Bravo! Very fun and well done. Thanks for making me smile.
Many in this thread will appreciate this early 90’s club date. The band was at the lows of its popularity and virtually bankrupt, while its genre had just been blown off the cultural map, yet this is tight, stripped-down, vital, practically punk rawk. Just killer songs and a performance devoid of technology, gimmickry or cheese.
I always thought of "Revenge" as being the third part of a triad. A triad of albums with which Kiss established themselves and re-established themselves.
Destroyer.
- Came out after Kiss hit it big with "Alive" so they KNEW they had to bring it big time, show the world they had what it took to stay relevant. As such, that album had three major points, which every good Kiss album should have.
- Sing along anthems
- The GENE demon song
- The Ballad.
Which on Destroyer were "Detroit rock city" and "Shout it out loud" for the sing along anthems.
"God of thunder" as the GENE song
And of course "Beth" as the ballad.
Creatures of the night.
- Came out after Kiss lost two of its founding members and had several bizarre non all that rocking albums. And losing their hard core fan base as a result of that. In addition, the press was having a field day, asking Paul gleefully how it felt to be on a sinking ship. The band needed a powerful statement and after Eric Carr introduced Gene and Paul to a then upcoming band called Metallica, they knew it had to get heavier, a LOT heavier.
- The sing along anthem
"I love it loud"
- The GENE song
"War Machine"
- The Ballad
"I still love you"
Revenge.
Came out after Eric Carr had died and once again the music press were all about
"You guys had a good run, now why don't you just call it a day h'mmm?" *nudge-nudge* Also, these were the days of Metallica's "Black album" and Pantera's "Cowboys from hell." Surely a seventies legacy band like Kiss couldn't be relevant, right?
Begging to differ, the band hired Bob Erzin once again, got Vinnie Vincent back in the fold as a songwriter and released an album which equalled "Destroyer" in its audaciousness and "Creatures" in its sheer blunt force.
- The sing along anthems
"I just wanna", "Take it off" and the Argent cover "God gave rock N roll to you 2"
- The GENE songs
"Unholy" and "Thou shalt not"
- The Ballad
"Every time I look at you."
So when somebody would ask me what albums to buy if they want to find out what Kiss is all about, I'll give them these titles: the Unholy trinity: Destroyer, Creatures of the Night and Revenge.