Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unfortunately - NOT the original KISS!, October 29, 2001
Fans of the Original KISS saw this album as a dream come true: Gene, Paul, Ace & Peter back together and in the studio cranking out a new KISS album! Great concept, however, the cd is clearly a typical Gene & Paul album with a bunch of studio musicians rounding things out. This has been admitted by each band member by now: Ace and Peter barely played on this. What was the point of that? Go purchase "Asylum" or "Crazy Nights" if you want to hear the 'Gene & Paul Project' that KISS became after Ace and Peter left the band. These guys should have locked themselves in a rehearsal loft like the old days and created REAL KISS music again! What a horrible disappointment this album is.
As for the actual tunes, things get off to a pretty good start with the title track and "Within" (even though this song is clearly a "Carnival of Souls" leftover). From there, we are left with a bunch of self-aware hackneyed anthems about the band, the fans, and what they have meant to each other. The only other redeeming tune is Gene's final song on the album which could have fit nicely onto "Destroyer" back in 1976.
One hopes that before KISS calls it quits, they will make an album that features only Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter singing, writing, and playing. Give us an actual Original KISS album in the incredible tradition of KISS, Hotter Than Hell, Dressed To Kill, Alive, and Rock And Roll Over. Give us the four guys who started this whole thing - there's nothing like Gene, Paul, Ace, & Peter together.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A revolting chunk o' dung, December 14, 2001
By A Customer
It seems that Simmons/Stanley have become so full of themselves at their advanced ages that they now believe that extremely weak songs by the 2 of them (Just think "Hot In The Shade" or any of the other embarassing efforts on their collective parts) are much better than anything Peter or Ace may have to offer. In fact, this whole album feels like Paul & Gene saying, "Ace, Pete -- we have the power here, & we're still (...). Our songs are far superior to anything you have a part in, and we're REALLY Kiss, not you!"Wrong, fellas. Dead wrong. Ace's sole contribution, "into the Void" is light years beyond the rest of this (stuff). Granted, Pete's song (as sappily penned by none other than Paul) is not good, either, but wouldn't it have been nice to get one last classic KISS album as opposed to Gene/Paul scraps? Guys, you ain't the band by yourselves, no matter what you think. (...), the 4 of them didn't even play together on most of this album. Even a (bad)effort by all 4 throughout would have somehow seemed fulfilling, in a weird, disjointed sort of way -- at least they would have failed as KISS (more Frehley would have prevented this fate, I assure you) instead of Simmons/Stanley's musical rummage sale, which was the product that we actually got (Ace & Peter are FULL members, guys, whether you like it or not). I grew up a masive, worshipful fan. As I get older, the egos of Stanley/Simmons now overpower what might have been an awesome finish to one of my favorite bands of all time. Don't waste your $$$ on this disc. Buy some classic Kiss & wait for Ace's next solo instead. When they were a band, they (were great). Now, as a simple, corporate entity dominated by 2 bitter members who refuse to forgive & forget, they just (are bad).
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
How to enjoy A "GOOD" version of Psycho Circus, November 15, 2006
Yes...it's been well documented by now, that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss barely even play on this record, and Gene and Paul really fooled us into believing that this would be the "Original 4" back together again...well, yes and no. The end result is, this is a "Gene and Paul album" with a few guest appearances from Ace and Peter, mostly on vocals. The only track that features all 4 original members is "Into The Void". Most of the guitar solos are done by either Paul Stanley, or Tommy Thayer. Drums for the most part, are by session guy Kevin Valentine. Would this have been a better record had Ace played lead guitar on every song, or Peter drummed on everything? I'd say yes...because remember on the "Rock And Roll Over" or "Dressed To Kill" albums, when Ace played lead guitar on songs on which he didn't write or sing, and it was awesome, and sounded like a 4 piece rock and roll band? Sure, it would not have been as professional or technically perfect sounding, but who cares? Remember the first 3 albums? They had Classic songs AND were not perfect sounding, sonically, or in the technical sense. They were RAW and REAL sounding. In the Ken Sharp/David Leaf book "Kiss: Behind The Mask" (a great read, by the way), recording engineer Mike Plotnikoff reveals that the main reason Ace and Peter didn't really play on the album was because producer Bruce Fairbairn (R.I.P.) didn't think they were good enough, or tight enough to get the job done in a timely manner, saying "it would have took a year to finish the album" if they were to record it with them. Ok, fine...but in my opinion, Gene and Paul should have insisted that it's either all the original 4, or nothing. They didn't. I'm sure it takes both sides, and maybe Ace and Peter were a bit lazy as well...There's probably lots of reasons why Ace and Peter didn't make the cut, so who knows? They should have, could have, but they didn't.
Now, just taking it for what is...this album is actually not bad when you get down to it. For some reason, I tend to enjoy Gene's material much more than Paul's. "Within", "You Wanted The Best" and "Journey Of 1,000 Years" are all well written, inspired and atmospheric songs, and are highly melodic. I find Paul's tunes to be a bit forced, labored, and at times, corny. As a long time Kiss fan and music buff, I wouldn't blame this on the producer (Paul always does for some reason), as Fairbairn's production here is excellent, while polished, it's a rich sound, yet tight, punchy, and hard rockin'...and all the vocal performances by every member of the band are top-notch, and at times, superb. Gene's vocals on the psychedelic metal "Within" and the Beatle-esque, acoustic sing-along, "We Are One" are especially passionate, believe it or not. And the high powered anthem, "You Wanted The Best", is a blast, featuring all 4 trading verses, and a unique drum pattern/rhythm influenced by 70's glitter kings, The Sweet. Yet, in the end it all comes down to the songwriting. For my money, "Dreamin", and "Raise Your Glasses" are cheesy and dated, almost like rejects from the late 80's "Crazy Nights" era, not good. I will say that the title track, and "I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll" are decent, and rock fairly hard, especially "Pledge". The title track, while it's a good rousing intoduction, could have been much better, had they worked on the chorus lyrics a bit more-they sound so dumbed-down and hokey. And "Dreamin" is a straight, musical rip off of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen", only with boring/down beat lyrics. Ace's "Into The Void" is the clear winner here, an upbeat, straight rocker, and the most "classic" sounding track on the whole thing (Peter plays drums on this, which is nice to hear), and again an effective vocal performance from Ace. Peter's vocal on the Paul Stanley/Bob Ezrin penned ballad "I Finally Found My Way" is also a highlight, featuring The Catman's soulful and raspy style. It's a good ballad, kind of like "Beth" part II. The closing "Journey Of 1,000 Years" is a grand epic, a melodic monster of a track, with a theatrical flair that sums up the Psycho Circus atmosphere perfectly-well done, Gene.
To sum up, if you want a "GOOD" version of Psycho Circus, get copies of the bonus track "In Your Face", (written by Gene, sung by Ace-it smokes!) and outtake "It's My Life" (recording session outtake, from the Kiss Box Set), and discard the dreadful "Dreamin", and "Raise Your Glasses" and replace with those 2 rare tracks. They are much better- straight forward, catchy, hard-rock songs, and will make it a much better album, heck, maybe even a GREAT one.
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My "Good version of Psycho Circus" cd-r track listing :
1. Psycho Circus
2. In Your Face (Japan cd only, bonus track)
3. Within
4. Into The Void
5. I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll
6. You Wanted The Best
7. We Are One
8. I Finally Found My Way
9. It's My Life (session outtake, from the "Kiss Box Set", disc 5)
10. Journey Of 1,000 Years
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