Hot In The Shade

"Betrayed" mixes a harsh "law of the jungle" attitude and some cynical dismissal of self-pity-"you ain't crucified, so get real" and "you ain't the only one who's been betrayed" and an affirmation on not selling out. All his songs here have this harsh, realist grabbing life by the throat and strangling it till one's dreams come true motif.

Paul's "Hide Your Heart" was co-written by Desmond Child and Holly Knight. A tragic street gang love triangle is the story here, with a moral, something not usually present in KISS songs. Paul and Desmond also collaborate on "You Love Me To Hate You"

"Prisoner Of Love" co-written by Gene and Bruce, is sung by the former and benefits from the ferocity of Bruce's guitar.

With the rap in "Read My Body," I detect a return to "All Hell's Breaking Loose" from Lick It Up, but with a power-intense sound like Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

I should've definitely followed Gene's advice in "Love's A Slap In The Face," where the title and the chorus tell it like it is: "Sometimes love is like a slap in the face/you've been burned and it's the same old mistake/if you want my opinion I'll give it to you straight." I bought this CD in 1990, why didn't I listen? This is one of five songs co-written by Vini Poncia, who produced Dynasty and Unmasked for them.

The power ballad "Forever," written by Paul and (gag!) Michael Bolton, became the group's first foray into the Top 40 since "I Was Made For Lovin' You" and second Top Ten hit.

"Cadillac Dreams" another Simmons-Poncia collaboration, is one of the most hard-driving songs here, and its focus being on money being the answer to dreams. However, there is some of the scoring with girls motif here: "[she] checked into a one-room suite/the back seat of my car." The horn arrangements were done by Paul.

Gene's "Boomerang" is another rapidfire drum and guitar attack reminiscent of "No No No" from Crazy Nights, also sung by Gene.

The rest of the album sports the same sound throughout with hardly any variation. However, I've noticed a couple things. In terms of lead vocals, the songs are evenly divided between 7 sung by Paul, 7 by Gene, and "Little Caesar" by Eric Carr, making me wonder if the equality in songs between the two had further meanings. Another is the number of songwriters co-writing with them, including a name from their past. And it looks like they're trying a mixed bag of winning and new formulas, production by Gene and Paul, ace songwriters, and bringing back a producer from the past.

Although a worthy release, in terms of being heavy, Hot In The Shade doesn't equal or rival their albums from Creatures up to Crazy Nights. There is a degree of energy in it, and it starts out good, but the lack of variation from song to song and its lacking the aggression of Animalize or Asylum or the energy of Crazy Nights become debits. Maybe less songs would've made it better, as this had possibilities. This album also serves as Eric Carr's epitath, as he died of heart cancer in November 1991.

The rest of this album is okay, but it isn't up to par with a lot of other Kiss fare. "Revenge" is a better modern Kiss album, but if you're diehard, buy "Hot in the Shade."