Kiss – Hot in the Shade – 1989
In the 70s Kiss put out an album a year, sometimes 2, and each one ran about 30 minutes. Cut to the CD era, where the silver pieces of plastic that saved the record industry could hold over 70 minutes of songs. Kiss finally got with that program and believed the perception that buyers would balk at the prospect of spending $18 for 35 minutes of music. After all, that’s what the industry had decided was the norm. Higher prices for this long lasting, never scratching hardware.
So, instead of one 35 minute collection of self-referential, self-loving, cock rock, we got a full hour.
I wonder if there’s any filler on it……
Most Kiss albums open with some Paul Stanley rocker. Radio friendly. Much of them singles. Some of them not. This is no exception. But the acoustic guitar threw me. For a second I thought it might be something different. It’s not. It’s just big, anthemic hair metal, the sound of the day. And I think once you settle in to that idea, that this is where we are now, late 80s, grunge around the corner, Cinderella, Ratt, GnR, Poison, etc, ruling the radio, it becomes easier to swallow the bile.
I have no idea what to make of the Ah ah ah’s, doo doo doos of “Hide Your Heart”. This is Stanley and Child at their worst, aping Bon Jovi at THEIR worst. This continues with “Prisoner of Love” only it sounds like Michael Bolton fronting Bon Jovi for a while. And that’s not a good thing. Why did I bring up Bolton? Because he co-wrote a song on this record! The monster ballad hit, “Forever”. Opening with the standard issue acoustic sound reminiscent of “Mr. Big”, the track builds into a chorus that would make “The Flame” run away and hide in inadequacy.
Weirdly, Simmons is the one who comes off as the most melodic on this spin. Begging the thought that he had nothing to do with the songs he “co-wrote” and just took a writing credit. Sorry, but, after listening to 11 Kiss albums in a row I have a LOT of trouble believing otherwise.
Oh, and Stanley’s “Read my Body” is so much of a rip of “Pour Some Sugar On Me” that the band should be ashamed. But Eric Carr does sing one song before he succumbed to cancer and while it isn’t any good, he doesn’t ruin it with his vocals.
Grade: D
ASide: Rise to It
BlindSide: Love is a Slap in the Face
DownSide: Read My Body, Cadillac Dreams, You Love Me To Hate You
