KISS - Take It Off

[HueyRamone]

I think the real point of the record is that they got rid of the 80's gloss. Sure, Take it Off is not much different than Let's Put the X in Sex but it sounds grittier and more garage rock like the band just plugged in and played instead of having Ron Nevison or whoever multi overdub and spend months on the mix.

Thou Shalt Not, Heart of Chrome, Domino, of course Unholy...those were "heavier' than anything they did in the 80's.

They totally overdid it with Carnival of Souls though. I don't think I've ever listened to that album all the way through!

It took me about 20 years to start to even like COS and I still hate most of Paul's stuff. He's just whiney.

Ugh. Paul is awful on that record. His vocal delivery on Rain and Master and Slave are so annoying they make me actively angry.

A few Gene things I like, like Childhood's End, but not enough that it wasnt a giant mistake. And they or the label knew it, and went with the reunion.

Did they ever explain why they put "The Final Sessions" on it? Was it a tacit admission of "This isnt done, or where we are right now, but it's as far as we got with this shit that isnt even in style anymore"

[Stinky McFister]

I can't be the only one here who will always have a soft spot for this song because of the local "talent" that joined the band on stage when they played it live back in '92.

I don't know my timelines very well or much about Motley Crue but didn't Crue do that schtick first?

[HueyRamone]

I can't be the only one here who will always have a soft spot for this song because of the local "talent" that joined the band on stage when they played it live back in '92.

I don't know my timelines very well or much about Motley Crue but didn't Crue do that schtick first?

Crue had aging background singers that actually sung and drug them around the globe, Kiss just hired local strippers to shake it for that song (i think)

[Anthrax442]

I listened to Revenge today for the first time in a few years, completely unrelated to this thread. Take It Off is definitely the worst track on the album, but it's not because it's bad musically, it's because the lyrics and vocals from Paul are super cringe. That worked in the hairband era, but now.....eh.

I still love the album as a whole, and it's probably the best thing they had done since Creatures.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Horrible song.
Worst phase of KI$$ ever.
I’d rather listen to The Elder than this crap

[risingfarce]

Not allowing Bruce to do an original solo for “Everytime I Look At You” after his amazing “Forever” solo was BS.

Is that Dick Wagner playing the solo on the album or is it Bruce playing Dick Wagner’s solo?

Bob Ezrin brought Dick Wagner in to play the solo on ETILAY. Bruce played bass guitar on the song. I prefer Bruce's acoustic solo on "Unplugged".

[risingfarce]

I think the real point of the record is that they got rid of the 80's gloss. Sure, Take it Off is not much different than Let's Put the X in Sex but it sounds grittier and more garage rock like the band just plugged in and played instead of having Ron Nevison or whoever multi overdub and spend months on the mix.

Thou Shalt Not, Heart of Chrome, Domino, of course Unholy...those were "heavier' than anything they did in the 80's.

They totally overdid it with Carnival of Souls though. I don't think I've ever listened to that album all the way through!

It took me about 20 years to start to even like COS and I still hate most of Paul's stuff. He's just whiney.

He hates that cd, except for "I Will Be There" which he wrote about his son Evan.

[risingfarce]

I think the real point of the record is that they got rid of the 80's gloss. Sure, Take it Off is not much different than Let's Put the X in Sex but it sounds grittier and more garage rock like the band just plugged in and played instead of having Ron Nevison or whoever multi overdub and spend months on the mix.

Thou Shalt Not, Heart of Chrome, Domino, of course Unholy...those were "heavier' than anything they did in the 80's.

They totally overdid it with Carnival of Souls though. I don't think I've ever listened to that album all the way through!

It took me about 20 years to start to even like COS and I still hate most of Paul's stuff. He's just whiney.

Ugh. Paul is awful on that record. His vocal delivery on Rain and Master and Slave are so annoying they make me actively angry.

A few Gene things I like, like Childhood's End, but not enough that it wasnt a giant mistake. And they or the label knew it, and went with the reunion.

Did they ever explain why they put "The Final Sessions" on it? Was it a tacit admission of "This isnt done, or where we are right now, but it's as far as we got with this shit that isnt even in style anymore"

The record label put that on to signal it wasn't the original lineup, which had reunited. Paul and Gene didn't have anything to do with that and didn't like it.

The songs were finished. Bruce and Eric were told about the reunion when the record was either completely recorded or there may have been a few overdubs to complete before mixing and mastering.

The record company delayed the release, because they thought that they would sell more product with the original lineup. COS was going to be release. Paul reassured Bruce that it was going to come out. The record company needed to get repaid for the guarantee that they gave to the band to record the cd.

[risingfarce]

Great melodic, heavy rock song. "Revenge" took the place of "Destroyer" as my favorite KISS lp. Saw the club tour and arena tour and both were great. That was the tightest KISS lineup. Everyone great on their instruments. Paul's vocals were excellent on the lp and in concert.

[risingfarce]

It was foreshadowing giving his lame band an opening spot on those last dates of the End of the Dignity tour.

Whatever happened to that band anyway, I think they released (whatever that means now) a single or two and that was it? Now he’s doing an album with Gene’s kid because they realised doing KISStard cashgrabs is their only way to sell anything.

IWBT was written while Paul was having marriage issues with his first wife (a gold digger).

I don't follow Paul and Gene's kids. Not interested.

[HueyRamone]

Paul had marriage issues with his first wife before they were even married. What a cunt she was. Paul sure knows how to pick em. Vinnie and Mark were worse.

Even in Pauls own book he said something like "It was time for me to be married. So I put the word out to fix me up with the most eligible bachelorettes." What the fuck can you expect with an attitude like that but a gold digger.

[HueyRamone]

Did they ever explain why they put "The Final Sessions" on it? Was it a tacit admission of "This isnt done, or where we are right now, but it's as far as we got with this shit that isnt even in style anymore"

The record label put that on to signal it wasn't the original lineup, which had reunited. Paul and Gene didn't have anything to do with that and didn't like it.

The songs were finished. Bruce and Eric were told about the reunion when the record was either completely recorded or there may have been a few overdubs to complete before mixing and mastering.

The record company delayed the release, because they thought that they would sell more product with the original lineup. COS was going to be release. Paul reassured Bruce that it was going to come out. The record company needed to get repaid for the guarantee that they gave to the band to record the cd.

That wasnt the question.

EVERY album has "the final sessions" on them. By nature, all records have that!

Only one album felt the need to put that as part of the title. If you're happy with where you got, you just title the album. I ASSUME, If you kind of feel you only got so far with some out of date crap, you slap "The Final Sessions" on it, Squash some generic studio shot as the cover, include almost no packaging and bury the release, where you know the Kisstards will find it, but the casuals wont, and so it hopefully wont fuck up the reunion album.

[risingfarce]

That’s the official story.

Real story was the record company heard the work on COS and said WTF is this? We’re not going to release this shit. Do a reunion tour or we’re dropping you from the label.

They only released it because bootlegs got out (likely leaked by Eric Singer because he was so fucked off he got dumped for Peter Criss) and Mercury figured they may as well get some money back instead of nothing.

That had to be one of the most bizarre releases in record history. The band had just done their biggest tour in their history and it was announced they were going to record a new album, but hey while you’re waiting here’s a two year old album recorded by a completely different lineup that sounds nothing like KISS, enjoy! I can’t think of a similar scenario with any other band.

Wrong.

The record company had nothing to do with the reunion.

Paul and Gene had a record contract, with a record already recorded.

The reunion happened because KISS Co. wasn't doing well financially. Paul and Gene were doing fine. Their company wasn't doing well.

Eric Singer didn't leak the cd. It's rumored to be one of the studio employees who did it.

The record company didn't care what type of music was on "Carnival Of Souls". They wanted to capitalize on the reunion, thinking that they'd make more money that way than releasing the non-makeup cd.

"Carnival Of Souls" was recorded between November 1995 and February 1996.

Their appearance in makeup and outfits at the Grammy Awards was on February 28, 1996.

Their reunion was announced on April 16, 1996.

The record company wanted to make some money from the reunion so they rushed putting out "You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best" on June 25, 1996.

Then "Greatest Kiss" was released on April 8, 1997.

"Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions" was finally released on October 28, 1997. The record company waited until the "Alive/Worldwide" tour had finished (last show was on July 5, 1997).

The record company wanted their guarantee back and released COS when KISS was inactive and before they started their "reunion" lp. COS was never not going to be released.

[risingfarce]

Paul had marriage issues with his first wife before they were even married. What a cunt she was. Paul sure knows how to pick em. Vinnie and Mark were worse.

Paul got Pam pregnant. He proposed to her. She had a miscarriage. They got married. They had Evan. She wanted a divorce after the "Farewell" tour ended. Paul hadn't asked her for a pre-nup. Yes, she is a gold digging cunt. Paul and Erin's marriage has lasted.

[risingfarce]

Did they ever explain why they put "The Final Sessions" on it? Was it a tacit admission of "This isnt done, or where we are right now, but it's as far as we got with this shit that isnt even in style anymore"

The record label put that on to signal it wasn't the original lineup, which had reunited. Paul and Gene didn't have anything to do with that and didn't like it.

The songs were finished. Bruce and Eric were told about the reunion when the record was either completely recorded or there may have been a few overdubs to complete before mixing and mastering.

The record company delayed the release, because they thought that they would sell more product with the original lineup. COS was going to be release. Paul reassured Bruce that it was going to come out. The record company needed to get repaid for the guarantee that they gave to the band to record the cd.

That wasnt the question.

EVERY album has "the final sessions" on them. By nature, all records have that!

Only one album felt the need to put that as part of the title. If you're happy with where you got, you just title the album. I ASSUME, If you kind of feel you only got so far with some out of date crap, you slap "The Final Sessions" on it, Squash some generic studio shot as the cover, include almost no packaging and bury the release, where you know the Kisstards will find it, but the casuals wont, and so it hopefully wont fuck up the reunion album.

The final sessions of the Paul/Gene/Bruce/Eric Singer lineup. That's what that addition to the cd title meant. It had nothing to do with whether the songs were finished or not. The songs were finished. There was no more work to be done on them.

As I said, Paul and Gene had nothing to do with putting that on the cd cover and they both didn't like it. Bruce, too.

They also didn't like what appeared as the cover.

Paul hated the cd. He hated the direction that Gene wanted to go in. Eric hated the way his drums sounded. Bruce was pissed that the cd was not coming out right away (he had 9 co-writes on the cd). Bruce also didn't like the mixing and mastering of the cd. Paul was also not happy that Bob Ezrin backed out of producing the cd.

That was Bruce's cd. He played almost all of the guitars on the cd. He played bass guitar on almost all of Paul's songs. He had his first and only lead vocal on a KISS cd. Paul and Gene were busy doing other things ...

Bruce promoted the cd. Gene and Paul did very little. Eric was pissed off and did no promotion (there was no financial reason for him to do any promotion; he already got paid his salary and he had not written anything for the cd).

[War_in_D]

Paul had marriage issues with his first wife before they were even married. What a cunt she was. Paul sure knows how to pick em. Vinnie and Mark were worse.

Even in Pauls own book he said something like "It was time for me to be married. So I put the word out to fix me up with the most eligible bachelorettes." What the fuck can you expect with an attitude like that but a gold digger.

Sounds like an arrangement a gay man would make.

[Van Ailin']

Sux almost as bad as domino.

Domino was one of their best from that era.

[risingfarce]

That was Bruce's cd. He played almost all of the guitars on the cd. He played bass guitar on almost all of Paul's songs.


What Paul song did Gene play bass on? I doubt there is one.

Just "Master & Slave".


Bruce played bass guitar on "I Will Be There", "Rain", "Jungle", "It Never Goes Away", "In The Mirror", and "I Walk Alone".

Gene asked Bruce to play bass on some of Gene's songs and Bruce told Gene to play his own bass parts. So, Gene played bass on "Hate", "Master & Slave", "Childhood's End", "In My Head", "Seduction Of The Innocent", and "I Confess".

[risingfarce]

Paul had marriage issues with his first wife before they were even married. What a cunt she was. Paul sure knows how to pick em. Vinnie and Mark were worse.

Paul got Pam pregnant. He proposed to her. She had a miscarriage. They got married. They had Evan. She wanted a divorce after the "Farewell" tour ended. Paul hadn't asked her for a pre-nup. Yes, she is a gold digging cunt. Paul and Erin's marriage has lasted.

Paul asked her for a prenup and she threw a massive hissy fit about it and said “where I’m from my word is my bond” and like a little cuck Paul acquiesced and said ok don’t worry about a pre-nup don’t leave me don’t leave me!

That’s what he said happened in his book anyway.

It’s totally bizarre he wanted to marry her, she was doing batshit crazy things by the second date, of course according to Paul.

Yes, you're correct. I purchased the book when it was released and I now remember that "where I’m from my word is my bond” quote.

Yup, that relationship was a clusterfuck.

Paul has said the only good thing to happen out of that relationship was Evan.

[risingfarce]

He probably used him for a tax break on the end of the road.

Evan was cheaper than The Painter.

[Love_Industry]

Paul had marriage issues with his first wife before they were even married. What a cunt she was. Paul sure knows how to pick em. Vinnie and Mark were worse.

Paul got Pam pregnant. He proposed to her. She had a miscarriage. They got married. They had Evan. She wanted a divorce after the "Farewell" tour ended. Paul hadn't asked her for a pre-nup. Yes, she is a gold digging cunt. Paul and Erin's marriage has lasted.

Paul asked her for a prenup and she threw a massive hissy fit about it and said “where I’m from my word is my bond” and like a little cuck Paul acquiesced and said ok don’t worry about a pre-nup don’t leave me don’t leave me!

That’s what he said happened in his book anyway.

It’s totally bizarre he wanted to marry her, she was doing batshit crazy things by the second date, of course according to Paul.

Advice to all men: Never marry someone poorer than you. Or, as Paul himself put it once, he used to be a Socialist and then he realized that those who are most interested in sharing usually don't have anything to share.

Oh and marrying women who doing batshit crazy things before marriage: Seen it happen many times, and some of them weren't even very good looking. The smarter ones save the crazy until after the wedding. In Paul's case I think there are also abandonment issues, the way to manipulate him is to threaten to leave him. Peter Criss in the 70s comes to mind. Of course, if you actually leave him you're the worst human being in existence. Also Peter, and Ace. But he's far from the only one to function like that. Unfortunately.

[Anthrax442]

That was Bruce's cd. He played almost all of the guitars on the cd. He played bass guitar on almost all of Paul's songs.


What Paul song did Gene play bass on? I doubt there is one.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but after listening to Revenge the other day, I listened to Carnival of Souls (well, the first half, that's all I had time for in the car) for the first time in 15-20 years probably (certainly long enough to forget every song on it besides Jungle), and I enjoyed it a lot.

It's definitely not your standard KISS record, but two things stuck out: that it was very much the same formula that all the other 80s acts, where they had tried to "grunge" up their sound, so it was nice to hear them try to do something different, and that, I really think Paul is my least favorite member of the band. The stuff that's just Gene with guitar and drums, was a lot more pleasing and had way more groove to it than whatever Paul happened to be screeching about.

[HueyRamone]

Paul had marriage issues with his first wife before they were even married. What a cunt she was. Paul sure knows how to pick em. Vinnie and Mark were worse.

Even in Pauls own book he said something like "It was time for me to be married. So I put the word out to fix me up with the most eligible bachelorettes." What the fuck can you expect with an attitude like that but a gold digger.

Sounds like an arrangement a gay man would make.

He learned his lesson. His new beard seems to know the score.

[Hatchets Molly]

I had a boot of CoS a year before it was released and found it interesting. I think Jungle is a great song that I still like. For some reason, I kinda like Childhood's End and I Confess.

[Mister Freeze]

When Motley Crue has a song about strip clubs, it's pretty obvious they spend time in those places.

When Paul Stanley sings about strippers, he sounds like a gay photographer trying to get his models in place.

[pieceofme]

When Motley Crue has a song about strip clubs, it's pretty obvious they spend time in those places.

When Paul Stanley sings about strippers, he sounds like a gay photographer trying to get his models in place.

[Jason Jennifer Leigh]

Now I have to give COS a listen, it’s been about 10 years.

[StateOfShock]

Revenge gets praise because of the solid production and arrangements, but when it comes to the songs, even Hot in the Shade had better stuff.

No way.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Great melodic, heavy rock song. "Revenge" took the place of "Destroyer" as my favorite KISS lp. Saw the club tour and arena tour and both were great. That was the tightest KISS lineup. Everyone great on their instruments. Paul's vocals were excellent on the lp and in concert.

Nothing but historical revision and delusions of grandeur by a small percentage of fans. Outside of Unholy, which Gene couldn’t sing live, it’s typical, piss poor songwriting with cheeseball, cliche lyrics. The only thing the lp has going for it is a sober Bob Ezrin.

The tour was the second worst tour from 1983-1993. Second only to the 10th Anniversary. Revenge only went 77 shows compared to Hot In The Shade’s 123 shows, Crazy Night’s 129, Animalize’s 119. Both Lick It Up and Asylum had 94 and 91, respectively. That Revenge lineup went from playing mostly empty arenas to playing conference rooms in Holiday Inns.

Singer’s playing, while technical at times, was always flat, limp, and just plain blah. The longer he was in the band the worse he got and he wasn’t all that great to begin with.

[risingfarce]

Great melodic, heavy rock song. "Revenge" took the place of "Destroyer" as my favorite KISS lp. Saw the club tour and arena tour and both were great. That was the tightest KISS lineup. Everyone great on their instruments. Paul's vocals were excellent on the lp and in concert.

Nothing but historical revision and delusions of grandeur by a small percentage of fans. Outside of Unholy, which Gene couldn’t sing live, it’s typical, piss poor songwriting with cheeseball, cliche lyrics. The only thing the lp has going for it is a sober Bob Ezrin.

The tour was the second worst tour from 1983-1993. Second only to the 10th Anniversary. Revenge only went 77 shows compared to Hot In The Shade’s 123 shows, Crazy Night’s 129, Animalize’s 119. Both Lick It Up and Asylum had 94 and 91, respectively. That Revenge lineup went from playing mostly empty arenas to playing conference rooms in Holiday Inns.

Singer’s playing, while technical at times, was always flat, limp, and just plain blah. The longer he was in the band the worse he got and he wasn’t all that great to begin with.

KISS (Paul/Gene/Bruce/Eric Singer) played for the people who attended. Whether the venue was sold out or half-filled, they showed up and played for the people who spent their time and money to go see them. Tightest KISS lineup and every member giving their A game.

Criss and Carr (whom I like) could never touch Singer. Plus, Singer was the best drumming singer. Best voice of the three drummers and second to Paul (in Paul's prime). Since Paul started having health issues with his vocal cords, Eric became KISS' best vocalist.

I saw the "Revenge" club and arena tours. Sounds like you saw neither. I also attended the official KISS Konvention. Another great thing they did. Sounds like you didn't go to that either.

You sound like you jumped on the bandwagon in 1996. Funny how KISS, with the original lineup, pretty much crashed and burned (cd struggled to reach gold and the tour was cut short) during the "Psycho Circus" era. All of the people who came out of the woodwork on the "Alive/Worldwide" tour went back into hiding during the PC era. Reason? KISS sucked. That is, their drummer and lead guitarist sucked. Gene and Ace (full blown alcoholic and drug addict) were fat and disinterested. Paul was the only one who showed up night after night and put effort into the shows. Same goes for the "Farewell" tour.

At KISS "Unplugged" you had a top-rated drummer stage left and a hack stage right. The hack couldn't even play the simple beat in "2000 Man". Paul had to get him in time.