The '78 Kiss Solo Albums

Since this blog is an all inclusive journey through my life, I figured I should talk about music here as well. Music has always been a huge part of my life. My dad brought me up on a diverse list of music. But one band he never cared much for was Kiss. So it wasn't until I was a senior in High School that I really started getting into them. But once I found them, I dug into their catalog, and got lost in their catchy melodies, somewhat disturbing lyrics, and bombastic stage show. When I found the '78 solo records, I didn't realize that I was in for a journey through four completely different elements of the band, stripped down and showing their true side. And so here, I thought I'd talk briefly about each of the four.

Gene Simmons: This disc is really hard for me to listen to. There are a few bright spots ("Radioactive", "Man of 1,000 Faces", "See You Tonite"), but overall, I just don't care for this album. It's overproduced, underwritten, and just not something I find myself enjoying. He even tried to do the Kiss tune "See You In Your Dreams", and even that song felt flat for me. Perhaps the worst part of this album is his cover of "When You Wish Upon A Star", yes, the Disney song. Thankfully it's the last song on the album, and I can switch discs to something much better, the Peter Criss solo album.

Peter Criss: As the drummer of Kiss, I'm not sure if he had quite as much input in their songs as the other three guys did. There's also the fact that his musical tastes seem to vary greatly from his band mates. This is clearly evident in his solo album. For this disc Peter turned over a collection of ballads, and very catchy R&B songs. The album even features my favorite song from the four of them, "I Can't Stop the Rain". I don't find their to be one bad song on the album.

Ace Frehley: This is the heaviest album of the bunch. For me, it also fights for first place with Paul's. There is a lot of heart, and plenty of tasty guitar licks on this album. I also find there to be an immense amount of talent from the Space Ace. Whatever his role was with Kiss at this point, this album is all Ace. The songs are full of melody, and crunch. There is also an absolutely beautiful instrumental tune ("Fractured Mirror"), something that Kiss dabbled only briefly with up to this point. There is so much to love from this disc. It also featured a very beautiful ballad ("What's On Your Mind"), and the most successful single from the four albums, a cover of a song called "New York Groove". While this disc has some similarities to Kiss, it's still very much its own beast.

Paul Stanley: If you wanted an album that really sounded like Kiss, then Paul's is the album that you wanted. It's readily apparent here who has the real spirit of Kiss. Paul's album would sit perfectly next to any album in the 70's Kiss output. That's not to say that there aren't songs that are very unlike anything Kiss have ever done, but as a whole, you can tell who the frontman of that band is, and always has been. The Starchild is Kiss. The music on this album is beautifully written, performed, and is just a fantastic listen, even all of these years later. It's not hard to see why this is my favorite album of the bunch. Especially when I want to listen to some good Kiss music. Because even though this is all Paul, it's still got Kiss written all over. And that can never be a bad thing.