Well, I think they really mean it. Kiss is done this weekend.
To mark the event, I thought it would be fun to listen to the entire discography over the weekend, starting of course with the very 1st album Kiss. So last night I got in Kiss, Hotter than Hell and Dressed to Kill. Its been a while since I had these on rotation and some things really stood out to me. Peter could play at the level required by Gene and Paul, but Ace was a hell of guitar player and I honestly believe a step ahead of the other 3. His licks just ring out ahead of anything else on the tune.
But let me add a little back ground in regards to my history with Kiss.
In 1974 I was 11 years old and firmly entrenched in everything Alice Cooper. And it was in 1974 that I bought with my own hard earned money, Alice Coopers Greatest Hits. I played it to death. Then came more Cooper albums as I could afford them and I enjoyed everyone of them. Love it to Death is still one of my regular plays.
At the time, Circus magazine was probably the magazine to read to catch up on what was happening with bands. And Circus was covering Kiss as up and comers. Being a Cooper fan, the appearance didn't shock me, and I was curious as to how they sounded. So, one day while shopping for anything new and interesting at the Kmart, I came across Hotter than Hell. Why not? Let's hear how they sound.
I could not stop playing it. I played it before school. I ran home at lunch time to play it and played it into the wee hours of the night when I should have been sleeping. This was a new sound to me. It was heavier than Cooper but there again, there was Ace. Wow! I still loved Cooper, but Glen Buxton was simply not in the same league as Ace.
My last Kiss album was Music from the Elder. Which I actually like and still play from time to time. But the band was changing and I guess I had moved on as well. Other than hearing some stuff on the radio in the 80s, I didn't pay much attention to Kiss and what they were doing, so I have a lot of material to listen to. And I am looking forward to it. I know it will not end up being the same band I had begun listening to in the 70s and I don't want to be critical of material I have listened to yet, but it strikes me from seeing the band live, what predominates the concerts are songs from the 70s. And from Googling a set list just now of this current tour, it looks like that is still holding.
edited
This year the diet is definitely gonna stick!
