Casablanca - 1978
2.5/10
As I’ve already stated, the Kiss solo records fared quite differently from each other, and the most stark contrast might be between Ace Frehley’s and Peter Criss’s. The drummer has by now had a bit of a reputation for singing the softer songs, with his heavier hitters mostly being a flop (save for “Black Diamond”). It only makes sense then, that Peter Criss is loaded with soft songs, between actual ballads and ones that just take a steady beat crossed with a warm tone. Surely he must have nailed it, right?
Unfortunately the answer is a resounding no. The upbeat tunes that would fit on a Village People album are unflattering even by that standard, and calling the ballads sugary would be an insult to every great ‘80s power ballad that I’d describe as such. Part of me wants to believe this was a look into the far more perfected “disco” era of Kiss, but I can’t say that. For one, Criss was all but absent after this year, and for two, the rest of the band made that work wonders; but more on that at a later time.
Perhaps one could appreciate the bouncy beats and uplifting vibes, but there’s no substance at all. The closest to a good song we get is “Tossin’ And Turnin’,” but good luck ignoring the ridiculous repetition and stupid chorus. The closest to a rock song we get is opener “I’m Gonna Love You,” and that’s if you count the likes of Pat Boone as rock. “Don’t You Let Me Down” sounds like an awful Paul Simon ripoff, giving him a bad name, which leads me to conclude that all of these songs could have been good if they were written by an artist that was, ya know, good at this style. Also, the song titles; what the hell kind of title is “Now That’s The Kind Of Sugar Papa Likes”? For the billionth time, that’s bad for the standards of other soft pop or regular Kiss cheese.
Knowing this, it shouldn’t be surprising that this is easily the worst record the band put out, if you count each solo effort as canon. I do, and for that, I don’t understand how a band whose biggest error was having a few too many fillers on a few albums could let this happen. If you extract every mild complaint I have about prior albums, inject them into one entity, and spit out songs around that, you get Peter Criss’s solo disc. Uninspiring, filler, cheesy, repetitive, and unflattering garbage.
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