ESP (aka Eric Singer Project) ~ ESP (aka self-titled) (album review)

Style: covers, tribute, hard rock, classic rock
Label: n/a
Year: 1999
Home: n/a

Members: Eric Singer ~ drums/vocals
Bruce Kulick ~ guitar/bass/b. vocals
John Corabi ~ vocals/guitar/bass/piano
Karl Cochran ~ vocals/guitar/bass

Guest: Ace Frehley ~ lead guitar

Additional: Nicky Lemmons ~ keyboards
Roberta Freeman ~ b. vocals

I'll be honest. I've heard numerous albums by Bruce Kulick, both by Kiss & not, yet I wouldn't know it was him if you didn't tell me. There's nothing that makes me recognize his playing from any other playing. There's no riffing blues like Slash, or weird playing like Steve Vai & Allan Holdsworth, or even super melodic playing by Al Pitrelli. He's a good riffer who can pretty much play anything, & was great in Kiss, but I can't find anything about him that carries across all his work. As for Eric Singer, I've never been able to recognize drummers. Even when I took a jazz class in college where the test was to hear a series of drummers. Based on the sound of their hi-hat or a snare or playing style we had to name who it was in 4 bars. I couldn't. As for guitarist & vocalist Karl Cochran on this album, I don't know him. Well, that's not true. He's on a lot of albums by Joe Lynn Turner, many of which I own, but I can't remember anything about him or the songs. I actually got the albums for Al Pitrelli, who does have a recognizable style. While John Corabi I of course know, but wouldn't recognize & have no opinion about him. So, coming into this I hesitate. Its a supergroup with musicians who I do not consider to have a distinctive sounds ... doing covers of classic rock songs. So, having said all that, the outcome is a group of non-distinct players who end up not having a distinct sound knocking down distinctive songs by a few notches. This album feels like a pub band doing covers. Nothing more. The songs don't feel like they've really been given a completely different or unique feel, or anything other than being generic hard rock playing. Or, I should say, they feel like a typical bar band cranking out the tunes trying to rock, but not necessarily trying to sound like the originals or anything beyond what is possible for them to do. Not to mention covering Johnny Winter, Hendrix & Deep Purple with play-by-the-numbers blues solos doesn't exactly capture the feel of those musicians or songs. While "S.O.S. (Too Bad)" sounds nothing like Aerosmith. I guess, I should give them credit for interpreting a song completely different from the original ... but in this case they not just sound nothing like the original, but took out the stomp & groove. I can't compliment turning a deep cut into a boring rock song. Congrats on knocking the original down a few notches? While whoever is playing guitar on "Won't Get Fooled Again" is far too stiff to properly imitate the loose wristed Pete Townshend. This is the School Of Rock version. I can't see any reason to listen to this album. I mean, a version of Kiss' "Goin' Blind" that sounds like Kiss, but with a rougher sounder singer? I'll just listen to the original! The most interesting thing was hearing Eric Singer sing on songs by Little Feat, Humble Pie, Kiss & Montrose. He's got a rasp that makes me feel he likely did justice to performing "Beth" with Kiss. Also, the R&B take on Hendrix's "Changes" was interesting.

Bruce Kulick & John Corabi's The Union ~ The Blue Room (album review) ... When Kiss gets Motley!

Style: hard rock
Label: Spitfire
Year: 2000
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: Bruce Kulick ~ guitar/vocals
John Corabi ~ vocals
Jamie Hunting ~ bass
Brent Fitz ~ drums

 

This is one of those albums you may spot in a discount rack & pick it up because of whose in it. Guitarist Bruce Kulick formerly of Kiss & vocalist John Corabi formerly of Motley Crue are undoubtedly drawing on their respective rock pasts & the less showy end of it no less in their collaboration as Union. Obviously Kulick was continuing to stay away from putting on make-up & a floor show with this new & relatively short-lived band. That's the key to Union, no pretentious floor show - either on their self-titled debut, a live album, this second release or their follow-up swan song after this. Union rocks hard & while not always unique or too gutsy & some of the choruses are a bit too predictably radio friendly or distant cousins of Creed or Stone Temple Pilots, the whole makes up for the individual with a decent album that will bring repeated listens. You'll be listening repeatedly even when you're saying you're not going to because it's not gutsy enough. The music creeps up on you. You'll feel like you've heard the songs or the flavor of them before, but you haven't & thus you stay listening. They walk that type of musical line. Check out "Dead" & "Hypnotized" for big radio friendly choruses that have the potential to fail as they play things a bit too safe, a general rule of thumb for the whole album, but are so laid back with good steady riffs not too cluttered or chunky & with just enough changes to make them standout tracks & vibrantly catchy. Great songwriting & composing for its genre keeps the album floating, though don't expect anything that sounds like Kiss meets Motley Crue. While Corabi might have joined the bad boys following their legacy making Dr. Feelgood he saw the Crue go for a more alt rock/grunge influenced sound before outstaying his welcome with fans, while Kulick's time in Kiss was like Corabi under the shadow of previous band members & also during a less than memorable era. It's very common to start drooling over a band because of the line-up ... it's supergroup time so let's knock the walls down with magic! But, does it really mean anything to say x y & z members are from a b & c bands? It sets the listener up with expectations that there will be a fusion of a b & c bands. Not here, but you probably won't be disappointed, even when Kulick sings on "Dear Friend" with his less than interesting voice. It goes by too quickly to be noticeable. The problem here is not so much that x & y were in a & b bands, or that said bands had a low point with said members, but that said members don't really have distinctive sounds. Can you tell a Kulick solo if nobody told you? We're not talking Van Halen or Steve Vai or Yngwie Malmsteen here, we're talking guys whose magic is blending in. That's really why this album doesn't fly. They've made blend in music. It's good, but not unique. It bites, but not with much pressure from the teeth. Ironically, Corabi would later unite with another ex-Kiss player in drummer Eric Singer plus Karl Cochran of Ace Frehley's band to release an album under the name ESP.