Customer Reviews

Gene Simmons

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have my second roommate at NMSU, Deon Arteaga, to thank for pushing me more into KISS's music, and Gene Simmons' solo album was one of the selections he had (among others). I was expecting something that went beyond the boundaries of KISS's c-ck rock, say what he would actually do to Christine Sixteen, but no, the Demon displayed a conventional but eclectic mix of music as well as many guest stars. Among the backing vocalists is Katey Segal, later of Married With Children fame, and producer Sean Delaney.

"Radioactive" is the most KISS-like song, easily fitting on either the debut album or Love Gun, but it's got too much of that early 70's (read classic rock) sound. Radioactive is definitely one way to describe a real hot woman, but beware that radiation! Bob Seger and Aerosmith's Joe Perry help out.

"Burning Up With Fever" starts with a nice guitar played in a kind of Oriental style, before going into rock mode. One of the backing vocalist here is Donna Summer, also a Casablanca Records alumnus like KISS back then.

"See You Tonite" is one of a few songs with a Beatles influence, say a mid-tempo version of their Help! period, maybe even pre-Hard Day's Night era and it's a mid-tempo number with symphonic arrangements, courtesy of members of the NY and LA Philharmonics.

Per the innuendo "Tunnel of Love" means what it says, especially with the "you are the lock I am the key" line, meaning that the demon hasn't lost his satyr-like aspects. Joe Perry contributes here.

"True Confessions" has a slowed down 60's-type soul/pop with a melange of backing vocalists, Helen "I Am Woman" Reddy, the Azusa Citrus College Choir (my favourite part of the song), and a piano boogie.

"Living In Sin" shows the tried and true demon KISS fans know. Bob Seger and Cher guest here. The soul piano and backing vocalists again make this a quick soulful number that could easily fit on Peter Criss's album, except that the electric guitar adds a rock dimension not too present on the Criss one, and Peter wouldn't have a woman going into fast-talking hysteria and then gasping in ecstasy while talking to him on the phone.

"Man of 1,000 Faces" is an ode to the James Cagney movie about silent movie star Lon Chaney, whose myriad disguises gave him that monicker. The symphonic arrangements are present here.

Probably my favourite mellow song is "Mr. Make Believe" as it too has a Beatles influence, Rubber Soul era, maybe earlier, but with Phil Spector's symphonic wall of sound.

Of the KISS members, Gene's the only one to reprise a KISS song, and he takes Rock And Roll Over's "See You In Your Dreams" with the backing section of female singers making a difference.

That segues into a cover of the schmaltzy Walt Disney standard "When You Wish Upon A Star", the last song I'd expect him to cover.

The number of soft songs is amazing for the demon, whose human side comes out, and it's those I like more. And the more rocking numbers fit more into conventional 70's rock than the glam metal familiar to KISS, so proving that he could do more than sing about his conquests or rock and roll, displayed his creativity and diverse influences. For that reason, Gene Simmons' solo album ties for second with Ace's.

Gene Simmons (1978.) A solo album by the KISS member.

On September 18, 1978, KISS did something no other rock band has ever done to this day - all four members released a solo album on the same day. Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss would now not only be recognized for their music-making abilities as a group, but also as solo artists.

Gene Simmons is the most popular member of KISS, so many long time fans of the band had high hopes for his solo album. For his 1978 solo release, he did an album that consisted of rock ballads, as well as rock songs that closely followed the stylings of the day. Did he succeed? Read on for my review of the album.

Radioactive (NOT the Bad Company song) kicks off the album. It features a very nice orchestral opening, and then it becomes an excellent blues rock song. Gene couldn't have started the album off better. We get more excellent blues-based rock in Burning Up With Fever and True Confessions. In the latter track, the piano is a very nice touch. With that sinister look on Gene's face, you wouldn't expect him to create ballads very well, but you'd be surprised! See You In Your Dreams should shatter any doubts you have about his ballad-creating abilities. A number of other awesome rockers can be found here, such as Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide, which sounds like a cross between Pink Floyd and David Bowie, and Mr. Make Believe, which is the closest thing on the album to a KISS song. The album closes with When You Wish Upon A Star, which is a cover of the song popularized by the Disney corporation. Although the album is excellent, this concluding track made me sick. Why in the hell would Gene cover THAT song!? Still, that doesn't make it a bad album.

I have noticed that this album gets VERY mixed reviews. Why? This is a solid classic rock album through and through. Okay, maybe it's not perfect, or up to the quality of Paul Stanley's solo album from the same year, but it's still a great album. I recommend this to any fan of KISS or classic hard rock. However, due to all the mixed opinions, I recommend you listen before you buy.

Gene Simmons (1978.) A solo album by the KISS member.

On September 18, 1978, KISS did something no other rock band has ever done to this day - all four members released a solo album on the same day. Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss would now not only be recognized for their music-making abilities as a group, but also as solo artists.

Gene Simmons is the most popular member of KISS, so many long time fans of the band had high hopes for his solo album. For his 1978 solo release, he did an album that consisted of rock ballads, as well as rock songs that closely followed the stylings of the day. Did he succeed? Read on for my review of the album.

Radioactive (NOT the Bad Company song) kicks off the album. It features a very nice orchestral opening, and then it becomes an excellent blues rock song. Gene couldn't have started the album off better. We get more excellent blues-based rock in Burning Up With Fever and True Confessions. In the latter track, the piano is a very nice touch. With that sinister look on Gene's face, you wouldn't expect him to create ballads very well, but you'd be surprised! See You In Your Dreams should shatter any doubts you have about his ballad-creating abilities. A number of other awesome rockers can be found here, such as Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide, which sounds like a cross between Pink Floyd and David Bowie, and Mr. Make Believe, which is the closest thing on the album to a KISS song. The album closes with When You Wish Upon A Star, which is a cover of the song popularized by the Disney corporation. Although the album is excellent, this concluding track made me sick. Why in the hell would Gene cover THAT song!? Still, that doesn't make it a bad album.

I have noticed that this album gets VERY mixed reviews. Why? This is a solid classic rock album through and through. Okay, maybe it's not perfect, or up to the quality of Paul Stanley's solo album from the same year, but it's still a great album. I recommend this to any fan of KISS or classic hard rock. However, due to all the mixed opinions, I recommend you listen before you buy.

I'll admit it: I love much of Gene's solo album. I didn't always! I always thought it was too weird, too flaky, not rock enough. Now with a few years behind me, I like it enough to give it 4 stars. When I was a kid I would have given it 1 star just because it's not rock. There's very little here that rocks.

The bass (by Neil Jason) is way too funky and I never liked it, and I still don't. But it was the late 70's, and disco was happening, and we all know how Kiss responded to disco. There's not enough guitar and too much backing vocals.

But this is kind of the point of Gene Simmons' solo album. He crammed in as many people as possible to make a cast-of-thousands record suitable to his ego. Cher, Joe Perry, Rick Neilson, Katy Sagal...you can google the credits yourself. (Interestingly, Gene also wanted Lassie the dog, and the Beatles. He couldn't get the Beatles, so he got Beatlemania!)

There's some truly excellent material on this album. Those songs are:

3. See You Tonite
7. Always Near You/Nowhere to Hide
8. Man of 1, 000 Faces
9. Mr. Make Believe

None are rock songs. "See You Tonite" and "Mr. Make Believe" are Beatles-like acoustic tracks, gorgeous in arrangement and performance. I always liked those two, even as a kid. "Man of 1,000 Faces" is epic, with big orchestra and a point of view more similar to the Demon's. (I can put on any face/You won't see me but it's no disgrace/The king of night, he understands.) It was inspired by Lon Chaney so obviously there's a little bit of the Demon in it. "Always Near You/Nowhere to Hide" starts off very quietly and then goes into the big "Nowhere to Hide" section, with orchestra and Gene's falsetto, which I actually like a lot. A lot of this stuff was written pre-Kiss, pre-Wicked Lester.

"See You In Your Dreams" is a remake of the Kiss song. I don't like it as much as Kiss' version, and I find the backing vocals distracting and obtrusive. Most of side 1, I find to be too funky and not nearly as interesting as the acoustic stuff. "Radioactive" has some spark but sounded better sung live by Kiss with a little more reckless groove.

The final track, "When You Wish Upon A Star", is exactly what you think it is. Regardless of Gene's intentions it's only there as a novelty. Something to play for your friends if you want to say, "Wanna hear something really funny?" Maybe something to throw on a mix CD when you only have 2 minutes left to fill on the disc and you want to end it with a laugh.

Four stars for the great material. Beware the rest!

I heard Gene thought his solo album was the best of the four. Oh really? Only the song "See You in Your Dreams" saves this effort from sinking to a one star rating. After listening to all 4 solo albums (on vinyl) again after 25 years, it is way "too" easy to see why Kiss went downhill after Ace's departure. Paul's effort is solid, but only a shade above ordinary hard rock. And bless Peter for trying. This? You'll maybe listen to it once all the way thru; that's if you don't keel over laughing during the final track. The sound samples here are all you need to convince you.

Gene Simmons seem to believe his solo album was the best, as well as the most liked. I would say that Simmons recorded the least exciting album of the four Kiss members. The opening "Radioactive" is the album's highlight. The Beatles sounding "See you tonight" and the quite rocking "Burning up with fever" are better than the average, but when it comes to the closing "When you wish upon a star", I certainly wish that Simmons would shut up - it's plain awful. The overall impression is that it's rather lame and the material is in fact quite weak more than occasionally. Simmons sure have a talent for business, but he surely think too much of his musical skills.

This is by far the worst of the solo albums. It is very unfocused, very eclectic, and most of the songs are not very good. When You Wish Upon A Star was a very bad idea. There are a couple of really good songs like Radioactive, Mr. Make Believe, and See You Tonite.

I have no idea what Gene was attempting to pull off with this album, so for all I know it wasn't an attempt, he was successful. But I hope for his sake it was more like a failed experiment. Kinda like a mix of chemicals sitting on a Bunsen Burner and exploding into a fireball of badness. I hate to focus on negatives in my reviews, but I feel it's necessary to steer the unwitting clear of this one. I think that it's fairly obvious just by reading the (breif) liner notes what can be expected. We see that an orchestra is credited, and then the appearances by Donna Summer, Helen Reddy (!?!?!!), and Cher. Yeah, overproduction, overextension, and ultimately overblown. I'm sure Gene had a big role in "Music from the Elder," too. There is an interesting parallel here. Not that I could do any better, but really, we expected much more from you, Gene.

I listen to the entire CD and found it was well done, not the best but well done. I could tell that people where expecting something harder but if you give this CD a try, then you can say if you like or not. It could have been done more better then it was but when you are the only one writing the song for this CD then there would be less ideal and maybe he didn't want to create an over baster of metal that we hear from Kiss, but something that diffent. I think that if he does another CD, I think he would get it right and heavy but most people would still not like it. This CD is somewhat heavy if you listen to it. To tell you the truth he sound something like Paul.

Unlike Ace and Paul, Gene and Peter seemed to truly understand the idea behind the 'solo' albums. It was to let them each create without having the others critique, something that would never happen on a Kiss record. The 1,000,000 copy release of each of the four albums almost bankrupt the band and Casablanca Records, with Ace scoring the only hit, but the songs on Gene's and especially Peter's albums showed something that at that time was far removed from the standard Kiss rock tunes.