KISS - IKONS [4 CD Set]
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Free Music Notes for IKONS [4 CD Set]
Free Music Review: Ace and Peter = The original Icons.
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to agree with one of the previous reviewers (and with all due respect to Gene and Paul) - It's great to see discs that showcase Ace and Peter. To be honest, it's the Ace songs that were the selling point for me to buy the original KISS recordings in the first place. We all know that this was put out for monetary reasons, but is does make a nice addidtion to any KISS collection. It's just too bad that there aren't enough Eric Carr KISS tracks to make a fifth disc. That would have been extremely cool to see.Free Music Review: Due process for the Cat Man and the Space Ace
Hit: 5 Stars
There is one simple reason this compilation is different from anything we've ever seen, and it's a characteristic that every comment has missed. I believe that this is the first release, ever, where Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are on absolutely equal footing with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Many fans both old and new are going to enjoy the Ace and Peter discs especially, because they contain some awesome material that is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Listening to the continuity on all four discs is a pleasure, and does the entire band (the real Kiss that is, with the non-makeup years justifiably omitted) some justice. Also, I would like to correct a comment made earlier: that the Ace and Peter discs mostly contain material from their solo albums. That is not true in either case. Only four of Peter's songs (out of 14) and five of Ace's songs (out of 14) are from the solo albums. With respect to authorship, in the entire compilation there are 15 songs written or co-written by Ace Frehley, and 7 songs co-written by Peter Criss. How cool is that? Finally, I think that Kiss is leaning toward wrapping it up soon. KISS IKONS opens up the doors to the possibility that they will finish it right, with Ace and Peter doing the final shows. Why else would they put together a compilation that not only gives Ace and Peter their fair share of attention, but will also send some serious songwriting royalties to both of them? Gene and Paul hate to share royalties.Free Music Review: KISS SOLOS 2K: 30 Years Later
Hit: 5 Stars
As you can tell by the title of my review, this I really have no major complaints about the track listing since I have all of the original vinyls and CDs, and can burn an "extended" version of these discs as I choose. My only change to this would have been to ixnay "Christine Sixteen." I HATE THAT SONG, and THEY INSIST ON CRAMMING IT DOWN OUR THROATS. (In this day and age, it reeks of illegal relations between adult and minor.....gross and immoral, but that's another story). Not only do they choose to keep this song around, they keep mis-crediting it to ROCK AND ROLL OVER (Paul credits it to ROCK AND ROLL OVER in just about every live recording I've heard), and Gene notoriously starts the song half-way through...and THAT'S when he even gets the lyrics RIGHT! Gene? Mr. KISS-Perfectionist/Ace and Peter were losers who couldn't keep up? Christine needs to be comitted to an asylum and forgotten about. (Now she'll probably get credited to ASYLUM on that note.)
As for adding songs, I AGREE WHOLE-HEARTEDLY with the many reviews about "Torpedo Girl" needing to be on here. I'm one of those fans who has a sentimental bond to the UNMASKED album simply because that was a fun album to swim to in 1980. That album was released in June 1980, and we finally got to break in a new swimming pool; how cool it was to "go out and take a swim today."
Another song I would have added: SHANDI. Why do they treat her like some whore at a family reunion and ignore her? I wish "Shandi" would tie "Christine" up and lock her in a closet.
This collection of songs, in my opinion, goes to show how much talent Ace had with the band (as he still does) and I find his disc the one that I have already listened to about 4 times all the way through. Ace and Paul maintained the KISS sound and attitude. These discs can't help but scream that out. To that end, only Ace had songs from UNMASKED represented here. I guess we will have to salivate over the Australian pressing in order to get "Shandi." No wait! We can burn our home-made versions for FREE with it.
I like Peter's disc a lot and am glad to see "I Can't Stop The Rain" on here. I was in New York last week and all I could say was "this is New York! Yo~!" and flying back home to Texas at night, there was lightning in the sky as I played this track over and over. It truly cemented a great trip with a great conclusion: complete with real lightning across the sky. The piano in "I Can't..." is very haunting. I think I finally realized that when listening to it this time around. We can thank Sean Delany for that great gem of a song. (I personally could do without the g-d word in it; I don't like that word let alone in a great song).
Gene's disc starts off ironically enough with "God Of Thunder," and for an opening to a disc...with the kids screaming, it's pretty cool.
It does come with a 24 page booklet with some rarely if never before seen photos, and is done up first class, as in all things KISS.
In conclusion, I just hope to show that this box set is really a "KISS SOLOS 2K: 30 Years Later." When you view the discs as "Greatest Hits" by the "IKONS", then it becomes much more enjoyable and understood. If you take the solo albums and swap the names of the members with "SPACEMAN," "CATMAN," "DEMON," and "STARCHILD," then you can much more easily see my analogy. While on topic of the solos, it wouldn't be quite the KISS product without the infamous solo album covers being represented: when you open the gatefold, each disc is placed in a pocket that has the corresponding members' solo cover. (I love the solo covers, but they are way over-used now.)
All in all, to those that wish to buy this collection, remember this: it is a second chance to buy KISS SOLO albums, 30 years later (1978-2008), and when you load the discs and let them go, it really does take you back in time to a good place: rock and roll-slash-fantasy-slash-fun.
This is a great collection to have. If you get ANNNNNNNNY of the G.H. packages, burn your money on this. It is a COLLECTORS' package, not a romper room novelty.
I've been a KISS fan non-stop for 31 years. This collection should have been released a long time ago, in this format.
Enjoy! Randy
Free Music Review: THANK YOU GENE & PAUL
Hit: 1 Stars
Yes, THANKS a million.
THANK YOU because after 754 compilation albums, I needed a new one! The same songs over and over again! Great!!
THANK YOU because by putting the music of Gene, Paul Ace and Peter on separate discs you saved me the work of doing it myself with my iPod...and I don't have the 30 seconds that it takes to do so!
THANK YOU for the cool detail of having each disc with the color of each member. Just because of that it's worth the purchase. Who cares about the music? It's about the colors!!!
THANK YOU for putting out FOUR cd's at the same time, showing me that you can have new albums WITHOUT going to the studio AT ALL! And, besides, that way the release gets to be more expensive!! The work of a genius!
And above all THANK YOU for the liner notes in the booklet, where one can read that the "four members of Kiss are inmediatly recognizable". Yes, I look at Tommy Thayer, and RECOGNIZE HE IS NOT ACE FREHLEY!!!
If we talk about the music, yes, THE SONG LIST IS TERRIFIC, with some songs that haven't been released on any compilations before, and it will be very hard to find a better collection of songs ON ANY ROCK ALBUM this year. After all there was a time when KISS where THE BEST BAND IN THE UNIVERSE (that is, before they decided to stop working ang take the easy way...)
If you are starting to discover KISS, hey, this one's for you.
Free Music Review: Better than your average KISS compilation
Hit: 4 Stars
Not that anyone needs yet ANOTHER KISS compilation (or should that be kompilation?), this one actually almost does something that I've been thinking they should have done a long time ago. Since they don't seem keen on putting out an album of new material, put out a newly recorded CD of under-appreciated old songs instead of just the same old hits. So they did the "newly recorded" part with that new Japanese CD, and they got the under-appreciated old songs with this set...now they just need to meld those two ideas.
Ikons pretty much hits the nail on the head with the choices for the lesser known songs on this. "Ladies Room," "Charisma," "Almost Human," and "Larger Than Life" would definitely be Gene choices I would consider for my dream compilation. Something like "She's So European" with a real rock production instead of the pop of Unmasked could really make that song cool if it were re-recorded. Getting back to this set, I probably would have chosen either "Mr. Make Believe" or "Man Of 1,000 Faces" over "Radioactive" if I had to choose only one song from his solo album to include.
"Mr. Speed," "All American Man," "Take Me," and "Wouldn't You Like To Know Me?" are pretty much exactly what I would list as the best Paul Stanley songs nobody knows. How "Wouldn't You Like To Know Me?" wasn't a single or at the very least on the Best Of The Solo Albums compilation was alway a mystery to me. An awesome Paul song that may finally be getting some recognition!
The Ace tunes make sense. The only ones he sang on a KISS release that weren't included are "Torpedo Girl" and "In Your Face." I probably would have replaced either "Snow Blind" or "Save Your Love" with "Torpedo Girl," but I'm fine with "In Your Face" being left off. Still would have been nice to have ALL the Ace KISS songs one one disc just for the heck of it. I'm REALLY happy to see "What's On Your Mind?" on there. Definitely the forgotten gem on his solo record, and the one that deserves to be heard.
All of Peter's KISS songs are on here. The only decision you have to make is what songs from his solo album you put on there to fill out the 14 songs. "I Can't Stop The Rain" and "Easy Thing" are by far the best songs on the record. After that it's kind of a toss up. I probably would have chosen "You Matter To Me," "I'm Gonna Love You," or "Hooked On Rock 'N' Roll," but they're all about the same.
All in all I'd say this is a pretty good compilation. Nothing new for the die hards (although pretty cool packaging), but would be something good for a new fan to get so they could be exposed to some of the best of the deeper cuts. The guys in my band came in one day knowing how to play "Plaster Caster" and "Two Sides Of The Coin"...I'm like, how do you guys know THOSE songs? Because they had Greatest KISS and liked those songs that the casual fan had never heard that just happened to be on that compilation. So people really do like those songs that at first glance may just seem to be filler material. You can absolutely tell that real fans had a hand in choosing the songs for this ikonic kompilation.