Tag: Tommy Thayer

Kiss – ‘Momoiro Clover Z vs Kiss – 夢の浮世に咲いてみな’ – CD Single (2015) – (The Kiss Review Series)

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On January 28, 2015, the Japanese Idol Band, Momoiro Clover Z, released their new single called Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi Na” which translates to “Try to Bloom in a Dream about the Floating World“. Why would I be writing about a Japanese Ido band? Easily, they were able to get Kiss to take part in the song. The single is from Momoiro Clover Z’s album ‘Hakkin no Yoake’. The band even does a cover of the classic Kiss song “Rock And Roll All Nite”.

What is really cool about the single, is the artwork as it is simply stunning. “Floating World” which is part of the song’s title, is also a really cool style of Japanese Art. As you can see in the pictures, there are a lot of clouds and people floating in the air. It is very comic book style which suits Kiss perfectly. Being a Japanese release, you even get an insert in all Japanese writing and most of the writing on the cover is in Japanese. No Obi strip though. Still, cool packaging all around.

The CD single actually contains 4 tracks. The first track is the Momoiro Clover Z’s “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi Na”. The band is all women and the vocals are very high pitched and squeaky. The singing feels very cartoonish. Kiss does some of the backing vocals and they play all the instruments so that part is really cool. Musically, it is really cool, tribal drum sounds, a lot of electronic sounding elements and all around pretty great.

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Momoiro Clover Z vs Kiss – “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi na / Samurai Son” (2015) – CD Single

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On January 28, 2015, the Japanese Idol Band, Momoiro Clover Z, released their new single called Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi Na” which translates to “Try to Bloom in a Dream about the Floating World“. Why would I be writing about a Japanese Ido band? Easily, they were able to get Kiss to take part in the song. The single is from Momoiro Clover Z’s album ‘Hakkin no Yoake’. The band even does a cover of the classic Kiss song “Rock And Roll All Nite”. And if that isn’t enough, Kiss does a version of the band’s single and it is called “Samurai Son”.

What is really cool about the single, is the artwork as it is simply stunning. “Floating World” which is part of the song’s title, is also a really cool style of Japanese Art. As you can see in the pictures, there are a lot of clouds and people floating in the air. It is very comic book style which suits Kiss perfectly. Being a Japanese release, you even get an insert in all Japanese writing and most of the writing on the cover is in Japanese. No Obi strip though. Still, cool packaging all around.

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Kiss – ‘3 CD » Playlist + Plus’ (2008) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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 The 2000’s were a huge time for Kiss…well, for the label to release greatest hits compilations that is. There are dozens. One of the easiest ones to find is The Millennium Collection which was actually a 3 volume set with a volume released in 2003, one in 2004 and the final in 2006. 2 years after the Volume 3 set was released, Universal decided, why not repackage it and release it all in one set. Sure, why not! As a result, we get ‘3 CD » Playlist + Plus’ which was repackaged as a Double-Gatefold Cardboard set up covered in a Slipcase. It was even promoted as an environmentally friendly set (despite the plastic that wrapped around the set).

The track listing is exactly as The Millennium Collection, no changes at all. For the 3 CDs, we do get a total of 36 tracks and each disc is separate era of the band which is nice. I love the choice of pictures on the packaging with two live shots, one from Alive! and one from ‘The Millennium Concert’. And the two band pictures are pretty sweet, I even like the cover shot with the black background and the faces of the guys. Each CD is a different color and this time, not representing each band member as we get a yellow, an orange and a pink (I think).

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The Collection: Ep. 9 – Kiss on Vinyl (Part 4 – The Bootlegs)

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The video is up now for Episode 6 of The Collection. When you have older siblings, their music taste can influence what you like and my brother, Gary, was a huge Kiss fan and that spawned me being one as well. From about 7-8 years old all the way til now at 55, I am still a Kiss fan.

For Part 4, we are tackling my Kiss Bootlegs that I have on vinyl. We put it in chronological order for the year the album or songs were recorded, not when they were released. We start with Wicked Lester and go up to a 2010 show from L.A. We have over 20, so sit back and enjoy.

I hope you enjoy this episode which goes “live” right now…Monday night, April 15th at 8pm. Please do leave a comment and I promise I’ll address them as soon as I can! Don’t forget to click “Like” and “Subscribe”. Thanks for watching.

The Collection: Episode 6 – Kiss on Vinyl (Part 3)

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The video is up now for Episode 6 of The Collection. When you have older siblings, their music taste can influence what you like and my brother, Gary, was a huge Kiss fan and that spawned me being one as well. From about 7-8 years old all the way til now at 55, I am still a Kiss fan.

For Part 3, we pick up with Kiss after the reunion and start with Psycho Circus and go all the way up to today and their latest Anniversary releases. We even through in a few Kiss Adjacent Vinyl. I was surprised by how many were still sealed. And I was surprised by how upset I got on some of their packaging choices. I give my honest opinion and don’t hold back.

I hope you enjoy this episode which goes “live” right now…Monday night, March 25th at 8pm. Please do leave a comment and I promise I’ll address them as soon as I can! Don’t forget to click “Like” and “Subscribe”. Thanks for watching.

Kiss – ‘Kiss 40’ (2014 – Japanese Single Disc Edition) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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In 2014, Kiss was celebrating their 40th Anniversary. To celebrate they did a huge tour with none other than Def Leppard. I caught the show in Charlotte, North Carolina with Leppard opening and I will admit that Def Leppard blew Kiss off the stage, but that is another story. Kiss decided to celebrate with another Greatest Hits compilation titled ‘Kiss 40’. It was released on May 23, 2014 and contained one song from every Kiss release giving them 40 tracks…well, 36 tracks and they stuck 4 other tracks on their for good measure and put out on a 2 CD set. 

In Japan only, there was another release of Kiss 40 that was only a single disc edition. It had only 20 tracks and a few different ones then you got on the 2 Disc Set. And for that reason you had to have both sets. And being a Japanese Edition, you also got an OBI strip but this one was bigger as it actually covered the entire back of the CD case as well. The set also included a booklet in both English and Japanese with the lyrics to the songs. There is a new song on the set called “Samurai Son” that was done with the Japanese girl band Momoiro Clover Z and as a result there is a little picture card of the band with Kiss. The last thing is the CD booklet itself which is full of bright, vivid color pictures of the band from throughout the years. It includes every member of the band.

The opening track is “Samurai Son (U.S. Mix)” with the band Momoiro Clover Z. This song sounds like nothing you have heard before with Kiss…well except for Paul’s vocals sound like Kiss. The drums are immense, Momoiro Clover Z does some of the backing vocals and even Gene joins in as well. It is a modern sounding rock song and I think it sounds really cool. Paul hasn’t sounded better, the Japanese sounding drums are cool and there is killer riff included. The song is worth the price of admission here easily.

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Kiss -‘End Of The Road’ – THE FINAL SHOW (December 2nd, 2023: Madison Square Garden)

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Yes, I was there for the end. The final Kiss show. I have been a fan for around 46 years or since ever since I discovered these albums in my brothers collection. I was around 7-8 years old. The make-up, the larger than life characters, the pictures on those albums and most of all, the songs all captured this little kid’s mind and never let go. Through the good years and the bad (and there have been some), Kiss has always been a part of my life.

My very first Kiss show was December 26, 1983 for the Lick It Up Tour. My brother, Gary, gave me a ticket for the show on my birthday, which was the day before the show. Imagine my surprise. Here we are 40 years later and this time I bought the tickets. My brother took me to My First Kiss Show and I am taking him to the Last!! We arrived in New York City early morning on Friday, December 1st, 2023. Gary from Atlanta and I from Charlotte. Once we arrived, we did a couple touristy things, but one of the cool things was going to where Kiss were photographed in the suits for the Dressed to Kill album cover. That was at the southeast corner of W23rd Street and 8th Avenue looking North. I didn’t recreate it, just took a picture there.

Cheesy, yeah…but it was fun standing there where the guys made that iconic Kiss picture. The other Kiss place we went was down to Electric Lady Studios. The place where Kiss recorded their demos with Eddie Kramer, prior to the debut album. You know this studio because it was Jimi Hendrix’s Studio. If you open the door, you will see the original door and brick that was there when Kiss was. The funny thing about these two locations is that we knew we found the right locations as there were already other Kiss fans doing the same thing we planned on doing. And speaking of fans, everyone we met was so friendly and so excited about the weekend. Kiss fans, when not being overly critical, are actually great people.

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Kiss – The Best & Worst Song From Every Album

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I have done a few of these already on the Best & Worst songs from every Judas Priest, Cheap Trick and Whitesnake albums. I really enjoyed doing those so I thought I would continue that process and this time we would go through every Kiss studio album (including the 4 solo albums) and see what is the best song and the worst one off each album as well. Kiss has 24 studio albums to go through so sit back, grab a drink and take it all in. Now, let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. My worst song could be your favorite and this is okay. We all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy the list!! And we will go chronological if you were wondering.

‘KISS’ (1974)

THE BEST SONG – “BLACK DIAMOND”: On an album with so many ‘classic’ Kiss tunes, it was hard to pick. The album ends with one of the band’s best songs, “Black Diamond”.  The song was written by Paul and he does sing on it, but is mostly sung by Peter.  The songs starts off with a 12-string acoustic guitar and Paul sings the opening line and when he screams “Hit It!”, the song turns in to a blistering rock song with Peter taking over vocals. The song was written about New York and those ladies working on the street that they would fantasize about.  Peter’s gravelly vocals gave the song such a powerful edge and he put so much heart and soul in to those vocals.  Towards the end of the song, there is a brief musical interlude with Ace tearing it up on guitar and Peter laying down some fills all accompanied by that nasty bass riff from Gene before Peter lays down a final barrage of drum fills and then the song slowly, distortedly comes winding down to an end.  It is dark and foreboding and so metal.

THE WORST SONG – “KISSIN’ TIME”: The worst is a cover of the Bobby Rydell Song “Kissin’ Time” which was written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe.  It was recorded two months after the release and added a couple months after that to the album.  The band was not happy about this at all, but they were pressured into recording it.  Paul, Gene and Peter all sang on the song and it is just a shit song.  It has that whole 50’s, early 60’s style and is not a wrong song.  It is easy to hear that they didn’t want to be there singing this crap and that is why I want the original version so I don’t have to hear that song anymore.

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Kiss – Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Instant Live (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, NC 7/28/04 (2004) – Album (The Kiss Review Series)

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Back on the Rock the Nation Tour in 2004, Kiss offered the Instant Live CDs. Basically, after the show was over, they burned the show to 2 CDs and sold them so you could instantly walk home with the show in your pocket. The band worked with Live Nation who handled all the recording and distribution of the CDs. Now, not every show on this tour was recorded and that was due to two reasons. 1) The arena was not owned / promoted by Clear Channel Entertainment and 2) there were technical difficulties at the show. Which that would suck if you were expecting a copy.

There are about 32 different shows recorded and this is the first one I’ve ever seen out in the wild, so I bought it. And lucky for me, it was the Charlotte show from Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte, NC which is the town where I live (or just outside of it anyway). The show was from July 28, 2004. Now, only 31 left to get…joking. I don’t think I will go for all of them although that would be fun. However, if I run across any in the wild, I’ll buy them.

The packaging is simple and the same for every city. No setlist is included as each city might be slightly different. If you want the setlist, they give you website to go and download. However, that site doesn’t seem to exist anymore. The way to tell them apart was by a clear sticker with the city, venue and date of the show as seen on the cover at the top of the post. The band was Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons as you’d expect and then Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer who had taken over for Peter Criss on this tour and is still with the band as is Tommy.

The setlist isn’t printed in it so I found it and have listed it below…

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Kiss – ‘Off the Soundboard: Live in Virginia Beach July 25, 2004’ – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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Kiss has finally realized they can make money on live Bootleg type albums just like everyone else has been doing out in the will. They are finally releasing their own Bootleg Series called “Off the Soundboard”. First up for them was the show from Tokyo 2001 which had Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Eric Singer. This time around they are going with the line-up of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. The show is Virginia Beach from July 25, 2004. This tour was the Rock the Nation Tour and one I didn’t see.

When I saw this was being released, I was excited at first as there were a handful of songs that haven’t been on all the tours so it is always great to get live versions when you can. The ones I was excited about were “Unholy”, “King of the Night Time World”, “Got to Choose” and “I Want You”. Their previous release was absolutely perfect. This one turns out, not so much…at least to me. They did maintain the same bootleg feel to the packaging as it is real simple cardboard box feel with stamped looking markings like the bootlegs of old. I do love the simplicity (even if it is a little flimsy).

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