Then the changes began to come, and they came thick and fast. Drummer Peter Criss was the first to find himself on the outer, after his contributions to the "Unmasked” album had disappeared to zero, with Anton Fig having played on the album even though Criss was credited on the album itself. His ability to perform on stage had also diminished due to his own internal problems. He was eventually replaced by Eric Carr a week after the album was released. The band also went through four different lead guitarists over a period of three years. The eventual departure of Ace Frehley at the end of 1982 due to musical differences opened up an intriguing choice for the band going forward. A number of soon-to-be-well-known guitarists apparently auditioned for the role, though it is sometimes difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to these things with this band. They eventually hired Vinnie Vincent, who had been one of the contributors to the “Creatures of the Night” album, but they soon discovered that the personality conflict was going to be a difficult chasm to traverse. “Lick it Up” included his work, as well as his face s it corresponded to the deflowering of the makeup stage of the band’s career, but following that tour their partnership came to an end. His replacement, Mark St John who came on for the “Animalize” album, but the curse soon struck again as he was unable to tour due to reactive arthritis, which required yet another guitaring replacement for the tour. That ended up being Bruce Kulick, a well credentialled replacement whose could play everything asked of him and also knew his place within the framework of the band. Given he had also made a couple of contributions to the “Animalize” album, it seemed as though, finally, the band had found their man.
Two albums into the non-makeup phase of the band’s career, and despite the disruption around the band they had managed to record two albums that had been well received by the fans. Now with Kulick on board and Carr enmeshed, they had a solid base on which to go forward into the next phase of their career. Those first steps included the writing and recording of their follow up album, one that would be up against some heavy hitters in the rock and metal world, and album they dutifully and perhaps ironically titled “Asylum”.
This album was released one year after the previous album “Animalize”, almost to the day. Which was still a reasonably standard thing to do for bands in that era of music. But it does mean that after the time taken to tour that album, and then write and record this album and then have it on the shelves, it was all a very short space of time. Is it possible that due to that very hsort sace of time, this album was recorded in a much freer format that was usually the case? Because the album itself sounds breezy and clear of overdubs and multiple takes, which suggests as better atmosphere in the studio when the album was being pieced together. I have no evidence of this, it is just how it sounds to me when I listen to it.
Take for instance the opening track “King of the Mountain”. It immediately sounds like it has the Desmond Child effect to it, who did act as co-writer on the song along with Paul Stanley and Bruce Kulick. It has the anthemic chorus, easy singalong lyrics well performed by Paul, and two terrific solos from Bruce, the one that plays out the song especially entertaining. It sounds like the band is having fun, which is what it is all about! Then comes Gene’s “Anyway You Slice It”, a typically ludicrously plotted storyline lyrically with Gene’s usual flirtation with the opposite sex, but the upbeat uptempo music is fantastic. The song belts along at a great pace and a bounce about it, and Kulick’s solo again is superb. “Who Wants to be Lonely” is another Stanley/Child composition, along with occasional contributors Jean Bouviour from the band The Plasmatics. It again holds true to the hard rocking feel to the album to this point. Again, the possibly innocent question of “who wants to be lonely” is far more directed at a one night stand than at looking to create a long term relationship, and once again has me questioning just what kind of lives everyone else in the world must lead if this is a true indication of how the world works, because it never ever happened like that for me. Is it just Paul and Gene? Or are they truly speaking for the world of teenagers everywhere? Still, another solid song on the album.
“Trial By Fire” is my favourite kind of Gene song, co-written with Bruce. Lyrics you can sing that, while they may be corny (“Gonna live it till the rivers run dry, what have I got to lose? They just try and stop me, go ahead and try”) they are positive, not sexually innuendoed, and have that solid beat along with Gene’s best vocal range, along with the gang chant behind him. Side 1 concludes with another Stanley/Child and Kulick combination of “I’m Alive”, again channelling the best qualities of these collaborations, with the tempo kicked up another notch, Paul’s vocals is his perrfect range, and some great riffs and solos from the guitars. Yeah, it’s not Shakesphere again, it’s the base form of Kiss rock and roll lyrics, but the song itself sounds great, and I just love Bruce’s guitar work once again.
Side Two opens with the rollicking “Love’s a Deadly Weapon”, which apparently is musically similar to a song by The Plasmatics called “Party”, which is why both Plasmatics members Rod Swenson and Wes Beech receive a credit for it on the album. But the title and lyrics are taken from a 1981 Kiss demo written by Paul Stanley. And to top of the weird combinations, it is actually Gene who sings this song. Bruce lets loose on solos again here to really nail the track at its conclusion. This is followed by the one single released from the album, “Tears are Falling”. The difference between this song and the rest of the album is stark. This is a Stanley classic commercial cut on which he also plays bass. This song was a hit and would have drawn in the fans that love this kind of Kiss track, but I wonder if they were able to appreciate the rest of the album, given that it is so different from what this song offers as the single?
Gene returns to the more typical Gene innuendo on “Secretly Cruel”, and for me it doesn’t match the same standard as what has come before it on the album. It’s fine, and it could well be that I’m just overtired of these kinds of songs. If they are of the right standard musically they can sill drag me in. Apart from Bruce’s solo this one does not. And, the same can be said for the final two songs on the album as well. Stanley and Child offers us two songs of a similar venture lyrically and musically in “Radar for Love” and “Uh All Night”. It seems such a waste to me, given the obvious strengths of the first two-thirds of the album, that it should fall off so much at the end. It would also be true to say that, for me at least, perhaps moreso than at any other time in their career, the 1980’s version of Kiss is one you really have to ignore the lyrical content in order to get the most out of it. The music may also be derivative of the age, but the fact that it fits it so well is what makes it more than enjoyable. It's just that on occasion you have to pretend that the lyrics are not really suggesting what they are. Even that sometimes is not enough, and these final three tracks of the album are examples of that for me.
Anyone happen to know the story of my musical journey in regards to Kiss? Oh, you do? Well, that will save me some time at this back end of the review of this album. This album indeed was the one that was released directly before the album that truly dragged me all the way into Kiss. That album was ‘Crazy Nights”, one that I still love to this day, and it was from then that I sought out the parts of Kiss that came before it... over a period of time of course. And as I have mentioned on previous episodes when it comes to Kiss albums, I became far more enamoured by the albums of the 1970’s than I did of the 1980’s prior to 1987. That was not a deliberate thing, but I think I just became more interested in those classic 70’s albums and sound than I did of what was coming in the next decade. And it is true that albums such as “Music from The Elder” perhaps contributed to that. When I did cast my ear over the 1980’s album catalogue well into the 1990’s decade, around the time of the makeup reunion and the promise of an Australian tour, I found it was enjoyable without anything really grabbing me to the point of obsession.
This began to change about a decade ago, when my son, then 7 years old, began to get into Kiss of his own accord, and he began to borrow these albums from my collection and play them around the house. And his enthusiasm for singing these songs dragged me back in, and I started to go through these albums again. And I found, possibly to my surprise, that there was stuff here that was far better than I had probably given it credit for in the past. And in that mix came this album.
So what was it that stood out to me at that time about “Asylum”? Two major things. Firstly was the excellent pace that the songs were played at. Kiss haven’t always done this, and there have been plenty of occasions I’ve thought Kiss would be better if they just increased their tempo. On this album that isn’t a concern. Secondly is Bruce Kulick on guitar. Ace, Vinnie and Mark were all good in their stints with the band, but my word here Bruce Kulick enters and takes centre stage from the outset. It for me is the star attraction of this album. He is superb and adds to almost every song with his soloing alone.
The CD of this album has been off the shelves again over the last few days, and as always I have enjoyed hearing it again. The usual disclaimers apply – the lyrics are teenagerish in places and hard to stomach, and sometimes there’s a bit too much Desmond Child and need for more of just Paul himself in the writing. And the songs where Bruce Kulick is crediting as a co-writer are overall the best. And while it has been great to revisit, my guess it will still finish a long way back when it comes to what I would choose to listen to if I was wanting to listen to a Kiss album.
More of the same was to come for the rest of the 1980’s decade. A decade where sometimes the music of the band is maligned when it deserves more credit than it receives. “Asylum” is definitely in that class of album, one worth giving another shot if you haven’t done so recently.
No comments:
Post a Comment