Tag: Shock Me

Ace Frehley – My First Rock God! – RIP ACE!

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I remember when I was around 8, I saw my brother’s records and there were these really cool ones by some band named Kiss. The make-up, the costumes, the larger than life personas really captured my attention. It was that guitar sound and that music that made me a fan and my favorite Kiss member was easily Ace Frehley. He was captivating. He might’ve been sloppy with his playing, but he had the feel, the charisma, the style and the showmanship along with his New York Groove. It was because of him I picked up a guitar. It was because I couldn’t play worth shit, that I put it down.

First time I finally saw Ace live was not until 1996 during the Kiss Reunion Tour as he had left the band prior to me being old enough to see concerts. The last time was a couple years ago with my daughter when he opened for Alice Cooper. I’m so glad she got to see him as she saw all the albums I have with him on it and knows my love for Kiss. And she saw them too (without Ace). It was great to share that with her. She probably made of fun of me for singing along to EVERY song and playing Air guitar the whole time, but I don’t care.

Ace was a Rock Soldier like no other. He lived a crazy, destructive filled life and probably shouldn’t have made it out of the 80’s as he almost Wiped Out in a car crash, but he was 2 Young 2 Die…thankfully for us! Because of that, we have all this music he has left behind. When I got the news that he passed it hit me like 10,000 Volts and definitely Shocked Me! Now when I look Up to The Sky past the Ozone, I know Ace won’t be a Little Below the Angels. Instead he will be A Space Invader on his Mission to Mars where he will be forever in everyone’s heart. So pour yourself a glass of Cold Gin and toast the great Ace Frehley. Thanks for the music and We Got Your Rock right here!!

Kiss – The Best of Kiss: Green Series (2008) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Universal Music did not care about over saturation of an artist as they released a ton of Kiss Compilations and Canada received the brunt of them. This one was released in April 2008, I believe. It was part of the Green Series that Universal was releasing which had a number of bands. The Green Series means the packaging was all done with recycled paper and even used a plant based ink. Good on them for trying to save the earth, but with the shipping of the product and I am sure was wrapped in some sort of plastic, it was really all for naught. Plus, the cardboard digipak would tend to show wear and tear after awhile. However, the copy I received was in pretty darn good shape.

The album contains 15 tracks and really only covers the 70’s with the minor exception of “Lick It Up” from 1983. The rest is only from the original band members of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. With “Lick It Up”, you add Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent. Wait, this isn’t all entirely true as the song “Cold Gin” is live and is copyrighted from 2001. More on that later. There is a write-up in the booklet by Don Winkley giving a brief history of the band only going up to the reunion (and this was 2008 when released so I would say they missed some years). If you like the 70’s material, then at 15 tracks, not a bad comp…but not a great one either. A pure cash grab from the label. Let’s get to the music…

“Shout It Out Loud” was the first single off ‘Destroyer’ trying to capitalize off the success of the live version of “Rock and Roll All Nite” that was released previously.  The title of the song comes from the Hollies song “We Want to Shout It Out Loud” which Wicked Lester demoed years earlier. The song is sung by both Paul and Gene  and that chorus of “Shout it, Shout it, Shout It Out Loud” is pure rock gold.

Ace is finally on lead vocals with “Shock Me” and might be my favorite Ace song.  The song is based off an incident that is well documented where Ace touched an ungrounded metal railing and had the life shocked out of him.  No, he didn’t die, but he was thrown back a little.  He continued the show with no feeling in his hand and I believe the show was December 12, 1976, at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida.  Ace having little confidence wanted Gene to sing and Gene, thankfully, talked Ace in to singing.  Ace finally agreed and actually recorded the song lying down on the floor.  I hope that method has changed. The song is utterly brilliant and the guitar work is some of Ace’s best. In fact, he does all the guitar work on this one, both lead and rhythm.  This defines Ace Frehley in my book!!

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Kiss – ‘Greatest Hits’ (1997) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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In 1997, Kiss was enjoying the renewed attention with the make-up back on and a reunion in full swing. Ace and Peter were back so they released a compilation around the world called ‘Greatest Kiss’ which was full of songs from the early years with the original four members. Strangely enough, the UK released another compilation in 1997 called ‘Greatest Hits’. It was a UK exclusive but why release it when they released the other compilation around the same time that was released all around Europe so easy to get. Made no sense to me.

Who knows why. What I do know is I finally have a copy of the release. It was from Polygram TV which was a division of Polygram records so a legit release. It had 20 songs like the ‘Greatest Kiss’ release; however there were a few songs that were different. This UK release actually had some songs from Kiss that did not have Ace and Peter with some of the 80’s tracks. There are no unreleased tracks or anything new, these are all album cuts so you already have these songs if you own all the albums.

Now, Wikipedia states that this was released on June 28, 1999, however, that is wrong…unless the date on the back cover of 1997 was a misprint or this was held for two years after printing them out. And another thing…if you aren’t sure what the track listing is, don’t you worry. It is printed a total of 4 times throughout the booklet. On the back cover, the back of the booklet and if you open the booklet it is there again in case you forgot. And if that wasn’t enough, it is also on the CD. Whew! I’m so happy they did it so many times because I’m sure I would’ve have forgotten. Also, inside is a chance to win a portable CD player. In 1997, that would’ve been really cool.

The music is the most important part anyway, so let’s get to it. “Here’s a little song for everybody other there”…The first track is “Crazy Crazy Nights” which was a big hit in the UK so understandable it was on here. The song was written by Paul Stanley and Adam Mitchell who Paul and Gene have both worked with quite a bit. It was a different opening track for the band as was really upbeat, kind of pop sounding yet anthemic at the same time. It wasn’t an out and out rocker like most of their albums. Paul didn’t sing so much as speak the verses and is overall it is quite cheesy.  It is the only song that the band has played live after this tour. They picked it back up due to demand back in 2010 and started adding it to shows.

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Kiss – ‘Star Boulevard’ (2012) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Universal Music was spitting out Kiss compilations faster than Gene and Paul were badmouthing Ace & Peter. Man, that is fast. This time around, we get a German only compilation from 2012 that was only available at the retail store Rossman. It is a 2 CD set with 30 songs and a bonus track as well. But is it really a bonus track if this is the only version released. No vinyl, no cassette, only a CD. That to me seems like it is a 2 CD set with 31 songs. Maybe it is because all the songs on here are album cuts except for this 31st song…who knows. Regardless, cool to get this one in the collection and I love that it has the German Kiss logo with the different SS’s.

The songs are mostly focused on the 70’s with a small taste of anything from the 80’s and when I say small, I mean only like 4 songs out of the 31. But there are some cool choices on here that you don’t normally see on a Kiss compilation and being 2 CDs, gives you a great taste of the band especially if you like the 70’s.

CD 1:

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

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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 – ‘Kiss My Axe 1978’ (1981 Re-Issue) – Album Review (The Bootleg Series)

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Happy Thanksgiving!! Here is what I am thankful for as far as music goes (of course tops is my family and friends).

I am always on the hunt for Kiss Bootlegs and I got another classic one a few weeks back. Noble Records was having their 3rd Anniversary Drop and Dylan always has some great stuff out that day. The store opened at 10 and the line had to be long as it always in as everyone wants the good stuff. I had been recovering from surgery and this was my first trip out so there was no way I was getting there early and standing in line. No, I wasn’t doing that. Instead I left the house at a little before 10 and got there around 10:20 am. I figured, if it was meant for me to have it, it would still be there. And guess what, it was still there and I grabbed it!!! Yes, I was excited. Bootleg #21 of Kiss was now in my collection.

This one was an old one. It was from 1981 and was actually a re-issue of the 1978 original release of the album. The people putting out this one spared no expense as the album sleeve is a plain white cardboard with nothing on it. Instead you get a piece of paper with a badly printed picture of the band and the details on the release. That is it. The inner sleeve is white and labels, well, as you see below, there was not much too them. But typical bootleg fashion, the band’s name is not on the label. I love these old style boots, you can’t beat them.

This was recorded live at Los Angeles Forum, California, On August 25, 1977 and this is fresh off the new album at the time, ‘Love Gun’. I’m really excited about this one because I didn’t have a bootleg from the Love Gun Tour…now I do. The band was hungry, young and insanely good at this time. The recording is an audience recording as you can hear a lot of the kids screaming around the person recording the show. But as far as audience recordings go, it isn’t bad. It isn’t the whole show as it is only 11 songs and most of them are from the ‘Love Gun’ album.

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Kiss – “Christine Sixteen” – 7″ Single (The Kiss Review Series – Bonus Edition)

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A couple weeks ago we talked through the Kiss 7″ Single for “Beth”. I know, I know…the Kiss Review Series will never die as I’ll always keep finding stuff to show off. Now, I found another one of their singles and this one is from their 1977 album ‘Love Gun’. It is “Christine Sixteen” and the song features Gene Simmons on the lead vocals. As far as chart success, it went all the way to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not bad!

I say not bad because of the subject matter of the song, a lot of stations wouldn’t play it or would only play it after 7pm as if that made it any better. The basis of the song is about an older man infatuated with a girl of the tender age of 16. That wouldn’t fly at all today, but back then, it wasn’t terrible or unforgivable, merely frowned upon I would say based on the fact it still sold like hotcakes. Imagine the chart position if all the stations played it any time of day.

My version is the standard U.S. version, with no picture sleeve. It has the standard Casablanca/Filmworks sleeve which is pretty basic. The B-Side of the song might actually be better than the A-Side is it is Ace Frehley’s song “Shock Me”. More on that later. First let’s discuss the A-Side.

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Ace Frehley – American Tour 2021 (Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre, October 7, 2021) – Concert Review

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I have been a huge Ace Frehley fan since I was probably 8 years old. He was my very first guitar hero. I had only seen him play with Kiss and I have never seen him love as just Ace Frehley. When I saw he was opening for Alice Cooper, I couldn’t click the purchase ticket button fast enough. This was also the first concert I had attended since Covid began around 19 months ago so it was even more exciting.

The concert began at 7:30pm on October 7, 2021. We arrived in plenty of time because I was damn well sure going to make it to see the opening act, because, well, as was the opening act. We stand in line to get stamped with proof of vaccination (or proof of negative covid test) and then go in line again to go through the metal detector and all good so far. I don’t know why I said “so far”, because we ran in to ZERO issues all night. It was supposed to rain…None! The weather was a little chilly, but felt great. We hit the restrooms (TMI) and then went and bought some bottled water…except…they don’t sell bottled water anymore…WHAT!!! Nope. It is now in a can…huh???

Yes, Liquid Death is the name of the Water!! I’ve seen it all now.

Yes, they sell water in a can now so I guess non-drinkers don’t get harassed for not drinking as it looks like a beer can. I have to admit, it looks pretty damn cool for water. We then hit the merch table and there were a ton of Alice stuff and only a little Ace, but I saw Alice 3 years ago almost to the day, so I went with the Ace Shirt. They were already out of XL size, so I went 2XL and I hope it shrinks…

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Kiss – “Off the Soundboard: Tokyo 2001” (2021) – Album Review ( The Kiss Review Series)

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After over a year of reviewing everything Kiss and pretty much everything in my collection, we are finally to very last Kiss record in the collection…I am sure it won’t be the last as they will release more over the years to come and I will add them to the series. For now, this is it though. Kiss has finally realized they can make money on these Kiss Bootlegs that are out in the wild by finally releasing their own Bootleg Series called “Off the Soundboard”. First up for them is the show from Tokyo 2001 which is a short era of the band that has little to no representation anywhere else. It was with the line up of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, of course, but also features Eric Singer on drums and Ace Frehley on lead guitar. This line-up was only around a very short time right after the first Farewell Tour that was really a farewell to Peter. And it is this line-up that is the major selling point which is why they highlighted it on the front cover.

The album came out last month on June 11, 2021 and it is great to go out on the Review Series with a new release, but do note, I would’ve bought it no matter what. The packaging is really fantastic and yet very simple. Kiss brilliantly gave the set a look like it was really a bootleg. It looks like cheap cardboard box with everything just stamped on to the box. It looks cheap and yet it is that cheapness that is the brilliance. The vinyl are on a white label that looks like the info was also stamped and typed on to it which gives it even more of a bootleg feel. If it is going to be an official bootleg, make it look like one and they did. I hope this is the beginning of a lot of great shows that are out there in the bootleg world and yet we will get a cleaned up mix with some great sound and this one is a perfect start.

The show for this release was on March 13, 2001 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. This was actually part of the Farewell Tour and really close to the end. As I mentioned earlier, by the time this show was done, Peter was gone and Eric Singer was brought in. This set list is impressive. It contains 21 songs and includes all the solos, the great Paul Stanley banter and all mistakes which is exactly what you want from a bootleg. The show is over 2 hours long and does cover 3 LPs. Kiss didn’t skimp on this release in the least.

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Kiss – ‘Love Gun’ (1977) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Kiss were flying high. Their popularity was growing by leaps and bounds and so much so that they were voted the most popular band in the U.S. beating the likes of some other famous bands maybe you’ve heard of them…Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.  Nah, I didn’t think so.  They appeared in their first comic book, “Howard the Duck #12: “Mind-Mush!” (May 1977)’ and later that year they had their own comic book with “A Marvel Comics Super Special #1: A Marvel Comics Super Special!: Kiss (1977).  For this, they used their own blood to mix in with the ink.  They were becoming the merchandising kings they are still today.

With that popularity needs to come new music and 6 months after the release  of ‘Rock And Roll Over’, the band was back in the studio to record their 6th studio album.  The band brought back Eddie Kramer to produce and man the boards in hopes to maintain the direction that ‘Rock And Roll Over’ was taking them. And on June 30, 1977, the album came out and immediately went platinum with sales over 1 million.

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The album became the first studio album to feature all 4 band members singing a song as Mr. Ace Frehley finally sang a song and what a beast of song it was.  And another interesting fact, this is the last album to feature Peter Criss on all the songs.  What does that mean?  That means that the next two studio albums (not including the solo albums), Peter doesn’t play all the drums, in fact, very few of them.  All this despite the fact he is prominently featured on the cover of the album and still tours.  We will touch more on that fact in future posts.  The band was still in tact with Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.  That still wouldn’t change for a couple years. Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Love Gun’ (1977) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →