Style: hard rock, pop rock
Label: Mercury
Year: 1989
Home: New York City, New York
Members: Paul Stanley ~ vocals/rhythm guitar/EBow
Gene Simmons ~ vocals/bass/rhythm guitar
Eric Carr ~ drums/b. vocals/bass
Bruce Kulick ~ guitars/bass/b. vocals
Additional: Phil Ashley ~ keyboards
Pat Regan ~ horns
Charlotte Crossley, Valerie Pinkston, Kim Edwards-Brown ~ b. vocals
Kevin Valentine, Eric Singer ~ drums
Tommy Thayer ~ electroacoustic guitar
Besides having my least favorite Kiss album cover, a bad album title, & none of the venom of early Kiss ... not to mention that the sphinx is certainly hot, but where is the shade, or should it be 'hot in the shades' ... I actually really enjoy this album start to finish. Or, most of it, as there are a few clunkers that should have been left as demos, such as the horribly titled "The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away" & "You Love Me To Hate You". Though, having said I really like this album, I actually consider it Kiss firmly doing their best AOR. The growling beastly early years are now absolute history, never to return. The chance to reclaim them deliberately ignored too many times. This is Kiss light rock, Kiss' pop explosion, Kiss power ballad plus, Kiss not really hot nor really Kiss. Its even hard to call this Kiss at times. Even when the bass growls, its only Kiss-like. Michael Bolton shows up co-writing the album's big single "Forever", which would never have been given to '70's Kiss but for '80's Kiss nobody likely blinked. That says it all about this era of Kiss. Yet, for their AOR flavor, the songs are actually really well crafted. I can't help but sing along to "Betrayed", "Forever", "Hide Your Heart", "Love's A Slap In The Face," & many others. They are hard to hate. They are the perfect AOR made for radio songs, which too many bands would die for. Actually, just to have one of these songs in a repertoire would be enough for many groups. They might not be the Kiss I want, but they are great. I've long said Kiss should not have brought in the outside songwriters & given them so much control, as they steered the band away from their roots & to something not-Kiss, but it all comes together here really well. The songs may not rock hard, but they have great lyrics & its hard to forget these melodies, while most I consider really well crafted. There's a few backing choirs I'd dump, & the above songs I don't like that feel like unnecessary padding that don't add much. I also might call this some of Gene's best singing in awhile, who was phoning in his performances for awhile. This would be Eric Carr's last album. I've said it before that he was a great drummer who was the perfect choice. He pounds the skins harder than Criss ever did. I credit him with giving this album the hard edge that it does. Sadly, Bruce Kulick is a good guitarist who can do anything, but also their least distinctive lead guitarist. I've heard many outings of his & not once have I been able to recognize his style, or even say he has one. Due to this, I believe the guitars on this album tend to be more subdued than I wish they were. They feel play-by-the-numbers, focusing on melodies over anything else. There's no guitarist here forcing his stamp on it. Imagine if Vinnie Vincent or Mark St. John was told to play "Forever", & you know they'd rebel & give the producer a headache ... but the riffs would be huge as a result, not tucked in the mix. Kulick is a soldier for me, not a force to be reckoned with. Talented, yes, but he doesn't have the ego. I wish they had someone with a bigger ego in the guitar chair, as I believe it would have kept the band from going too pop. But, they went there. At least they did it with good songs.
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