I was out and about at one of my favorite local record stores and came across this old 45 Single from Kiss. It was for the song “Tears Are Falling” off their 1985 album ‘Asylum. By 1985, Kiss was fully ensconced into the 80’s Hair Metal scene. Starting with their previous album, ‘Animalize’, the band’s sound shifted from the heavier albums like ‘Creatures of the Night’ and ‘Lick It Up’, to more of the Glam Rock sound to keep up with the music of the time. That meant power ballads. “Tears Are Falling” fit that mold quite nicely.
“Tears Are Falling” was released as a single in 1985 and made it to #20 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks, just not technically not a Top 40 hit since it only reached #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song did have better success on MTV where it was in frequent rotation on the station.
The song was written by Paul Stanley and one of the few times we ever get a true Stanley Only song. The next we got was not until his solo album in 2006. That bit of tidbit surprised me, but the internet can’t be wrong…can it?? The song was recorded at the legendary Electric Lady Studios which is Jimi Hendrix’s old studio and produced by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Interesting enough, Gene didn’t play bass on the song, it was played by Paul.
The song is pure pop! It has a nice drum beat supplied by the late, great Eric Carr; it has some fancy guitar work by Bruce Kulick, but it is not a heavy song. It is a little cheesy ballad with its overly catchy chorus which is quite repetitive. It is not Kiss at their best as they pandered too much for the music at the time. The 80’s Non Make-Up era is a tough time for the band and this is a prime example of why.
I mean it isn’t a horrible song. It has it’s moments, but it is not one of the songs I put on repeat and listen to again and again (with the exception of for this post). It is a nice edition to my ever growing Kiss Collection though.
The B-Side of the single was “Any Way You Slice It”. This was a Gene Simmons led song and brings the rock back to the single. This song was written by Gene and Howard Rice. It was a fun song and one of the better songs on the album. Bruce just kills it on the guitar solo as usual. Bruce came on during the ‘Animalize’ tour and replaced Mark St. John and he was a well suited guitarist for this era of the band. Next to Ace, he is my favorite guitarist they have had.
Here are the lyrics to “Tears Are Falling”….
“Tears Are Falling”
You lost the fire in your eyes
You turn to me with a different look
And then it’s raining, looks like it’s rainingOh no, tears are falling
Oh no, tears are falling
Oh no, tears are falling
Something is wrong as I hold you near
Somebody else holds your heart, yeah
You look at me with your eyes in tears
And then it’s raining, feels like it’s raining
Oh no, tears are falling
Oh no, tears are falling, whoo oh
Oh no, tears are falling, whoo oh
I saw you cry
And now it’s raining (yeah)
Looks like it’s raining (someone stole your heart)
And now it’s raining, feels like it’s raining
Oh no, tears are falling
Oh no, tears are falling, whoo oh
Oh no, tears are falling, someone stole your heart
Oh no, tears are falling, they’re falling from your eyes
Oh no, tears are falling, (no no, falling from your eyes)
Oh no, tears are falling
(Oh no, no, falling, oh, they’re falling from your eyes)
Oh no, tears are falling (Oh no, no, falling from your eyes)
Oh no, tears are falling
Nice score John!
With ‘Tears’ you get the Stanley single…
With “Anyway’ you get Gene’s goofy rock schlock…
Best of Both Worlds in the land of KISS
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I am going after as many Kiss singles as I can get. Haven’t seen any since I found this one (except I did find another when I found this one – coming in a few weeks.)
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The last “Stanley Only” song until 2006…I did NOT know that. But it makes sense.
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I didn’t bother pulling out and checking the albums to see but to me it made sense as well when I found that tidbit of info. I need to go check.
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I like Tears Are Falling. My sons, however, do not. It gets a lot of mockery in this house. It is a bit cheesy but catchy.
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It is cheesy, no doubt. But it is Kiss so I like it anyway.
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Ugghh, Stanley should have got 5 years in san Quentin for that jacket!
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Yeah, the outfits were really bad for a few years there.
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I don’t think I’d have ever rated this song as a fave but it’s grown in my estimation over the years. Love hearing them do it live and the guitar solo is killer. Top KISS tune. Only 80s KISS is real.
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I would love I hear it live. It has been a long time since that has happened for me.
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Played it in 1992 here, first time I saw them.
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