Re: KISS ~ Band of the Month ~ July 2010
Some personal thoughts and opinions on
Dressed To Kill....
Well, let me say this, I wanted to keep album facts and my own personal opinions separate in this BotM thread, but I had a very hard time doing that, especially concerning this album. The reason being, this album has long been one of my all-time favorite rock albums, not just by Kiss but by any artist.
To me, this album epitomizes the term "short but sweet". None of the songs are long, both sides of the album a quick 15 minutes a pop, but the material (the music more than anything) was something I really connected with as a kid and still do 30 years later. In my opinion, this album really shows off the raw talent that Kiss had at that time. The production value again is hardly award winning (although not as cheap sounding as Hotter Than Hell was); but, the result sounds great. It's stripped down, raw, and very little "flash" as we started to see on the albums that followed. I'm not sure how to put a good description of this album into words. But I'll try just the same.
There's a major/common theme on this album, being sex (or women). The songs seem to have a lot of "
love 'em and leave 'em" lyrics. If you don't like that, then stop reading here and move on to the next album, perhaps the next group. Kiss has had a sexual theme in a LOT of their music over the years, this isn't breaking news.
Anyway, aside from the lyrics, the music has always hit me different than any other album of theirs. I can feel the Beatles on this album. I can feel other influences they had from the british invasion, as well as early prog rock. The album doesn't sound proggy at all, but I've always just thought I could feel it there.
Aside from all of that, the BIGGEST reason that I love this album, more than almost any other Kiss album is because of Ace Frehley's guitar work. He sounds fantastic on this album. As pointed out already, the entire band sounds much rawer and maybe 'dirtier' on this album than maybe any other album they ever did and I think a lot of that is due to Ace's playing.
My personal review of the better songs on the album:
1)
Room Service - A very fun starting track. The song moves along at a quick pace. Paul's vocals sound very NY'ish (to me) which always makes me chuckle. You can hear this quite a bit in the talking interaction with the audience in Alive! as well, but that's another topic. The solo in this song is short but sweet but has a good feel to it and the bass groove under the solo is almost head-boppy. Just all around enjoyable.
2)
Two Timer - a bit more of a darker tune about a woman that's out running around. The title (chorus) of the song gets repeated a LOT, but it works in the song without
sounding like it's repetative. Again, the best part of this song is Frehley's short solo.
4)
Getaway - Written solely by Ace, but again too afraid of his own voice so he hands it over to Peter. Pete's rhaspy vocals work great on this song. Again (do I have to keep saying it?) Ace's solo is great. As was the case all too much on this album, the solo is quite short, but it fits well with the rest of the tune which is a good rockin' track, ending with a simple little bluesy chord progression. Thumbs up.
5)
Rock Bottom - one of my two favorite tracks on this album! The song starts with one acoustic guitar, soon followed by a second acoustic guitar. Written by Ace and Paul, the acoustic intro is slightly separate by the rockin' part of the song. A good groove once the bass kicks in. Again, perfect little solo by Ace (yeah, I'm going to keep giving him kudos.. barf bag is in the back of the room off to the left).
6)
C'mon and Love Me - a song that was one of my favorite Kiss tunes for many years (but still is). I just love the tone of the guitar, it sounds old school and dirty even though it really wasn't old school at the time. Simple lyrics, nothing to make people ponder life. Who cares. Good tune.
8)
She -
My favorite track on this album and probably my #2 favorite Kiss song of all time, just barely behind
Black Diamond (from the first album and Alive!). I really can't even describe what it is I like about this song. It's the parts. It's the sum. It's the solo. Its' the lyrics, the feel, the groove. Hell, it's a complete song. It's funny hearing the song as it ended up as opposed to how it first started as a song with flute in it (back in the Wicked Lester days when Gene co-wrote this song with Stephen Coronell). The solo switches back and forth between guitar, bass, then a combo of the two, with Ace kicking it up a notch. Easily the best solo on this album and dare I say one of the best if not THE best guitar solo Ace ever did with Kiss. (someone find me a better one and we'll arm wrestle over it). The song is dark but still kinda kicks ya right in the boo-boo. 10 out of 10 stars here!!!
9)
Love Her All I Can - another song that reminds me of early rock and roll and how it influenced these guys. To me, it always has kind of a boogie woogie feel to it, while still being Kiss. Good stuff. Again, along with nearly every other tune on the album, a really cool Ace Frehley solo. Probably one of the better ones on the album (but of course, it's not "She" which is easily #1)
I skipped a couple of the "filler" songs because I just don't have enough to say about them. On to the last song on the album... the song that everyone knows.. the song that made them a household name (dare I say that?).... the song that has been dubbed the official Rock and Roll National Anthem.
Rock and Roll All Nite. The song was written by both Gene and Paul (something that really didn't happen very often over the course of 35+ years). When listening to this song in it's rawest form, which of course is this album, it's a good song, for what it is. When I personally compare it to the rest of their body of work, it doesn't hold a candle. It is what it is, which is a catchy tune that makes ya bounce up a down a bit, raise your fist in the air and sing. Probably one of the 3 weakest songs on the album (in my own opinion). Still good. Also sort of funny, this is the only song on the album that doesn't include an Ace Frehley solo.
Maybe that's why I don't like it as much
. Seriously though the studio version of this song has no solo, unlike what you'll hear on any live album or see them play on stage, which always has a solo in it.
Bottom line, this album is fantastic. If you don't own it, that's fine, but you owe it to yourself to check it out if you aren't a die-hard fan, but still dig classic rock. If you are only a moderate/occasional Kiss fan, pick this up. Seriously, I doubt you'd be disappointed.
Two thumbs WAAAAAAY up!
