The KISS thread

General music discussion.
Dr. Medulla
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Re: The KISS thread

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Heston wrote:
24 Jan 2022, 6:18pm
matedog wrote:
24 Jan 2022, 6:04pm
Heston wrote:
24 Jan 2022, 5:39pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
24 Jan 2022, 5:32pm
Heston wrote:
24 Jan 2022, 5:21pm


Remember my caveat.
"I'm drunkposting"?
Make up years only except GGRARTY and KKN.
Hey, Doc adhered with his Psycho Circus review.
They were clowns by that stage, and belonged in a circus.
I'm pretty sure Paul or Gene would have said they were better than ever.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

matedog
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by matedog »

Okay, I decided I'm going to end with Lick It Up as I'm going in reverse chronological order and then will rank their makeup-less 80s output. The remaining songs starting this Friday are as follows:
  • Who Wants To Be Lonely
    Skipping Tears Are Falling since I've already reviewed
    Thrills in the Night
    Heaven's On Fire
    All Hell's Breakin' Loose
    Lick It Up
If I'm up for continued torture, I'll dive into their Revenge singles, but that seems fairly removed from their 80s stuff so we'll see.
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

matedog
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by matedog »

Ugh, just skimmed their Revenge singles. Joyless and too much Gene. I'll pass.
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The KISS thread

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matedog wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 4:27pm
Okay, I decided I'm going to end with Lick It Up as I'm going in reverse chronological order and then will rank their makeup-less 80s output. The remaining songs starting this Friday are as follows:
  • Who Wants To Be Lonely
    Skipping Tears Are Falling since I've already reviewed
    Thrills in the Night
    Heaven's On Fire
    All Hell's Breakin' Loose
    Lick It Up
If I'm up for continued torture, I'll dive into their Revenge singles, but that seems fairly removed from their 80s stuff so we'll see.
You could also endure the two or three 21st-century records. They're wearing make-up, so Heston would approve.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

matedog
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by matedog »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 5:11pm
matedog wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 4:27pm
Okay, I decided I'm going to end with Lick It Up as I'm going in reverse chronological order and then will rank their makeup-less 80s output. The remaining songs starting this Friday are as follows:
  • Who Wants To Be Lonely
    Skipping Tears Are Falling since I've already reviewed
    Thrills in the Night
    Heaven's On Fire
    All Hell's Breakin' Loose
    Lick It Up
If I'm up for continued torture, I'll dive into their Revenge singles, but that seems fairly removed from their 80s stuff so we'll see.
You could also endure the two or three 21st-century records. They're wearing make-up, so Heston would approve.
I think the pop/hair metal component is what barely appeals to me in their 80s output. Their 90s stuff is so drab, it's quite a slog and I just have zero interest in what they would want to do 2000-on.
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

matedog wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 6:25pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 5:11pm
matedog wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 4:27pm
Okay, I decided I'm going to end with Lick It Up as I'm going in reverse chronological order and then will rank their makeup-less 80s output. The remaining songs starting this Friday are as follows:
  • Who Wants To Be Lonely
    Skipping Tears Are Falling since I've already reviewed
    Thrills in the Night
    Heaven's On Fire
    All Hell's Breakin' Loose
    Lick It Up
If I'm up for continued torture, I'll dive into their Revenge singles, but that seems fairly removed from their 80s stuff so we'll see.
You could also endure the two or three 21st-century records. They're wearing make-up, so Heston would approve.
I think the pop/hair metal component is what barely appeals to me in their 80s output. Their 90s stuff is so drab, it's quite a slog and I just have zero interest in what they would want to do 2000-on.
What would they want to do? Prove that they're the best band in the world and they're better than ever!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

matedog
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Re: The KISS thread

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"Who Wants to Be Lonely"

Continuing backwards through the "Asylum" record, we come to yet another non-single video. Like "Uh! All Night," this was cowritten by Paul with Desmond Child and Jean Beauvoir. They also have never played it live, so I'm not sure why they made a video for a non-single they were never going to play live. But that's part of the KISS mystique, I guess.

Lyrics: This is another real generic one. He is wooing a girl, but not particularly interestingly or sleazily. Look at this generic shit:
Open yourself to me
Let me show you what it can be like
Baby, giving it all that you've got
Nothing can hold you back
It makes me miss the zoo pimp lyrics from "Uh!"

Music: Nope, not a monster ballad. But hey, it's got another solid riff with a great Eric Carr groove on drums. There is some nice range in Paul's vocals and the prechorus sets up the chorus nicely. The chorus is...okay. The whole things is a bit heavy on the minor key, particularly the root chord (Em) that it leans on way too much. Side note, what the fuck does Paul do at the 2:15 mark vocally? I've never heard that before and it sounds abysmal. It tanks a decent call/response section. The emphasis on the verse riff/groove very very slightly saves it.

Video: This era is just terrific. There's no story on this one, but the sets are great. It starts off in an alley or industrial setting that has a floor on fire for no reason before cutting to a bath house filled with uncomfortable looking women in leather. There's a shot at 1:17 of two of the girls getting hosed in the face and looking really annoyed before the water pressure shoots them into the pool. Paul looks like fucking Macho Man Randy Savage (RIP) in that robe. But hey, the whole band is similarly colorful and wear heavy clown makeup. It's still not enough to disguise Gene's terrible face. There's a great shot at 2:40 of the guitar player that isn't Ace Frehely in reverse falling out of the pool doing his fingertapping solo. Stupid as shit, but I like that they tried. The video ends with Paul showing solidarity with the women by tossing his Macho Man outfit and getting wet too before leaving out the corridor that's still on fire.

Side note - This is like the sixth video in a row where Paul isn't playing guitar. At least as far as I can tell he either didn't have a guitar in the videos or wore one but never played it from 1984(?) to 1989 or so.

Song grade: C+ It starts promising with the riff and knows that it's the song's strong suit. The chorus is too weak though, so I can't elevate any higher.
Video grade: B+ I fucking love how shameless this video is. It's not as over the top as it could be, but it's dumb, ugly, and tries hard so I have to commend it.

Next week: I'm hoping this run of stupid but fun videos continues with "Thrills in the Night."
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

revbob
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by revbob »

Good god that's awful shit. You sir are much too kind with your reviews.

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Re: The KISS thread

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revbob wrote:
28 Jan 2022, 5:58pm
Good god that's awful shit. You sir are much too kind with your reviews.
Yeah, it deserves an A+ in the category "awful shit."
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

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Re: The KISS thread

Post by Marky Dread »

Olaf wrote:
29 Jan 2022, 7:20am
revbob wrote:
28 Jan 2022, 5:58pm
Good god that's awful shit. You sir are much too kind with your reviews.
Yeah, it deserves an A+ in the category "awful shit."
Makes "awful shit" look good.
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The end of liberty


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No fuchsias for you.

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Echoing the above, way way too kind in the assessment. I can't imagine developing this kind of song and thinking, Yeah, this works. It's just an empty vessel for Paul's typical exaggerated vocals. The only thing (ironically) worthwhile is the neon colours they sport confirms that they're circus clowns.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

matedog
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by matedog »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 5:11pm
matedog wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 4:27pm
Okay, I decided I'm going to end with Lick It Up as I'm going in reverse chronological order and then will rank their makeup-less 80s output. The remaining songs starting this Friday are as follows:
  • Who Wants To Be Lonely
    Skipping Tears Are Falling since I've already reviewed
    Thrills in the Night
    Heaven's On Fire
    All Hell's Breakin' Loose
    Lick It Up
If I'm up for continued torture, I'll dive into their Revenge singles, but that seems fairly removed from their 80s stuff so we'll see.
You could also endure the two or three 21st-century records. They're wearing make-up, so Heston would approve.
Okay, I found a more legit out - per wiki, they unreleased two videos after 1992 (other than live videos): Psycho Circus and "Modern Day Delilah. I can probably tackle these.
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

matedog wrote:
31 Jan 2022, 12:14am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 5:11pm
matedog wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 4:27pm
Okay, I decided I'm going to end with Lick It Up as I'm going in reverse chronological order and then will rank their makeup-less 80s output. The remaining songs starting this Friday are as follows:
  • Who Wants To Be Lonely
    Skipping Tears Are Falling since I've already reviewed
    Thrills in the Night
    Heaven's On Fire
    All Hell's Breakin' Loose
    Lick It Up
If I'm up for continued torture, I'll dive into their Revenge singles, but that seems fairly removed from their 80s stuff so we'll see.
You could also endure the two or three 21st-century records. They're wearing make-up, so Heston would approve.
Okay, I found a more legit out - per wiki, they unreleased two videos after 1992 (other than live videos): Psycho Circus and "Modern Day Delilah. I can probably tackle these.
I watched the video for "Psycho Circus" (did I also post it?) when I evaluated the album. They paid a lot for something that looks both state of the art and exceedingly low rent. KISS, everyone!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: The KISS thread

Post by revbob »

I can only assume Matey's KISSyphilis is getting worse by the day he will not come out of this unscathed.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The KISS thread

Post by Dr. Medulla »

revbob wrote:
31 Jan 2022, 8:10am
I can only assume Matey's KISSyphilis is getting worse by the day he will not come out of this unscathed.
He's so marinated in 90s drek that I suspect he has a certain immunity to long-lasting damage. Hell, he might be the best person for this kind of insane mission.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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