KISS (Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved) 1994

KISS (Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved) 1994

Front Cover

1. Lenny Kravitz featuring Stevie Wonder - Deuce

2. Garth Brooks featuring KISS - Hard Luck Woman

3. Anthrax - She

4. Gin Blossoms - Christine Sixteen

5. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Rock & Roll All Nite

6. Shandi's Addiction - Calling Dr. Love

7. Dinosaur Jr - Goin' Blind

8. Extreme - Strutter

9. The Lemonheads - Plaster Caster

10. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Detroit Rock City

11. Yoshiki - Black Diamond

12. Die Ärzte - Unholy (International / U.S. Vinyl Version Only)

I never had the need to post the track list for all the other albums till now. But with the people involved in Kiss My Ass, it is definitely warranted here. Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of the standard Greatest Package, KISS decided to actually get creative here and call on the help of some of the biggest names in the biz and not so big to have them cut their own versions of classic KISS songs. Some are hits and the other are just ok. And two of them absolutely suck.

For me this is a very dicey situation. I'm all about the original songs and whenever you re-record any of them, I'm going to become very protective of the originals. Having said that, I went into this with an open mind....and ear so has not to judge to critical what the each artist did.

Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder's version of Deuce, a hard rocking song that's turned it into a fuzz box 70's style romp. It's cool, but not the best take though. A few listens is about all I can take before it gets tiring. Garth Brooks performing with KISS is a pretty straight version of the original song from Peter Criss. Not bad, but nothing highly memorable about it. 

Toad the Wet Sprocket's version of Rock And Roll All Nite is inspired and just oozes so much coolness with a stripped down acoustic rendition. Awesome shit right here folks!!  Extreme's version of Strutter is okay. Points for originality. But it's not the great version I was hoping for. 

The Lemonheads version of Plaster Caster is about as close the original song as you can get and not have it be performed by KISS themselves. Note for note, it's the same. Doesn't stray to far outside the box here. Anthrax does a pretty cool version of She.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones version of Detroit Rock City is horrible. Hate it. Sucks. Can't stand it. Die Ärzte version of Unholy is garbage. Shit. Blows. Add any other adjectives you can think of here.

But the crown jewel of this disc goes to Yoshiki version of Black Diamond. You haven't heard Black Diamond till you've heard it in all it's orchestral magic. 

It.

Is.

Awesome!!!!!!!

Fave Songs...er...performances: Anthrax, Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Dinosaur Jr. MVP award goes to Yoshiki.

The album cover is meh. Nothing about it is cool. It's a poorly executed train wreck here. I mean, how fucked up do you have to be to allow it to make it all the way to the printing press and not notice that the boy wearing the makeup isn't even a KISS character. They skipped Ace Frehley iconic image and went with that? Some would argue that it's using Paul Stanley's "original design" before he settled on the Star design. Wrong. Even that wasn't gold colored and is nowhere near the same design. Oh well...But I will point out that wherever the album was released, it will show that nations specific flag in the background. For example, the ones in Japan show...the flag of Japan. Duh.

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

KISS (Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved)

Garth Brooks with KISS - Hard Luck Woman (The Tonight Show With Jay Leno)