KISS News Bits

[chefcraig]

Bob Kulick played lead guitar on those studio tracks not Rick!!

Rick played the guitar solo on "Exciter" from Lick it Up.

According to the book KISS: Behind the Mask (which was published with the "band's" consent), it was Derringer who did play guitar on the Alive II studio tracks. This is also verified in the book Rory Gallagher, Steve Marriott, Rick Derringer And Robin Trower, by Dan Muise. The thing is, who indeed played what on some KISS albums tends to lead into a very gray area. For instance, Simmons would more often than not fork over his bass if another player had a better idea, and Peter Criss was removed from the drums altogether for the recording of Dynasty. Trying to name which player did what on a KISS record is a difficult task, mainly because when it came to recording, this was a band that existed only in theory. Believe it or not, a bizarre form of quality control was in place, with the song being far more important than who actually played on it. This does sound laughable when given the results, yet it was the standard operating procedure at the time. And considering the lead guitar parts on the current Sonic Boom album are little more than "samples" from Ace Frehley's work in the past, very little has changed.

[Hellraiser!!]

According to the book KISS: Behind the Mask (which was published with the "band's" consent), it was Derringer who did play guitar on the Alive II studio tracks. This is also verified in the book Rory Gallagher, Steve Marriott, Rick Derringer And Robin Trower, by Dan Muise. The thing is, who indeed played what on some KISS albums tends to lead into a very gray area. For instance, Simmons would more often than not fork over his bass if another player had a better idea, and Peter Criss was removed from the drums altogether for the recording of Dynasty. Trying to name which player did what on a KISS record is a difficult task, mainly because when it came to recording, this was a band that existed only in theory. Believe it or not, a bizarre form of quality control was in place, with the song being far more important than who actually played on it. This does sound laughable when given the results, yet it was the standard operating procedure at the time. And considering the lead guitar parts on the current Sonic Boom album are little more than "samples" from Ace Frehley's work in the past, very little has changed.

Maybe I'm making some confusion....but I'm sure Rick did played on "Exciter"...I read this book a few years ago already...I need to check this info again!


I remember I read in the book that no one really knows who actually played what on KISS records!! A thousand ghost players, probably!!

[UK ROCKER]

To me KISS have always been a bit of a joke band, In the studio they were medicore muso's at best and live it was all smokes bombs and lights to cover up how shite they really are.30+ years on and they are still getting away with it, well sort of

[Mr Badguy]

[QUOTE=Hellraiser!!;1396827]Maybe I'm making some confusion....but I'm sure Rick did played on "Exciter"...I read this book a few years ago already...I need to check this info again![QUOTE]

That`s right.

Appartently Vinnie`s solo was too technical so they replaced it.

He wasn't happy about it, either.

[FORD]

Trying to name which player did what on a KISS record is a difficult task, mainly because when it came to recording, this was a band that existed only in theory. Believe it or not, a bizarre form of quality control was in place, with the song being far more important than who actually played on it. This does sound laughable when given the results, yet it was the standard operating procedure at the time.

Actually this makes perfect sense, when you remember that Kiss' management, and the guys at Casablanca Records actually started out in the bubblegum music industry of the late 60's/early 70's. It was entirely a common practice in the bubblegum world for bands not to play on their own records, in some extreme cases, nobody in the "band" would be on the record, and the band would go on tour and be expected to play songs from "their" album that they had nothing to do with.

[Mr Badguy]

Actually this makes perfect sense, when you remember that Kiss' management, and the guys at Casablanca Records actually started out in the bubblegum music industry of the late 60's/early 70's. It was entirely a common practice in the bubblegum world for bands not to play on their own records, in some extreme cases, nobody in the "band" would be on the record, and the band would go on tour and be expected to play songs from "their" album that they had nothing to do with.

That hasn`t happened YET, although some songs come pretty close.

Don`t rule it out, though.

[UK ROCKER]

Kiss sheep?

[Golden AWe]

Is Ace the only original member that doesn`t wear a wig?

Does moon go around the earth? Is there salt in the waters of sea? Was Hitler a poof?

[Terry]

Actually this makes perfect sense, when you remember that Kiss' management, and the guys at Casablanca Records actually started out in the bubblegum music industry of the late 60's/early 70's. It was entirely a common practice in the bubblegum world for bands not to play on their own records, in some extreme cases, nobody in the "band" would be on the record, and the band would go on tour and be expected to play songs from "their" album that they had nothing to do with.

Was kind of a mild letdown when this info started slowly leaking out (seemed to notice it started in the early to mid 1990s). A bit lame to say, I suppose, but I was one of those chumps who thought (or wanted to believe) back in the day that Kiss Alive (for example) WAS, in fact, mostly live. To find that out about Kiss Alive 2 re: the "live" sides wouldn't be such a shock, since all of that sounded a bit TOO slick and perfect at times. It eventually came out that Peter didn't play at all on Unmasked (Anton Fig cut most of the album) and he only played on Dirty Living on Dynasty (with Anton Fig doing most of that album, too). Ace did the bass on Rocket Ride, and played bass on several other tracks. Seems like most of this kind of stuff happened from Alive through to Unmasked. Kinda what chef said, about the result transcending the particulars.

[Mr Badguy]

Was kind of a mild letdown when this info started slowly leaking out (seemed to notice it started in the early to mid 1990s). A bit lame to say, I suppose, but I was one of those chumps who thought (or wanted to believe) back in the day that Kiss Alive (for example) WAS, in fact, mostly live. To find that out about Kiss Alive 2 re: the "live" sides wouldn't be such a shock, since all of that sounded a bit TOO slick and perfect at times. It eventually came out that Peter didn't play at all on Unmasked (Anton Fig cut most of the album) and he only played on Dirty Living on Dynasty (with Anton Fig doing most of that album, too). Ace did the bass on Rocket Ride, and played bass on several other tracks. Seems like most of this kind of stuff happened from Alive through to Unmasked. Kinda what chef said, about the result transcending the particulars.

It`s not like Kiss are the first band to do this.

The Beatles had many songs that didn`t have the whole band on them, or things like Paul playing lead guitar instead of George and Jimi Hendrix overdubbed bass parts where he wasn`t happy with what was played by whoever was playing bass.

I don`t have a problem with the Alive albums either, as anyone who has bootlegs or the "Kissology" DVDs will know that they did actually sound that good live anyway.

[Terry]

It`s not like Kiss are the first band to do this.

The Beatles had many songs that didn`t have the whole band on them, or things like Paul playing lead guitar instead of George and Jimi Hendrix overdubbed bass parts where he wasn`t happy with what was played by whoever was playing bass.

I don`t have a problem with the Alive albums either, as anyone who has bootlegs or the "Kissology" DVDs will know that they did actually sound that good live anyway.

Yeah, but it was particularly distressing to find out Kiss had done this...all my adolescent beliefs in the band were shattered

[sonrisa salvaje]

Anybody ever hear the Kiss Killers cd? Was just wondering if the 4 studio songs that were done for that album were any good. I heard Kulick was on guitar instead of Ace but no big surprise since Ace was barely on The Elder. Let me know who you guys think.

[ace diamond]

Anybody ever hear the Kiss Killers cd? Was just wondering if the 4 studio songs that were done for that album were any good. I heard Kulick was on guitar instead of Ace but no big surprise since Ace was barely on The Elder. Let me know who you guys think.

it's bob kulick, not bruce.
the 4 new songs on there sucks serious ass chunks.

[sonrisa salvaje]

Much appreciated. If the 4 tracks were decent i would get it. I was hoping maybe they were like Creatures of the Night. Oh well.....

[chefcraig]

Much appreciated. If the 4 tracks were decent i would get it. I was hoping maybe they were like Creatures of the Night. Oh well.....

It also depends on which version of the album you are thinking of picking up. The Japanese and Australian releases have additional tunes not on the European release. It isn't completely awful, and if you can get it from a cut-out bin for a couple of dollars, it's worth the purchase. But certainly don't pay full price for it.