Customer Reviews

Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've had this album for a while, but hadn't listened to it much. Now it's in my car and I'm developing stronger opinions about it.

First of all... I don't think there's another album where I disagree with so many Amazon reviews.

Second of all... some explanation of my grading. I believe that if you're going to do a cover, you have to bring something to the party to make it an interesting version and in some way better than the original. Note for note copies are worthless. Did you ever hear Poison's cover of Loggins and Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance"? This to me is the worst cover of all time. They do nothing new, except smooth over any actual articulation of the lyrics, and they don't even bring the high heat. Frankly, if you can't rock harder than Kenny Loggins, then for God's sake, DO NOT COVER HIS SONGS! Please. This is not a high bar. Bottom line... three stars on my scale means "worth listening to" and five means "You just have to hear this."

Now for this album....
1. Deuce - Lenny Kravitz (Four stars)
The crutch to avoid on this song is depending on the percussive effect of the main riff. That is what makes this song unforgettable and distinctly KISS. Lenny not only doesn't lean on it, he omits it entirely. Instead, he puts in his thing: Those self-harmonizing two-line vocals. Keep the critical steady hard drumbeats and add the harmonica solo, and you have a song that enriches the canon. Good job.

2. Hard Luck Woman - Garth Brooks (One star)
I can't believe other people like this cover. By my criteria, it absolutely bites. Garth's version adds nothing. I have the distinct impression that he was so happy to be on a tribute album of a band he liked when he was a kid that he picked one that he could do in his style and "respect it" by doing nothing different. What would have been much much better is if Gene had landed Rod Stewart to sing it, as the original intention was to get him to record it in the first place. Gene's got such good business sense that I have to think he tried and it just didn't work out.

3. She - Anthrax (Three stars)
I don't remember too much about this song except that I felt that it was probably a pretty fair infusion of style and trademark sound of a band I don't listen to. Good drumming. Actually, there's good energetic drumming on this whole album.

4. Christine Sixteen - Gin Blossoms (three stars)
Like "Deuce," it would be easy to lean on the piano part, but the Gin Blossoms pay proper respect by keeping it out of the intro and saving it for the chorus. You can't take it out entirely... it's just too important, but you can dial it back a little for flavor, and so they did. The readings of Gene's talking lines are a little drab, but they redeemed it at the end with, "I don't usually say things like this to girls your age... well, maybe sometimes."

5. Rock And Roll All Night - Toad The Wet Sprocket (Three stars)
This was the song I was most interested in hearing when I got the album. At first, I was very disappointed with the tempo change and the overall treatment. But then I decided that it was a bold move, and there's no point in trying to rock harder than KISS on this song. So Glen backed away from that challenge and went the other way entirely. Good for him.

6. Calling Dr. Love - Shandi's Addiction (Four stars)
This song starts with an entirely unrecognizeable intro, then clears the deck for one lone overdriven guitar than bangs out the main riff. Then they let the cowbell fall in ("I need more COWBELL!") and I think with that you have the finest four-bar instrumental tribute to KISS on the whole album. That pretty much sums up the exultation of loving KISS as a kid and taking it home with the air guitar. Another treat is the odd vocals on the chorus. It's not harmony, and it's not unison. It's one voice singing the line straight and another talking it over a megaphone. I don't know who came up with that kooky idea, but it grabs you by the short hairs and makes you listen.

7. Goin' Blind - Dinosaur Jr. (Three stars)
This song is much heavier than the original, and that is for the better. The weight of the instrumentation and the vocals is an improvement for a song that depends on the sickness of the line "I'm 93, you're sixteen, and I think I'm goin' blind."

8. Strutter - Extreme (Three stars)
I have to say that I think Cerone and Nuno stole the show at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert with their version of "Love of My Life -> More Than Words." I think they have a perfect balance of respect for the source material plus adding their own emotion to the songs. Nuno changes the main riff to be unrecognizable, and he delivers on the solo. You think no one but Paul Stanley can bring it on "I know a thing or two about her" but Cerone does a good job.

9. Plaster Caster - The Lemonheads (Three stars)
I like that this song draws attention to an underrated KISS song. I had no idea what this was really about when I was a kid, but the idea and subtlety of "The plaster's gettin' harder and my love is perfection" and "And if you wanna see my love, just ask her" is great rock and roll lyric writing. Plus, coming from Gene (who cataloged all his conquests with Poloroids and notes about each girl's proclivities) it's perfectly ironic to write a song about a woman collecting her casts.

10. Detroit Rock City - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (Four stars)
This song has several brilliant turns. The first is that it opens with the sound of a guy coming home to an answering machine message from Gene saying that they can't do this song because it's spoken for. When he gets to "You can choose ANY OTHER SONG and it'll be fine" they cut him off with the famous intro riff. Kudos to them for telling Gene to shove it on his own product, and to Gene for having a great sense of humor about it. Second, the vocal is a great tribute to Gene singing. I don't mean Gene Simmons' actual voice, but what The Demon would sound like if he actually sung. This isn't a Paul song at all in this version. Thirdly, any band that can pull off horns on the chorus and solo of Detroit Rock City has basically figured out how to jack into the Matrix. Good move.

11. Black Diamond - Yoshiki (Three stars)
Honestly, I think a classical treatment of Black Diamond is both uninspired and missing the point. But they peg my own meter on doing something different, and I can imagine being a teenager again and putting it on for my classical-loving Dad just in hopes of having the joy of having him admit he likes a KISS song. Heh heh. You go, Yoshiki.

While this album has no five star tracks in my opinion (examples: "Top of the World" on the Carpenters' tribute or "U.S. Blues" on "Deadicated"), it is nonetheless a pretty good product. It does the job on having a lot of worthwhile covers.

This set is a great example of how Kiss has changed the face and sound of music in the last 25 years. Who would have thaought that a country singer(Garth Brooks), a soul singer (Lenny Kravitz), an alternitive group (Nine inch Nails), and a Metal artist (Anthraz) would be on one album! The "unplugged" "Rock & roll all Night" by Toad the wet Sprocket is excellent. This collection is a must for every Kiss fan.

Before the Box set, before the reunion tour...there was not much for the starving hardcore kiss fan to chew on besides their old classic tunes over and over...and we listened over and over. Then came KISS MY ASS! A fresh spin on some classic tunes! THIS Album ROCKED! I was skeptical about Garth Brookes; (but he did an awsome cover of Hard luck Woman!) Anthrax! The mighty Boss tones! The Gin Blossoms! Lenny Kravitz(covering Duece! Awsome)and even Toad the wet sprocket with a different spin on Rock and Roll all Nite! The track that floored me the most was the last one: a classical ochestral version of Black Diamond that was outstanding...incredible! Even if you are NOT a Kiss fan like I am; chances are you will enjoy this album on some level! Its a fun album any way you slice it!

Class Kiss Regrooved is yet another tribute album where it appears as if the artists tried to duplicate the originals note for note in deference to the artists. Yes, it's the same strategy used in the Encomium tribute of Led Zeppelin.

Of the play-it-safe songs, Garth Brooks's rendition of "Hard Luck Woman" and the Gin Blossoms' "Christine Sixteen" score the best. Garth doesn't try to consciously imitate Peter Criss's voice so that's in his favour. And I usually don't care for Garth (!) As for "Christine Sixteen," it begins by guitar instead of the piano that the original studio did on Love Gun.

As for the others in that vein, the results are mostly disappointing. Stevie Wonder's harmonica is wasted in Lenny Kravitz's rendition of "Deuce." What is the point? "Goin' Blind" by Dinosaur Jr. has more fuzz guitar but otherwise, same as the original. Extreme slows the tempo on "Strutter" and as a result spoils a classic song. Hearing The Lemonheads "Plaster Caster," I'm tempted to believe Evan Dando's backing band is actually KISS incognito. And given Anthrax's hard thrash reputation, I expected something more out of "She". As it is, it's note-for-note, done in the same tempo, down to the final guitar solo at the end. How disappointing.

OK, now for those not done note-for-note. "Rock And Roll All Nite" is done by Toad The Wet Sprocket, which should serve as a warning that this is slowed way down in their lazy alternative tempo. OK, a different approach, but it doesn't work.

Shandi's Addiction, an ad hoc group put together by Tool/Perfect Circle's Maynard Keen on vocals, with help from Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello, does a weird choppy version of "Calling Doctor Love." This isn't too bad a rendition--it's different in a good way.

As for "Detroit Rock City," there is a duplication of the car starting before the Mighty Mighty Bosstones launch into the song with their usual punk-ska hybrid, guitars and horns present in the chorus. It ain't bad. The best track by far is the lush and orchestral "Black Diamond" by the Japanese group Yoshiki, which peaks to a symphonic crescendo like movie scores in some places. There's a nice Rachmaninoff style piano solo in there too. I picture a vast landscape paradise teeming with greenery and trees with this rendition. This alone is worth the album.

Which KISS albums inspired these bands the most? Here's a breakdown, with nothing beyond Love Gun, i.e. the point where most KISS fans believe KISS peaked.

KISS, 3
Hotter Than Hell, 1
Dressed To Kill, 2
Destroyer, 1
Rock And Roll Over, 1
Love Gun, 3

Like Encomium, there aren't that many adventurous covers of Classic Kiss Regrooved--the artists play it safe, but what puts this below Encomium is the lackluster tracks. Come on, KISS deserved better than this! Overall rating: 2.5 out of 5, rounded up to 3.

The only thing that can possibly be said negatively about this album is that this could have been twice as long, had some of the record companies forgot about competition for a moment in the realization of shared wealth.

Let's face it, even KISS fans will tell you that this is a very wealthy band. Similarly, record labels all want a piece of the royalties pie. Unfortunatley, as good a salesman as Gene Simmons is, apparently, he was unable to convince several competing record labels to loan out their talent to pay tribute to one of the greatest rock bands in history.

It's alright, though, Gene and Paul paid their respects to the other talent by having a special section in the liner notes called "MIA", which listed every other artist who wanted to participate in this project, but was unable to. It has been rumored that Stone Temple Pilots performed a concert in the famous KISS makeup as a protest against them not being allowed by their record label to take part in this project. Speaking of MIA, Gene and Paul also included a note on the back inside cover of the CD to Ace and Peter, and a very special note to their late drummer, Eric Carr.

Now, it has always been said that if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself, and Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley know this better than anyone. Since the start of the band, they have always personally approved every single use of the band's name for every project, something that is far too often left in the hands of someone else these days. With that logic, Gene and Paul decided that if they were going to have a tribute album, they were going to do it themselves. Not satisfied with a record-label produced "greatest hits" package, KISS personally selected all the artists for the album from artists who have publicly stated how KISS has influenced their work.

Given the various genres of the artists on this album, it tunrs out to be quite different than what some might expect, where another artist will perform a song nearly identical to the original recording. If that is what you're looking for, you won't find it here. A prime example is Toad The Wet Sprocket's version of "Rock and Roll All Night".

An excellent album from some very surprising names. Recommended for fans of any of the artist who appear on this record.

Assuming we are all Kiss fans, this will be better the more bands you like. Kravitz seems a good fit for "Duece". I wouldn't expect Gin Blossoms or Toad The Wet Sprocket here, but they both do good covers, especially Toad. Shandi's Addiction is a "supergroup" with the singer from Tool, Faith No More bassist, and half of Rage Against The Machine. I'm a huge fan of Dinosaur Jr., and they rock "Goin' Blind" almost as much as The Melvins. Extreme rocks it, and it's amazing how much Gary Cherone sounds like Paul Stanley. Lemonheads = cool. Overall kick ass tribute, but like all others it just makes you wanna rock the originals.

This CD has been in my collection for a long time and is still not stale. That's because the songs themselves are actually great. KiSS was a childhood infatuation and with all the stage show and kiss army and everything, you would think that there was no substance just hype. It's just not true, those songs really stand out. The choice of artists for this collection is outstanding and it's hard not to laugh and dance.

Most tribute albums are by bands you've never heard of, hoping to get exposure by covering a talented band's songs.
KISS My A$$ on the other hand is an all-star tribute that all other tribute albums should aspire to.

According the the KISS My A$$ video there were a lot more famous bands that wanted to participate but didn't end up on the album, but those who did create enjoyable renditions in their own style.

My favorites are:
-"Dr. Love" by Shandi's Addiction aka Rage Against the Machine/Tool-it's almost unrecognizable, but it's got a great edge to it.
-"Strutter" by Extreme-is a funky cover that Gary Cherone wails on, with Nuno adding in some extra KISS guitar riffs from "God of Thunder" and "Shout It Out Loud"
-"Rock and Roll All Night" by Toad the Wet Sprocket is an accoustic masterpiece, it almost makes you laugh because it's so low-key, but then you realize that the energy of the song is still there.

The rest of the songs are pretty good too, with the exception of Detroit Rock City by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (SKA Sucks!)and "Goin' Blind" by Dinosaur Jr. which really brings the album to a lethargic hault.

KISS fans buy this album and while your at it pick up the only other tribute album to do it right "Ramones: We're A Happy Family" featuring the KISS rendition of "Rock and Roll Radio".

One night, I was sitting up watching the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Garth Brooks was on, being his usual insufferable self, and I almost flipped to another channel when, going out to a commercial, Leno said "We'll be right back with Kiss!" Whaaa? Sure enough, back from the break, Garth launched into "Hard Luck Woman" with the no-makeup Kissters backing him. What a hoot!

So that was enough to get me in the store for this CD and in addition to the aforementioned "Hard Luck Woman" there are some rote remakes and radical rips on classic Kiss tunes. Kravitz's "Deuce" rocks, as does "She" by Anthrax. So do the Gin Blossoms with "Christine Sixteen" (does anyone remember the Gin Blossoms?). Maybe Toad the Wet Sprocket's sluggish version of "Rock and Roll All Nite" is a bad idea, though.

If you're a Kiss fan, you gotta have this. Too.

I love KISS and remember when this came out. People forget that KISS was barely in the spotlight at this time; they were just another weak, faceless hard rock band throughout the 80s and early 90s; a few decent songs but no better than Warrant or Cinderella. It was when the grunge rockers went public with how much they loved and were influenced by KISS that eventually led to the big comeback in the mid-90s, and they've (sorta) been on top ever since, at least as a revitalized money-making machine.
So I just found this for $2.99 at a used record shop and picked it up, and it definitely has some moments.
Deuce was really good, except it goes on a minute+ longer than necessary with all those 'yeah yeah yeahs'.
Hard Luck Woman is the best song on here, and I can't stand Garth Brooks.
She was fine; I have no problem with a straight ahead cover version, and they nail it.
I enjoyed Christine Sixteen and Plaster Caster; not familiar with the latter but I know the story.
Also enjoyed Detroit Rock City (big into the Bosstones at the time) and Goin Blind (still a big Dino Jr. fan).
But Rock and Roll All Night, Dr. Love and Strutter are just puzzling. Nothing wrong with trying to do something different, I guess, but they were hard to listen to. I guess that's a matter of taste. I actually liked Extreme at the time, or a couple years earlier, and they're version is still generic hard rock, just a little bit different. Dr. Love just didn't make any sense, but at least they kept the cowbell. Rock and Roll All Night sounded like a joke.
Black Diamond is one of my favorites, and I didn't mind the classical version. Check out the Replacements version on Let it Be if you've never heard it; pretty awesome.
So don't spend serious money on this. But if you love the band you'll probably like a few of the tunes.