Gene Simmons (Asshole) 2004

Gene Simmons (Asshole) 2004 

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Continuing onward with some solo stuff from those in and out of KISS, which brings us to...

Asshole, his first solo effort since 1978. I'm not sure if Gene actually sat down to write specifically for this album or if it's just a bunch of songs that he has written over the years that he kept to himself. Whatever the case may be, it's all over the place. Some songs are really bad (Asshole and Whatever Turns You On). And some of the bad songs I hated before actually have grown on me (see Whatever Turns You On). Wtf! I'm pretty sure that it's just a grab bag of songs with the liners notes having co-writters Frank Zappa on Black Tongue and Bob Dylan on Waiting for the Morning Light. 

Just like his 1978 Solo album, the songs are diverse to say the least. On that one he went from one extreme to the other (Radioactive to When You Wish Upon A Star). So, Asshole falls into the same category, only there's more misses than hits. But there are a few really good ones that makes this one above average at best. But I can actually see the rating going up if I keep listening to it. But this is nowhere close to the near perfect '78 album.

Really not sure why he decided to do a cover version of Prodigy's Firestarter.  Lead guitar courtesy of Dave Navarro. Also, Bob Kulick lends a hand on Now That You're Gone. My two favorite songs here without question are Dog with is cool groove and awesome lyrics. How can you go wrong with "You're breaking my balls, you're making me crawl?" That is awesome stuff right there. Love it. Haha. The other song that is really cool is Waiting For The Morning Light. It's nothing like anything you would expect from The Demon. A really cool melody can be found within' this song. :)

Fave Songs: Sweet & Dirty Love, Wating For The Morning Light, Now That You're Gone, If I Had A Gun, 1,000 Dreams. Dog gets the MVP nod for best song here.

Album cover is weak. If you're gonna put chicks on the cover, at least get hot chicks. 

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars out of 5 

Review by Chiprocks1

Asshole Music Videos

Gene Simmons - Firestarter

Paul Stanley (Live To Win) 2006

Paul Stanley (Live To Win) 2006

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Live To Win is Paul Stanley's first solo album since 1978. Sheesh. It just goes to show how devoted both he and Gene are to KISS, to only have 2 solo records outside of the band, 25+ years between each release. This is exactly what I was expecting from Paul on this one. Is that a good thing? Well he has his niche and why fix it if it's not broke. Where Gene went way out there with many different styles on Asshole, here Paul sticks to the tried and true. Overall. Live To Win is more balanced as a whole with no departure in style and songwriting. Personally, I really like this one. 

Bruce Kulick lends a helping hand on Everytime I See You Around, Second to None and Loving You Without You Now by taking on bass duties.

Fave Songs: Live To Win, Lift, Second To None and Loving You Without You Now 

Album cover is right in your face, huh? I haven't heard much of how this cover came about, but my guess is that he wanted a "bookend" with this to match his first solo album which was just his face as well, in full makeup of course. This of course is just speculation of a KISS fan that has far too much time on his hands to think of theories like this. :)

Paul also released a Live DVD Concert for this called Paul Stanley: One Live Kiss, but I have yet to pick it up. So no review for that one. Yet.

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5 

Review by Chiprocks1

Live To Win Music Videos

Paul Stanley - Live To Win

Bruce Kulick (Transformer) 2003

Bruce Kulick (Transformer) 2003

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This is Bruce Kulick's 2nd solo album. I never did pick up Audio Dog, his first. Definitely need to remedy that soon. Gotta pick up BK3 as well. As for Transformer, this is an excellent album from beginning to end. It's not a "solo shred-fest" as most would think it to be. Transformer is a rock album through and through, where he takes over lead vocals with the exception of one with John Corabi (Motley Crue) on vocals for It's Just My Life. Yes, Bruce gets to tear it up on a few instrumentals. But they compliment the rest of the album as a whole, not take away from it. As for the other songs with vocals, he lays down some wicked leads. Props to you Mr. Kulick. Also, Bruce does all the playing on Transformer with the exception of drums.

Jump The Shark gets this album off on the right foot. A hard rocking stomper that goes for the throat and doesn't let up. Inn Of The Mountain Gods. This one fucking rocks! I swear it's like listening to Joe Satriani here. It's that fucking good.  Do It Right is another foot stomper in the boogie shuffle mold. You can't help but wanna pick up the guitar after listening to this one. He's not the greatest singer by any stretch here. But he does a very good job overall. I like it a lot. It just blows my mind how far he has come since I first saw him on the KISS Animalize Tour, where he looked like a deer in headlights.

Fave Songs: Jump The Shark, I Can't Breathe, Don't Tell Me Something, Do It Right and Beautiful To Me. MVP goes to Inn Of The Mountain Gods for the best song on the album.

To my knowledge, no music videos were released to promote this album. What a shame. :(

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5 

Review by Chiprocks1

Eric Carr (Rockology) 1999

Eric Carr (Rockology) 1999

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Rockology is an album of songs that Eric Carr was working on at the time of his passing back in 1991. Bruce Kulick took on the Producer's role of completing the album for him and eventually it was released in 1999. Eric pretty much played all the instruments (Drums, Bass, Keyboards, Acoustic guitar as well as Lead and Background Vocals). All Lead & rhythm guitars went to Bruce.

I thought Bruce did a good job of completing this. It had to be tough for him to be playing and adding to songs that were incomplete and wonder if he was doing it justice. I'm sure that Eric would have been very proud of the final product. There's really only one song I have an issue with and that's the production of You Make Me Crazy, where the guitars completely overshadow the entire song. The vocals, drums and bass get buried in the mix way to much. The demo of Nightmare should have been left off the album all together. If keeping it in was absolutely necessary, they should have put it on album as the last song because it does bring the album to a screeching halt with it's current track listing spot.

Overall it's a good album if not a perfect one.

Fave Songs: Mad Dog, Nasty Boys and Can You Feel It <----MVP

Album cover is what it is: to showcase Eric for the final time. They weren't really looking to get creative here other than to shine the spotlight on him one last time.

RIP dude. 

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars out of 5 

Review by Chiprocks1