Kiss – ‘Gold’ (2005) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Between 2002-2008, The record labels in control of the Kiss Catalog released not one, not two, heck not even 3 Greatest Hit Compilations. Nope. They released a total of 7 greatest hits compilations spread over those years. I am sure there are more, I just haven’t found them yet. Over the last few weeks, we have been through a bunch of them and hopefully this is the last one for a little while. At least until I find more…which I will. As far as compilations go, this one is worth taking notice. Let me explain.

Originally this was released in 2004 as part of the KISS Sound and Vision box set. This set was released on January 11, 2005 and is a 2 CD Set called ‘Gold’. The label for this one was Universal Music Corporation. This set covers the make-up years from 1974 up to 1982…except it doesn’t include anything from ‘Creatures of the Night’. The 1982 in reference here is for the ‘Killers’ compilation. There are 20 songs per disc which means we get a handful of releases from almost every album with some minor exceptions. There is at least one from every release though (except maybe Double Platinum. If you want a comp that gives you the best coverage of the make-up era, I don’t know if you can do better than this.

DISC 1:

Kiss (1974): The representation of the debut album is strong as it gives you five tracks:

The album kicks off with the song “Strutter”.  The song was written by both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and over the years, this would be a rare experience as they would wind up writing songs by themselves.  The music of the song was based off an old Gene song called “Stanley the Parrot” which was recorded even before there was a Wicked Lester. 

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Kiss – ‘Peter Criss’ (1978) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

The third Kiss solo album in the review series is none other than the Catman, Peter Criss.  Peter’s album was released on the same day as all the other band members on September 18, 1978.  And Peter, sadly, had the least selling and the lowest chart placing on Billboard charts at #43, however, that doesn’t mean it was the worst of the group…ok, yes it does!

Peter’s album was my least favorite, by far, and I haven’t heard it in over 30+ years probably.  And when I pulled it out for this review and gave it a listen, it isn’t bad as I remember.  I think that stems from the fact I know so much more about who Peter is that I feel the album fits him perfectly.  Peter is not a real rock drummer, he has more of a jazz feel and this is more of his style of music.  Does that mean I like this one, no, not at all, but I get it now and I respect him for it.

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