Kiss-"Sonic Boom"

I'm sorry, any band asking for $1299 bucks for a box set of theirs can go fuck themselves.

As for the new album, I heard the new single and wanted to throw the radio out the window and then light it on fire for the crap I was hearing. Jesus fucking christ.

Huh? I'm confused--$12.00 for the new album, greatest hits and a DVD--why is that a "go fuck yourself" situation?*

Anyhoo, I thought the new album was fun. I've been humming "Stand" to myself for several days, and "All for the Glory" is cool.

*Other than the fact that you have to go to Wal-Mart to get it. Then I understand.

That's what I was referring to earlier and don't get me started on Wal-Mart.

Ah, ok. Wasn't aware of that. Still, getting all the money they can has long been the band's m.o. On the plus side, going to Wal-Mart for the album let me pick up Transporter 2 for 5 bucks.

It's funny, I've had a couple of buddies who've taken great joy in lambasting KISS for the Wal-Mart deal (as if there weren't a bajillion better reasons to hate KISS) but have no beef whatsoever with the Pearl Jam/Target deal, which skeeves me out quite a bit more, especially that commercial with PJ playing in front of the Target symbols. Yuck. Love Pearl Jam, and what I've heard of "Backspacer" is pretty damn solid, but for a band who've spent a fair amount of time railing against corporations or whatever, it just seems a little..I don't know...undignified? Whereas Kiss have ostensibly spent the last 30 years making themselves immune to any such criticism...it's not like they make any bones about wanting your $$. Anyway, sorry for going off-topic...

Yeah, "Sonic Boom' is a really entertaining album. Totally agree that "Modern Day Delilah" would've been at home on "Creatures", and for all the talk of a 'return to the 70's KISS sound' (mostly coming from Gene), it sounds to me like an album that would've fit pretty comfortably between "Creatures" & "Lick It Up". The relative lack of blatant filler is pretty shocking.

Very minor guitar geek issue - as nicely as the leads fit on the new material, it occasionally weirds me out to hear Tommy Thayer trying SO hard to emulate Ace (down to Ace's staccato picked bends and vibrato); I'm curious if he was straight-up told to cop Ace's style on the new material, or if it's just the result of having spent the last however-many-years playing Ace's leads note-for-note.

My only complaint is the re-recorded greatest hits CD....I realize that I'm undoubtedly in the minority here, but jesus, when you have Eric Singer on drums, who can be a fucking monster, you're seriously gonna make him play exactly like Peter Criss, one of the most ho-hum, mediocre drummers ever? Given all of the greatest hits packages they've shat out over the years, they couldn't have conceived this one as an 'updating' of the classic material if only for the sake of Tommy and Eric injecting a bit of their own styles? As a big fan of Singer's from his Badlands days, it's painful listening to him having to really dumb it down.

I personally think that it's the best, most consistent Kiss album since "Creatures". You could argue that it's superior to that one, too.

KISS is one of those bands that should just tour and play the hits. Nobody is clamoring for a new album, they just want to hear "Rock and Roll All Night" and see some armor and fire.

Well, they're poised to (very likely) be # 1 on Billboard after selling around 175,000 copies of the new album in the first week, which would sort of put a damper on the 'no one wants new material' argument, I'd say.

Actually all I care about is new tunes.

And if the KISS Army has around 175,000 members, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Show me the second week sales and we'll talk.

But...but...you just said that no one cares about new material....whether second week sales drop off significantly or not, wouldn't selling 175k in the first week imply that there's still a number of people out there still very much interested? It's at least enough to totally kill your argument that no one cares.

I mean, I'm by no means in the "KISS Army", and I picked it up....

All right, I was generalizing. Still, I'd say a good majority of the people going to see their tour either a)have no idea they have a new album out or b)don't care. They're there for the experience and the nostalgia. And there's not a damn thing wrong with any of that, or with buying the album for that matter.

I really like...well, ok, unabashedly love "CON", too. After 27 years of countless spins, I just know that I'm totally incapable of objectively comparing it to the new one, but it already seems like it could be a contender (unlike "Revenge" or "Psycho Circus"). I guess time will tell.

And seriously, so cool that they didn't include a shitty ballad this time.

I'm in total agreement with you there, Richard. I've only been to one Kiss show since they went back to the makeup, and I'd be absolutely shocked if more than 50% of the people in attendance could name a post-1982 KISS song. Hell, that may even be a generous estimate.

Revenge has some great tunes on it. Well, basically the Gene stuff.

I'm not really a KISS fan, but I remember 'Revenge' being pretty decent.

No doubt, "Revenge" was pretty good, and pretty much pummeled the majority of their 80's output. Just personally thought that "Every Time I Look at You" and "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II" both sucked ferociously and dragged down an otherwise strong album.

Not to mention, in a sort of an odd twist, "Domino" was nearly a straight rehash of a song Tommy Thayer (then Gene's PA, now faux-Ace) wrote and recorded with his 80's hair metal band (Black N Blue) in 1986. And yes, I'm deeply embarrassed for knowing this.

OK, I'm going to see KISS for the first time this Saturday. I've never really WANTED to see them live before, but reportedly they're absolutely ON FIRE for this tour and the tickets were only $10 each.

I'm not really a fan of the band, but I am familiar with the big hits. Is the new album really worth picking up before the show?

$10? OK, the only time I saw them it was free, but that's still amazing. What's the deal on the price?

10? Wtf
they played Argentina last year and it was closer to 200 pesos (55 dollars)

The local classic rock station in MN, KQRS, is sponsoring a deal for today only. I wasn't considering going at all, but I couldn't pass up $10 a ticket. Sure, they're upper deck, but it's at the Target Center...even upper deck seats there are pretty good.

With fees, it came to around $35 for a pair of tickets. Honestly, I have zero problem crossing KISS off of the 'never seen live' list for THAT kind of money.

A new album?

Without Ace Frehley (or Vinnie Vincent) on guitar, it's not really Kiss.

Tears are falling seeing an imposter with the make-up.

I'll take Bruce Kulick over Ace or fucking Vinnie. Supposedly, their new guitarist is the goods, though.

Here's the link for anyone else that can make the Saturday show. It's for today only (10am until 10pm, Central time).

"God Gave Rock N Roll To You" is their greatest (albeit cheesiest) late period anthems!

It was good enough for Bill & Ted.

Vinnie Vincent> Edward Van Halen

The new album's good, but not essential. I saw them last week and they played two songs off of it, Modern Day Delilah and Say Yeah. They played them back-to-back and everything else was older stuff. Good show.

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Elvis. I needed that laugh. And it's 'Eddie', not 'Edward'.

I had a friend back in college who fucking loved Black N' Blue. We actually went to see BNB, Lita Ford, and Yngwie Malmsteen once. He was more jazzed about seeing BNB than anyone else. They only played like 6 songs and were done. Lita was fine, and Yngwie was brilliant on the guitar, but also was a cock. He was sitting on a stool playing a solo on an acoustic, and at one point yelled at the crowd to shut up while he played.

I actually might pick up their new CD. I wanted to see them here, but just didn't get to it. I need to start going to concerts again.

That was a fun show on Saturday night. I must say that watching the place go absolutely berzerk for 'I Wanna Rock N Roll All Night' was really something to see. 'Lick it Up' was probably the highlight of the show for me, though.

I'll never be a big fan of the band, but I will admit to admiring the sheer amount of showmanship and spectacle that they bring to their live show. We were thoroughly entertained, and that's all that really matters.

I can't wait until they replace Gene and Paul with dress-alikes. It'll be the best KISS ever.

I actually kind of feel sorry for Thayer - he has to dress like like ACE, wobble around like ACE, play ACE's licks, and now he is singing SHOCK ME? ACE's signature tune? Sheesh.

At least Singer got to be himself for a tour.