Post by Erik Rupp on Aug 20, 2009 22:07:47 GMT -5
KISS - Dressed To Kill (1975)
After two albums loaded with classic Hard Rock KISS had yet to break out of the pack and hit the big time. Casablanca Records President Neil Bogart, unhappy with the stagnant sales of the (then) latest KISS album, Hotter Than Hell, decided to produce the band's next album himself.
If not exactly a, "Make or break," album, all parties involved were starting to feel a sense of urgency to bring the album sales up to the level that they were starting to see with KISS' ticket sales. (Even as an opening act KISS was becoming a live draw, and in some markets they were even able to headline - despite not having either of their first two albums go higher than number 87 on Billboard's albums chart.)
If Hotter Than Hell reflected the first album's dark side, then Bogart was going to make sure that Dressed To Kill would reflect that album's brighter, more upbeat tendencies. The first thing to change was the audio production style and mix. Enlisting engineer Dave Wittman to record the album at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios was the first step towards moving KISS to a more accessible sound. This time out the guitars would be crisp (but still full), the bass would be punchy, but still warm, and the drums would be snappy, giving the album a more radio friendly sound.
But there was still one thing yet to be put in place. The songs.
On Hotter Than Hell KISS used one of the Pre-KISS, Wicked Lester era (maybe even Pre-Wicked Lester) songs in, "Goin' Blind," to help fill out the album. With less than 6 months between albums yet again Paul, Gene, and Ace found themselves rushed. Only this time the ideas weren't flowing quite as easily, or as quickly. Pushed up against the wall KISS would again go to the Wicked Lester catalog. This time they would pull out not one, but two songs to fill out the album. For the rest of the album it would be eight quickly written and recorded songs that all together would find the upper half of Billboard's Top 100 Albums.
On the opening cut, "Room Service," the band blasts into a good time Rock and Roll song, with Paul Stanley singing about the adventures and pleasures of getting serviced right in their hotel rooms. "Baby I could use a meal," indeed. Some could call this a throwaway track except for one thing - it's a lot of fun, and a huge burst of high tempo energy.
That burst of energy gives way to a sludgy dark riff that wouldn't be out of place on Hotter Than Hell. That riff leads off Gene Simmons' first track on the album, "Two Timer," but the riff is misleading because the song is more of a mid-tempo old school Rock and Roll song disguised as a dark, moody beast. It's an OK song, but nothing special, and neither is Gene's follow up track, "Ladies In Waiting." These songs could be viewed (or listened to) as a matched set of songs, with the second of the two being the slightly stronger song - one featuring some nice, understated lead guitar work from Ace Frehley.
And speaking of Ace Frehley, his songwriting contributions on the album consist of the next two songs, "Getaway," and, "Rock Bottom." "Getaway," was solely written by Ace and sung by drummer Peter Criss. It is another uptempo, good time Rock and Roll song with a great bass line provided by Gene Simmons. This is another of the songs with a brighter, happier tone than the previous album (and arguably brighter and happier than most of the first album as well). Not surprisingly Ace takes the opportunity to play another nice, tasteful solo that has his signature lead tone all over it.
Ace's contribution to, "Rock Bottom," consists of the melodic, and very nice, acoustic guitar intro to the song, the rest of which was written and sung by Paul Stanley. "Rock Bottom," is a much stronger track than their signature song (which comes at the end of the album), but one that is often overlooked by all those but the Die Hardiest of die hard KISS fans. It rocks, it snarls, it's got attitude to spare, not to mention some great riffs and vocal melodies. This song is another example of KISS not getting credit for writing some absolutely fantastic Rock and Roll songs.
Side two of the original release opens with the under-mixed, "C'Mon and Love Me." It's a good song, and well recorded, but the distorted electric guitar is almost buried in the mix during the verse, almost overpowered by the acoustic rhythm guitar part. Clearly mixed to be radio safe this song is somewhat neutered here, while on the landmark ALIVE album it would be given new life and new energy.
"Anything For My Baby," is yet another song on Dressed To Kill that falls into the, "Good Time Rock and Roll," category. It's well written and performed, and has some strong energy. While it's not the best song on the album, it was clearly worthy of inclusion.
As was, "She," the first of the Wicked Lester tracks to be reworked for the album. On the unreleased Wicked Lester album, "She," sounded like a Jethro Tull outtake, complete with a flute part. Here it is stripped down and beefed up. The main riff is turned up to 11 as the band stomps though the heaviest track on the album. The original song's strong melodies and harmony vocals remain, however, and are complemented by one of Ace's signature guitar solos.
The second Wicked Lester song on the album is one of the lesser known KISS songs, but that is largely because the band chose (for whatever reason) to leave it out of their live set. Had they included, "Love Her All I Can," on ALIVE it may have become a fan favorite. Losing the Doobie Brothers feel of the original Wicked Lester track, on Dressed To Kill, "Love Her All I Can," becomes a high energy, high octance rev of the KISS engine. The riff is still one of the band's strongest, and the vocal harmonies are sweet, but powerful. The song also feaures one of Ace Frehley's best solos, and a brief, but very nice, solo from Peter Criss as well. At an economical 2:40 this song leaves the listener wanting more, proving to be one of the band's most underrated songs in their entire catalog.
I wanna, "Rock and Roll All Nite," and party every day. Big. Dumb. Fun. Effective, simple rhythm guitar parts, a nice Gene Simmons walking bass line, and some of the biggest vocal hooks of all time made this KISS' most famous and enduring song. While it was the live version that became the hit single, all the ingredients were in place here on the studio version except Ace Frehley's killer guitar solo that they added for the live version heard on ALIVE! Overplayed over the years? Probably. Overplayed for a good reason? Definitely.
Ten songs, with fewer standout tracks than the previous two albums, but nothing all that weak, either. Two or three filler tracks? Yeah, a lot of people (a majority, quite possibly) would agree with that, but Dressed To Kill is still one of the cornerstones of the KISS album catalog and belongs in the collection of anyone who likes hard edged 70's Rock and Roll.
4/5
After two albums loaded with classic Hard Rock KISS had yet to break out of the pack and hit the big time. Casablanca Records President Neil Bogart, unhappy with the stagnant sales of the (then) latest KISS album, Hotter Than Hell, decided to produce the band's next album himself.
If not exactly a, "Make or break," album, all parties involved were starting to feel a sense of urgency to bring the album sales up to the level that they were starting to see with KISS' ticket sales. (Even as an opening act KISS was becoming a live draw, and in some markets they were even able to headline - despite not having either of their first two albums go higher than number 87 on Billboard's albums chart.)
If Hotter Than Hell reflected the first album's dark side, then Bogart was going to make sure that Dressed To Kill would reflect that album's brighter, more upbeat tendencies. The first thing to change was the audio production style and mix. Enlisting engineer Dave Wittman to record the album at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios was the first step towards moving KISS to a more accessible sound. This time out the guitars would be crisp (but still full), the bass would be punchy, but still warm, and the drums would be snappy, giving the album a more radio friendly sound.
But there was still one thing yet to be put in place. The songs.
On Hotter Than Hell KISS used one of the Pre-KISS, Wicked Lester era (maybe even Pre-Wicked Lester) songs in, "Goin' Blind," to help fill out the album. With less than 6 months between albums yet again Paul, Gene, and Ace found themselves rushed. Only this time the ideas weren't flowing quite as easily, or as quickly. Pushed up against the wall KISS would again go to the Wicked Lester catalog. This time they would pull out not one, but two songs to fill out the album. For the rest of the album it would be eight quickly written and recorded songs that all together would find the upper half of Billboard's Top 100 Albums.
On the opening cut, "Room Service," the band blasts into a good time Rock and Roll song, with Paul Stanley singing about the adventures and pleasures of getting serviced right in their hotel rooms. "Baby I could use a meal," indeed. Some could call this a throwaway track except for one thing - it's a lot of fun, and a huge burst of high tempo energy.
That burst of energy gives way to a sludgy dark riff that wouldn't be out of place on Hotter Than Hell. That riff leads off Gene Simmons' first track on the album, "Two Timer," but the riff is misleading because the song is more of a mid-tempo old school Rock and Roll song disguised as a dark, moody beast. It's an OK song, but nothing special, and neither is Gene's follow up track, "Ladies In Waiting." These songs could be viewed (or listened to) as a matched set of songs, with the second of the two being the slightly stronger song - one featuring some nice, understated lead guitar work from Ace Frehley.
And speaking of Ace Frehley, his songwriting contributions on the album consist of the next two songs, "Getaway," and, "Rock Bottom." "Getaway," was solely written by Ace and sung by drummer Peter Criss. It is another uptempo, good time Rock and Roll song with a great bass line provided by Gene Simmons. This is another of the songs with a brighter, happier tone than the previous album (and arguably brighter and happier than most of the first album as well). Not surprisingly Ace takes the opportunity to play another nice, tasteful solo that has his signature lead tone all over it.
Ace's contribution to, "Rock Bottom," consists of the melodic, and very nice, acoustic guitar intro to the song, the rest of which was written and sung by Paul Stanley. "Rock Bottom," is a much stronger track than their signature song (which comes at the end of the album), but one that is often overlooked by all those but the Die Hardiest of die hard KISS fans. It rocks, it snarls, it's got attitude to spare, not to mention some great riffs and vocal melodies. This song is another example of KISS not getting credit for writing some absolutely fantastic Rock and Roll songs.
Side two of the original release opens with the under-mixed, "C'Mon and Love Me." It's a good song, and well recorded, but the distorted electric guitar is almost buried in the mix during the verse, almost overpowered by the acoustic rhythm guitar part. Clearly mixed to be radio safe this song is somewhat neutered here, while on the landmark ALIVE album it would be given new life and new energy.
"Anything For My Baby," is yet another song on Dressed To Kill that falls into the, "Good Time Rock and Roll," category. It's well written and performed, and has some strong energy. While it's not the best song on the album, it was clearly worthy of inclusion.
As was, "She," the first of the Wicked Lester tracks to be reworked for the album. On the unreleased Wicked Lester album, "She," sounded like a Jethro Tull outtake, complete with a flute part. Here it is stripped down and beefed up. The main riff is turned up to 11 as the band stomps though the heaviest track on the album. The original song's strong melodies and harmony vocals remain, however, and are complemented by one of Ace's signature guitar solos.
The second Wicked Lester song on the album is one of the lesser known KISS songs, but that is largely because the band chose (for whatever reason) to leave it out of their live set. Had they included, "Love Her All I Can," on ALIVE it may have become a fan favorite. Losing the Doobie Brothers feel of the original Wicked Lester track, on Dressed To Kill, "Love Her All I Can," becomes a high energy, high octance rev of the KISS engine. The riff is still one of the band's strongest, and the vocal harmonies are sweet, but powerful. The song also feaures one of Ace Frehley's best solos, and a brief, but very nice, solo from Peter Criss as well. At an economical 2:40 this song leaves the listener wanting more, proving to be one of the band's most underrated songs in their entire catalog.
I wanna, "Rock and Roll All Nite," and party every day. Big. Dumb. Fun. Effective, simple rhythm guitar parts, a nice Gene Simmons walking bass line, and some of the biggest vocal hooks of all time made this KISS' most famous and enduring song. While it was the live version that became the hit single, all the ingredients were in place here on the studio version except Ace Frehley's killer guitar solo that they added for the live version heard on ALIVE! Overplayed over the years? Probably. Overplayed for a good reason? Definitely.
Ten songs, with fewer standout tracks than the previous two albums, but nothing all that weak, either. Two or three filler tracks? Yeah, a lot of people (a majority, quite possibly) would agree with that, but Dressed To Kill is still one of the cornerstones of the KISS album catalog and belongs in the collection of anyone who likes hard edged 70's Rock and Roll.
4/5