Casablanca - 1978
5/10
Out of all of the solo efforts, Gene Simmons’s attempt at a disc full of his own songs is one of the hardest to discuss due to it being the only one without a real flow. Ace Frehley’s is consistently strong and heavy with a few extra tactics, while Peter Criss’s is consistently terrible songs that should have been played by other musicians (but consistent nonetheless). The best way to describe the Kiss bassist’s shot has similar funk nods that fare as poor as it sounds, with a few good tracks worked into the mix. So we’ll go about dissecting Gene Simmons by discussing those separately from the rest.
The unfortunate part is that there are really only two tracks I ever come to this record for. Opener “Radioactive” is a common, popular choice for good reason, as it has a catchy trade-off chorus and strong but softer gallops to lead us there. The menacing intro is admittedly a bit overkill considering how harmless the song is, but it’s fine. The other is the quick, acoustic/clean ballad “See You Tonite.” Had it gotten bigger, every acoustic guitar nerd at parties would probably be playing it. Simple rhythm, straightforward lyrics, and nice, stripped-down emotional fun.
Sadly, there’s very little to get beyond these two songs. While it doesn’t suffer to the levels of failed funk, ballad, and contemporary pop attempts as the Catman’s, there really shouldn’t have been this many channels in that vein (at least not yet). Just because you’re the bassist doesn’t mean Seinfeld licks should carry your album, which can be found just about everywhere else. Adding insult to injury, things get repetitive more so than the forgivable Kiss levels, all of this reflected heavily in “Tunnel Of Love.” There was really no reason to re-record “See You In Your Dreams,” as the Rock ‘N Roll Over version of that was just fine on its own, and the phone-call sample in “Livin’ In Sin” was ridiculous even by their standards. “Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide” gives off creepy vibes when it was clearly meant to be flattering, which it wasn’t; I’d describe most of this that way.
If we didn’t see it before, this record shows the most glaring looks to the future of Gene Simmons being one of the cockiest and un-self aware frontmen in rock history. The typically small complaints I have on early Kiss are in full display. Save for the two standouts, this ranges from “I guess it’s fine” to “this sucks.” I’m sure some longtime fans have a soft spot for it, but to those digging in for the first time, it’s pretty skippable.
No comments:
Post a Comment