Published on Aug 24, 1997
As much as I’ve enjoyed Kiss’s music over the years, I’ve found
the resurgence in their popularity difficult to understand. (This
coming from the same idiot who, courtesy of an extra ticket from
Bill Ziemer, went to see them last year in concert.) They’ve always
been a band who could put out entertaining songs, but when it all
boiled down, they were cock-rock at its loudest in the ’70s.
Nevertheless, I too got wrapped up in the ’90s Kiss craze, and
updated a few of their albums to CD. (The vinyl still has a safe
home in the Pierce Memorial Archives.) But one particular disc,
1974’s
Hotter Than Hell, shows why some albums are best listened to
on vinyl.
Producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise should be hung by their
manhood for the muddy, clogged sound this CD has. (The disc has
since been remastered, though I wonder how much of an improvement
could be done to it. As my dad always told me, “You can’t polish a
turd.”) While you can still make out Peter Criss’s drum work and
the guitar antics of Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley, it almost sounds
like you’re listening to it in mono. At least with the vinyl, it
tended to bury shitty work like this – and if it didn’t, you could
always blame the sound on the condition of the record.
If only the production work were the only thing I could rip on
with this album. Unfortunately, Kiss falls into the dreaded
“sophomore slump” that has hit so many bands since rock and roll
burst onto the scene. “Goin’ Blind” is a terrible attempt at slow
hard rock (and an early lesson that mixing hard rock and slow
tempos doesn’t work). “All The Way” is a half-assed Kiss track,
while “Mainline” sounds like an early attempt at commercializing
their sound.
Even some of the hits that Kiss has played for almost 25 years
live haven’t held up. “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll” is not the best
work of Gene Simmons et al, while “Got To Choose” sounds a little
too slow for me. On the other hand, the title track (which made me
buy the vinyl copy in the first place) is entertaining (though,
again, too slow), while “Got To Choose” is a decent track – that
is, once you wade through the shitty production.
And, in Kiss’s defense, this album isn’t as oriented around
getting laid as many of their other works – in one way, maybe this
is why
Hotter Than Hell isn’t as powerful as other Kiss albums like
Destroyer. (Then again, I’ve always said it gets tiring
hearing bands who were getting parallel with groupies damn near
every night singing about how they wanted to get laid while others
– like rock journalists – went home alone every night.)
Kiss would rebound from this turkey to hit the high point of
their career – and they would even improve on many of these tracks
on
Alive. But unless you’re a diehard fan who must own every
album Kiss has recorded,
Hotter Than Hell has about as much fire as an ice cream
cone. Stick with one of the “greatest hits” packages.