On our annual Mike And Aaron Go To Toronto trip this year, Mike and I also did our annual swapping of goodies. This is as much fun as the trip itself, saving stuff up we know the other will like. This year, Mike gave me a bunch of CDs. Awesomely, this one was in the batch!
I’ll begin this with a disclaimer – I never owned a KISS album until more recently – and that was only when Mike and Scott gave me some CDs. My lovely wife is a closet KISS fan, but I think she’s more a fan of the kitsch than the music because I never hear her playing the CDs in the house. So I’m a bit of a KISS noob, and you’re free to disregard everything I say going forward, if you don’t have time for someone’s first impressions at this late date.
I don’t know the original, so I’m not sure why KISS resurrected this album. When iTunes ripped this CD it labelled all the tracks as 2012 Remix, so it seems they went back and re-wrote the history books, in some way. Sad, when they could’ve just put that energy into a new record instead. But nobody asks me. Probably because I’d say that, more likely, they needed cash – their accustomed, accumulated standard of living must require a lot of cash and Mike alone cannot support them. Time for another re-release, guys!
Let’s see what we’ve got here…
Detroit Rock City has a weird intro… was this a video, maybe, and they just transferred the audio of that over? I wouldn’t have included this, but whatever. I know this tune, it’s a Hit song classic, of course, and we all know it well. King Of The Night Time World is a fun rock track with Stonesy backing guitars (at times). God Of Thunder has these weird children throughout, but it’s a cool and menacing stomper. I like all the chunky bits.
Great Expectations is a real jolt, after the last one. I like that it directly quotes Beethoven (I Wiki’d this and songwriting credit goes to Simmons and Ezrin – I guess it was written long enough ago it doesn’t fall under any copyright). The lyrics here are hilarious. And then it builds into this weird choir thing… Flaming Youth brings back the rawk, a fun youth anthem.
Sweet Pain is bouncy good times rock. Why in hell has Sloan not covered this song (to my knowledge)? It is right in their wheelhouse! I could totally hear them playing this song. They have their Beatles influence, their AC/DC influence, and THIS song is their KISS influence, I swear!
Shout It Out Loud is another Hit classic, I always liked this song (how could I not?). And then it’s Beth, another huge song. I don’t know what the 2012 remix did to this one, but it sounds about the same as the million other times we’ve all heard it to death. Do You Love Me is a concert fist-pumper if I ever heard one. Rock And Roll Party is a totally weird track – why would they include this chanting noise-wash nonsense crap? At least it was only a minute and a half… And finally it’s Sweet Pain again, this time with what they call the original guitar solo. OK, sure.
In Sum:
I enjoyed this record as much as anyone who’s never heard it before 2014 and only really knows the hits could enjoy it. I’m sure KISS fans everywhere were excited about this re-release and that’s all that matters! Thanks heaps, Mike! I enjoyed gettin’ my KISS on.
keepsmealive 
Well dude, I knew a remixed Destroyer wasn’t going to be your cup o’ tea, but you’re the AAAA, you know? I donate to the cause 🙂 Even if you only listen once and trade to a buddy later, I don’t mind. Keep the music flowing. You can say you’ve heard it and here’s the review to prove it!
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Shoot I think I wrote it wrong if that’s what you got from it – I did enjoy this CD! I just don’t know it as well as you guys, so it’s gonna have to live here awhile and get some more plays! I ain’t trading it anytime soon. In fact, I’ve never traded or sold off a CD donated to the AAAA. True story.
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No kidding. I did not realize that. That is very cool man. Shows how much you value the gift of music.
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Oh yes, all donations to the AAAA are added to the collection and kept. The gift of music is very appreciated.
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I like that policy. Very cool.
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Policy? Haha nothing so official here at the AAAA. It’s just how we roll…
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I had two thoughts initially:
1) “Come on Aaron. Have you never heard the full Detroit Rock City with intro before?” But then I remembered, when I first heard the album as a kid, I was kind of confused like you, and wondered if this was from a movie or something.
2) Same feeling first time I heard “God of Thunder”. It took a while but now I would not change a thing about it.
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1) So what is that intro? Is it from some video or something? As an audio intro it’s fairly uninviting, especially as an intro to an entire album.
2) Fair enough!
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1) The idea with that intro was, the song was based on this story they heard that two kids had died in a car accident on the way to a Kiss concert. So that intro represents them getting in the car, heading to the concert. You can hear engine sounds periodically through the song, and at the end: CRASH!
And yeah I get what you mean. Of course by now I’ve heard it hundreds of times so I’m as used to it as the gigantic nose on my face. I had to think back to hearing it the first time to get where you are coming from.
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So let me get this straight… two people actually died trying to get to one of their shows, so they chose to make it sound like they died on the album? On the first track? Am I the only one that thinks that’s in really poor taste? That’s not a tribute.
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I think that’s the story, yes. Can someone correct me if I’m wrong? That’s what I heard. Might be an urban myth.
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One of There best that’s for sure…there sonics went huge on this record. Loved the production from way back! Too bad they couldn’t have jived up the bonus features a little more. They always seem to,drop the ball in that regards…..
Great read man!
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Thanks Deke! I suppose they thought all the remixing work WAS the bonus feature?
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