From what I've read online, Bruce played all leads, bass on all of Paul's songs and rhythm guitar on all of Gene's... were Gene and Paul not even speaking to, let alone working with, each other? Curious...

I agree with the assessment of the "missing transitional album"... the switch from straightforward power rock/metal of "Revenge" to grungy-moody "CoS" was pretty freakin' abrupt. I'd imagine said "transitional" album -- combining the best of the two -- could have been something else. But I won't complain, both albums together are like Creatures of the Night/Lick It Up all over again.

A sentiment that will be compounded exponentially once we get to "Psycho Circus" (which, for the record, I've barely listened to since 1998, so maybe my feelings on the album have changed dramatically. Doubt it, though...)

3-D effects in a live concert... how ridiculous...

I think I've asked this before but at what point did KISS start hiring guns to play on their non-solo albums on a regular basis? I realize "lots of people do it" but it's still a disturbing practice to me. Was it when Ace and Peter started "acting up"? Was it something that was always done?

Destroyer. Ace was missing when he was supposed to play the solo for, "Sweet Pain," and Bob Ezrin called in Dick Wagner from Alice Cooper's band to play the solo.

There were also reportedly some drum parts cleaned up by Joe X. Dube from Starz (overdubbing parts that Peter either flubbed a bit or didn't get the groove right on). I've never read a comment from Gene or Paul confirming this, but I've read it from other people associated with the band.
It wasn't so much Ace and Peter, "Acting up," as them either not showing up (Ace) or Peter, "Playing down." In other words, Peter's playing deteriorated badly around 1977 or so. He had a bad car crash and that seemed to affect him very signifcantly, and very permanently. He was never the same drummer again. That, and his drug and alcohol abuse made him erratic and he stopped practicing his drums in his off time for a couple years.

That's one of the reasons why I liked the 80's era so much. Even though it was the Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons band they didn't need to use outside musicians. Eric Carr, Vinnie Vincent, and Bruce Kulick made it possible to keep it in house (although there was a blurring of the lines - Paul and Bruce would play bass - as would Eric on occasion, and Gene played a lot of rhythm guitar on his songs). The Revenge era was even better as the quality of the music improved and the band was a freaking powerhouse.

Carnival of Souls was done completely by the band. No outside players, and less reliance on outside writers (Bruce was fully utilized as a writer for the first time).

I think you meant to say Dick Wagner, but other than that, quite right about all your other points.

Ok thanks.

Yes, you are QUITE right. I had the name, "Bob," in mind since BOB Ezrin produced the thing.

Let me go back and fix that....

...OK. Fixed.

And with that fixed I've got this to add.

It seems that someone in the band's management or from the Universal Music Group is taking down all the COS videos on YouTube. All but one of mine have been blocked by the copyright holder. Interestingly, my videos for songs from Alive III and Revenge haven't been blocked. They've just said that the audio matched someone else's copyright and that they were adding an ad to the page and would have full access to ALL of the statistical data regarding the viewers of the video.

It's interesting that they are only removing videos of songs from Carnival of Souls. It's like they're trying to bury the album.

That's a shame. As I've noted, I think it is one of the highlights of KISS' recording career.

Did you guys hear the recent "Talking Metal" Podcast in which they interviewed Bill Aucoin? GREAT piece. He talked plenty of KISS, of course, but he also had some interesting stories about Van Halen, Billy Idol, Billy Squier, and others. Good stuff.

You can download the episode here. Give it a listen if ya haven't...

Re-listening to both Unplugged and Carnival Of Souls, I come away much less impressed than I was when these albums were first released.

Unplugged is a very good album and shows the excellent musicianship of ALL the band members past and present but it still seems like a non-essential album to me. Yes, the band sounds great and it was nice to have a family reunion but if I want that I will listen to the old stuff. I was excited as everyone else when the reunion happened but if I had known it would produce the after-birth call Psycho Circus, I would have rather they didn't bother.

I'll come right out and say it...Carnival Of Souls sucks. Period. As a big fan of Alice In Chains, this album verges on offensive. Where Godsmack took AIC's sound and made it their own, KISS takes it, xeroxes it and turns it into a bland, blank sheet of paper. If I want to hear AIC, I will pop in AIC. I certainly don't want to hear a washed up band desperately trying to salvage some credibility by poorly aping the hot band at the moment. The only song with any redeeming value on the entire album is Childhood's End which is just a fair song at best.

Wow...I can't believe I wrote something so scathing about KISS (which is in my Top 5 bands of all time), but as I was typing, it just came out. This album is donkey poo. I would rather listen to the much maligned Peter Criss solo album (which I personally like) a million times more than this one because at least the PC album sounded authentic and sincere.

Do us a favor and go back to singing about pussy.

Ratings:
MTV Unplugged: ****
Carnival Of Souls: *

I forgot to mention, I was in a local Barnes & Noble and they had the special edition audio 5 CD set of Gene Simmons' "Sex Money KISS" unabridged, in a metal lunchbox with a bonus cd of 2 unreleased GS songs clearanced for $9.98. Cool looking lunchbox.

The two original songs, Everybody Knows (good) and You're My Reason For Livin' (not so good) are on a separate disc.

I actually watched his video the other day from Netflix, Gene Simmons Speaking In Tongues, and it was pretty bad. Poor editing and bad production values really kill it. And if you don't like Gene's economic prattling, then you will hate the video anyway. The only interesting thing I found in it was he uses a ton of old demos and unreleased songs in the background. At the end of the credits it mentions that there is going to be an upcoming boxset called Gene Simmons 100 songs and was to be a release of that many demos and unreleased stuff from him (much of it old it sounded like). This video was done back in 2004. I checked his website and saw no mention of this.

Now that is a boxset I would actually like to see happen. Wonder what did it in?

I don't really like Alice In Chains outside of a handful of songs.

To me Carnival of Souls gets the balance right. It's dark and heavy, but more accessible than AIC. And the influences aren't just from AIC, COS also has influences from STP, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, U2, etc. And then there are the influences from KISS' own back catalog ("Strange Ways," leads to "Rain," "Goin' Blind," leads to "Childhood's End," etc). And for me COS is much more enjoyable than any of AIC's albums, anyway.

But, like I said in the first place - COS divided most KISS fans into two polarized groups when it comes to that album. You're definitely in the group that hates it. That's fine - KISS fans have a fairly wide wide range of musical tastes. Again, I think it's a great album. One of their 3 best studio albums.

As Carnival Of Souls divided KISS fans and put one era to rest, Paul and Gene had gotten back together with Ace and Peter to reunite the original line up leading to their most successful tour ever (and the top grossing tour of 1996). It was clear that they would do a new album, presumably with Ace and Peter. That was correct, sort of. So in 1998 KISS came out with...

PSYCHO CIRCUS

Released on September 22, 1998.

Track Listing:

1. Psycho Circus
2. Within
3. I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock And Roll
4. Into The Void
5. We Are One
6. You Wanted The Best
7. Raise Your Glasses
8. I Finally Found My Way
9. Dreamin'
10. Journey Of 1,000 Years
11. In Your Face (Japanese version only)

Produced by Bruce Fairbairn
Engineered by Mike Plotnikoff
Mixed by Mick Guzauski

Line Up: Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss
(Drums on all but, "Into the Void," played by Kevin Valentine. Lead guitar on all but, "Into the Void," and "You Wanted the Best," by Tommy Thayer or Paul Stanley. Backwards guitar intro to, "Within," played by Bruce Kulick.)


(Image of the lenticular cover - sort of...)

OK, it's later. It's time.

The biggest problem with the perception that Destroyer is THE definitive KISS album is that they tried to recreate it in 1998 with Psycho Circus.

Paul basically produced the title track himself the way he thought Bob Ezrin would have done it. Ezrin even said that he wouldn't have done it any differently than Paul did it. It was a modern take on the Destroyer sound, and probably the best track on the album. It's one of the few song on Psycho Circus (the album) that most KISS fans actually like.

"Within," is Gene's attempt at, "God of Thunder II." It's a good song, but clearly a reworked leftover from Carnival of Souls, and it's only purpose here is to be the dark, moody, heavy song like, "God of Thunder," was on Destroyer.

"I Pledge Allegiance..." Is Paul's first attempt at the, "Anthem," track on the album (like, "King of the Night Time World," "Flaming Youth," and "Shout it out Loud," were on Destroyer). It's not bad, but just SCREAMS 1987. Sure, 1987 with a bit of 1977 thrown in, but mostly 1987.

Ace gets his lone solo song in, "Into the Void," which is one of the highlights of the album. It's a straight ahead rocker - his follow up to, "Rocket Ride." It's also Peter's only appearance on drums on the album - and that's a shame, because for all of his limitations as a drummer his performance on this one fits the song perfectly and has the classic KISS vibe that is missing from the rest of the album.

Gene's, "We Are One," is the first real curveball on the album. This doesn't sound like a 1980's Pop-Rock song, it sounds like a 1970's Pop-Rock song. It would have fit on his 1978 solo album, but it barely fits here (and only if you imagine a couple other songs being replaced by more straightforward Hard Rock songs). I think it's actually a good song - very well written - but it doesn't really sound like KISS, with the possible exception of Unmasked.

"You Wanted the Best." We certainly did! This song isn't the best. But, in my ever so humble opinion, it IS a good song - and it kicks ass! One of the few songs on the album that you can actually say that about. All four members get a few lines as they share the lead vocal duties. Ace plays a really good solo as well, closing out his involvement in the album (the American version, anyway).

Paul brings the album back to the anthemic with, "Raise Your Glasses," another 80's (Crazy Nights by way of Revenge production) style song. This one, as well as, "Pledge," show Paul's biggest mistake. Writing songs with freaking Holly Knight! While she IS a good songwriter - for Pop-Rock stuff - she isn't a good songwriter for KISS. Certainly not for the "Reunion" album for the original line-up! "Raise Your Glasses," would make for a GREAT addition to a Paul Stanley solo album. And it would have been one of the better songs on Crazy Nights. But here it merely sounds like another Pop-Rock song on an album almost completely devoid of cohesion in the songs.

"I Finally Found My Way," is crap. Utter, complete, total crap. Prefabricated, forced crap. "Beth II," only like many sequels this one is just a pale imitation of the original. Paul went to Bob Ezrin to co-write it, and I'd love to get Ezrin's take on it - because this is so obviously an attempt to give Peter a follow up to, "Beth." It's a bad song. Really bad. Really, REALLY bad. Embarassingly bad. Almost ruins the album by itself bad. (I know, I know - "Tell me what you really think, Erik.") Peter had a couple of ballads that he submitted that were summarily rejected. They might not have been very good, but they certainly couldn't have been worse than this one...

"Dreamin." The song that got KISS sued by Alice Cooper's publisher. Yeah, Bruce Kulick's riff for the chorus IS reminiscent of, "Im Eighteen," but the rest of the song only has a passing resemblance to the Cooper classic. It's moody, dark - hell, this is a good song! Not great, but good.

The American version closes out with Gene's attempt at, "Great Expectations II," in "Journey of 1,000 Years." Another moody track, this one is more atmospheric than the others, and while it is a good song, it's not great, and it shouldn't have been included. The album needed another Gene ass kicking track, but it didn't get it.

The Japanese version has one extra song - "In Your Face," which American fans were actually thankful that the band left off the American version. Gene wrote it for Ace to sing, and everything here is mediocre. (That's actually a bit kind.") Gene's riff sounds like something he recycled from one of his 1984 or 1985 demos, the vocal melodies are poor, and the chorus is trite. Why the hell they didn't just FINALLY put, "It's My Life," on one of their albums instead of this piece of work I'll never understand.

In the end Psycho Circus managed to disappoint almost everyone, despite having a handful of decent to good tracks. The classic fans didn't like all the 80's style stuff, the 80's fans didn't like all the moody or poppy stuff, and the only tracks that almost everyone can agree on are, "Psycho Circus," and "I Finally Found My Way," only for opposite reasons. One is great, the other complete garbage.

The attempt to recreate Destroyer was the fatal mistake that the band made. In assuming that all fans wanted the long awaited Destroyer II they forgot that the album that almost ALL fans look to as THE definitive KISS album is ALIVE!

Nothing on Psycho Circus has the vibe or energy of the material from the first three studio albums, which translated so well as live versions.

Now Paul and Gene are convinced that outside of a core group of die hard fans no one wants to hear new material from KISS. That's simply not true.

People DO want to hear new material from KISS. They just want GOOD new material that sounds like KISS. Equally blend Alive, Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun, Creatures, Asylum, and Revenge and you've got the recipe for a great KISS album (OK, maybe two parts Alive). On Psycho Circus KISS basically went for three ingredients - 7/10 Destroyer, 1/10 Unmasked, and 2/10 Crazy Nights. It was the wrong recipe, but they don't seem to get it.

Ironically, with Tommy and Eric in the band now they'd have a better chance of making a classic KISS sounding album as both of those guys have great respect for the classic material and are always pushing for lesser known songs from the 70's and early 80's to be thrown into the set list.

I LOVE this song. I always wondered why they never played it in concert on the Psycho Circus tour. the only thing I didn't like was the clicking sound during the verses.

I also really like "We Are One".

Has it ever been explained why Ace and Peter didn't really play on Psycho Circus? And why was Kevin Valentine chosen to play drums rather than Eric Singer?

Relistening to Psycho Circus today, I am surprised to say I don't dislike near as much as I thought did.

The song Psycho Circus got on my nerves as a live song but the studio version isn't so bad. Paul doesn't seem to be screaming at me as much as he does on the live performances. Within is just so-so and I Pledge Allegiance is just plain out lame. The lyrics are crap but the music flows okay.

Into The Void and We Are One are probably my two favorites on the album. Nice groovin' rocker for Ace and We Are One is poppy and catchy.

You Wanted The Best suffers from a crummy chorus but it's cool to hear all 4 of them singing together on one song and shouting insults at each other. I do like Gene's "Ahhhhahhhhahhhh's" in the song. Raise Your Glasses is a better anthem song than Pledge and a more enjoyable listen. I agree with Darth...this song should have been a staple of their concerts. It's much better than Psycho and Pledge, two of which got concert love at that time.

I Finally Found My Way is just total shit. What an awful song. I feel sorry for Peter. Nothing on his solo albums was a crummy as this thin pop-love-song wannabe is. Ugh.

Dreamin' and Journey Of 1,000 Years are just okay. Forgettable but better than most anything on Carnival Of Souls. Dreamin' sounds like it could fit right on Animalize with no problems. Same with 1,000 Years. Both sound very 80's KISS to me. The good 80's...not the later bad 80's.

I used to have the cd single of In Your Face because it came with the 3-D(!!!) VHS copy of the video of Psycho Circus. It appears I sold it 'cause I can't seem to find it anymore. I am sure I burned it to my iTunes but can't seem to find it right now. I hate to say it but I really remember nothing about it except that Ace does the vocals.

So...all in all...not a bad "comeback/reunion" album. I would have liked for them to have been more of a "band" and would have liked to see more input from Ace and Peter but by this time Gene & Paul are steering the ship and Ace & Peter just got to ride on it one last time.

Rating: ***1/2

While I had ultimately had high hopes for Psycho Circus, in the end it was just a good, but not great album. To me, at least, it was still an improvement of Carnival Of Souls, but only because it was more the sound I was looking for from KISS. The only downside to that is that it tends to comes off as a rather contrived sounding album.

The dig the title track, "Within" (which while it does sound like a bit of COS leftover, still is better than most of the songs on that album), "I Pledge Allegiance..." (the lyrics are goofy, but the music rocks!), "Into The Void" (go Ace!). "We Are One" (not very KISS-like, but a very pleasant pop song from Gene) and "You Wanted The Best" (just because it's fun).

"Raise You Glasses", to me the 'verse' parts, which I like, sound like Cheap Trick or Enuff Z' Nuff (channeling Cheap Trick) - but I can't stand the absolutely contrived 'chorus' parts ("Standing proud 'cos we're the champions"? Okay, maybe a nod to Queen, but they already did that song, and better.)

"I Finally Found My Way" - just trite, worse than solo album Peter Criss. A shame.

"Deamin'" and "Journey of 1,000 Years" - both are kinda "yeah, whatever" to me.

So overall, I like the album, but I don't love the album. Could have been much better, but as is, I'll take it.

What always struck me as (I guess not so really) surprising was the continuing illusion that only the four original band members played the main instruments on the album. Peter is credited as the drummer, when in truth (as Erik pointed out), he barely played a lick of them on the album. In Behind The Mask, album engineer, Mike Plotnikoff states - "The reason Ace and Peter didn't play much on the Psycho Circus album is because of a decision Bruce Fairbairn made. Even though Gene and Paul wanted it to be the original band on the record, when Bruce heard Ace and Peter play in pre-production, he thought that to make the kind of a record he wanted to make, Ace and Peter wouldn't cut it as players. Kevin Valentine was brought in to play drums, and he did on all the songs but "Into the Void". Ace played lead on "Into The Void, and did a couple of other guitar solos, too. Paul played most of the rhythm guitars on the record, and some lead guitar. The rest of the guitars were done by Tommy Thayer, who because he was such a huge KISS fan, could cop Ace's style and play just like him. Tommy was amazing, and had some guitar on most every track."

Something else Plotnikoff mentions in that book that I found interesting is this - "We recorded 19 songs for Psycho Circus, but only ten made it. Some were slated for B-sides. Most of the songs that didn't make it were Gene's, and there were some real good ones, too. "I Wanna Rule The World" and "I Am Yours" were very Beatle-esque, more ballad oriented songs. Some other Gene songs were "Rear View", "Sweet And Dirty" and "Carnival Of Souls". There was also a Paul Song that didn't make it called "Body And Soul". Bruce Fairbairn had to walk a very fine line when he chose what songs to record. he had to make sure it was even, and that there were the same number of Gene songs and Paul songs on the record."

I'd love to hear some of those outtakes.

That pretty much says it all, now my favorites from Psycho Circus

Within
We Are One
Psycho Circus

OK, with all the studio albums to date listed (although we've got some other stuff, including a live album, to discuss) here are my ratings...

KISS *****
Hotter Than Hell ****1/2
Dressed to Kill ***1/2
Alive! *****
Destroyer ***3/4
Rock and Roll Over ****1/4
Love Gun ****
Alive II ****
Paul Stanley ****
Ace Frehley ****
Gene Simmons ***
Peter Criss **
Dynasty ***1/2
Unmasked ***3/4
The Elder ***
Creatures of the Night ****1/4
Lick it Up ****
Animalize ***3/4
Asylum ****1/4
Crazy Nights **3/4
Hot in the Shade **1/2
Revenge *****
Alive III ****1/4
Unplugged ****1/4
Carnival of Souls ****1/2
Psycho Circus ***1/2

Here are mine:

KISS ****1/2
Hotter Than Hell *****
Dressed to Kill ***
Alive! *****
Destroyer *****
Rock and Roll Over ****1/2
Love Gun ****
Alive II *****
Paul Stanley *1/2
Ace Frehley ***
Gene Simmons ****1/2
Peter Criss ***1/2
Dynasty ***
Unmasked ****1/2
The Elder **1/2
Creatures of the Night ****1/2
Lick it Up ****1/2
Animalize **1/2
Asylum ***
Crazy Nights **1/2
Hot in the Shade *1/2
Revenge ****
Alive III ****
Unplugged ****
Carnival of Souls *
Psycho Circus ***1/2

Here are mine...

KISS ***
Hotter Than Hell ***
Dressed to Kill **
Alive! *****
Destroyer ***
Rock and Roll Over ***
Love Gun ****
Alive II ****
Paul Stanley ****
Ace Frehley *****
Gene Simmons ***
Peter Criss *
Dynasty ***
Unmasked *****
The Elder **
Creatures of the Night ***
Lick it Up *****
Animalize ****
Asylum ****
Crazy Nights **
Hot in the Shade *
Revenge ****
Alive III **
Unplugged **
Carnival of Souls ***
Psycho Circus ***

A little late to the party, but here's my quick recap of Psycho Circus.

A cynical cash-grab pressed to quickly exploit the success of the REUNION TOUR, PC is pretty much a failure. Musically, it has its moments, but having Gene + Paul record an album with special guest star Ace Frehley contributing one song and Peter Criss warbling another was insulting to the longtime fans, and the overall crappy quality of the album was a turnoff to new ones.

That's not to say there isn't a good tune or two here. But this album comes off to me (as a fan) as crass, mean-spirited, and insulting. I'd feel better about it the music was at least decent, but... well let's go through them one by one

Psycho Circus
A decent lead-off single, actually. I always kind of liked this tune, the video was pretty snazzy and at least it felt somewhat "Kiss-esque". GOOD tune.

Within
Always hated this song. It sounds forced and contrived, like Gene was trying to take the Eastern-inspired psychedelia of The Beatles' REVOLVER period and rather uncomfortably infuse it with KISS metal overtones. Listening to it again today, it's not as bloody awful as I remembered. But it's still pretty MEDIOCRE.

I Pledge Allegiance To The State of Rock & Roll
This song reminds me of "Flaming Youth" more than any of the band's patented "rock anthems". And maybe that's the song's biggest flaw (other than it's insipidly dopey title). It sounds manufactured, feels like slick commercial product, and is inundanted incredibly dopey lyrics. CRAP.

Into The Void
Not Ace's best moment, to be sure, but a fun song nonetheless. A bit "generic" sounding at times but at least SOMEBODY is loosening up and just, I dunno, bringing teh ROCK to the project. I'll give it a low GOOD.

We Are One
Someone call Lisa Loeb and tell her we found her lame mid-90s overbearingly trite vibe. This song is pretty much CRAP.

You Wanted The Best
We sure did... unfortunately we ended up with this forced, clunky, just mind-bendingly STUPID song. Having all four members sing on a track? Cool idea. But the lyrics are motarded, the music generic and uninspired, and the chorus just fucking awful. What is this song even about, anyhow? Who are they so freakin' mad at? The fans? Themselves? Ugh. AWFUL.

Raise Your Glasses
Paul doing the power-pop thing again, playing to his strengths. This song is OK. Nothing great, nothing horrible. On another album, this would be a throwaway filler track. Here, it's a freakin' highlight.

I Finally Found My Way
I took a blowtorch to my nads after listening to this. To take the pain away. MOUNTAINOUS TURDBURGER OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS.

Dreamin'
Paul with another sorta OK/Mehh song. It's not horrible, it's not good, it's basically there and just catchy enough to not make you hate it.

Journey of 1,000 Years
Gene's best song on the album... and it's still only OK. Too much vocal straining. Nice orchestral throwback to the pre-solo section from the title track. Otherwise, nothing great.


So we got 4 AVERAGE (OK to mediocre) songs, 3 CRAP songs, 1 UNBELIEVABLE FUCKING TERRIBLE song, and 2 GOOD ones. But nothing great. 80% of the album is forgettable. Hardly the album anyone was wanting at the time, and the shitty sales pretty much confirmed THAT. All the momentum the band had been building up with REVENGE, ALIVE III, UNPLUGGED, and CARNIVAL OF SOULS had been slaughtered dead in its tracks.

This is one of the worst KISS albums, and on a personal level I hate it even more than HOT IN THE SHADE or PETER CRISS. It's Gene & Paul pissing in the mouths of the longtime fans, the newcomers, and everybody in between. This isn't music, this is just another pinball machine, action figure, or makeup kit. Psycho Circus actually makes me angry just thinking about it. Typing this review was completely unhealthy for me and suddenly I totally feel sympathetic towards people like Pol Pot. I need to go for a walk. * 1/2 out of * * * * *.

My Album Rankings

Kiss: * * * * *
Hotter Than Hell: * * * * 1/2
Dressed To Kill: * * * 1/2
Alive!: * * * * *
Destroyer: * * * 1/2
Rock And Roll Over: * * *
Love Gun: * * * *
Alive II: * * *
Peter Criss: *
Ace Frehley: * * * *
Gene Simmons: * *
Paul Stanley: * * * *
Double Platinum: * * * *
Dynasty: * * *
Unmasked: * * *
Music From The Elder: * * 1/2
Creatures Of The Night: * * * *
Lick It Up: * * * 1/2
Animalize: * * 1/2
Asylum: * * 1/2
Crazy Nights: * *
Smashes Thrashes & Hits: * * 1/2
Hot In The Shade: * 1/2
Revenge: * * * *
Alive III: * * * *
Unplugged: * * * * *
Carnival of Souls: * * * 1/2
Psycho Circus: * 1/2

Ah, what the hell...

KISS *****
Hotter Than Hell *****
Dressed To Kill ***1/2
Alive! *****
Destroyer *****
Rock And Roll Over ****1/2
Love Gun ****
Alive II ***
Paul Stanley ****
Ace Frehley ****
Gene Simmons ***
Peter Criss **
Dynasty ***1/2
Unmasked ***1/2
The Elder ***
Creatures Of The Night *****
Lick It Up ***1/2
Animalize ***
Asylum ***
Crazy Nights ***
Hot In The Shade **1/2
Revenge *****
Alive III ***
Unplugged *****
Carnival Of Souls **
Psycho Circus ***1/2

And since we're done with the Studio albums, here's my Top 10 KISS Studio albums list, including three favorite songs from each (the albums are in order of preference, the songs are not).

1. Kiss -- Firehouse, Black Diamond, Deuce

2. Hotter Than Hell -- Parasite, Strange Ways, Got To Choose

3. Love Gun -- Shock Me, Plaster Caster, I Stole Your Love

4. Ace Frehley -- Rip It Out, Ozone, Speedin' Back To My Baby

5. Revenge -- Domino, Unholy, Spit

6. Paul Stanley -- Take Me Away (Together As One), It's Alright, Ain't Quite Right

7. Creatures Of The Night -- I Love It Loud, I Still Love You, War Machine

8. Dressed To Kill -- Love Her All I can, C'mon And Love Me, Rock Bottom

9. Destroyer -- Shout It Out Loud, God Of Thunder (although the Alive II version is better), Detroit Rock City

10 Carnival of Souls -- Hate, Rain, Childhood's End

OK, Matt - I'll, play.

1. KISS -- "Strutter", "Black Diamond", "Let Me Know"

2. Hotter Than Hell -- "Got To Choose", "Strange Ways", "Parasite"

3. Destroyer -- "King Of The Night Time World", "Detroit Rock City", "God Of Thunder"

4. Creatures Of The Night -- "Creatures Of The Night", "Saint And Sinner", "I Still Love You"

5. Revenge -- "I Just Wanna", "Domino", "Unholy"

6. Rock And Roll Over -- "I Want You", "Take Me", "Makin' Love"

7. Love Gun -- "I Stole Your Love", "Love Gun", "Shock Me"

8. Paul Stanley -- "Take Me Away (Together As One)", "It's Alright", "Wouldn't You Like To Know Me"

9. Ace Frehley -- "Rip It Out", "What's On Your Mind", "Fractured Mirror"

10. Dressed To Kill -- "Love Her All I Can", "Rock Bottom", "C'mon And Love Me"

By the by, are we going to discuss the Box set, since there is some material there worth discussing?

I like it. Here's my list....

1. Revenge (Spit, Unholy, Heart of Chrome)

2. KISS (Strutter, Firehouse, Deuce, 100000 Years, Black Diamond...yeah, I'm cheating on this one)

3. Carnival of Souls (Jungle, Hate, Master and Slave)

4. Asylum (Who Wants to be Lonely, King of the Mountain, I'm Alive)

5. Hotter Than Hell (Got to Choose, Hotter Than Hell, Watchin' You)

6. Rock and Roll Over (I Want You, Take Me, Calling Dr. Love)

7. Love Gun (I Stole Your Love, Love Gun, Got Love For Sale)

8. Creatures of the Night (Creatures of the Night, Saint and Sinner, War Machine)

9. Animalize (I've Had Enough, Heaven's on Fire, Under the Gun)

10. Dressed to Kill (Love Her All I Can, Rock Bottom, She)

Indeed we will. I've just been busy trying to get Chuck Long fired (or reassigned to a different department - just as long as he's removed from coaching).

I'll get the Box Set stuff up soon. (We're talking about a lot of stuff there...)

Let's take a different view ay.....My Top 10...

1. Lick It Up - (Lick It Up, All Hells Breakin' Loose, A Million To One)

2. Animalize - (Heavens On Fire, Murder In High Heels, Thrills In The Night)

3. Unmasked - (Is That You?, Talk To Me, You're All That I Want)

4. Asylum - (Tears Are Falling, Uh! All Night, Who Want's To Be Lonely)

5. Revenge - (Paralyzed, Unholy, Domino)

6. Dynasty - (Sure Know Something, I Was Made For Lovin' You, Magic Touch)

7. Kiss - (Cold Gin, Strutter, Black Diamond)

8. Rock And Roll Over - (Calling Dr. Love, Hard Luck Woman, I Want You)

9. Love Gun - (Shock Me, Then She Kissed Me, I Stole Your Love)

10. Psycho Circus - (Within, We Are One, Psycho Circus)