an interesting fill. I was thinking about holding off this criticism till later in the review, but it just taints the entire album for me from the beginning to the end. As a bassist, I see the drums as a foundation of a band. A great drum pattern is more than just keeping the beat, but is creating dynamics, filling the space between sounds & emphasizing things. Perhaps this is my jazz background talking, but when I hear great drummers like Mickey Hart, John Bonham, Eric Carr, the Appice Brothers, Neil Peart & countless others, than I'm verified that in a rock context the drums have the same role. This is one reason I don't like double bass drumming that just pounds away. I'd rather hear a metronome at loud volume, as it adds nothing to the music in my ears.While often the music can be driven just as fiercely by not using this technique. I recently reviewed Black Tongue who find a great balance with & without the technique & are always fierce. While when I hear music with a lousy drum part & it seems to just have no backbone, then I am verified again as to how powerful the drums are. Hearing Cat #1, I hear no backbone, no drive, no climax, no nothing & the album suffers for it. Without a backbone none of the songs ever kicked into high gear for me. They slogged when you thought they would skip. If Peter doesn't have the skills, than bring in someone to play the parts. Billy Joel did it on his classical album, confessing he couldn't play what he wrote. The Rolling Stones used a different drummer when Charlie Watts couldn't do the reggae back beat they started to include in their songs. No shame. You're still the voice & guiding light of the album, Peter. As it is, I can't believe a drummer would release an album with such poor quality drumming. If the drumming wasn't bad enough ... the other problem I have with this album is that the Peter Criss sound is all based on Kiss' "Beth", i.e. raspy vocal ballads or variations on that theme. Truthfully, Peter is an adequate singer. "Beth" might be a great song, but that doesn't make him a great singer. Rod Stewart is famous for his rasp, but he is a great blues belter. Louis Armstrong is famous for his rasp, but he had a great sense of melody. Tom Waits has a rasp, but he pours out every note like his life depends on it. Peter does not pour out anything. He just sings words with no meaning put into them & with melodies that are not so interesting. He's trying to get the most mileage out of his rasp, but it doesn't offer much. There's not too many miles to the gallon for this, or at least the way he's using it. While, there's only one "Beth". Its a good song, but you're never going to write another "Beth." Move on, don't try to do "Beth" over & over & over ... or you'll have an album that sounds like this. The fact that he includes a new acoustic guitar arrangement of "Beth" doesn't help. Who asked for this? This is like doing a new synthesizer version of "Stairway To Heaven" or "Fairies Wear Boots" on classical guitar. Leave the past behind & just create some good songs from scratch. Though, I'm wondering if he even is a composer & writer hearing this mess. "The Truth" sounds like a drunk man with no good voice singing the most boring song ever. In my life I'm a bassist & have done some production work. I'm not a composer nor pretend I am. Its okay if you aren't a composer, Peter. I can't help but think of Dave Grohl. When he moved out from behind Nirvana's drum kit & into the Foo Fighters he didn't try to be Nirvana 2.0.. He found a new sound, new lyrical style & new approach. Peter isn't doing that, & when he does the result is weak & half-hearted. The result is that the album feels scattered, like it doesn't know if its blues, or rock, or Peter Criss new & improved or just Beth 2.0. The most going for the album is a few decent guitar solos. Though, ironically, those guitar solos are out of Peter's hands, so I can't give him credit for them. Thus, the best part of the album has nothing to do with the focus, which is Peter. Essentially, the part I liked least was Peter. All I can say is I loved his autobiography, but neither this nor his solo debut. For those that declare this album is great, I just don't hear it. There's some decent moments here, but I feel like not enough to fix the album. On the other hand, this has more zest & personality than Ace Frehley's debut Frehely's Comet. That sounded nothing like Ace, so at least here Peter sounds like Peter. But, in terms of any non-Kiss music I wasn't swayed. Maybe he gets kudos for not going the typical hard rock sound of his peers, but just because he does something different means he should get praised for doing it well.

Kiss ~ Psycho Circus (album review) ... A 4 ring circus!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal
Label: Mercury
Year: 1998
Home: n/a

Members: Paul Stanley ~ lead vocals/rhythm guitar/bass
Gene Simmons ~ lead vocals/bass/rhythm guitar
Ace Frehley ~ lead guitars/lead vocals
Peter Criss ~ drums/lead vocals
Tommy Thayer ~ lead guitar
Bruce Kulick ~ guitar

Additional: Bob Ezrin, Shelly Berg ~ keyboards
Kevin Valentine ~ drums

 

Is there anyone who didn't rejoice with Kiss's MTV Unplugged, for countless reasons including a reunion of the original band & a unique take on the classic hits? Growing up I was surrounded by the unmasked Kiss, the Revenge comeback & everything in that nearly embarrassing era that they're now working on putting firmly behind them. It wasn't a good era to become a Kiss fan with & I could never figure out what was so great about them, it was just a bunch of guys with characters that didn't seem to have any relationship to each other or a mythology like Alice Cooper. Yet, I still hunkered down to watch Kiss go acoustic, though I didn't know any of their music at the time. This is one of the biggest bands in the world, love them or hate them. & I loved the results, still do & think that might be one of their best moments. The songs aren't any less dumb sex ballads, but the gig is fun, intimate & the music still hits a good strong beat & you get six members of the band instead of the normal quartet. So, of course, when they went to record a formal reunion album with the studio release Psycho Circus I was interested for the first time, the hologram cover also helped lure me ... though I felt sad for the dumping of temporary boys who put up with a lot of big egos for many years & did a great MTV performance to be let go so unceremoniously, but that's business. I love the idea of a psycho circus, but this is not a concept album that such a title belays & given the disastrous Music From The Elder it's probably good for Kiss to avoid concept albums. What this actually is is an album of big rock anthems typical of the Kiss catalog with a lot of quasi-throwaway wannabe memorable lines & hooks. It's the band doing what it always did with little variation. It's big riffs, shallow lyrics written around a catchy chorus hook & as much of an in your face album that Kiss probably thought they could churn out at the time without going too overboard ... their overboard, of course, not being defined the same as for other bands. This is very much the opposite of Unplugged & the opposite of what made that so great. This could have been more, I believe I wanted it to be more, but when the name of the album is describing a musical entity & not the music itself that's not a good sign to start the show with. My lack of Kiss knowledge meant I misinterpreted an album name for representing great creative musical strides. Kinda like when you hear Jon Anderson's Olias Of Sunhillow you think this is going to be something interesting. No, Kiss is the psycho circus not the album. This is a summation of their career as much as the Rolling Stones Bridges To Babylon was about describing their stage set. Kiss know how to turn out lots of layers, chugging basslines & soaring solos without doubt ... but they're playing the same music now they always did just with better production values & more layers, & I still don't think anyone in the band are particularly interesting singers beyond adequate & Peter Criss will be forever stuck with ballads to sing, while circus pomp flies without embarrassment as always. Yet again, Kiss has not made me a fan or given me something I'm going to turn to with joy in the years ahead. MTV Unplugged was a fluke of pleasure - sad to say. The problem with Psycho Circus is that years later when I think about it I don't think substance. It hasn't aged well & listening again I'm actually a bit disappointed ... my memory forgot the blandness of so much of it & the enormous amount of filler for a meager ten songs. Too many songs (i.e. title track, "Raise Your Glasses", "You Wanted The Best", "I Pledge Allegiance To the State Of Rock & Roll") are self-saluting anthems of look at how great we are because we're Kiss & we survived & now we're gonna give you the best rock'n'roll ever ... the fact that rock'n'roll takes on its own definition for the sex-ladden cock rock of Kiss is another story ... balanced by more under-developed personal moments lost in the bombast as the die was cast too early that this is going to be a big album not a reflective album (i.e. "Within", "We Are One", "I Finally Found My Way", "Dreamin") with some absolute bland topic filler of meandering phrases but no meaning (i.e. "Into The Void", "Journey Of 1,000 Years") with all the songs built around a catchy chorus line & little lyrical development. I will say, while the lyrics do little for me, musically the album is not so much a failure. Well, it's not that interesting on the whole but it has moments. A lot of work was put into the music, no doubt. The riffs are quite powerful, the layers thick & when Gene Simmons lets his bass gurgle like a beast (i.e. "Within", also featuring a great guitar solo) the songs are amazing & rival the intensity of Tool or any thrash band out there. & there's a lot to listen to in many of the guitar riffs, solos & some great passing notes. But, any band can turn out a killer riff, particularly when they have the production experience of Kiss, but in the long term I still want substance & passion more than fluke good riffs. Here there's too many shallow songs that sound like Mick Jagger big stadium rockers ... & you know what we all prefer is Keith Richards softer "I Want To Hold You" more often than not. Perhaps if Paul Stanley & Gene Simmons didn't dominate the writing process that change might happen. But, Kiss is these two immature boys turned old immature boys with more business sense & anyone else is just a throwaway opening circus act, even if they are original members. "Into The Void" with returning Ace Frehley singing, though a Paul Stanley composition as Frehley & Criss get no writing credits, for all the hype around the glory of the legendary riffer Space-Ace can you get any more boring? Not even a good guitar solo. It's just too bad & giving us quasi-power ballads with "We Are One" or "You Wanted The Best" - which is the only Kiss song ever to feature all four members singing lead - just don't do much to make up for it. Though at least they gave the orchestrated acoustic "I Finally Found My Way To You" to Peter Criss to sing, as the song is great for him & goes right back to the 70's ... but its so out of place it's almost like Simmons & Stanley didn't know what to do with him so they dug a classic song out of the vault as he's not good for anything else. A nice little dancing seal act. This might be a reunion in membership but its still a two man game & if you know the game already there's no surprises in the outcome. It shouldn't even be a surprise that its not really a reunion. The Space-Ace only sings & plays on two songs ("Into The Void", "You Wanted The Best") & Criss is only singing on two songs ("You Wanted The Best" & "I Finally Found My Way") & drumming on one ("Into The Void") ... though doing the math one find that its only three out of ten songs that include the returning boys & only two of these with all four members. You're actually listening to Tommy Thayer on lead guitar, who would take over the lead guitar spot on subsequent tours & albums, & former lead guitarist Bruce Kulick gets a backwards guitar intro as his unceremonious goodbye to Kiss ... his final kiss off. I have to say that Thayer turns in some great riffs when given a chance. Of course, neither of these boys get credit in the album, which says all lead guitar parts are by Frehley & Stanley. Indeed, welcome to the psycho circus where the show is big, the riffs are big, Gene Stanley's cock is big & so his is codpiece ... the music is not important. The fact that this is a weak/fake reunion is almost an after-thought. Reunion is just an excuse to make another album. It's much better than a lot of the unmasked years, but don't have too high expectations & you'll be fine with this moment when Kiss actually had to do something other than merchandise themselves.