This "News" page generally only relates to matters of interest to the KISSFAQ. There's no need to replicate news that can be seen on other KISS websites. If you use information appearing on this or any other KISSFAQ page, in print (fanzines) or online (directly quoted or rewritten), please have the courtesy to say where it came from. If printing in fanzines, I'd love a copy sent to the KISSFAQ PO Box. Should you want official announcements please visit the band's official website at: KISSONLINE.COM.
| Sunday, October 05, 2008 5:36:09 AM - KISS versus Rolling Stone magazine III... |
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Rolling Stone magazine's early reviews of Kiss, while not being gushing or too positive, were generally positive and reasonable. There was little
that was negative, simply for the writer to have been exercising their dictionary or style. While there was a problem at times with the understanding of the band's makeup, the music was analyzed in a resonable manner. All of that changed with Alan Niester's review of "Alive!" (RS #203, Jan. 1976). Gone was any objectivity, replaced with what comes across more as anger than sardonic wit: "Kiss onstage could possibly be mildly entertaining for about ten minutes, but on record, minus the impact of gaudy painted faces and stage theatrics, the band must be judged solely for its music. It's awful. Criminally repetitive, thuddingly monotonous. And like the legions of equally talent-less bands across the country, Kiss attempts to get by on volume and tired riffing. Unlike these other bands, however, they came up with the idea of dragging rock further into the pits of theatrical overkill, managing, in the process, to pick up a legion of young fans who hadn't heard these riffs in their previous incarcerations (Grand Funk comes to mind). That Casablanca has decided to promote the band as new bad-boy teen idols is obvious from the packaging-a glossy full-color, multi-page insert showing all the Kisses in close-up, and a suitably trippy letter from each ("Dear Earthlings: ...When I play guitar onstage, it's like making love... Love, Ace")." The magazine's first major feature about the band, "Success - It's Just a Kiss Away" (RS #209, Mar. 1976, David McGee), presented Kiss to the Rolling Stone audience. Some of the content can be seen as a response to the dreadful "Alive!" review. According to a Gene quote, "We were trying to bring back flamboyance and stage show to rock & roll... and we knew there'd be problems with the music." Since "Destroyer" had not yet been reviewed some advance quotes about the change in direction were made: "When we started out, that's the music we were doing at that time and that's what we were like then. I don't feel apologies are necessary, because there's simply nothing to apologize for. We've become what we are because of what we look like, obviously, and because of the music. Destroyer is just the second step. The music's taking the forefront." A couple of months following their first feature on Kiss "Destroyer was reviewed (RS #214, June 1976, John Milward): "There's no doubt that Destroyer is Kiss's best album yet or that Bob Ezrin, Alice Cooper's heavy-handed wizard of heavy-metal production who helped write seven of the nine tunes here, has made the difference. But despite Ezrin's superb production, Kiss still lacks that flash of creative madness that could have made their music interesting, or at least listenable. The lead-off song, "Detroit, Rock City," begins with 90 seconds of Cooper-like effects: the sound, of the breakfast table and a news announcer in the background reading a story of a kid who died in a head-on collision; then a flashback to the doomed youth entering his car that night, his mind undoubtedly on the song that follows, and finally in the coda, the screeching crash. Unfortunately, Kiss entirely lacks the satiric distance that often made Cooper's use of such conceits genuinely funny, and worse yet, such gimmickry is the best Destroyer has to offer. The songs, save for two bloated ballads, are relentless riff rockers rooted in patently pedestrian drumming. Although constructed with professional aplomb, making use of a wide array of heavy-metal conventions, there's nothing new here. Even when an effective melody, such as the rabble-rousing "Shout It Out Loud," is presented, the lackluster performances dampen the effect. The vocals are undistinguished and emotionally empty; the lyrics-about partying and the rock scene, with plenty of campy S&M allusions - trite. Worse yet, there's not a memorable guitar solo on the album." As a Kiss fan it's sometimes difficult to separate objectivity from emotion, but one can take glee in knowing that the majority of that tired, lackluster, and non-memorable album is still the core of the band's live set, not to mention the People's Choice award for one of the bloated ballads. Critics be damned, because in the end they're only words. Oddly no Rolling Stone review has been found for "Rock And Roll Over." Perhaps it bludgeoned the poor scribe's delicate ears? |
| Saturday, October 04, 2008 11:41:11 AM - New KISSFAQ message board... |
| The new message board can be found HERE. There may still be some residual technical issues... |
| Saturday, October 04, 2008 8:52:49 AM - KISSFAQ message board migration... |
| Due to probable webhosting issues, beyond my control, the KISSFAQ message board has not been behaving in a technically acceptable manner for the last few days. Since the situation is intolerable, I have been working to migrate the board to a new host. The rest of the site will move once the board is functioning properly (from a technical rather than social basis). With a 140Mb database, it's taken a bit of time to move the 200,000 posts. So far, at least, *ALL* data and private messages seem to have copied across. My remaining work, with one stinker of a hangover, is to fix the message board software so that all works as previous. That is expected to take several more hours, plus I'm gonna have these old bones a nap. My apologies for any inconvenience. |
| Thursday, October 02, 2008 4:31:01 AM - KISS versus Rolling Stone magazine II... |
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The positive reviews, or should I say non-antagonistic, continued when "Hotter Than Hell" was reviewed (RS #179, Jan. 1975, Ed Naha): "Looking like a bunch of Walt Disney rejects, Kiss is the kind of band you love to hate. Drenched in garish makeup, clothed in outfits Alice Cooper wouldn't touch, and generally exuding obnoxiousness, this brash young New York foursome seems determined to visually divert their audience's attention from their special brand of kamikaze rock. A slick brand of music that, as found on their second LP, Hotter Than Hell, does not sound as bad as the band looks. With twin guitars hammering out catchy mondo-distorto riffs and bass and drums amiably bringing up the rear, Kiss spews forth a deceptively controlled type of thunderous hysteria closely akin to the sound once popularized by the German panzer tank division. Hotter Than Hell cooks from start to finish with the boys in the band sounding tighter and more lethal than in the past. This time around Kiss even manages to make allowances in their riff-rock antics for the inclusion of hum-able vocal lines in both the blitzkrieg rockers ("Got To Choose," "Strange Ways") and John Philip Sousa ballads ("Goin' Blind"). The lyrics, however, aren't going to make Dylan worry: with such bon mots as "I'm 93, you're 16" being dropped regularly. Despite its flaws, Kiss does succeed in churning out quite a bit of high-energy instrumentation and cheerful, nonsensical vocalizing." However, this review started to show that some were having difficulty separating the image from the music and judging one because of the other. The band's next mention was in a review of their February 21, 1975 show at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom with the James Gang and Man (RS #184, Apr. 1975, David Witz): "'Twas the first semi-warm day of the year and the teens were leaning just a little too heavily into the plate glass window next to the Aragon. So when the cherry bomb went off by the curb; well, accidents will happen. It's only rock & roll. Inside, the seething representatives of Chicago's working class freakdom put up with Man, bounced and jounced with the James Gang and blew themselves away with Kiss... Kiss couldn't miss. The last time they played here was as an emergency top-of-the-bill over former headliners T. Rex. Marc Bolan had done his all - e1ectric star platform, plenty of strobes and a sexual attack on his guitar - but Kiss had come out thermoblasting and that had been that. For their first official headlining, the p1ace was crammed. Word of mouth must have done the trick; it couldn't have been the records (it couldn't!). You know: "Hey, there's all this fire and he spits blood..." Well, the fire was there, enough of it to pop half the corn in Indiana. There were powder charges, smoke bombs. flamethrowers and other goodies, enough pseudo-napalm to justify the extinguishers tucked nervously around the apron. And Gene Simmons, the malevolent looking bassist with the sky-high steps, flash kabuki topknot ensemble and 17-inch tongue does indeed slobber something blood-ish when not belching flame. It's this kind of frolic which is the band's open secret. Kiss's show depends almost entirely on show, with the music (a combination of Blue Oyster Cult played slow, Black Sabbath played fast) acting as a bottom line for the effects. On this winter eve, they had their automatons-from-hell riff down pat. When rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley and Simmons faced off, it was Star Trek glitter meeting kung fu dancing. Peter Criss's drum kit swathed in smoke during "Black Diamond," actually did rise into the air. From the black-and-chrome costumes to those blinding bombs, everything Kiss did was custom-tailored for neon-loving, volume-eating rockers. Of course, the crowd responded in kind. Audiences toss roses at Melanie, but tonight's bouquets consisted of M-80s, ladyfingers, and just plain firecrackers. Ah, love." While this live review generally noted the show the first real tones of derision are starting to creep in, though from a critic that is to be expected (they're usually not paid to kiss ass). The band's final objective review occured a couple of months later with the review of "Dressed To Kill" (RS #191, July 1975, Gordon Fletcher): "Kiss does not play music - it makes very high-volume noise. If rock & roll intrigues you, though, you'd best be advised that for all the simplicity, overstatement and repetition within its records, Kiss does make fantastically successful rock. Driven by Gene Simmons's remarkably inventive bass lines and the cacophonous poundings of drummer Peter Criss, Kiss makes Chuck Berry chords and basic rock progressions come alive with energetic urgency. Simple? Yes. Repetitive? Yessir! But like the Stooges Kiss manages to avoid monotony." Gordon, it appears, got it. |
| Wednesday, October 1, 2008 4:46:19 AM - KISS versus Rolling Stone magazine... |
While Rolling Stone magazine is centrally important in KISStory, as the source of Peter Criss' legendary ad which resulted in his being found by Paul and Gene, Rolling Stone has long been considered the "enemy" of Kiss. Throughout their classic era the band never featured on that magazine's cover, though received the band was the subject of two substantial features; "Success - It's Just a Kiss Away" (RS #209, Mar. 1976, David McGee) and "Kiss: The Pagan Beasties of Teenage Rock" (RS #236, Apr. 1977, Charles M. Young). In this series of features, KISSFAQ looks at Rolling Stone magazine's approach towards the band, from better to worse. Kiss received their first mention in the January 1974 review of the December 31, 1973 Academy of Music show (RS #153, Gordon Fletcher). Considering their position on the bill they were lucky to receive any mention: "After a fiery opening set by Kiss (an "American Black Sabbath" on Neil Bogart's new Casablanca label) and the ribald antics of Teenage Lust, the Stooges assaulted the audience with wave upon wave of material from Raw Power." In April the band's debut album was reviewed (RS #158, Gordon Fletcher): "Kiss is an exciting Brooklyn based band with an imaginative stage presentation and a tight new album. The music is all hard-edged - they call it "thunderock" - and throughout their electrical storm solid craftsmanship prevails. Paul Stanley's rhythm guitar is the star of the proceedings, barking out the coarse chord patterns that comprise the foundation of the band's material. Gene Simmons can thus provide an extra dimension to the band's music by playing fluid bass patterns (especially on "Cold Gin") and Peter Criss contributes impressive drumming marked by Keith Moon's power and proficiency. "Nothing to Lose," "Firehouse" and "Cold Gin" - a Side One trilogy that would make Alice Cooper proud-provides over ten minutes of steady, stompin' rock & roll with an all-enveloping forcefulness. The manic "Deuce" makes fine music for crushing skulls and "Strutter" prominently displays The lead guitar talents of Ace Frehley, an unmistakable graduate of the Buck Dharma school of frenetic fretting. An exceptional album, Kiss could have been even better had the group incorporated more of their concert sound into the recording studio. Onstage they rain a Black Sabbath-like fury, but here they sound more like a cross between Deep Purple and the Doobie Brothers. Though Frehley is an integral component of the stage show, here his guitar is used sparingly, particularly on "Cold Gin," where a solo could've propelled the tune to a higher plateau. A firm commitment to their stage sound (as in "Deuce" and portions of "Black Diamond") could well insure excellence - a course worth pursuing." That's a pretty decent review using the sorts of superlatives that any band would be happy to read. But would the sentiment continue? |