Post by Erik Rupp on Sept 7, 2009 23:23:51 GMT -5
KISS - Rock and Roll Over (1976)
Despite the huge success of their previous album, Destroyer, the four members of KISS (Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss) weren't sure if their core fanbase would accept another lavishly produced album of varying musical styles for a second album in a row. Moreover, they themselves weren't entirely comfortable with the idea of taking on that kind of project again so soon, so to get back to basics they enlisted legendary producer/engineer Eddie Kramer to take the helm for the new album.
Kramer had produced the band's original demo tape (that helped land them their record contract with Casablanca), as well as their landmark ALIVE album. In order to capture more of a live feel than their first three studio albums had achieved the band rented an empty theater to record the album in - to use it as a de-facto recording studio with portable recording equipment. This album was to be a return to what they had done prior to Destroyer - straight ahead hard edged Rock and Roll.
They led off the album with the quiet, subdued tones of, "I Want You." Well, quiet and subdued for a total of fourteen seconds before the guitars come screaming in to this mighty riff-fest to let the listener know that KISS means business. "I Want You," has a huge sense of swagger, and is the kind of Hard Rock song that Tony Manero (of Saturday Night Fever) would go for. It's funky, has a killer riff, and some searing, soulful vocals from Paul Stanley. The song is huge, and really sets the tone for the entire album.
"Take Me," continues the Big Rock motif, as Paul Stanley again delivers the goods with a song that has a pulsating beat and another monster riff during the chorus. The song is loaded with attitude and features a nice bass line during the chorus that is different from what the guitars are playing - it is the same riff the guitars play at the end of the chorus, and it works with the verse riff in a complementary way. "Take Me," is more uptempo than, "I Want You," but works extremely well as a follow up to the monster opening track.
Bass player and vocalist Gene Simmons would then get into the act with what may be his most famous song, "Calling Dr. Love." The theme of big, catchy riffs and memorable chorus vocal hooks continues here. More cowbell? We don't need no more stinkin' cowbell! We've already got cowbell in the intro of the song. We've also got a great bass tone, as well as a nasty (meaning good) rhythm guitar tone that makes this one of the best KISS studio recordings to date, and a great no nonsense Hard Rock song.
Gene follows that up with, "Ladies Room," which is more of a good old Rock and Roll song. Not as massive or as well recorded as, "Dr. Love," (the guitars here are a bit thin in comparison), this is still a solid album track that worked better live. Lead guitarist Ace Frehley adds some Rolling Stones-esque flourishes here and there as well as a very tasteful, if short, solo with a bit of a Keith Richards style ending. Oh, and the cowbell shows up again later in the song as well.
Closing out what was side one is a song co-written and sung by drummer Peter Criss, "Baby Driver." This is one of those songs that some fans love, but others strongly dislike. It's got the biggest sense of swagger on the side since the opening track, and has some really nice lead flourishes from Ace throughout. Peter's vocals have that raspy, Bob Seger quality to them, and like Seger he has a soulful quality to his vocals. People outside of the band's fans have little idea of how well Peter sings the harder Rock songs since he is best known for the huge hit single, "Beth," with it's soft orchestration, but he was one of the band's, "Secret weapons," in the 70's.
The second side of the album isn't quite as impressive, however, as the first side. That's not to say that it's bad, just that the first rate quality of the first side is not quite replicated on the second side of the album.
"Love 'Em and Leave 'Em," is Gene Simmons' next offering on the album, and it has the same snare hitting on every beat rhythm that his classic song, "Deuce," used, only this song isn't quite of that caliber. It's a decent song with a fair chorus hook, but it lacks a really strong riff (the riffs here are all decent, but nothing to write home about). "Love 'Em," does have attitude and swagger, though, and that's what makes the song work. That and a really nice solo from Ace.
If, "Love 'Em," is just fair, the next song is a step up. "Mr. Speed," is Paul Stanley's next offering on the album, and it is a winner. Not as heavy as his previous songs on the album, "Mr. Speed," nonetheless is another good song from Paul, as he gets a little Stonesier on this one than his previous tracks. The main riff sounds like something Keith Richards would have come up with if he were trying to write a KISS song. This is one of those songs where KISS clearly shows their influences.
Things drop to the mediocre with the next song, however, as, "See You In Your Dreams," is nothing terribly special, with the possible exception of a rather nice bass line from Gene. This is one of Gene's songs where it isn't clear if he's just rushing his songwriting, or if this really was the best he could come up with at the time. It's not a bad song, but not one that would have been missed had it been replaced by another song. It does feature a rather nice, tasty solo from Ace Frehley, though.
Paul Stanley by this point was blossoming as a songwriter, and wanted to try his had at writing for other artists. One such song that he wrote was intended for Rod Stewart. The song was in the, "Maggie May," vein, but arguably even better for that type of song. It was so strong that KISS manager Bill Aucoin and producer Eddie Kramer insisted that Paul save the song for KISS, and that he let Peter Criss sing it (as he had the Rod Stewart/Bob Seger kind of voice that perfectly fit the song). The strategy paid off as, "Hard Luck Woman," became a top 20 hit for KISS, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Top 100 Singles chart. The largely acoustic song with drum and bass backing was the one departure from the usual KISS sound on Rock and Roll Over, and it followed their similar success with, "Beth," just months earlier.
To close out the album they went with another Paul Stanley song, this time a rip roaring rocker called, "Makin' Love." The song has a riff that would be mimicked by the Scorpions 6 years later for the title track to their breakthrough album, Blackout. In fact, Ace Frehley's fantastic, flashy solo in, "Makin' Love," was something of a template for the solo on that Scorpions track as well. "Makin' Love," is a huge burst of energy, and an uptempo track that would be featured in their live set on and off for the next 28+ years. It's a great way to end one of KISS' best studio albums.
While the attempt was made to capture that live feel by recording the album in that theater, they did fall just short on that count. It comes close to their live vibe, but just barely misses that mark. Live, KISS feeds off the energy of their fans, and that gives their live performances just a little more of a spark (even if less precise performances).
Still, Rock and Roll Over is nothing short of a great KISS album, and a very, very good Rock and Roll album in general. An argument could be made that it's just a great album, period, and if not for a couple mediocre tracks on side two there would be no argument at all.
4.5/5
Despite the huge success of their previous album, Destroyer, the four members of KISS (Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss) weren't sure if their core fanbase would accept another lavishly produced album of varying musical styles for a second album in a row. Moreover, they themselves weren't entirely comfortable with the idea of taking on that kind of project again so soon, so to get back to basics they enlisted legendary producer/engineer Eddie Kramer to take the helm for the new album.
Kramer had produced the band's original demo tape (that helped land them their record contract with Casablanca), as well as their landmark ALIVE album. In order to capture more of a live feel than their first three studio albums had achieved the band rented an empty theater to record the album in - to use it as a de-facto recording studio with portable recording equipment. This album was to be a return to what they had done prior to Destroyer - straight ahead hard edged Rock and Roll.
They led off the album with the quiet, subdued tones of, "I Want You." Well, quiet and subdued for a total of fourteen seconds before the guitars come screaming in to this mighty riff-fest to let the listener know that KISS means business. "I Want You," has a huge sense of swagger, and is the kind of Hard Rock song that Tony Manero (of Saturday Night Fever) would go for. It's funky, has a killer riff, and some searing, soulful vocals from Paul Stanley. The song is huge, and really sets the tone for the entire album.
"Take Me," continues the Big Rock motif, as Paul Stanley again delivers the goods with a song that has a pulsating beat and another monster riff during the chorus. The song is loaded with attitude and features a nice bass line during the chorus that is different from what the guitars are playing - it is the same riff the guitars play at the end of the chorus, and it works with the verse riff in a complementary way. "Take Me," is more uptempo than, "I Want You," but works extremely well as a follow up to the monster opening track.
Bass player and vocalist Gene Simmons would then get into the act with what may be his most famous song, "Calling Dr. Love." The theme of big, catchy riffs and memorable chorus vocal hooks continues here. More cowbell? We don't need no more stinkin' cowbell! We've already got cowbell in the intro of the song. We've also got a great bass tone, as well as a nasty (meaning good) rhythm guitar tone that makes this one of the best KISS studio recordings to date, and a great no nonsense Hard Rock song.
Gene follows that up with, "Ladies Room," which is more of a good old Rock and Roll song. Not as massive or as well recorded as, "Dr. Love," (the guitars here are a bit thin in comparison), this is still a solid album track that worked better live. Lead guitarist Ace Frehley adds some Rolling Stones-esque flourishes here and there as well as a very tasteful, if short, solo with a bit of a Keith Richards style ending. Oh, and the cowbell shows up again later in the song as well.
Closing out what was side one is a song co-written and sung by drummer Peter Criss, "Baby Driver." This is one of those songs that some fans love, but others strongly dislike. It's got the biggest sense of swagger on the side since the opening track, and has some really nice lead flourishes from Ace throughout. Peter's vocals have that raspy, Bob Seger quality to them, and like Seger he has a soulful quality to his vocals. People outside of the band's fans have little idea of how well Peter sings the harder Rock songs since he is best known for the huge hit single, "Beth," with it's soft orchestration, but he was one of the band's, "Secret weapons," in the 70's.
The second side of the album isn't quite as impressive, however, as the first side. That's not to say that it's bad, just that the first rate quality of the first side is not quite replicated on the second side of the album.
"Love 'Em and Leave 'Em," is Gene Simmons' next offering on the album, and it has the same snare hitting on every beat rhythm that his classic song, "Deuce," used, only this song isn't quite of that caliber. It's a decent song with a fair chorus hook, but it lacks a really strong riff (the riffs here are all decent, but nothing to write home about). "Love 'Em," does have attitude and swagger, though, and that's what makes the song work. That and a really nice solo from Ace.
If, "Love 'Em," is just fair, the next song is a step up. "Mr. Speed," is Paul Stanley's next offering on the album, and it is a winner. Not as heavy as his previous songs on the album, "Mr. Speed," nonetheless is another good song from Paul, as he gets a little Stonesier on this one than his previous tracks. The main riff sounds like something Keith Richards would have come up with if he were trying to write a KISS song. This is one of those songs where KISS clearly shows their influences.
Things drop to the mediocre with the next song, however, as, "See You In Your Dreams," is nothing terribly special, with the possible exception of a rather nice bass line from Gene. This is one of Gene's songs where it isn't clear if he's just rushing his songwriting, or if this really was the best he could come up with at the time. It's not a bad song, but not one that would have been missed had it been replaced by another song. It does feature a rather nice, tasty solo from Ace Frehley, though.
Paul Stanley by this point was blossoming as a songwriter, and wanted to try his had at writing for other artists. One such song that he wrote was intended for Rod Stewart. The song was in the, "Maggie May," vein, but arguably even better for that type of song. It was so strong that KISS manager Bill Aucoin and producer Eddie Kramer insisted that Paul save the song for KISS, and that he let Peter Criss sing it (as he had the Rod Stewart/Bob Seger kind of voice that perfectly fit the song). The strategy paid off as, "Hard Luck Woman," became a top 20 hit for KISS, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Top 100 Singles chart. The largely acoustic song with drum and bass backing was the one departure from the usual KISS sound on Rock and Roll Over, and it followed their similar success with, "Beth," just months earlier.
To close out the album they went with another Paul Stanley song, this time a rip roaring rocker called, "Makin' Love." The song has a riff that would be mimicked by the Scorpions 6 years later for the title track to their breakthrough album, Blackout. In fact, Ace Frehley's fantastic, flashy solo in, "Makin' Love," was something of a template for the solo on that Scorpions track as well. "Makin' Love," is a huge burst of energy, and an uptempo track that would be featured in their live set on and off for the next 28+ years. It's a great way to end one of KISS' best studio albums.
While the attempt was made to capture that live feel by recording the album in that theater, they did fall just short on that count. It comes close to their live vibe, but just barely misses that mark. Live, KISS feeds off the energy of their fans, and that gives their live performances just a little more of a spark (even if less precise performances).
Still, Rock and Roll Over is nothing short of a great KISS album, and a very, very good Rock and Roll album in general. An argument could be made that it's just a great album, period, and if not for a couple mediocre tracks on side two there would be no argument at all.
4.5/5
