April 5, 2025 • 70 mins
September 18, 1978 marked a revolutionary moment in rock history – the day all four KISS members simultaneously released solo albums. This wasn't just a marketing gimmick; it was a strategic move to keep the band together during a period of internal friction that fans wouldn't fully understand until years later.
On this episode, I dive deep into these four legendary albums, sharing my personal rankings and memories of experiencing them as a 13-year-old superfan. For those not steeped in KISS lore, these records offer fascinating insights into the personalities behind the makeup. Peter Criss surprised everyone with his jazz, swing and R&B influences. Gene Simmons recruited an astonishing lineup of guest stars including Cher, Donna Summer, and Bob Seger. Ace Frehley delivered the only legitimate hit single ("New York Groove") while revealing previously untapped potential. Paul Stanley crafted arguably the most cohesive and KISS-like collection.
What makes these albums particularly compelling is how they capture the band at their commercial peak while revealing the creative differences that would eventually lead to lineup changes. As a teenage fan, I initially struggled to understand Peter's departure from the KISS sound, but with age came appreciation for what each member was trying to express. These weren't just KISS albums – they were personal statements that reflected four distinct musical journeys.
Whether you're a longtime member of the KISS Army or simply interested in rock history, these solo albums represent a fascinating experiment that has never been duplicated on the same scale. Which one ranks highest in your collection? Join the conversation and share your own rankings in the comments!
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I really have to do something different with that
music.
Got to change that up.
I just have to say one thingPeople yeah, you know what I'm
talking about.
Hey there, welcome into the BenMaynard program, thanks for
being here.
That's my little uh, that's mylittle Paul Stanley right there.
(00:31):
So, anyhow, welcome in.
Thanks again for being here.
Before we get started, a littlehousekeeping to take care of.
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(01:16):
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Give me a thumbs up, thumbs ups,all the likes.
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(01:42):
they reach People, people.
Last but not least, oh well,and after you give me the like.
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(02:03):
And then, after you do that,tell 10,000 of your family and
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All one word, that's it.
(02:24):
Plenty of ways to take in thisshow for your dancing and
listening pleasure.
All right, we have a good one,have a good one tonight and I
know you're gonna like it,especially for you.
Kiss knuckleheads out there,just like me.
All.
Kiss geeks.
All right, we'll have somethingfun.
Um, so, look, let's just kind ofget right down to it, people.
(02:47):
All right, I won't do that all.
All episode, I promise, okay,but um, I, um, you know, I was
just I don't know if I'm on akiss thing or not uh, after
having tommy on the show uh,tommy Sides of the Coin a couple
of weeks ago.
Let me reach over here.
My glasses are on the wrongside of the table, but hey, I
(03:14):
was like you know what?
I haven't done this.
I thought about it.
I haven't done what I'm goingto do tonight, so let's get it
done.
And so, yeah, here we go.
And speaking of Tommy Summers,having him on a couple of weeks
ago, that was so much fun, thatwas outstanding.
We could have gone a whole lotlonger.
(03:35):
We honestly could have, and Iwould have, but I really did.
I don't even remember if Imentioned it, but I had an
appointment that I had to get toand I was actually an hour late
getting to that appointment andI hate being late.
I hate it with a passion.
Don't like being late toanything and I felt so bad about
(04:03):
it.
But Tommy was so good, Icouldn't stop.
It was so good and a lot of youare really taking in the.
You're taking in the episode onYouTube.
A lot of you are taking it inon the streaming platform.
So both audio and video aredoing really well on it.
(04:25):
So thank you to the, to youguys, for that and again, keep
telling your family and friendsall right, it's uh, we just have
a lot of fun here, there's goodstuff happening and, uh, just,
you know, jump on board, allright.
So look, without further ado,let's kind of just get right
into this.
As you can see, I'm a KISSt-shirt on, so we know it's
(04:46):
going to be a KISS-related showtonight.
I got these guys sitting righthere on the table.
I'll explain to you what that'sall about as we move along.
But tonight I'm going to giveyou my ranking on the Kiss solo
(05:06):
albums.
Four albums, of course.
Four albums Let me get out ofthe way of my logo, right there,
so you can see my fingers.
You can't see them too well,right there, right, that's
better.
Four, okay, four albums, one byeach member of the band Gene
Paul, peter, ace, all right, andI've thought about this for a
(05:32):
little while, but never really,you know, pulled the trigger and
certainly I've owned these fouralbums since they came out Way
back in 1978.
So four albums, four soloalbums, one by each member of
(05:53):
KISS, all released on the sameday, september 18th 1978.
September 18th 1978.
(06:28):
And I think it was at that timea real departure from the norm
in the music business, and maybeit might have even been a first
in music history where you hadthe members of a band each
member of the band releasing asolo album, especially on the
same day, and that was all thatpart.
There was all calculatedreleasing on the same years old
at the time.
So as fans we didn't reallyknow that there was some drama,
(06:57):
slash, dysfunction going on inthe band and they were at the
height of their you know kissmania, so to speak.
I mean, they were at the heightof it all their popularity.
They could get no bigger atthis point.
Yet the cracks were starting toshow.
(07:18):
We just didn't really see them.
We just didn't really see them.
And apparently shortly after theAlive 2 album was released,
just a year prior, that's whenthings started to bear
(07:39):
themselves out where Ace's maybehis substance problems, his
partying, you know his partyingways, were kind of interfering
with things.
Peter same issue, but then alsoPeter wanted to have more of a
role in the band as far as moresongs on albums, more say-so,
(08:03):
those types of things.
So all that stuff was kind ofbeginning to bear itself out.
And then I mean these guys,peter and Ace, they were
actually thinking of leaving theband, but Paul and Gene kind of
reined them in a little bit.
I'm sure Bill O'Coin, theirmanager, had something to say
(08:25):
about this as well Kind ofreined him in and said hey, look
you guys.
You know, peter, you want to goout on your own.
You want to do a solo album?
Ace, you want to do a solo?
Great, why don't you all dosolo albums?
Okay, all of you guys go, takesome time, record your solo
albums.
We will package them under theKISS brand.
(08:47):
You guys will dedicate them toeach of the other members in the
band and, boom, it'll all be in.
You know part of the KISSfamily.
So doing that kind of appeasedthe guys.
And so you know, pretty muchafter the Alive 2 tour was over,
(09:07):
they got to work on it and andum, as fans, what we were used
to at this time were tworeleases a year from our
favorite band, um, and primarilytwo studio well, I, not two
studio releases each year,because in 75, they had Dressed
(09:28):
to Kill and then they had Alive,and then in 77, they had Love
Gun and Alive 2.
But we were getting tworeleases a year.
78 was no different, it wasjust the same, except the first
release of the year was aGreatest greatest hits package,
that was double platinum.
Now, whatever it is what it is,and I know for me anything that
(09:50):
said kiss on it it was happy toget.
But I already had all thesesongs.
Okay, uh, certainly, I thinkthere was some, some of them
that were kind of remixed alittle bit.
Um, there was the new mix ofstrutter, strutter 78.
Almost the drum beat was kindof like disco-esque, but nothing
(10:11):
new.
I already had all these songs.
I wanted something else, but itkind of tied us over.
It appeased the fan base untillater on that year Let me do
this, hang on a second, peopleat home, there we go.
And it kind of kept us somewhatsatisfied until September 78.
(10:36):
And that was when the soloalbums were released.
So we went into why the soloalbums?
I can say, and I'm sure all ofus KISS fans were just like
stoked, because now we weren'tgoing to get one album with, you
(10:59):
know, basically 10 songs on it.
We were going to get fouralbums with 10 songs on them.
You know, that's the thinking.
I'm going to get four times mykiss.
You know my dose of kiss, Isuppose.
So I remember being jacked upand I think, trying to think
(11:22):
back to when the albums came out, which one I got first?
Gene.
At that time, early in my KISSfandom, gene was my favorite
member of the band and so Iprobably got his album first,
his album first my, uh, myyounger brother.
(11:44):
Uh, his favorite member of theband was Ace, so I didn't have
to worry about getting Ace'salbum because I knew he was
going to get it.
Um, so I probably, like I said,I'm sure I got Gene's first,
(12:05):
then Paul, right after that, uh,my brother got Ace, ace, so I
could listen to that as well.
So it was almost like having it.
And then I know Peter was thelast one that I got Just stoked
to have those albums and listento them over and over and over.
So, without getting into toomuch other stuff, what I'm going
(12:28):
to do is I'm going to rank thefour albums, my favorite to my
least favorite, and we'll justkind of go over some things with
each of the albums.
And, look, you guys can commenton this.
Give me your rankings, yourfavorite songs, your least
favorite songs, things youremember about these albums,
whatever it might be.
(12:49):
You guys get in on it as well.
God, I'm kind of tongue tied,right?
So, yeah, let's do it.
Let's have some fun, all right.
So of course I'm going to getstarted Again.
When these albums were released,they all shipped platinum,
(13:10):
which means they all were.
Each album was sent a millioncopies out to the various record
stores and outlets that wereselling them.
Now they each have sold amillion plus copies.
But back in 78, they hadn'tdone that.
(13:31):
They shipped platinum so thatthe band could say, hey, we've
got four platinum albums all inone shot.
But within a couple of monthsthe record company started to
see some returns on the albums,on the various albums.
(13:53):
So where it was just a kind ofa little gimmick to get four
platinum albums all at once, itreally didn't go like that and
it probably took just frommemory and things that I've read
it probably took close to ayear for each one of them to
(14:14):
actually sell a million copies.
But still my favorite band,still my guys, I didn't care, I
just wanted to hear the music.
So let's get right into it then, since we're talking about
music and we're talking aboutour favorite band, kiss, oh,
wait a second Before we do that,I want to you guys see what I
(14:35):
have right here on the front ofthe table.
You can't if you're listening,but I'll do my best to describe
it to you.
I've got Kiss Beanie Babiesright here Now.
I didn't go out and buy these.
These were gifted to me from agood friend of mine, mark Roth.
He sends me a text message oneday and he says hey, are you
(14:59):
home?
Yeah, I'm home.
He says, all right, I'm closeby, I'm in the neighborhood,
I'll be right over and shows upat the door and he's got a bag
of kiss beanie babies, his asscleaning some stuff out.
You know, um, and I saw theseand you were the first person I
thought of.
So I thought I'd bring them by,give them to you, and I thought
(15:19):
, oh, right on, cool.
So how perfect is this?
Cause they've been, they'vebeen sitting here in the studio
for a few months and I keepforgetting to break them out and
show everybody and give Markthe credit that he so rightfully
deserves.
But come on, I'm talking aboutthe solo albums tonight and I've
(15:40):
got each member of the bandright here sitting on the table.
Let's see from my right to left, and if you're watching it's
going to be from your left toright.
Got Ace right here.
You got Peter, gene and PaulyPeople.
(16:01):
Okay, I'll stop, yeah, so Ijust thought, all right, I'm
talking about the solo albums,got one of each guy right here.
Good to go, all right.
So, as I said, I'm going to, I'mgoing to rank these, but before
, right before I do that, beforeI give you my ranking from my
(16:25):
least favorite to my favorite,I'll just run over some stats or
some fun facts real fast.
And, by the way, I'm gettingthese out of this book right
here.
If you don't have it, grab itIf you can, if you can, I don't.
I'm sure it's not even in printanymore, but this is called
Gene, ace, peter and Paul.
(16:47):
This book is all about the 78solo albums.
It's written by Julian Gill.
I know he does another Kisspodcast.
That's, you know, way biggerthan this podcast, but yeah.
(17:08):
So I bought this book when ithad come out a few years back I
don't know, this is probablylike eight, nine years ago and
uh, it's, it's.
It was really good, it's.
Oh my gosh.
And look, look at how thickthis book is.
It's, I mean, this thing'sgotta be like 400 pages.
It's got all kinds of coolstuff in here and just
interviews with everybodyinvolved with the album.
(17:33):
I'm trying to get to some pagenumbers here.
It's over 500 pages, 530something.
Pages Crazy stuff here.
Okay, so we'll just go throughthese fun facts real quick and
then get right down to it.
So Gene Simmons had the largestnumber of guest performers on
(17:58):
his solo album.
We're going to get into that.
Ace Frehley used the fewestnumber of performers on his
album.
Ace Frehley's solo album hassold the most copies in the
post-1991 SoundScan era.
So to me that says since 1991,ace's has sold the best.
(18:24):
Peter Criss' solo album debutedhighest on the Billboard Top 200
album chart at 85, followed byAces at 87, gene's at 88, and
Paul's at 89.
Gene Simmons' solo album surgedthe greatest number of places
on the Billboard Top 200 chartin its second week of charting,
(18:48):
moving up 32 places.
Peter's surged the fewest, justeight places, and Paul and
Ace's both moved up 22 spots.
Gene's solo album charted thehighest on the Billboard Top 200
, eventually reaching number 22.
It gives the date for theselittle things, but that's not
(19:12):
significant right now.
Peter's solo album reached itshighest placing on the Billboard
Top 200 chart in its seventhweek.
That was at number 43.
It's seventh week that was atnumber 43.
Ace's solo album charted forthe most number of weeks 23,
reaching number 26.
Gene's was right behind himwith 22 weeks.
(19:37):
Paul's album charted for thefewest number of weeks, at 18,
only reaching number 40, whichis just some of this stuff.
When you go back and I readthis it's like shocking,
shocking, some of this stuff.
Yeah, honestly, I wouldn't havepictured Paul's being the one
(20:03):
that was on the chart theshortest amount of time and then
also the lowest of the four incharting position on the top 200
album chart.
Weird, but Aces, new YorkGroove, was the only legitimate
(20:34):
hit single from the solo albums,reaching number 13 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,and that's a fact.
Aces was the only song thatcharted on the top 40.
Not just the highest, the onlyone that hit the top 40.
Peter Criss' was the only soloalbum supported by two single
(20:55):
releases neither charted, that'strue.
He did release two singles offthat.
Paul Stanley's Hold Me, touchMe, didn't quite make the top 40
in the US, but it did linger inthe charts for 12 weeks and
only Ace Frehley's and GeneSimmons' solo singles were
(21:16):
performed live by Kiss duringthe Dynasty Tour.
Now that one is incorrect.
I'm going to dispute that onebecause I did see Kiss on the
Dynasty Tour, november 7th 1979.
Let me put this book right overhere because I think I'm done
with it.
Yeah, on the Dynasty Tour atthe Forum, november 7th 1979.
(21:40):
I've talked about it a littlebit on the show before once or
twice.
It's my first concert ever.
Well, okay, it a little bit onthe show before once or twice.
It's my first concert ever.
Well, okay, it's not my firstconcert ever.
It's my first rock concert, myfirst concert ever.
I saw Olivia Newton-John atKnott's Berry Farm when she was
still a country artist.
So I have another book herewhich backs up.
(22:04):
However, I never noticed inreading this book that there is,
just like with the first bookhere, the Solos.
There's an inaccuracy In thisbook here which is a lot of you
geeks like me.
You know this one Kiss Aliveand forever.
(22:27):
It's a complete touring historyof the band from, uh, from
inception until I think it goesthrough uh, I don't know, it
doesn't, it doesn't reallymatter.
I think it goes through thewhat do you call it?
Farewell tour.
I think that's what it does,yeah, okay.
(22:50):
So it's got stats on everysingle show that the band
performed, and there's one.
I was checking this out.
It's got set lists and all thatkind of stuff.
So I was checking this out andthe set list for my show reads
as follows and a lot of it Ididn't remember.
(23:11):
However, I did remember whatsongs from the four solo albums
were performed, and there's onemissing here, missing here.
So you have Julian Gill in hisfax stating that New York Groove
and, well said, songs from Aceand Gene's solo albums were
(23:37):
performed.
Well, the single from Ace's wasNew York Groove.
The single from Gene's wasRadioactive.
Okay, so he's stating thatthose songs were performed live
on the Dynasty Tour.
However, there was one songfrom Paul Stanley's solo album
that was performed on theDynasty Tour.
Now, I think it may have comeand gone out of the set list,
because I know Radioactive did,but Radioactive was performed at
(23:59):
my show and so was Move On,which is right here in the set
list.
However, I was looking throughit and nowhere on here is
Radioactive listed in the setlist, and I do recall that
Radioactive was played veryearly on.
(24:21):
So, and from my memory Ithought that right after
radioactive that's when Paulwent in to move on that those
two songs were played back toback.
So, uh, yeah, I've got to getwith, um, I've got to get with
Kurt Gooch and Jeff Suss and letthem know that there's a
(24:44):
mistake here, like 20 yearsafter this book came out, and
make them correct it.
But, um, the uh, yeah, peterwas the only one that didn't
perform a song from his soloalbum the night that I saw them.
If I remember going throughthis tour in the book that there
(25:08):
was a few times when Peter didsing I think he did Tossin' and
Turnin' from his solo album.
So just a couple of fun things.
Whatever, right, right.
Whatever, all right.
So let's get down to businesshere.
Right?
Whatever, all right.
(25:30):
So let's get down to businesshere.
Okay, so we'll start with leastfavorite.
And I was listening.
I was listening to some of thisstuff today and initially my
ranking was a little different.
But after listening, doing somelistening and and putting stuff
together and I kind of likechanged my opinion, I was like,
(25:51):
well, you know what?
Maybe, yeah, maybe, my, myinitial ranking is not.
No, I got to change it up.
So I've changed a couple ofthings actually since I even
wrote the show.
So here we go in the number fourposition and let me get my kind
(26:16):
of my tail of the tape here, Isuppose.
Yeah, in the number fourposition, and let me tell you
this I enjoy all four of thesealbums.
So it's not like, oh, I hatethis one and this one's just
superior.
Uh-uh like, with all the allthe rankings that I do, whatever
(26:39):
band it is, I like it all.
It's just a matter of what Ilike the least to what I like
the best, all right.
So in the number four position,it's this one, right here,
peter Criss, and I'm trying toget some of the.
I'm showing the CD cover.
Yeah, they cover the CD hereand, for whatever reason, this
(27:01):
is the only one I don't have onvinyl Now.
Years and years ago I used tohave them all on vinyl and I've
mentioned it.
I won't get into the details,but at one point I sold nearly
every piece of vinyl that I hadand that included the solo
albums.
But I thought that years, a fewyears back, when I was just on
(27:23):
a whim, I would go on eBay and,uh, try to get.
I would buy a couple of Kisssolo, uh, kiss albums here and
there.
I was trying to get mycollection back and, uh, there's
specific things that I wouldlook for before I would pull the
trigger on on buying anythingbut, um, I thought that I had
purchased the Peter one and Ihaven't.
(27:44):
But I thought that I hadpurchased the Peter one and I
haven't.
So eBay, here I come.
So the running time on thiswill give you the tail of the
tape.
The running time on this is 34minutes and 39 seconds.
The track listing is 10 songs.
It's let's see what would be onvinyl.
(28:06):
Side one I'm Gonna Love you,you Matter to Me.
Tossin' and Turnin'.
Now, I think you Matter to Me,and Tossin' and Turnin' were the
two singles that were releasedfrom this album.
Don't you Let Me Down.
That's the Kind of Sugar PapaLikes.
Easy Thing Rock Me Baby.
(28:27):
Kiss the Girl, goodbye.
Hooked on Rock and Roll and ICan't Stop the Rain.
Hooked on rock and roll and Ican't stop the rain.
I remember when I got this albumand I dropped the needle on it,
(28:50):
like I remember.
I'm 13 years old and I startedthinking what in the world is
this?
This is not Kiss, not evenclose, it's.
(29:22):
You know.
Every song on the albumreminded me okay, well, instead
of let's put it this way Insteadof reminding me of songs like
Get Away or Strange Ways,something like Baby Driver.
All the songs were reminding meof Beth Hard Luck Woman and I
didn't get it.
I didn't.
This is like.
This is like so far removedfrom KISS and what I was used to
.
So I you know, like I said, Ididn't get it.
(29:44):
I didn't listen to it that much.
I was very disappointed in it.
And again, this is back in 1978.
This is back in 1978.
We didn't, as Kiss fans, we onlyread what we read in the rock
magazines Cream, hit Parade orCircus, so on and so on.
(30:10):
And we didn't realize thatPeter had a way different
background than the othermembers of KISS, came from a
completely different background,didn't play in any hard rock
bands, came from that jazz,swing, soul background and
(30:31):
that's what he was bringing tothe table in his album.
And also, we didn't understandeach of these solo albums were
going to be a representation ofthat member's personality, their
love of music, what theirinfluences were.
But we didn't get it.
It's a kiss on it.
(30:52):
It said whatever member it was,it it just it's a kiss on it.
It said, uh, you know, whatevermember it was.
And we wanted to hear the samestuff we've been hearing for the
previous, you know, five years.
Um, so that was my initialreaction, yeah, but but when I
stop, and as I've gotten older,I realize what peter was doing,
(31:14):
and older I realized what Peterwas doing.
He was bringing that 50s, 60srock sound, a little bit of soul
, r&b, jazz, and I get it.
And it's when I realized thatnot only do I get it, not only
(31:35):
do I understand it, I appreciateit and I enjoy it and I think
it's a terrific album.
And Peter I've always likedPeter's voice.
Peter has a tremendous voiceand I mean really he might have
(31:59):
the second best voice in theband.
I don't know, he might Greatvoice.
But one good thing I don't wantto show you because when I get
to the other ones I'm going todo the same thing, but at least
in the CD here, when you open up, when you open up the uh, the
cover, it's not really so muchof a booklet, but, remembering
kiss albums, once we hit uhdestroyer, you started to get
(32:20):
tchotchkes.
So we get things in the albumsor kiss army, membership order
forms, member memorabilia, orderforms, posters, stuff like that
.
So.
So when they, when theyreleased, they re-released this
I think this is one of theremasters they let us have the
(32:45):
poster that came inside of it.
That was part of the four-partmural that I did hang on my wall
, the wall in my bedroom.
Put them all four together andthat's that's this one here with
Peter, yeah, good stuff, likedit.
It says right there in thecorner, part three of four, part
(33:07):
kiss mural.
Okay, so my, um, my favoritesong on this one, uh, my
favorite song, gosh, I don'tknow.
I really, because they're,they're, they, they all have
kind of a really cool groove,even though it's much more
mellow, it's just a really coolgroove.
(33:29):
Um, probably, um, I'm gonnalove you might be my favorite
and um, I don't know that I havea least favorite on this one.
I really don't, cause I thinkthat, like I said, that would be
(33:49):
my favorite and everything elsewould kind of like fall right
in line.
You know, um, cause it's justthat good.
I mean, you can just put thisthing on and just listen, just
kick back, listen and thoroughlyenjoy it.
It's just, it's that good, itreally really is.
So there you go.
In the number four spot, thatwould be Peter Criss.
(34:12):
All right, there you go on thatone one.
Let's get a sip of water here,okay, so next in the number
three spot.
Let me take it out of theplastic here.
This one would be right here.
(34:33):
Gene simmons.
Gene simmons solo album.
Now set it down for a moment.
Let me flip back over.
Um so tail of the tape on gene'ssolo album.
It's 11 tracks.
(34:54):
The running time on it is 33minutes and 58 seconds, or, I'm
sorry, 30, 38 minutes and 58seconds, and the tracks are as
follows the first track,radioactive, that was the single
that was released off the albumBurning Up With Fever, was
(35:22):
released off the album BurningUp With Fever.
That's kind of a funky song.
Donna Summer on backgroundvocals yeah, she's doing
background vocals on that.
And let's see, see you Tonight.
Really really good song.
So good that they performed iton the Unplugged special Tunnel
(35:45):
of Love.
Gene, gene, gene, gene, gene.
He's got this thing with hisdifferent nicknames for the
female anatomy, I suppose thelower region anyway.
True Confessions, that one.
(36:06):
You know what.
I'll go through the track listand then I'll explain more.
True Confessions.
Then you flip it over to sidetwo.
You've got Living in Sin.
Then you've got a unique one,always Near you, nowhere to Hide
, which is two incomplete songsthat Gene had written, that he
had combined those two to makethem one.
(36:28):
Then man of a Thousand Faces,that's his tribute to Lone
Chaney, mr Make Believe.
Then his cover of his own song,see you In your Dreams, from
the Rock and Roll Over album,which I know.
Actually, it was funny a coupleweeks ago when Tommy was on, he
said he did not like the coverversion and he was like I don't
(36:52):
know why Gene had to redo it.
And, to be honest, I don't knowwhy Gene had to redo it.
And, to be honest, I don't knowwhy he had to redo it either,
but I know why he.
Well, I know why he did it.
Um, cause he wasn't happy withthe version that came out on
rock and roll over.
This one's a little more punchy,um, a little harder edged, um,
(37:14):
there's some female uh singersin the background, that kind of
stuff, so it's a little bitdifferent, uh, but you know, he
delivers a slightly different uhvocal performance, but other
than that it's the same.
It's a little bit harder.
I it might be like a couple ofthree seconds longer too, but
(37:34):
that's about it.
Oh, and then we finish up withwhen you Wish Upon a Star, the
cover of the song from theDisney movie Pinocchio and I
think it said Jiminy Cricketsings that one, and so my
initial reaction on this onewhen I got it was I dropped the
(38:00):
needle and I heard radioactiveand I heard that kind of that
lead in, that build up, thelittle kind of sinister laughing
voice, and then there's someother ghoulish voices in the
background and it's kind ofbuilding up and it sounds like
it's just gonna like kick in andwhen it does it's kind of it's
(38:26):
not as strong or heavy or punchyas I would, as that build-up
makes it sound like it's gonnabe radioactive.
Radioactive is a cool song andI'll tell you right now I would
say it's probably my favoritesong on the album.
But I needed it to be heavierthan it is or than it was when I
put the needle on.
But anything that said Kiss, Iwas going to enjoy, I was going
(38:55):
to like.
So I didn't, I, I, I could.
I noticed the unevenness andI'm way for those listening.
I'm kind of going up and down,making a waving motion.
Um, I did notice the unevenness.
You'd have more of a rockerthan you have a real mellow song
(39:18):
.
Slow it down.
You had some different stuff onboth sides when it comes aside
to living in sin.
I like it.
But even at 13 years old Istill thought it was kind of a
little bit corny, but I liked it.
Like I said, it had the Kissname on it, so everything was
(39:42):
great.
But I don't know.
No, I'm thinking that maybe myleast favorite song on here
might be it could be a toss-upbetween like Tunnel of Love or
(40:08):
man of a Thousand Faces.
A lot of people see or hear whenyou Wish Upon a Star and
they're like what are youthinking, gene?
Really, seriously, you're goingto sing a Disney song.
You know, this hard rock demonis going to sing a Disney song,
(40:29):
please.
But when you know the story,you understand why he did it and
what the song means to him.
And when he was growing up,when he first came to America
with his mother, he could barelyspeak English but he was into
comic book characters andcartoons and he was into Disney
(40:54):
movies as well and he sawPinocchio.
He heard the song when you WishUpon a Star and he started to
pick up English, learning thatsong.
So there's that meaning to italso.
But then he also you take the,you take the lyrics of that song
and he applied it to his ownlife.
(41:19):
You know, when you wish upon astar, your dreams come true.
Well, that was his focus movingforward, and certainly at that
point.
And now you know, 40 yearslater, 40, oh my gosh, it's
almost 50 years.
50 years later, all thosedreams have come true.
So that's the meaning of thesong to him.
(41:40):
Whoops, sorry, gosh, one ofthese days I'm going to get away
without knocking the microphoneover, but that's what it means
to him and that's why he put iton this solo album.
Again, these guys wereexpressing themselves, bringing
you their influences, thingsthat had special meaning to them
(42:02):
, those types of things.
Now, getting back to what Iread in the fun facts, this
special guest list is like awho's who of the music and
entertainment industry.
I mean, you know, bob Seger,joe Perry, helen Reddy yes,
(42:24):
helen Reddy, I am woman, shesings on True Confessions Jeff
Skunk, baxter, donna Summer, asI mentioned, janice Ian she does
the whole prelude onRadioactive.
Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick,cher, mitch Weissman and Joe
(42:55):
Pecorino those guys were fromBeatlemania, the traveling
Beatles show Michael DeBar ifyou're not familiar with Michael
DeBar, michael DeBar was thelead singer in a band called
Detective back in the mid tolate 70s and still busy to this
day, done a lot of acting.
(43:16):
Let's see Richie Rano.
Richie Rano from the band Stars, and let's see Also the Azusa
Citrus College Choir.
Yeah, they are on TrueConfessions and Always Near you,
(43:40):
nowhere to Hide.
So it really was.
I mean just a who's who list ofpeople and you know great, but
that's kind of gene's mo, really.
If you, if you fast forward to2004 when he released his next
(44:04):
solo album, uh, a-hole, that wasalso this.
It's kind of the same thing.
If, and if you look at songcredits, he's got co-writes with
Frank Zappa, bob Dylan and itseems like every Tom Dick and
Harry is on the album.
(44:25):
So that's just Gene's thing.
He just brings in anybody andeverybody to lend a hand.
So I don't know, like I said,that's kind of just, that's kind
of where it sits and that'skind of my initial reaction.
Both Peters well, peters, his,the critical, the.
(44:47):
The critique on it by the presswas it just was not kiss-like.
Critique on it by the press wasit just was not kiss-like.
Jeans was a little morekiss-like than Peters, but not
the kiss that we're accustomedto, again, because of that
(45:10):
unevenness in it, I believe.
But it was still given likethree out of five stars.
So okay, anyway.
So that's where that one sits.
For me, that one sits at thenumber three spot.
Next is this guy.
Oh, wait, a second.
Hold on, hold on, I did it withthe CD, so I've got to do it
(45:35):
with this album.
Yeah, especially because it'smuch.
Hold on, I did it with the CD,so I've got to do it with this
album.
Yeah, especially because it'smuch, much larger.
And I did.
I made sure when I bought thisone that it contained all the
good stuff.
There it is, there it is.
So here's the order form righthere unfolds backside says for
(45:59):
only five dollars a year you canjoin the kiss army, and then
you get.
It tells you all the good stuffyou get for five bucks and then
you get to order, if you like,your own gene simmons
memorabilia T-shirts, posters,pins, belt buckles, that type of
stuff.
Yeah, all Gene Simmons.
So it's really really, reallycool.
(46:25):
This is great here and it was soexpensive in 1978.
Gene Simmons belt bucklefeatures Gene Simmons printed in
full color on foil backgroundcoated with high gloss enamel $6
.
Man, the 22 by 33 poster was$2.50.
And when I was 13 years old, ohmy gosh, it seemed like so much
(46:51):
money.
All right, so let's bust outthe, the gene portion of this
mural.
There we go.
Yeah, oh, good stuff, let meget it.
Oh yeah, pretty cool, huh, it'sawesome when you're 13,.
It really is awesome whenyou're 13.
(47:12):
I'm glad that, because I didput them up on my bedroom wall
altogether.
I'm glad that when I re-boughtthese they were not new, but
they're in wonderful condition,that each of the posters doesn't
(47:36):
have little pinholes or tacksin them from somebody else
hanging them on their walls.
So it's nice.
They're a little more pristinethan the ones that I had.
All right, so number two, numbertwo in my ranking on the Kiss
solo albums is this one righthere?
Yeah, ace Frehley, ace Frehley.
(47:56):
A lot of people in the KISSworld, kiss Army, will disagree.
This one is a favorite of somany people and you're not wrong
because it's your opinion.
(48:16):
But you know, when this onedropped, everybody was like yes,
celebrating, because, you know,at that point Ace had two lead
vocals.
Period up to that point.
Ace had, ace had two leadvocals.
Uh, period up to that point.
(48:37):
And that was on um, that wasshock me.
On love gun and rocket ride onside four of alive too.
That was the only time we'dheard a sing.
We didn't know that he had thisability, that he had and when he
was, when he was out on his own, stepped out, you know, wrote
an album's worth of songs.
Actually, his, as I read in thefun facts, his list, his guest
(49:05):
list, is like minimal, minimalcompared to everyone else's
albums.
So this was like way more of asolo project than the other four
if you want to look at it thatway.
But it was, it was well.
It's nine tracks.
Let me give you that.
(49:25):
Let me give you that rundownNine tracks.
The running time on is 36minutes and 44 seconds and it,
like I said, it's pretty muchwhat you would expect if you're
a fan of Ace Frehley, probablythe most.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know if it's I wasgoing to say probably the most
(49:46):
Kiss-like sounding album, butI'm not sure.
I'm not sure about that.
Obviously it is very Kisssounding, but I would say it's
even more Ace sounding than itis Kiss sounding.
But any of the songs on hissolo album would fit right in
with the later 70s stuff Rockand Roll Over, love Gun Even if
(50:11):
he had moved forward without thesolo albums Dynasty or Unmasked
, that kind of thing.
I think every single song onhis solo album is better than
any song he performed onUnmasked.
Just hands down, hands down.
So the track listing.
What did I do with it?
Oh there it is.
(50:31):
What did I do with it?
Oh there it is.
So the track listing, side onewe've got Rip it Out, fabulous,
speeding Back to my Baby,snowblind, ozone and what's on
your Mind.
Then we flip it over to sidetwo.
We've got the single New YorkGroove I'm in Need of Love Wiped
(50:56):
Out and Fractured Mirror.
Fractured Mirror, as if youdon't already know, but because
we may not have all KISS fanswatching or listening, but
Fractured Mirror is aninstrumental.
I think it's like almost fiveminutes long.
I don't recall Something likethat From the first.
I think it's like almost fiveminutes long.
I don't recall Something likethat.
I, from the first time I heardit, loved it, loved it.
(51:22):
It's just so good.
And you know, a couple weeks agoI was listening to.
I was listening to Kiss Aliveand, oh, I'm sorry, not Kiss
Alive I was listening to Dressedto Kill.
I was, you know, preparing forthe uh, the celebration of the
50th anniversary of Dressed toKill.
(51:44):
So I'm listening to it and Iwas listening to Rock Bottom and
there's that big acoustical, uhintroduction to Rock Bottom.
It probably goes like a minute10, minute 20.
Because I think the song islike four and a half minutes and
, like I said, minute half ofit's got to be that intro and it
(52:05):
is so good.
But I was listening to it and Ithought, wow, I can kind of see
maybe where Fractured Mirrorcame from, because I've listened
to parts of that and I thoughtFractured Mirror, fractured
Mirror okay, I don't know if itwas the tone, the tuning,
whatever it was, but just sogood.
(52:28):
One is the intro to Rock Bottom, but Fractured Mirror is so, so
good.
But I would say that my favoritesong on here is probably Ozone
and that's just been from likeday one.
It's just something about thatsong and if you know that song,
(52:50):
you know it, you get into.
There's kind of like a.
It's not a bridge, but it'skind of like a I don't know kind
of like a.
It's not a pre-chorus, it'salmost like a post-chorus, I
suppose you know where.
Oh zone and the tuning on theguitar is just so good and I
(53:18):
didn't realize it until yearslater.
You know, you just start topick up things as you become
more involved in music and youlisten a little bit closer to
things.
But you hear Ace's electricguitar in there and his lead and
all that.
But there's an acoustic guitarright behind it and, um, it's
(53:39):
just such a great blend and itjust, I don't know, it's just a
great song.
Ozone, such a great song andhonestly, um, I don't know, uh,
least favorite song, leastfavorite might be, um, might
(54:00):
maybe Wiped Out, I don't know.
Wiped Out's a cool song though,but maybe Wiped Out.
But I, you know, I love it.
It's just a great.
It's a great album, great sound, great production by Eddie
(54:22):
Kramer and, yeah, just, it's sogood, so, so good.
So I just, of course, like I didwith Gene, I'll open up.
There's the merch, there's themerch form, all the good Ace
stuff.
It's all the same on all thealbums.
Just, everything's personalizedfor each guy.
(54:44):
Let's open up the Ace poster.
Oh, I'm looking at this onehere.
This one was just like mine.
Somebody hung this one on thewall.
All right, there's Ace, come on, there's Ace.
Yeah, all right, good stuff,let's see, put all this away.
(55:10):
And of course, I mean I tookout all the suspense.
I mean there's only four albums, right, so there really isn't
much suspense as far as whichone is going to be in the number
one position, and so that oneis right.
Here, as I take it out of theplastic Paul Stanley, paul
(55:35):
Stanley solo album and um, it'sa great album and it's what's
funny is, like I was sayingbuying the buying the albums
back on on eBay a few years ago.
I'm such a dummy, not evenkeeping track of what I'm buying
.
I thought, not even keepingtrack of what I'm buying.
(55:56):
I thought, like I said, Ithought I had the Peter album
and so I don't know how or why,but I had a brain cramp I had
already purchased the Paul album, but no, instead of buying a
Peter, a copy of Peter's album,I bought a second copy of Paul's
album.
So I have two really reallynice copies of Paul's solo album
here on the shelf and no, peter, I mean, and, like I said,
(56:23):
they're really really nice,really in great shape, and just
one of those things.
I don't know, I don't know whatI was thinking and I didn't
realize it until I mean, I getit in the mail, open it up.
Oh yeah, paul, paul.
And then I go and I put it withthe other album.
I said, wait a second, there'salready a Paul right here.
What's the matter with me?
So, like I said earlier, ebay,here I come.
(56:47):
But so Tale of the Tape onPaul's album.
It's nine songs, running timeis 35 minutes and 10 seconds and
the track listing is side oneTonight you Belong to Me, move
(57:07):
On, ain't Quite Right, wouldn'tyou Like to Know Me?
Take Me Away.
Together is one.
Then you flip it over to sidetwo and you've got it's Alright,
Hold Me, touch Me and, inparentheses, think of Me when
we're Apart.
And then you've got Love inChains and the album closes with
Goodbye, fitting song to closethe album.
(57:30):
Goodbye is a great song.
It really, really is.
Love, the lyrics, the messagingin it.
Yeah, it is, it's a great song,great way to close out the
album.
I was lucky enough to see Paulperform on his solo tour back in
(57:54):
06 for the Live to Win albumand Goodbye was in the set list.
So that was really, really cool.
But so was Tonight you Belongto Me, another great song, I
think.
Let me see here, let me seewhat did he do that night?
He did Tonight you Belong to Me.
I think he opened the show withthat.
Tonight you Belong to Me,because I think he opened the
(58:16):
show with that and he didGoodbye.
I don't.
I think he did one more.
I don't remember if he did.
If he did, it's all right, orlove and chains, I don't know, I
(58:45):
don't, I don't remember.
I have to really really do someresearch on that one but but he
did like three, four songs offof this album.
So good stuff.
Certainly the guest list is notnearly as long, but he did have
Bob Kulik do some guitar work onthe album.
Everybody knows Bob Bob's beenassociated with KISS for years.
(59:08):
And then, of course, we allknow Bruce, his brother, right,
let's see who else.
Oh, carmine Apice.
Carmine Apice did some drums.
Let's see.
I'm just kind of going throughand finding the ones that really
stand out that everybody knows.
Oh, and then Pepe Castro.
(59:31):
Now, some of you may not knowPepe Castro, but Pepe Castro was
in a band with Bob Kulik in theearly 80s.
The band was called Balance.
I think they had a couplealbums they released and they
had one top 40 song for sure,maybe two, but I know I remember
(59:54):
one for sure.
That was about 81, I think itwas.
Yeah, so that's theirconnection, um, but you know, I
don't know.
My favorite song on the album isprobably, um, the opening track
tonight you belong to, very,very reminiscent of Black
(01:00:19):
Diamond, or I Want you whereit's got that acoustical opening
and introduction and then itkicks in.
You get your crunchy guitarsand, uh, you get your
traditional great paul stanleyvocal um, not as, probably not
(01:00:43):
as heavy as black diamond, butum, but in that same vein.
So for those of you who arefamiliar, you know what I'm
talking about.
For those of you who arefamiliar, you know what I'm
talking about.
For those of you who aren't,check it out and you'll kind of
see what I'm talking about, Ifyou listen to those three songs,
you'll understand what I'mtalking about.
(01:01:03):
When it comes to the songstructure, but that's probably
my favorite track, I do like.
Take Me Away Together as one.
Just a dynamite song, I Toldyou Goodbye.
The closing track fabulous,it's funny, it's Alright.
I think I may have mentionedthis before, I'm not sure, but
(01:01:24):
on, it's Alright.
If you fast forward to theAsylum album, the song All Night
, there's a breakdown in thatsong, in All Night, that
basically it's all right.
(01:01:44):
I think it's yeah, and it'saround the pre-chorus on All
Night and if you listen to theguitars and you listen to it
it's slowed down, but it's allright.
And from the first time I heardthat song I'm like wait a
(01:02:06):
minute, where have I heard thatbefore?
Okay, oh, yes, it's all right,I don't know.
Just a little.
Another tidbit, another funfact.
Oh, wait a second, I didn't dothis.
A little.
Another tidbit, another funfact.
Oh wait a second, I didn't dothis, didn't do this right here.
Let's get this.
This is always the best partabout KISS albums.
It always, it always.
Well, I shouldn't say the bestpart, but as a kid, that's what
(01:02:28):
you get.
Come on, come on out of there.
There you go it.
It always is.
It was always one of the thingsthat got you fired up.
Um, cause you would get thealbum.
You know.
Get to the record store.
Sometimes you do it rightoutside the record store.
(01:02:50):
I know outside levels.
I couldn't wait to get it homeand get out the door and sit
right in front of Lovells on thesidewalk and open up the album.
I remember opening up Alive 2right there.
But the great thing is, you getthe album.
You rip open the cellophane onit and then you just turn it
sideways and just dump the stuffout and you'd have your Kiss
(01:03:15):
memorabiliaia order form,whatever album it was at the
time.
There's your paul stuff rightthere, um, and then let's get
into our paul poster.
Uh, and if it was like love gunman, I don't, well, we, there
was no poster with Love Gun.
Okay, so there's the Paulposter.
(01:03:36):
Yep, looks good, looks good andit's in really good shape.
It's really really good shape,especially for something that's
like 45 years old or whatever itis.
I think it's older than that,42 years old.
I don't know why.
Do I want to do math right now?
I don't.
But like Love Gun, you, youknow, you open that thing up and
(01:04:01):
you get the little love gunthat you know where you have to.
You know, I don't know whateveryou want to call it uh, kind of
throw it down, sort of, and itpops open and says bang, and
until, of course, the paper ripson it and then you can't use it
anymore.
Or the solo albums.
You're getting these orderforms.
(01:04:21):
I think with love gun you gotan order form as well, the, uh,
I mean a live two.
Oh, that was the best becauseyou got the booklet, you got the
merch form and you got thetattoos.
That was good stuff.
That was good stuff, um, youknow.
(01:04:48):
So, for really, from, like Isaid like destroyer, destroyer
all the way through, um unmaskedthat those few years right
there, that's when we started toget some, uh, some good stuff,
some merch forms and posters andthat kind of thing, great stuff
to look forward to.
So, um, you know, the receptionon Paul's album, just like well,
I don't even remember if Imentioned aces, but like with
ace, it said that was the mostkiss like and it was fabulous,
(01:05:12):
got great reviews.
And it was fabulous, got greatreviews.
Paul's album got great reviews.
So I think to the bulk of youKiss Army geeks out there, like
(01:05:33):
me, it's probably going to beAce or Paul at the number one
spot and I think, because thosealbums are closest to what we
would look forward to inlistening to our favorite band
and each member of the band,that's what we would want from
them.
And then you know it's going tobe a toss-up between Gene and
Peter for number three or numberfour.
(01:05:54):
I think on the whole, that'swhat it is.
Okay.
Certainly it's not each andevery one of you out there, and
I think, probably for the samereasons as I'm expressing to you
, but just good stuff.
Um, and come on, do you reallyneed a reason to talk about KISS
(01:06:18):
?
I don't know, and it's so funny.
Is they wrapped up touring backin December of 2023.
So it's been a little over ayear ago and there's still so
much to talk about in his world.
There's so much stuff, there'ssomething always going on and
(01:06:39):
there's a.
You know, of course, this isnot a KISS podcast, but there's
a bazillion KISS podcasts outthere and they still have stuff
to talk about all the time.
There's a never ending amount ofconversation to be had when it
comes to this band.
There's never a never endingamount of conversation to be had
when it comes to this band.
It's just something about him.
Something about him and, as theguys that I think it was Paul
(01:07:03):
the one that said it you knowwhat Love us or hate us, that's
fine, but you're still talkingabout us.
Now, I didn't quote him.
That's more paraphrasing, butthat's what he would say.
You're still talking about us.
No, now, I didn't quote him.
That's more paraphrasing, butthat's what he would say.
You're still talking about us,no matter what, and that's all
(01:07:25):
they cared about, so anyway.
So yeah, from bottom to top,we've got Peter, gene, ace and
Paul.
All good stuff.
That's just how I would rankthem, but I enjoy each and every
one of them, for a differentreason, I suppose.
But it's great stuff, and yeah,there you go.
(01:07:50):
Leave your ranking in thecomments and give me some
reasons why, too.
You know you agree, disagree,whatever it is.
That's what it's all about.
Let's have some fun here, allright.
So let's kick you loose.
You guys can get on with therest of your day, your evening,
your weekend, whatever it mightbe.
Go have yourselves a great time, all right.
(01:08:13):
As you know, this program isavailable wherever you get your
podcasts.
Okay, it's on all the streamingservices.
Just search the Ben Maynardprogram Boom, it's there.
Subscribe to it.
Okay, please subscribe to it.
Okay.
I'm not asking you to subscribebecause I'm going to make any
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(01:08:33):
Honestly, I'm not All right,I'm just.
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That's the way it is.
But anyway, subscribe to it,okay, cause then you'll get
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Okay, and then, if you'rewatching on YouTube, thank you
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(01:08:56):
some of this right here, okay,and.
But you got to do me a favor.
Three things you have to do,actually, really four.
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(01:09:16):
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It's like what?
To this day?
Please don't do it.
I don't want to jinx it, but tothis day, 84 episodes in not
(01:09:39):
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So, yes, thank you, but come on,an episode gets some views.
You got to give me some morethumbs up.
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(01:10:02):
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(01:10:25):
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(01:10:46):
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That's my little uh, that's mylittle Paul Stanley right there.
(00:31):
So, anyhow, welcome in.
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(00:53):
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(01:16):
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(01:42):
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(02:03):
And then, after you do that,tell 10,000 of your family and
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(02:24):
Plenty of ways to take in thisshow for your dancing and
listening pleasure.
All right, we have a good one,have a good one tonight and I
know you're gonna like it,especially for you.
Kiss knuckleheads out there,just like me.
All.
Kiss geeks.
All right, we'll have somethingfun.
Um, so, look, let's just kind ofget right down to it, people.
(02:47):
All right, I won't do that all.
All episode, I promise, okay,but um, I, um, you know, I was
just I don't know if I'm on akiss thing or not uh, after
having tommy on the show uh,tommy Sides of the Coin a couple
of weeks ago.
Let me reach over here.
My glasses are on the wrongside of the table, but hey, I
(03:14):
was like you know what?
I haven't done this.
I thought about it.
I haven't done what I'm goingto do tonight, so let's get it
done.
And so, yeah, here we go.
And speaking of Tommy Summers,having him on a couple of weeks
ago, that was so much fun, thatwas outstanding.
We could have gone a whole lotlonger.
(03:35):
We honestly could have, and Iwould have, but I really did.
I don't even remember if Imentioned it, but I had an
appointment that I had to get toand I was actually an hour late
getting to that appointment andI hate being late.
I hate it with a passion.
Don't like being late toanything and I felt so bad about
(04:03):
it.
But Tommy was so good, Icouldn't stop.
It was so good and a lot of youare really taking in the.
You're taking in the episode onYouTube.
A lot of you are taking it inon the streaming platform.
So both audio and video aredoing really well on it.
(04:25):
So thank you to the, to youguys, for that and again, keep
telling your family and friendsall right, it's uh, we just have
a lot of fun here, there's goodstuff happening and, uh, just,
you know, jump on board, allright.
So look, without further ado,let's kind of just get right
into this.
As you can see, I'm a KISSt-shirt on, so we know it's
(04:46):
going to be a KISS-related showtonight.
I got these guys sitting righthere on the table.
I'll explain to you what that'sall about as we move along.
But tonight I'm going to giveyou my ranking on the Kiss solo
(05:06):
albums.
Four albums, of course.
Four albums Let me get out ofthe way of my logo, right there,
so you can see my fingers.
You can't see them too well,right there, right, that's
better.
Four, okay, four albums, one byeach member of the band Gene
Paul, peter, ace, all right, andI've thought about this for a
(05:32):
little while, but never really,you know, pulled the trigger and
certainly I've owned these fouralbums since they came out Way
back in 1978.
So four albums, four soloalbums, one by each member of
(05:53):
KISS, all released on the sameday, september 18th 1978.
September 18th 1978.
(06:28):
And I think it was at that timea real departure from the norm
in the music business, and maybeit might have even been a first
in music history where you hadthe members of a band each
member of the band releasing asolo album, especially on the
same day, and that was all thatpart.
There was all calculatedreleasing on the same years old
at the time.
So as fans we didn't reallyknow that there was some drama,
(06:57):
slash, dysfunction going on inthe band and they were at the
height of their you know kissmania, so to speak.
I mean, they were at the heightof it all their popularity.
They could get no bigger atthis point.
Yet the cracks were starting toshow.
(07:18):
We just didn't really see them.
We just didn't really see them.
And apparently shortly after theAlive 2 album was released,
just a year prior, that's whenthings started to bear
(07:39):
themselves out where Ace's maybehis substance problems, his
partying, you know his partyingways, were kind of interfering
with things.
Peter same issue, but then alsoPeter wanted to have more of a
role in the band as far as moresongs on albums, more say-so,
(08:03):
those types of things.
So all that stuff was kind ofbeginning to bear itself out.
And then I mean these guys,peter and Ace, they were
actually thinking of leaving theband, but Paul and Gene kind of
reined them in a little bit.
I'm sure Bill O'Coin, theirmanager, had something to say
(08:25):
about this as well Kind ofreined him in and said hey, look
you guys.
You know, peter, you want to goout on your own.
You want to do a solo album?
Ace, you want to do a solo?
Great, why don't you all dosolo albums?
Okay, all of you guys go, takesome time, record your solo
albums.
We will package them under theKISS brand.
(08:47):
You guys will dedicate them toeach of the other members in the
band and, boom, it'll all be in.
You know part of the KISSfamily.
So doing that kind of appeasedthe guys.
And so you know, pretty muchafter the Alive 2 tour was over,
(09:07):
they got to work on it and andum, as fans, what we were used
to at this time were tworeleases a year from our
favorite band, um, and primarilytwo studio well, I, not two
studio releases each year,because in 75, they had Dressed
(09:28):
to Kill and then they had Alive,and then in 77, they had Love
Gun and Alive 2.
But we were getting tworeleases a year.
78 was no different, it wasjust the same, except the first
release of the year was aGreatest greatest hits package,
that was double platinum.
Now, whatever it is what it is,and I know for me anything that
(09:50):
said kiss on it it was happy toget.
But I already had all thesesongs.
Okay, uh, certainly, I thinkthere was some, some of them
that were kind of remixed alittle bit.
Um, there was the new mix ofstrutter, strutter 78.
Almost the drum beat was kindof like disco-esque, but nothing
(10:11):
new.
I already had all these songs.
I wanted something else, but itkind of tied us over.
It appeased the fan base untillater on that year Let me do
this, hang on a second, peopleat home, there we go.
And it kind of kept us somewhatsatisfied until September 78.
(10:36):
And that was when the soloalbums were released.
So we went into why the soloalbums?
I can say, and I'm sure all ofus KISS fans were just like
stoked, because now we weren'tgoing to get one album with, you
(10:59):
know, basically 10 songs on it.
We were going to get fouralbums with 10 songs on them.
You know, that's the thinking.
I'm going to get four times mykiss.
You know my dose of kiss, Isuppose.
So I remember being jacked upand I think, trying to think
(11:22):
back to when the albums came out, which one I got first?
Gene.
At that time, early in my KISSfandom, gene was my favorite
member of the band and so Iprobably got his album first,
his album first my, uh, myyounger brother.
(11:44):
Uh, his favorite member of theband was Ace, so I didn't have
to worry about getting Ace'salbum because I knew he was
going to get it.
Um, so I probably, like I said,I'm sure I got Gene's first,
(12:05):
then Paul, right after that, uh,my brother got Ace, ace, so I
could listen to that as well.
So it was almost like having it.
And then I know Peter was thelast one that I got Just stoked
to have those albums and listento them over and over and over.
So, without getting into toomuch other stuff, what I'm going
(12:28):
to do is I'm going to rank thefour albums, my favorite to my
least favorite, and we'll justkind of go over some things with
each of the albums.
And, look, you guys can commenton this.
Give me your rankings, yourfavorite songs, your least
favorite songs, things youremember about these albums,
whatever it might be.
(12:49):
You guys get in on it as well.
God, I'm kind of tongue tied,right?
So, yeah, let's do it.
Let's have some fun, all right.
So of course I'm going to getstarted Again.
When these albums were released,they all shipped platinum,
(13:10):
which means they all were.
Each album was sent a millioncopies out to the various record
stores and outlets that wereselling them.
Now they each have sold amillion plus copies.
But back in 78, they hadn'tdone that.
(13:31):
They shipped platinum so thatthe band could say, hey, we've
got four platinum albums all inone shot.
But within a couple of monthsthe record company started to
see some returns on the albums,on the various albums.
(13:53):
So where it was just a kind ofa little gimmick to get four
platinum albums all at once, itreally didn't go like that and
it probably took just frommemory and things that I've read
it probably took close to ayear for each one of them to
(14:14):
actually sell a million copies.
But still my favorite band,still my guys, I didn't care, I
just wanted to hear the music.
So let's get right into it then, since we're talking about
music and we're talking aboutour favorite band, kiss, oh,
wait a second Before we do that,I want to you guys see what I
(14:35):
have right here on the front ofthe table.
You can't if you're listening,but I'll do my best to describe
it to you.
I've got Kiss Beanie Babiesright here Now.
I didn't go out and buy these.
These were gifted to me from agood friend of mine, mark Roth.
He sends me a text message oneday and he says hey, are you
(14:59):
home?
Yeah, I'm home.
He says, all right, I'm closeby, I'm in the neighborhood,
I'll be right over and shows upat the door and he's got a bag
of kiss beanie babies, his asscleaning some stuff out.
You know, um, and I saw theseand you were the first person I
thought of.
So I thought I'd bring them by,give them to you, and I thought
(15:19):
, oh, right on, cool.
So how perfect is this?
Cause they've been, they'vebeen sitting here in the studio
for a few months and I keepforgetting to break them out and
show everybody and give Markthe credit that he so rightfully
deserves.
But come on, I'm talking aboutthe solo albums tonight and I've
(15:40):
got each member of the bandright here sitting on the table.
Let's see from my right to left, and if you're watching it's
going to be from your left toright.
Got Ace right here.
You got Peter, gene and PaulyPeople.
(16:01):
Okay, I'll stop, yeah, so Ijust thought, all right, I'm
talking about the solo albums,got one of each guy right here.
Good to go, all right.
So, as I said, I'm going to, I'mgoing to rank these, but before
, right before I do that, beforeI give you my ranking from my
(16:25):
least favorite to my favorite,I'll just run over some stats or
some fun facts real fast.
And, by the way, I'm gettingthese out of this book right
here.
If you don't have it, grab itIf you can, if you can, I don't.
I'm sure it's not even in printanymore, but this is called
Gene, ace, peter and Paul.
(16:47):
This book is all about the 78solo albums.
It's written by Julian Gill.
I know he does another Kisspodcast.
That's, you know, way biggerthan this podcast, but yeah.
(17:08):
So I bought this book when ithad come out a few years back I
don't know, this is probablylike eight, nine years ago and
uh, it's, it's.
It was really good, it's.
Oh my gosh.
And look, look at how thickthis book is.
It's, I mean, this thing'sgotta be like 400 pages.
It's got all kinds of coolstuff in here and just
interviews with everybodyinvolved with the album.
(17:33):
I'm trying to get to some pagenumbers here.
It's over 500 pages, 530something.
Pages Crazy stuff here.
Okay, so we'll just go throughthese fun facts real quick and
then get right down to it.
So Gene Simmons had the largestnumber of guest performers on
(17:58):
his solo album.
We're going to get into that.
Ace Frehley used the fewestnumber of performers on his
album.
Ace Frehley's solo album hassold the most copies in the
post-1991 SoundScan era.
So to me that says since 1991,ace's has sold the best.
(18:24):
Peter Criss' solo album debutedhighest on the Billboard Top 200
album chart at 85, followed byAces at 87, gene's at 88, and
Paul's at 89.
Gene Simmons' solo album surgedthe greatest number of places
on the Billboard Top 200 chartin its second week of charting,
(18:48):
moving up 32 places.
Peter's surged the fewest, justeight places, and Paul and
Ace's both moved up 22 spots.
Gene's solo album charted thehighest on the Billboard Top 200
, eventually reaching number 22.
It gives the date for theselittle things, but that's not
(19:12):
significant right now.
Peter's solo album reached itshighest placing on the Billboard
Top 200 chart in its seventhweek.
That was at number 43.
It's seventh week that was atnumber 43.
Ace's solo album charted forthe most number of weeks 23,
reaching number 26.
Gene's was right behind himwith 22 weeks.
(19:37):
Paul's album charted for thefewest number of weeks, at 18,
only reaching number 40, whichis just some of this stuff.
When you go back and I readthis it's like shocking,
shocking, some of this stuff.
Yeah, honestly, I wouldn't havepictured Paul's being the one
(20:03):
that was on the chart theshortest amount of time and then
also the lowest of the four incharting position on the top 200
album chart.
Weird, but Aces, new YorkGroove, was the only legitimate
(20:34):
hit single from the solo albums,reaching number 13 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,and that's a fact.
Aces was the only song thatcharted on the top 40.
Not just the highest, the onlyone that hit the top 40.
Peter Criss' was the only soloalbum supported by two single
(20:55):
releases neither charted, that'strue.
He did release two singles offthat.
Paul Stanley's Hold Me, touchMe, didn't quite make the top 40
in the US, but it did linger inthe charts for 12 weeks and
only Ace Frehley's and GeneSimmons' solo singles were
(21:16):
performed live by Kiss duringthe Dynasty Tour.
Now that one is incorrect.
I'm going to dispute that onebecause I did see Kiss on the
Dynasty Tour, november 7th 1979.
Let me put this book right overhere because I think I'm done
with it.
Yeah, on the Dynasty Tour atthe Forum, november 7th 1979.
(21:40):
I've talked about it a littlebit on the show before once or
twice.
It's my first concert ever.
Well, okay, it a little bit onthe show before once or twice.
It's my first concert ever.
Well, okay, it's not my firstconcert ever.
It's my first rock concert, myfirst concert ever.
I saw Olivia Newton-John atKnott's Berry Farm when she was
still a country artist.
So I have another book herewhich backs up.
(22:04):
However, I never noticed inreading this book that there is,
just like with the first bookhere, the Solos.
There's an inaccuracy In thisbook here which is a lot of you
geeks like me.
You know this one Kiss Aliveand forever.
(22:27):
It's a complete touring historyof the band from, uh, from
inception until I think it goesthrough uh, I don't know, it
doesn't, it doesn't reallymatter.
I think it goes through thewhat do you call it?
Farewell tour.
I think that's what it does,yeah, okay.
(22:50):
So it's got stats on everysingle show that the band
performed, and there's one.
I was checking this out.
It's got set lists and all thatkind of stuff.
So I was checking this out andthe set list for my show reads
as follows and a lot of it Ididn't remember.
(23:11):
However, I did remember whatsongs from the four solo albums
were performed, and there's onemissing here, missing here.
So you have Julian Gill in hisfax stating that New York Groove
and, well said, songs from Aceand Gene's solo albums were
(23:37):
performed.
Well, the single from Ace's wasNew York Groove.
The single from Gene's wasRadioactive.
Okay, so he's stating thatthose songs were performed live
on the Dynasty Tour.
However, there was one songfrom Paul Stanley's solo album
that was performed on theDynasty Tour.
Now, I think it may have comeand gone out of the set list,
because I know Radioactive did,but Radioactive was performed at
(23:59):
my show and so was Move On,which is right here in the set
list.
However, I was looking throughit and nowhere on here is
Radioactive listed in the setlist, and I do recall that
Radioactive was played veryearly on.
(24:21):
So, and from my memory Ithought that right after
radioactive that's when Paulwent in to move on that those
two songs were played back toback.
So, uh, yeah, I've got to getwith, um, I've got to get with
Kurt Gooch and Jeff Suss and letthem know that there's a
(24:44):
mistake here, like 20 yearsafter this book came out, and
make them correct it.
But, um, the uh, yeah, peterwas the only one that didn't
perform a song from his soloalbum the night that I saw them.
If I remember going throughthis tour in the book that there
(25:08):
was a few times when Peter didsing I think he did Tossin' and
Turnin' from his solo album.
So just a couple of fun things.
Whatever, right, right.
Whatever, all right.
So let's get down to businesshere.
Right?
Whatever, all right.
(25:30):
So let's get down to businesshere.
Okay, so we'll start with leastfavorite.
And I was listening.
I was listening to some of thisstuff today and initially my
ranking was a little different.
But after listening, doing somelistening and and putting stuff
together and I kind of likechanged my opinion, I was like,
(25:51):
well, you know what?
Maybe, yeah, maybe, my, myinitial ranking is not.
No, I got to change it up.
So I've changed a couple ofthings actually since I even
wrote the show.
So here we go in the number fourposition and let me get my kind
(26:16):
of my tail of the tape here, Isuppose.
Yeah, in the number fourposition, and let me tell you
this I enjoy all four of thesealbums.
So it's not like, oh, I hatethis one and this one's just
superior.
Uh-uh like, with all the allthe rankings that I do, whatever
(26:39):
band it is, I like it all.
It's just a matter of what Ilike the least to what I like
the best, all right.
So in the number four position,it's this one, right here,
peter Criss, and I'm trying toget some of the.
I'm showing the CD cover.
Yeah, they cover the CD hereand, for whatever reason, this
(27:01):
is the only one I don't have onvinyl Now.
Years and years ago I used tohave them all on vinyl and I've
mentioned it.
I won't get into the details,but at one point I sold nearly
every piece of vinyl that I hadand that included the solo
albums.
But I thought that years, a fewyears back, when I was just on
(27:23):
a whim, I would go on eBay and,uh, try to get.
I would buy a couple of Kisssolo, uh, kiss albums here and
there.
I was trying to get mycollection back and, uh, there's
specific things that I wouldlook for before I would pull the
trigger on on buying anythingbut, um, I thought that I had
purchased the Peter one and Ihaven't.
(27:44):
But I thought that I hadpurchased the Peter one and I
haven't.
So eBay, here I come.
So the running time on thiswill give you the tail of the
tape.
The running time on this is 34minutes and 39 seconds.
The track listing is 10 songs.
It's let's see what would be onvinyl.
(28:06):
Side one I'm Gonna Love you,you Matter to Me.
Tossin' and Turnin'.
Now, I think you Matter to Me,and Tossin' and Turnin' were the
two singles that were releasedfrom this album.
Don't you Let Me Down.
That's the Kind of Sugar PapaLikes.
Easy Thing Rock Me Baby.
(28:27):
Kiss the Girl, goodbye.
Hooked on Rock and Roll and ICan't Stop the Rain.
Hooked on rock and roll and Ican't stop the rain.
I remember when I got this albumand I dropped the needle on it,
(28:50):
like I remember.
I'm 13 years old and I startedthinking what in the world is
this?
This is not Kiss, not evenclose, it's.
(29:22):
You know.
Every song on the albumreminded me okay, well, instead
of let's put it this way Insteadof reminding me of songs like
Get Away or Strange Ways,something like Baby Driver.
All the songs were reminding meof Beth Hard Luck Woman and I
didn't get it.
I didn't.
This is like.
This is like so far removedfrom KISS and what I was used to
.
So I you know, like I said, Ididn't get it.
(29:44):
I didn't listen to it that much.
I was very disappointed in it.
And again, this is back in 1978.
This is back in 1978.
We didn't, as Kiss fans, we onlyread what we read in the rock
magazines Cream, hit Parade orCircus, so on and so on.
(30:10):
And we didn't realize thatPeter had a way different
background than the othermembers of KISS, came from a
completely different background,didn't play in any hard rock
bands, came from that jazz,swing, soul background and
(30:31):
that's what he was bringing tothe table in his album.
And also, we didn't understandeach of these solo albums were
going to be a representation ofthat member's personality, their
love of music, what theirinfluences were.
But we didn't get it.
It's a kiss on it.
(30:52):
It said whatever member it was,it it just it's a kiss on it.
It said, uh, you know, whatevermember it was.
And we wanted to hear the samestuff we've been hearing for the
previous, you know, five years.
Um, so that was my initialreaction, yeah, but but when I
stop, and as I've gotten older,I realize what peter was doing,
(31:14):
and older I realized what Peterwas doing.
He was bringing that 50s, 60srock sound, a little bit of soul
, r&b, jazz, and I get it.
And it's when I realized thatnot only do I get it, not only
(31:35):
do I understand it, I appreciateit and I enjoy it and I think
it's a terrific album.
And Peter I've always likedPeter's voice.
Peter has a tremendous voiceand I mean really he might have
(31:59):
the second best voice in theband.
I don't know, he might Greatvoice.
But one good thing I don't wantto show you because when I get
to the other ones I'm going todo the same thing, but at least
in the CD here, when you open up, when you open up the uh, the
cover, it's not really so muchof a booklet, but, remembering
kiss albums, once we hit uhdestroyer, you started to get
(32:20):
tchotchkes.
So we get things in the albumsor kiss army, membership order
forms, member memorabilia, orderforms, posters, stuff like that
.
So.
So when they, when theyreleased, they re-released this
I think this is one of theremasters they let us have the
(32:45):
poster that came inside of it.
That was part of the four-partmural that I did hang on my wall
, the wall in my bedroom.
Put them all four together andthat's that's this one here with
Peter, yeah, good stuff, likedit.
It says right there in thecorner, part three of four, part
(33:07):
kiss mural.
Okay, so my, um, my favoritesong on this one, uh, my
favorite song, gosh, I don'tknow.
I really, because they're,they're, they, they all have
kind of a really cool groove,even though it's much more
mellow, it's just a really coolgroove.
(33:29):
Um, probably, um, I'm gonnalove you might be my favorite
and um, I don't know that I havea least favorite on this one.
I really don't, cause I thinkthat, like I said, that would be
(33:49):
my favorite and everything elsewould kind of like fall right
in line.
You know, um, cause it's justthat good.
I mean, you can just put thisthing on and just listen, just
kick back, listen and thoroughlyenjoy it.
It's just, it's that good, itreally really is.
So there you go.
In the number four spot, thatwould be Peter Criss.
(34:12):
All right, there you go on thatone one.
Let's get a sip of water here,okay, so next in the number
three spot.
Let me take it out of theplastic here.
This one would be right here.
(34:33):
Gene simmons.
Gene simmons solo album.
Now set it down for a moment.
Let me flip back over.
Um so tail of the tape on gene'ssolo album.
It's 11 tracks.
(34:54):
The running time on it is 33minutes and 58 seconds, or, I'm
sorry, 30, 38 minutes and 58seconds, and the tracks are as
follows the first track,radioactive, that was the single
that was released off the albumBurning Up With Fever, was
(35:22):
released off the album BurningUp With Fever.
That's kind of a funky song.
Donna Summer on backgroundvocals yeah, she's doing
background vocals on that.
And let's see, see you Tonight.
Really really good song.
So good that they performed iton the Unplugged special Tunnel
(35:45):
of Love.
Gene, gene, gene, gene, gene.
He's got this thing with hisdifferent nicknames for the
female anatomy, I suppose thelower region anyway.
True Confessions, that one.
(36:06):
You know what.
I'll go through the track listand then I'll explain more.
True Confessions.
Then you flip it over to sidetwo.
You've got Living in Sin.
Then you've got a unique one,always Near you, nowhere to Hide
, which is two incomplete songsthat Gene had written, that he
had combined those two to makethem one.
(36:28):
Then man of a Thousand Faces,that's his tribute to Lone
Chaney, mr Make Believe.
Then his cover of his own song,see you In your Dreams, from
the Rock and Roll Over album,which I know.
Actually, it was funny a coupleweeks ago when Tommy was on, he
said he did not like the coverversion and he was like I don't
(36:52):
know why Gene had to redo it.
And, to be honest, I don't knowwhy Gene had to redo it.
And, to be honest, I don't knowwhy he had to redo it either,
but I know why he.
Well, I know why he did it.
Um, cause he wasn't happy withthe version that came out on
rock and roll over.
This one's a little more punchy,um, a little harder edged, um,
(37:14):
there's some female uh singersin the background, that kind of
stuff, so it's a little bitdifferent, uh, but you know, he
delivers a slightly different uhvocal performance, but other
than that it's the same.
It's a little bit harder.
I it might be like a couple ofthree seconds longer too, but
(37:34):
that's about it.
Oh, and then we finish up withwhen you Wish Upon a Star, the
cover of the song from theDisney movie Pinocchio and I
think it said Jiminy Cricketsings that one, and so my
initial reaction on this onewhen I got it was I dropped the
(38:00):
needle and I heard radioactiveand I heard that kind of that
lead in, that build up, thelittle kind of sinister laughing
voice, and then there's someother ghoulish voices in the
background and it's kind ofbuilding up and it sounds like
it's just gonna like kick in andwhen it does it's kind of it's
(38:26):
not as strong or heavy or punchyas I would, as that build-up
makes it sound like it's gonnabe radioactive.
Radioactive is a cool song andI'll tell you right now I would
say it's probably my favoritesong on the album.
But I needed it to be heavierthan it is or than it was when I
put the needle on.
But anything that said Kiss, Iwas going to enjoy, I was going
(38:55):
to like.
So I didn't, I, I, I could.
I noticed the unevenness andI'm way for those listening.
I'm kind of going up and down,making a waving motion.
Um, I did notice the unevenness.
You'd have more of a rockerthan you have a real mellow song
(39:18):
.
Slow it down.
You had some different stuff onboth sides when it comes aside
to living in sin.
I like it.
But even at 13 years old Istill thought it was kind of a
little bit corny, but I liked it.
Like I said, it had the Kissname on it, so everything was
(39:42):
great.
But I don't know.
No, I'm thinking that maybe myleast favorite song on here
might be it could be a toss-upbetween like Tunnel of Love or
(40:08):
man of a Thousand Faces.
A lot of people see or hear whenyou Wish Upon a Star and
they're like what are youthinking, gene?
Really, seriously, you're goingto sing a Disney song.
You know, this hard rock demonis going to sing a Disney song,
(40:29):
please.
But when you know the story,you understand why he did it and
what the song means to him.
And when he was growing up,when he first came to America
with his mother, he could barelyspeak English but he was into
comic book characters andcartoons and he was into Disney
(40:54):
movies as well and he sawPinocchio.
He heard the song when you WishUpon a Star and he started to
pick up English, learning thatsong.
So there's that meaning to italso.
But then he also you take the,you take the lyrics of that song
and he applied it to his ownlife.
(41:19):
You know, when you wish upon astar, your dreams come true.
Well, that was his focus movingforward, and certainly at that
point.
And now you know, 40 yearslater, 40, oh my gosh, it's
almost 50 years.
50 years later, all thosedreams have come true.
So that's the meaning of thesong to him.
(41:40):
Whoops, sorry, gosh, one ofthese days I'm going to get away
without knocking the microphoneover, but that's what it means
to him and that's why he put iton this solo album.
Again, these guys wereexpressing themselves, bringing
you their influences, thingsthat had special meaning to them
(42:02):
, those types of things.
Now, getting back to what Iread in the fun facts, this
special guest list is like awho's who of the music and
entertainment industry.
I mean, you know, bob Seger,joe Perry, helen Reddy yes,
(42:24):
helen Reddy, I am woman, shesings on True Confessions Jeff
Skunk, baxter, donna Summer, asI mentioned, janice Ian she does
the whole prelude onRadioactive.
Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick,cher, mitch Weissman and Joe
(42:55):
Pecorino those guys were fromBeatlemania, the traveling
Beatles show Michael DeBar ifyou're not familiar with Michael
DeBar, michael DeBar was thelead singer in a band called
Detective back in the mid tolate 70s and still busy to this
day, done a lot of acting.
(43:16):
Let's see Richie Rano.
Richie Rano from the band Stars, and let's see Also the Azusa
Citrus College Choir.
Yeah, they are on TrueConfessions and Always Near you,
(43:40):
nowhere to Hide.
So it really was.
I mean just a who's who list ofpeople and you know great, but
that's kind of gene's mo, really.
If you, if you fast forward to2004 when he released his next
(44:04):
solo album, uh, a-hole, that wasalso this.
It's kind of the same thing.
If, and if you look at songcredits, he's got co-writes with
Frank Zappa, bob Dylan and itseems like every Tom Dick and
Harry is on the album.
(44:25):
So that's just Gene's thing.
He just brings in anybody andeverybody to lend a hand.
So I don't know, like I said,that's kind of just, that's kind
of where it sits and that'skind of my initial reaction.
Both Peters well, peters, his,the critical, the.
(44:47):
The critique on it by the presswas it just was not kiss-like.
Critique on it by the press wasit just was not kiss-like.
Jeans was a little morekiss-like than Peters, but not
the kiss that we're accustomedto, again, because of that
(45:10):
unevenness in it, I believe.
But it was still given likethree out of five stars.
So okay, anyway.
So that's where that one sits.
For me, that one sits at thenumber three spot.
Next is this guy.
Oh, wait, a second.
Hold on, hold on, I did it withthe CD, so I've got to do it
(45:35):
with this album.
Yeah, especially because it'smuch.
Hold on, I did it with the CD,so I've got to do it with this
album.
Yeah, especially because it'smuch, much larger.
And I did.
I made sure when I bought thisone that it contained all the
good stuff.
There it is, there it is.
So here's the order form righthere unfolds backside says for
(45:59):
only five dollars a year you canjoin the kiss army, and then
you get.
It tells you all the good stuffyou get for five bucks and then
you get to order, if you like,your own gene simmons
memorabilia T-shirts, posters,pins, belt buckles, that type of
stuff.
Yeah, all Gene Simmons.
So it's really really, reallycool.
(46:25):
This is great here and it was soexpensive in 1978.
Gene Simmons belt bucklefeatures Gene Simmons printed in
full color on foil backgroundcoated with high gloss enamel $6
.
Man, the 22 by 33 poster was$2.50.
And when I was 13 years old, ohmy gosh, it seemed like so much
(46:51):
money.
All right, so let's bust outthe, the gene portion of this
mural.
There we go.
Yeah, oh, good stuff, let meget it.
Oh yeah, pretty cool, huh, it'sawesome when you're 13,.
It really is awesome whenyou're 13.
(47:12):
I'm glad that, because I didput them up on my bedroom wall
altogether.
I'm glad that when I re-boughtthese they were not new, but
they're in wonderful condition,that each of the posters doesn't
(47:36):
have little pinholes or tacksin them from somebody else
hanging them on their walls.
So it's nice.
They're a little more pristinethan the ones that I had.
All right, so number two, numbertwo in my ranking on the Kiss
solo albums is this one righthere?
Yeah, ace Frehley, ace Frehley.
(47:56):
A lot of people in the KISSworld, kiss Army, will disagree.
This one is a favorite of somany people and you're not wrong
because it's your opinion.
(48:16):
But you know, when this onedropped, everybody was like yes,
celebrating, because, you know,at that point Ace had two lead
vocals.
Period up to that point.
Ace had, ace had two leadvocals.
Uh, period up to that point.
(48:37):
And that was on um, that wasshock me.
On love gun and rocket ride onside four of alive too.
That was the only time we'dheard a sing.
We didn't know that he had thisability, that he had and when he
was, when he was out on his own, stepped out, you know, wrote
an album's worth of songs.
Actually, his, as I read in thefun facts, his list, his guest
(49:05):
list, is like minimal, minimalcompared to everyone else's
albums.
So this was like way more of asolo project than the other four
if you want to look at it thatway.
But it was, it was well.
It's nine tracks.
Let me give you that.
(49:25):
Let me give you that rundownNine tracks.
The running time on is 36minutes and 44 seconds and it,
like I said, it's pretty muchwhat you would expect if you're
a fan of Ace Frehley, probablythe most.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know if it's I wasgoing to say probably the most
(49:46):
Kiss-like sounding album, butI'm not sure.
I'm not sure about that.
Obviously it is very Kisssounding, but I would say it's
even more Ace sounding than itis Kiss sounding.
But any of the songs on hissolo album would fit right in
with the later 70s stuff Rockand Roll Over, love Gun Even if
(50:11):
he had moved forward without thesolo albums Dynasty or Unmasked
, that kind of thing.
I think every single song onhis solo album is better than
any song he performed onUnmasked.
Just hands down, hands down.
So the track listing.
What did I do with it?
Oh there it is.
(50:31):
What did I do with it?
Oh there it is.
So the track listing, side onewe've got Rip it Out, fabulous,
speeding Back to my Baby,snowblind, ozone and what's on
your Mind.
Then we flip it over to sidetwo.
We've got the single New YorkGroove I'm in Need of Love Wiped
(50:56):
Out and Fractured Mirror.
Fractured Mirror, as if youdon't already know, but because
we may not have all KISS fanswatching or listening, but
Fractured Mirror is aninstrumental.
I think it's like almost fiveminutes long.
I don't recall Something likethat From the first.
I think it's like almost fiveminutes long.
I don't recall Something likethat.
I, from the first time I heardit, loved it, loved it.
(51:22):
It's just so good.
And you know, a couple weeks agoI was listening to.
I was listening to Kiss Aliveand, oh, I'm sorry, not Kiss
Alive I was listening to Dressedto Kill.
I was, you know, preparing forthe uh, the celebration of the
50th anniversary of Dressed toKill.
(51:44):
So I'm listening to it and Iwas listening to Rock Bottom and
there's that big acoustical, uhintroduction to Rock Bottom.
It probably goes like a minute10, minute 20.
Because I think the song islike four and a half minutes and
, like I said, minute half ofit's got to be that intro and it
(52:05):
is so good.
But I was listening to it and Ithought, wow, I can kind of see
maybe where Fractured Mirrorcame from, because I've listened
to parts of that and I thoughtFractured Mirror, fractured
Mirror okay, I don't know if itwas the tone, the tuning,
whatever it was, but just sogood.
(52:28):
One is the intro to Rock Bottom, but Fractured Mirror is so, so
good.
But I would say that my favoritesong on here is probably Ozone
and that's just been from likeday one.
It's just something about thatsong and if you know that song,
(52:50):
you know it, you get into.
There's kind of like a.
It's not a bridge, but it'skind of like a I don't know kind
of like a.
It's not a pre-chorus, it'salmost like a post-chorus, I
suppose you know where.
Oh zone and the tuning on theguitar is just so good and I
(53:18):
didn't realize it until yearslater.
You know, you just start topick up things as you become
more involved in music and youlisten a little bit closer to
things.
But you hear Ace's electricguitar in there and his lead and
all that.
But there's an acoustic guitarright behind it and, um, it's
(53:39):
just such a great blend and itjust, I don't know, it's just a
great song.
Ozone, such a great song andhonestly, um, I don't know, uh,
least favorite song, leastfavorite might be, um, might
(54:00):
maybe Wiped Out, I don't know.
Wiped Out's a cool song though,but maybe Wiped Out.
But I, you know, I love it.
It's just a great.
It's a great album, great sound, great production by Eddie
(54:22):
Kramer and, yeah, just, it's sogood, so, so good.
So I just, of course, like I didwith Gene, I'll open up.
There's the merch, there's themerch form, all the good Ace
stuff.
It's all the same on all thealbums.
Just, everything's personalizedfor each guy.
(54:44):
Let's open up the Ace poster.
Oh, I'm looking at this onehere.
This one was just like mine.
Somebody hung this one on thewall.
All right, there's Ace, come on, there's Ace.
Yeah, all right, good stuff,let's see, put all this away.
(55:10):
And of course, I mean I tookout all the suspense.
I mean there's only four albums, right, so there really isn't
much suspense as far as whichone is going to be in the number
one position, and so that oneis right.
Here, as I take it out of theplastic Paul Stanley, paul
(55:35):
Stanley solo album and um, it'sa great album and it's what's
funny is, like I was sayingbuying the buying the albums
back on on eBay a few years ago.
I'm such a dummy, not evenkeeping track of what I'm buying
.
I thought, not even keepingtrack of what I'm buying.
(55:56):
I thought, like I said, Ithought I had the Peter album
and so I don't know how or why,but I had a brain cramp I had
already purchased the Paul album, but no, instead of buying a
Peter, a copy of Peter's album,I bought a second copy of Paul's
album.
So I have two really reallynice copies of Paul's solo album
here on the shelf and no, peter, I mean, and, like I said,
(56:23):
they're really really nice,really in great shape, and just
one of those things.
I don't know, I don't know whatI was thinking and I didn't
realize it until I mean, I getit in the mail, open it up.
Oh yeah, paul, paul.
And then I go and I put it withthe other album.
I said, wait a second, there'salready a Paul right here.
What's the matter with me?
So, like I said earlier, ebay,here I come.
(56:47):
But so Tale of the Tape onPaul's album.
It's nine songs, running timeis 35 minutes and 10 seconds and
the track listing is side oneTonight you Belong to Me, move
(57:07):
On, ain't Quite Right, wouldn'tyou Like to Know Me?
Take Me Away.
Together is one.
Then you flip it over to sidetwo and you've got it's Alright,
Hold Me, touch Me and, inparentheses, think of Me when
we're Apart.
And then you've got Love inChains and the album closes with
Goodbye, fitting song to closethe album.
(57:30):
Goodbye is a great song.
It really, really is.
Love, the lyrics, the messagingin it.
Yeah, it is, it's a great song,great way to close out the
album.
I was lucky enough to see Paulperform on his solo tour back in
(57:54):
06 for the Live to Win albumand Goodbye was in the set list.
So that was really, really cool.
But so was Tonight you Belongto Me, another great song, I
think.
Let me see here, let me seewhat did he do that night?
He did Tonight you Belong to Me.
I think he opened the show withthat.
Tonight you Belong to Me,because I think he opened the
(58:16):
show with that and he didGoodbye.
I don't.
I think he did one more.
I don't remember if he did.
If he did, it's all right, orlove and chains, I don't know, I
(58:45):
don't, I don't remember.
I have to really really do someresearch on that one but but he
did like three, four songs offof this album.
So good stuff.
Certainly the guest list is notnearly as long, but he did have
Bob Kulik do some guitar work onthe album.
Everybody knows Bob Bob's beenassociated with KISS for years.
(59:08):
And then, of course, we allknow Bruce, his brother, right,
let's see who else.
Oh, carmine Apice.
Carmine Apice did some drums.
Let's see.
I'm just kind of going throughand finding the ones that really
stand out that everybody knows.
Oh, and then Pepe Castro.
(59:31):
Now, some of you may not knowPepe Castro, but Pepe Castro was
in a band with Bob Kulik in theearly 80s.
The band was called Balance.
I think they had a couplealbums they released and they
had one top 40 song for sure,maybe two, but I know I remember
(59:54):
one for sure.
That was about 81, I think itwas.
Yeah, so that's theirconnection, um, but you know, I
don't know.
My favorite song on the album isprobably, um, the opening track
tonight you belong to, very,very reminiscent of Black
(01:00:19):
Diamond, or I Want you whereit's got that acoustical opening
and introduction and then itkicks in.
You get your crunchy guitarsand, uh, you get your
traditional great paul stanleyvocal um, not as, probably not
(01:00:43):
as heavy as black diamond, butum, but in that same vein.
So for those of you who arefamiliar, you know what I'm
talking about.
For those of you who arefamiliar, you know what I'm
talking about.
For those of you who aren't,check it out and you'll kind of
see what I'm talking about, Ifyou listen to those three songs,
you'll understand what I'mtalking about.
(01:01:03):
When it comes to the songstructure, but that's probably
my favorite track, I do like.
Take Me Away Together as one.
Just a dynamite song, I Toldyou Goodbye.
The closing track fabulous,it's funny, it's Alright.
I think I may have mentionedthis before, I'm not sure, but
(01:01:24):
on, it's Alright.
If you fast forward to theAsylum album, the song All Night
, there's a breakdown in thatsong, in All Night, that
basically it's all right.
(01:01:44):
I think it's yeah, and it'saround the pre-chorus on All
Night and if you listen to theguitars and you listen to it
it's slowed down, but it's allright.
And from the first time I heardthat song I'm like wait a
(01:02:06):
minute, where have I heard thatbefore?
Okay, oh, yes, it's all right,I don't know.
Just a little.
Another tidbit, another funfact.
Oh, wait a second, I didn't dothis.
A little.
Another tidbit, another funfact.
Oh wait a second, I didn't dothis, didn't do this right here.
Let's get this.
This is always the best partabout KISS albums.
It always, it always.
Well, I shouldn't say the bestpart, but as a kid, that's what
(01:02:28):
you get.
Come on, come on out of there.
There you go it.
It always is.
It was always one of the thingsthat got you fired up.
Um, cause you would get thealbum.
You know.
Get to the record store.
Sometimes you do it rightoutside the record store.
(01:02:50):
I know outside levels.
I couldn't wait to get it homeand get out the door and sit
right in front of Lovells on thesidewalk and open up the album.
I remember opening up Alive 2right there.
But the great thing is, you getthe album.
You rip open the cellophane onit and then you just turn it
sideways and just dump the stuffout and you'd have your Kiss
(01:03:15):
memorabiliaia order form,whatever album it was at the
time.
There's your paul stuff rightthere, um, and then let's get
into our paul poster.
Uh, and if it was like love gunman, I don't, well, we, there
was no poster with Love Gun.
Okay, so there's the Paulposter.
(01:03:36):
Yep, looks good, looks good andit's in really good shape.
It's really really good shape,especially for something that's
like 45 years old or whatever itis.
I think it's older than that,42 years old.
I don't know why.
Do I want to do math right now?
I don't.
But like Love Gun, you, youknow, you open that thing up and
(01:04:01):
you get the little love gunthat you know where you have to.
You know, I don't know whateveryou want to call it uh, kind of
throw it down, sort of, and itpops open and says bang, and
until, of course, the paper ripson it and then you can't use it
anymore.
Or the solo albums.
You're getting these orderforms.
(01:04:21):
I think with love gun you gotan order form as well, the, uh,
I mean a live two.
Oh, that was the best becauseyou got the booklet, you got the
merch form and you got thetattoos.
That was good stuff.
That was good stuff, um, youknow.
(01:04:48):
So, for really, from, like Isaid like destroyer, destroyer
all the way through, um unmaskedthat those few years right
there, that's when we started toget some, uh, some good stuff,
some merch forms and posters andthat kind of thing, great stuff
to look forward to.
So, um, you know, the receptionon Paul's album, just like well,
I don't even remember if Imentioned aces, but like with
ace, it said that was the mostkiss like and it was fabulous,
(01:05:12):
got great reviews.
And it was fabulous, got greatreviews.
Paul's album got great reviews.
So I think to the bulk of youKiss Army geeks out there, like
(01:05:33):
me, it's probably going to beAce or Paul at the number one
spot and I think, because thosealbums are closest to what we
would look forward to inlistening to our favorite band
and each member of the band,that's what we would want from
them.
And then you know it's going tobe a toss-up between Gene and
Peter for number three or numberfour.
(01:05:54):
I think on the whole, that'swhat it is.
Okay.
Certainly it's not each andevery one of you out there, and
I think, probably for the samereasons as I'm expressing to you
, but just good stuff.
Um, and come on, do you reallyneed a reason to talk about KISS
(01:06:18):
?
I don't know, and it's so funny.
Is they wrapped up touring backin December of 2023.
So it's been a little over ayear ago and there's still so
much to talk about in his world.
There's so much stuff, there'ssomething always going on and
(01:06:39):
there's a.
You know, of course, this isnot a KISS podcast, but there's
a bazillion KISS podcasts outthere and they still have stuff
to talk about all the time.
There's a never ending amount ofconversation to be had when it
comes to this band.
There's never a never endingamount of conversation to be had
when it comes to this band.
It's just something about him.
Something about him and, as theguys that I think it was Paul
(01:07:03):
the one that said it you knowwhat Love us or hate us, that's
fine, but you're still talkingabout us.
Now, I didn't quote him.
That's more paraphrasing, butthat's what he would say.
You're still talking about us.
No, now, I didn't quote him.
That's more paraphrasing, butthat's what he would say.
You're still talking about us,no matter what, and that's all
(01:07:25):
they cared about, so anyway.
So yeah, from bottom to top,we've got Peter, gene, ace and
Paul.
All good stuff.
That's just how I would rankthem, but I enjoy each and every
one of them, for a differentreason, I suppose.
But it's great stuff, and yeah,there you go.
(01:07:50):
Leave your ranking in thecomments and give me some
reasons why, too.
You know you agree, disagree,whatever it is.
That's what it's all about.
Let's have some fun here, allright.
So let's kick you loose.
You guys can get on with therest of your day, your evening,
your weekend, whatever it mightbe.
Go have yourselves a great time, all right.
(01:08:13):
As you know, this program isavailable wherever you get your
podcasts.
Okay, it's on all the streamingservices.
Just search the Ben Maynardprogram Boom, it's there.
Subscribe to it.
Okay, please subscribe to it.
Okay.
I'm not asking you to subscribebecause I'm going to make any
kind of money.
(01:08:33):
Honestly, I'm not All right,I'm just.
I'm just not.
That's the way it is.
But anyway, subscribe to it,okay, cause then you'll get
notifications every single timea new episode is published.
Okay, and then, if you'rewatching on YouTube, thank you
very much, appreciate it,appreciate you putting up with
(01:08:56):
some of this right here, okay,and.
But you got to do me a favor.
Three things you have to do,actually, really four.
First thing is you have tosubscribe to the channel and hit
the notification bell.
Okay, again, you'll getnotified every time a new
episode hits.
Then, secondly, you have to giveme a thumbs up, because the
(01:09:16):
thumbs ups, the likes, aretremendously important.
I'm finding this stuff out.
You know I'm an idiot.
I don't, I don't know thesethings.
I'm finding out this stuff.
They're tremendously important.
I get 200 views on an episodeand like four likes.
It's like what?
To this day?
Please don't do it.
I don't want to jinx it, but tothis day, 84 episodes in not
(01:09:39):
one thumbs down, not one.
So, yes, thank you, but come on,an episode gets some views.
You got to give me some morethumbs up.
I mean everybody that watchesit.
I don't care if you watch itfor five minutes or the entirety
of the episode.
You got to give me a thumbs up,all right, it's just hitting
the little thumb right there.
So give me that thumbs up.
(01:10:02):
And then you have to leave acomment.
Okay, you've got to do that.
And then, after you leave acomment.
You got to tell 10,000 of yourfamily and friends.
You got to tell them watch thiscool guy.
He's kind of an idiot, but he'sstill pretty cool and he's way
entertaining.
So you gotta tell 10,000 ofyour family and friends about
(01:10:25):
the show, okay, and they canwatch it on YouTube, they can
listen to it on their favoritestreaming service.
Either way, it doesn't matter,just get it done.
Okay, come on, help out abrother, all right?
Last but not least, follow meon Instagram.
Simply, ben Maynard program.
All one word.
All right, all right, enoughenough, enough enough, all right
(01:10:46):
.
Thanks again.
So much for being here.
Everybody, be good toyourselves and be good to each
other.
This is the Ben Maynard program.
Tell a friend.
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