Tag: Bruce Fairbairn

Kiss – “Psycho Circus” (1998) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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After the very successful Reunion Tour from 1996-1997, it was time for the original band members to put other their first album in 20 years with the Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter. The last one they did together was 1979’s ‘Dynasty’. Let me tell you, I was super excited to get a new album with only the original 4 guys. I couldn’t wait. I would get to hear Ace rip solos and cool riffs on every song and Peter would bang those drums until the cows came home. Man, I am getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Now imagine my surprise when it wasn’t even close to the build up.

Yes, it was a new album that did feature all four original members. Their pictures are on the front, they each sing song, but it was far from only being the original four guys. Ace appears on only 2 of the 10 songs and Peter sings on 2 and only plays drums on 1. Nothing seems to have changed as ‘Dynasty’ was also an album Ace and Peter slightly appeared on as well. Gene and Paul still rule the roost and do things the way they want to do them. Ace does appear on the Japanese only track so on that release he is on 3 of the 11 tracks. The only song that features all four members is the Ace sung song “Into the Void” which we will discuss later. To be fair, the reason behind Ace and Peter not getting to play much as they were trying to renegotiate their contracts with Kiss and I don’t think that sit real well with Gene and Paul.

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Paul Laine – ‘Stick It In Your Ear’ (1990) -Album Review

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Imagine this, you are extremely young and you get a record deal. You are set to make your first album and the label picks the great Bruce Fairbairn to produce your album. How stoked you must be. You are about to make it big time and be famous worldwide and be the big rock star you were meant to be. All your dreams were about to come true. I am sure that was what Paul Laine was thinking…I know I would have been.

But for some strange reason, that didn’t happen with this album. However, Paul would go on to make it in the industry and he is still very active today and I bet makes a pretty good living with his music. I don’t know why this album didn’t take off, but for some reason it didn’t. It was 1990 and we were at the tail end of the 80’s Rock scene and Grunge was coming on fast so I am writing it off to that as the issue because it sure as hell wasn’t the music’s fault.

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Bruce Fairbairn – Producer Extraordinaire #3

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In my producer extraordinaire series, this is the 3rd producer who helped create some of my favorite albums.  The first post in the series was for Robert John “Mutt” Lange and then second post was for Brendan O’Brien.  Both legendary producers.

Bruce Fairbairn didn’t have as long as career as the first two guys due to his untimely death back in 1999.  However, during his brief time, he crafted some of the most memorable albums of the 80’s & 90’s and the albums sold well over 65 million copies if you just count the platinum and gold albums.

It all started in back in Canada in the late 70’s when he started out producing for a band called Prism.  Prism had moderate success in Canada, but not much internationally.  In 1980, Bruce started production on the debut album for another Canadian band called Loverboy.  Loverboy opened the doors for Bruce with the bands international appeal. He produced 4 albums with Loverboy in the 80’s.  They were as follows:

  • Loverboy – (2x Platinum)
  • Get Lucky – (4x Platinum)
  • Keep It Up – (2x Platinum)
  • Wildside – (Gold)

Continue reading “Bruce Fairbairn – Producer Extraordinaire #3” →