1217. Paul Stanley / Paul Stanley. 1978. 3/5

In 1978, Kiss and their management, in their wisdom, decided that each member of the band would record and release a solo album, with all four to be released on the same day. It had been mandated in the band’s contract, but the recording and releasing all at once was apparently not specified. None of the members were to be involved in the other’s albums, this was a chance for each member to express themselves in their own way. The style of all four solo albums were completely different from each other, which could be seen to be either a good move to be that counterpoint to the main band’s normal sound, or one that maybe went too far.
In many ways, Paul Stanley had the most to lose from this solo album arrangement. For all intents and purposes, Paul was the face of Kiss, the main lead singer and guitarist, the one with the moves and hips and that voice that screamed out of the speakers at you. While the fans would have been interested in what the other three produced on their own, they EXPECTED Paul’s work to be brilliant, which would have made the process for him a difficult one. Of the four albums, Paul is the only one who does not include a cover song on his album, with all of the songs written by himself alone or in collaboration with Michael Japp. Given he was by now renowned for his voice and his persona, how far did Stanley dare to drift from what the fans knew on this album that was supposed to portray all of the elements of the individual that they could not necessarily show in a band of four?

From the outset, the album allows you to wonder if you will get something old or something new. The opening track “Tonight You Belong to Me” almost without fail reminds me stylistically of the Kiss track “Sure Know Something”, a song that Stanley wrote for the next Kiss album “Dynasty”. I’ve often wondered if this track was the forerunner for that. This song is sung with less toughness than that song does. It’s still a good song, whether any of this is true or not. It is followed by “Move On” which could easily be a Kiss song, with an Ace solo and the band doing the backup vocals rather than the girls that do so on this song. Both of those things are where there is a difference with this solo album. The fact Paul plays most of the guitars apart from the odd solo from guest Bob Kulick, brother of Bruce who would eventually join the band, does actually give it a poor-man's-Kiss feel on occasions. Perhaps not necessarily on “Move On”, but definitely on “Ain’t Quite Right”, where the title of the song actually explains it pretty well. Something is missing from this song to make it either ballad or rock, and it sits in purgatory as a result.
“Wouldn’t You Like to Know Me” is a pretty simple straight up and down pop rock song with few bells and whistles, aimed at the audience it is composed for. This is followed up by the rock ballad stylings of “Take Me Away (Together as One)”. This seems like a strange composition, not for the style of the song, but the lengths of the song as a result. It is the longest song on the album at five and a half minutes, but it is already dragged out by the softer slower style of the song.
“It’s Alright” opens the second side of the album with more energy, gets us back closer to what most of us have come into the album for. Unfortunately, this is then immediately brought back to earth by the straight out ballad "Hold Me, Touch Me (Think of Me When We're Apart)", complete with the backing crooning of the back up singers and the atypical ballad guitar solo that proliferated these types of songs through the 1970’s and 1980’s. Perhaps not surprisingly, this was the single released from the album which to me is a real shame as it indicates that Paul's best work is this kind of track, and it patently is not. But perhaps my view is not shared by others. “Love in Chains” is a much better song, more of the real Paul attitude in both vocals and guitar. “Goodbye” closes out the album with a certain amount of style, giving the album the pleasant ending it deserves.

Despite my enjoyment of Kiss, I did not hear any of these four solo albums until about 20 years ago. I just felt no compunction to go and find them and listen to them. I didn’t know anyone who owned them, so it wasn’t until the years of downloading that I decided to get around to checking them out.
This album is the one of those four that I expected would be the best, and perhaps that expectation was misplaced. Like I said earlier, there always felt as though more would be expected from Paul’s contribution to the solo albums because of his stature within the main band, and looking back I would say that it would be accurate to say that I did have that expectation and that it harmed how I felt about the album when I first heard it.
I’ve listened to this a fair bit over the last couple of weeks, trying to form an opinion now that would be a more accurate one than perhaps I formulated 20 years ago. And in the long run, it hasn’t changed a great deal. It’s a 50/50 album, one when half of the songs are good solid 70’s hardish rock tracks that have the bones of enjoyable music, and the other half are... a bit soft. They sound under-developed, like they are missing a bit of oomph in order to have them complete. Whether or not this is what Paul was looking for when doing this project, or whether the tracks just lacked the final finish that perhaps they wuold have received in the band environment, I don’t know. For me though, it still rates as a slight disappointment. Indeed, almost 30 years later Paul released his second solo album, “Live to Win”, which is a damned sight better in all departments. Perhaps he had learned from this effort that more energy and grunt makes for a better overall album. It certainly showcases his talent better than this first effort did.

1216. The Jeff Healey Band / See the Light. 1988. 3/5

Jeff Healey had led a remarkable life prior to the point that the band under his eponymous name came to write and record their debut album. Adopted as an infant by a Candian fire fighter, at the age of one Jeff was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes, and lost his sight permanently. Indeed, His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given ocular prostheses in their place. He began playing the guitar at the age of three, utilising his unique style of playing the guitar laying down on his lap, and playing the strings like a keyboard. He began playing in bands from the age of 15, and also hosted a jazz and blues radio show in Toronto, where he was known for playing from his massive collection of vintage 78 rpm gramophone records.
Shortly thereafter he was introduced to bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen, with whom he formed a trio, the Jeff Healey Band. The band made their first public appearance at an upstairs diner in Toronto, and soon enough were discovered by a couple of pretty fair guitarists themselves in Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins. The band was signed to Arista Records, and set about writing and recording their debut album, which was to be titled “See the Light”.

This album begins terrifically, with “Confidence Man”, a song that appeared in the movie “Road House”, and “My Little Girl” which is written by Healey himself. Both have that great energy and drive that for me at least isn’t always a part of blues songs, but most definitely appear here. It announces the band from the beginning. “River of No Return” comes back to a more circumspect typical blues track to follow the opening assault, and is followed by another Healey written track “Don’t Let Your Chance Go By” where he is definitely drawing inspiration from the muddy depths of deep south blues sound.
“Angel Eyes” was the band’s best performing single from the album, but given it is truly a ballad rather than having any blues involved in the song at all, it feels as though it was aimed at the commercial radio market. The result because of this is that it stands out amongst the remainder of the album, and doesn’t really fit within that framework. No doubt there are fans out there who like this song and enjoy it. For me, it really is like a sore thumb. “Nice Problem to Have” is the only song here that is credited to all three members of the band, a complete blues instrumental that not only returns the album to the genre of its making but that would have the fans clapping away in the bunker blues clubs.
The good vibes return in full swing on “Someday, Someway”, with the tempo ratcheting up again and Jeff’s honey smooth vocals coming to the fore along with a solid guitar solo through the middle of the song. ”I Need to be Loved” is a simple straight blues rock track written by Healey himself and performed solidly. “Blue Jean Blues” is a cover of the song by the blues rock masters ZZ Top from their “Fandango” album, the highlight of which here is Jeff’s great guitar soloing through the middle of the track. “That’s What They Say” is another Healey penned track, and is more country than blues in structure, and sounds in a more commercial bent as a result, without his traditional hard blues guitar in the song. “Hideaway” is another blues music instrumental that incorporates all of those typical elements of the genre. The album concludes in a great way thought with the title track “See the Light”, where the band attack the song with gusto, all of their instruments being strung and hit hard, and the real shining light of the band comes forth, as the rhythm of drums and rumbling bass hold fort while Jeff lets fly on guitar and sings with passion. The bookends of this album are the true highlights, and it is a great finish to this album.

You would be correct in assuming that me listening to, reviewing and enjoying a blues album is a very rare event. I accept the blues rock that infiltrates many of the great hard rock and even heavy metal bands of the world, and the influence it has had on them and their music. I even enjoy some stuff, more particularly Gary Moore’s initial foray into the genre following his hard rock and metal years. But overall, straight blues is not something that I am a huge fan of.
The fact remains that like many people of my vintage I discovered The Jeff Healey Band through the movie ‘Road House’ which starred Patrick Swayze, where The Jeff Healey Band played as the house band at the club that was the centre of the storyline, and Jeff himself acting in a small role in the film. The energy of the band in that movie gave those scenes a real kick, and so I decided I needed to check out this album as a result. And, for the most part, I really enjoyed it. So much so that when they announced they were touring Australia on it, I went and saw them in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre, and they were simply superb.
It has been a long time since I listened to this album. I lost my vinyl copy in a flood over 20 years ago, and it has taken me a while to re-purchase another copy. Almost without fail, I like to listen to it straight after I have re-watched “Road House”, which wasn’t possible for a number of years. Reliving it over recent weeks, I find that I still enjoy much of the album. There are certainly some tracks that I would be happy skipping over if it was in a certain situation, but the album overall still has that great quality that it had on release 35 years ago. Its freshness at the time still leaps out of the speakers at you in songs like “Confidence Man” and “See the Light”. For lovers of blues music there is a lot to like here. For those who are ambivalent about the blues like me, I still think there are songs here you will find enjoyable.