KISS Discography - My Life As a Kiss Fan

[erwinrafael]

Revenge is their best album. Bruce Kulick is amazing.

[hefdaddy42]

ITT Stadler is woefully wrong about the quality of Revenge lol

Every Time I Look At You is a fantastic ballad.  I daresay one of their best, if not their very best.

The rest of the album?  On a scale from one to ten, Revenge kicks ass.

[bosk1]

Trivia, what stripper was all over kingshmegland when she saw him singing the lyrics to this song on Revenge from the front row?

Icysk8r?

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I thought stadler might get spanked for this one.    Revenge is definitely a top 5 album.

[King Postwhore]

Trivia, what stripper was all over kingshmegland when she saw him singing the lyrics to this song on Revenge from the front row?

Icysk8r?

 

Song dammit!

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I'm so lost.

[Stadler]

I defend my position on Revenge.  I feel there is just too much whahibrido pickingant on that album.    

I can't deny that the sound is excellent.  I can't deny that it is the best "band" for Kiss.  I can't deny that Paul is singing as well as he ever has (that scream at the start of Take It Off is world class, and his vocal on the verses in I Just Wanna are some of his best).   But it's little stuff that ruins it for me.  I already said I hate Spit and Domino.   The intros to Tough Love and Heart of Chrome are almost identical.   Kiss is not a band I listen to for lyrics ("Torpedo Girl!") but for some reason the cheeky lyrics on "Take It Off" and "I Just Wanna" bug me.  It doesn't make sense even to me, but there you go. 

I will say that Gene is otherwise in top form on this album; I LOVE his bass-playing generally and he is all over this album.   "Paralyzed" is a great song. 

[hefdaddy42]

Domino is a killer song.  10 pounds of fun in a five pound bag.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Take It Off is the quintessential celebration of T&A.  It couldn't BE any more awesome, I think.

[King Postwhore]

Take It Off is the quintessential celebration of T&A.  It couldn't BE any more awesome, I think.

And this is the song I had stripper glitter all over me.  That's how you write a song for the loins.

[bosk1]

Icy was wearing glitter when it happened?  Gross.  ...or freakay!

[Mosh]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

[BlobVanDam]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

The latest two albums are what Psycho Circus should have been, just the band rocking out great tunes. Psycho Circus has nothing on either of them.

[King Postwhore]

Icy was wearing glitter when it happened?  Gross.  ...or freakay!

I wonder what that kid is doing now.  Don't even get me started on his weird beliefs!

[Mosh]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

The latest two albums are what Psycho Circus should have been, just the band rocking out great tunes. Psycho Circus has nothing on either of them.

Well the last two albums don't have great tunes.   

[BlobVanDam]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

The latest two albums are what Psycho Circus should have been, just the band rocking out great tunes. Psycho Circus has nothing on either of them.

Well the last two albums don't have great tunes.   

They had a plenty of great tunes. More than Psycho Circus had.

[King Postwhore]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

The latest two albums are what Psycho Circus should have been, just the band rocking out great tunes. Psycho Circus has nothing on either of them.

I remember reading Gene and Paul saying Bruce Fairbairn was the wrong choice for the producer.  Again Gene and Paul were swayed to use outside influences instead of all 4 of them in the trenches with an Eddie Krammer type producer.

[King Postwhore]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

The latest two albums are what Psycho Circus should have been, just the band rocking out great tunes. Psycho Circus has nothing on either of them.

Well the last two albums don't have great tunes.   

[BlobVanDam]

Love both of those albums. Revenge is my favorite Kiss album and I thought Psycho Circus was way better than it should have been. I would expect something more to the quality of the last two Kiss albums, pathetic attempts at recapturing the 70s albums, but instead it was a solid sounding rock album that didn't seem to be trying too hard. Kind of lame that Ace and Peter are barely on it, but then again this was true for a lot of the later albums of that lineup in the 70s and 80s anyway.

The latest two albums are what Psycho Circus should have been, just the band rocking out great tunes. Psycho Circus has nothing on either of them.

I remember reading Gene and Paul saying Bruce Fairbairn was the wrong choice for the producer.  Again Gene and Paul were swayed to use outside influences instead of all 4 of them in the trenches with an Eddie Krammer type producer.

Which probably influenced their decision to go self produced on the most recent albums. Some of the tracks on Psycho Circus sounded contrived to me, and not like KISS imo.

[Stadler]

I think I covered that in my blurb; Paul has been on record as saying the PC record was a disaster for him personally, and he fought early and often with Bruce Fairbairn.  He later DID say he would never work with another producer again, or at least he wouldn't turn over the reigns like he did on PC.

I LOVE the last two records.  Maybe.  You'll see. 

[King Postwhore]

There was a few leftovers from COS that Gene re-used.  It was then that Paul told Gene years later that if they were going to do a studio album, he had to be all in.  No side projects and work on the craftmanship of the songs.  Which showed.

[BlobVanDam]

There was a few leftovers from COS that Gene re-used.  It was then that Paul told Gene years later that if they were going to do a studio album, he had to be all in.  No side projects and work on the craftmanship of the songs.  Which showed.

I find that if it's a good Gene album, it's going to be a good KISS album.
Was Within a leftover from COS? I like the song a lot, but it didn't fit that lineup at all, and it tanked so hard when they played it live with Ace and Peter.

[dtvoices94]

KISS really dropped the ball on Psycho Circus.  The Black Album (and St. Anger) aside, I don't think I've ever been so disappointed with a CD.  This was the return of the "Original KISS"...it could/should have been Rock and Roll Over or Love Gun on steroids.  Maybe the fault lies with me for having such high expectations but you can't tell me that Stanley/Ezrin couldn't do better than I Finally Found My Way. 
Then for the encore, they follow it up with a bad movie featuring an even worse brand new song.  They should have quit while they were ahead and ended it after the Alive/Worldwide Tour...there was nowhere else to go but down.

[King Postwhore]

There was a few leftovers from COS that Gene re-used.  It was then that Paul told Gene years later that if they were going to do a studio album, he had to be all in.  No side projects and work on the craftmanship of the songs.  Which showed.

I find that if it's a good Gene album, it's going to be a good KISS album.
Was Within a leftover from COS? I like the song a lot, but it didn't fit that lineup at all, and it tanked so hard when they played it live with Ace and Peter.

Yeah, it was ok live but Peter was a wreck on that tour and that drumming was not his style at all.

[Lowdz]

I was very excited for a new KISS album with the original lineup but with PS we dint get that. Some good songs, some shit. I agree with Stadler on the ballad. Awful sappy shit.

Revenge was a great return to form after HitS. Not a bad song on it and plenty of great ones. The lyrics don't bother me, they'd been doing them for years. The tour was great too, though we didn't get the full stage in the uk iirc.

[vazquez]

Great list and reviews, Stadler! 

I´m on your side regarding Revenge. I would probably place it higher than Animalize and Hot in the Shade - but that´s probably all.

Monster - good. Sonic Boom - VERY good. 

[Stadler]

There was a few leftovers from COS that Gene re-used.  It was then that Paul told Gene years later that if they were going to do a studio album, he had to be all in.  No side projects and work on the craftmanship of the songs.  Which showed.

I find that if it's a good Gene album, it's going to be a good KISS album.
Was Within a leftover from COS? I like the song a lot, but it didn't fit that lineup at all, and it tanked so hard when they played it live with Ace and Peter.

Yeah, it was ok live but Peter was a wreck on that tour and that drumming was not his style at all.

I wrote a whole piece and lost it, but suffice to say, I saw the MSG homecoming show on the reunion tour and Peter was ok, but Ace was hammered, you could tell.  Then on the Aerosmith/Kiss tour, Ace was already gone, and Peter phoned in one of the worst shows I've ever seen ever by anyone.  I'm convinced there was a drummer backstage or behind him covering his parts.  it was when he had take to putting the "tear drop" on his makeup.  Lame-o.    I know Gene and Paul have the rep for doing the ca$h grab, but as a long time fan, I feel Ace and Peter have done far more to take advantage of the fans than Gene and Paul.  Say what you want about Gene in his private life, or on record, but on stage, that guy DELIVERS.  I have gotten my money's worth from that guy three times over for all he's left on stage when I saw them.  Paul too. 

[King Postwhore]

Ace is great when sober but Peter is just a wreck, in life and his playing. He's a guy that lays blame on everyone but himself.

[TAC]

I have never had an issue with Psycho Circus, but Stadler..Revenge this low??

I played it on vacation, and it is easily a Top 10, maybe Top 5 Kiss album. Paul rules it, and even Gene's songs are cool. Not sure what the deal is here, bro.

I saw the club tour at Avalon in Boston as well as the proper tour in Worcester. Easily the best on the non makeup tours.

Stadler, please tell me your account was hacked.


Trivia: What album has been so woefully underrated by the OP that the rest of DTF fears that he has actually lost his mind?

[King Postwhore]

 

[bosk1]

Trivia: What album has been so woefully underrated by the OP that the rest of DTF fears that he has actually lost his mind?

[Lowdz]

Ace is great when sober but Peter is just a wreck, in life and his playing. He's a guy that lays blame on everyone but himself.

If you've read his autobiography that is crystal clear. Complete fuck up. And it's the Jews fault. Grow up.

[Mosh]

Honestly I can't see how Psycho Circus can be called contrived while the last two albums can't. To me, the last two albums are the most contrived things the band has ever done, save for maybe The Elder (which is a fine album anyway). Psycho Circus just sounds like Kiss being Kiss, writing rock tunes with a modern flair, they've always done that. Sonic Boom and Monster sound like desperate attempts at rewriting Love Gun. Not to say those albums don't have good songs, I think Sonic Boom has solid moments, but both albums just sound like Kiss parody to me. I will save more of my whining about these albums for when Stadler gets to them, however.

Psycho Circus itself is a solid album. I don't love it, it starts to fall apart in the middle, but the first four songs are Kiss at their best. I think the last two songs are pretty interesting though. I particularly like how Journey Of a Thousand Years has a melody from Psycho Circus, a rare Kiss nugget!
I could do without I Finally Found My Way and We Are One (I would agree that these songs sound contrived), but honestly I don't have a problem with anything else on the album.

[BlobVanDam]

I wrote a whole piece and lost it, but suffice to say, I saw the MSG homecoming show on the reunion tour and Peter was ok, but Ace was hammered, you could tell.  Then on the Aerosmith/Kiss tour, Ace was already gone, and Peter phoned in one of the worst shows I've ever seen ever by anyone.  I'm convinced there was a drummer backstage or behind him covering his parts.  it was when he had take to putting the "tear drop" on his makeup.  Lame-o.    I know Gene and Paul have the rep for doing the ca$h grab, but as a long time fan, I feel Ace and Peter have done far more to take advantage of the fans than Gene and Paul.  Say what you want about Gene in his private life, or on record, but on stage, that guy DELIVERS.  I have gotten my money's worth from that guy three times over for all he's left on stage when I saw them.  Paul too. 

When KISS did their first show here after starting back up again, I wasn't going to go because I had zero interest in that lineup fumbling through the same songs. It was only when I found out they'd ditched Criss for Singer that I got a ticket.

[hefdaddy42]

What seems odd to me is that we have gotten this far, going from the bottom up, and we have already seen Revenge while somehow avoiding Music From the Elder.