Hotter Than Hell

Here it is- my favorite early KISS album. I like it better than pretty much any other KISS album.

The sound quality isn't the greatest, but I think it was recorded this way in an attempt to capture KISS' live sound, short of doing a live album (which they wouldn't do until the next year.)
There's a great 1-2-3 punch of songs that just floor me everytime- Parasite, Goin' Blind, and Hotter Than Hell. I like the rest of the songs too, though All The Way and Mainline seem like filler that slightly weigh the album down.

The album is all around heavy, heavier than the album before it, and was the heaviest until Rock and Roll Over came out in 1976. (Then they went on to make a couple of really f'n heavy albums in 1982 with Creatures of the Night and in 1992 with Revenge.)

My favorite track on the album has to be the Ace Frehley-penned Parasite. As great as it is on this album, it's even better on Alive! I suggest checking both versions out and deciding for yourself.

Track-by-track breakdown, in as few syllables as possible:

Got To Choose- fair opener, but I usually skip it to get to the next track.

Parasite- my fave on the album. Great riff.

Goin' Blind- one of Gene's lusting-after-underage-girls songs, if the lyrics are taken at literal value. I think the "I'm 93, you're 16" line is just to underscore how much different he is than his object of lust. But then again, the guy's kept a scrapbook full of the 4,000 women he's nailed, so it probably is meant to be taken literally.

Hotter Than Hell- typical early 70's proto-metal. Heavy riff underneath a tale about trying to get with a married woman.

Let Me Go, Rock&Roll- great, great tune. Short and punchy. I guess it was an attempt at a rock anthem, and one that didn't get across like Rock&Roll All Nite did. It's one of the songs still played at live shows, and one of the few from this album to be.

All The Way- yawner. Filler. Other words that end in -er.

Watchin' You- good tune here. Worth a listen, but not one of my favorites.

Mainline- see All The Way.

Comin' Home- ah, a song about the life of a rock star. A better version is on KISS' Unplugged album.

Strange Ways- dark riff. Another Ace-written song, and a great closer. It shows Ace as a good songwriter. He isn't the most prolific songwriter in the band, but he's arguably the best. His songs usually let the guitar do most of the talking, and in a band that usually sings about screwing and partying, he stands out.

There you have it. My first album review. I've been wanting to get this out of my system for a few years now, and I've finally found the best venue for it. (What, you think I'm going to lower myself to writing one on Amazon? Ha!) This album isn't a very easy find, like most KISS albums anymore. I bought it when the Remasters series came out, and even then, I had difficulty locating a copy. (Uh oh, commentary ahead.)

I really loathe that stores only want to carry greatest hits packages. There are few bands whose catalog titles are easily available, and to me, that stinks. Of course, there's always Amazon, but to me, part of the experience of music is the rack jobbing part, combing through hundreds of CDs and vinyl albums trying to find that diamond in the rough. (It's another reason why I loathe mp3s.)

People have forgotten that the album is an art form. And record labels always insist on that 'hit' single, as they have since the dawn of recorded music. Sure, that works great for pap like Jessica Simpson or N*Sync. But hearing "Comfortably Numb" outside of The Wall isn't the way it was meant to be heard. Trying to skip around on Radiohead's OK Computer album just makes you miss out on the emotional ride that album takes you on, and all you downloaders are missing the point by just downloading one or two songs from an album. One, you're stealing, and two, sometimes, the best work ever done by a band isn't released as a single and rarely gets radio play or makes it to your iPod.