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.
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