How cool is this..?
I've been at my new job for about three and half months now. Long before my first day, I mentally prepared myself for the hour long commute and was surprised to find I actually enjoyed the hour to myself listening recorded music. Today's commute was the first real frustrating ride in though, and completely not unexpected. It was an hour and forty five minutes plus because some dumb ass's wouldn't move their minor fender bender off to the side until the cops got there and as a result backed everything up for miles. It could have really spoiled my mood for the rest of the if it hadn't been for this beauty that arrived in my mailbox yesterday:
Fully remastered, Japanese lyrics, liner notes and all. I know, most won't give two craps about this record, but I know Jackson will be impressed. It's hard to believe George Martin produced this. I think it's the first without Micheal Schenker, but Paul Chapman kicks total ass in his place. The next album after this is perhaps the worst thing ever recorded next to Kiss "Music From The Elder" (yes, they have remastered it for some reason) and marked the end of what was good and holy about UFO, but back then this album provided us fans hope that there might actually be life after Schenker for them. I'm reacquainting myself with "No Place to Run" after more than twenty years, but of course immediately skipped over to "Mystery Train" and then to "Any Day" for my immediate fix. These two tracks I KNOW rock the house hard.
Why do we have to go to Japan to find these discs (without stealing them P2P that is)? Oh yeah, the record companies and technologists have ruined everything, I forgot.
posted by Tony Alva @ 1:52 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
that record has so many great moments on it. very nice
Nice score.
I disagree about 'The Wild Willing and the Innocent' (the next UFO lp after 'No Place To Run') and 'Music From the Elder', but that doesn't take away the greatness of 'No Place To Run'. Personally, and I've said this, I think during that time Phil was improving as a writer of melodies, sadly his band was improving on ways to get loaded.
What Sir George must have put up with........
My mistake then, I thought Mechanix followed No Place To Run. W,W,&tI was fairly decent though. I now need to find that record. Com'on man, "The Elder"? I know you've got a tender space in your heart for it, but you know it's not good right?
Good is relative. I like The Elder, we've discussed why, but it is not a good Kiss record. Ace Frehley was right, they should have made a Rock record.
"LOOK OUT, Cause there's something wrong
And you don't know what it is
WATCH OUT, Or it's Sodom and Gommorah
The malevolent order
RIGHT NOW, Before it's much too late
Before it's much too late"
Imonna buy it.
"Who do ya think you're foolin'....."
It's great. I remember the day we bought it, we were disturbed by 'Fanfare/Just a Boy', but when the guitar riff intro for 'The Oath' kicked in, we were joyous wee lads indeed.
The re-release has a different order, apparently the Label made them put 'The Oath' near the top, but originally there was a much more narrative order to the songs which made the loose, and let's face it, laughable concept make much more sense.
Enjoy - I do often, it's in my car right now.
You two are way insane Kiss fans. I do respect your allegiance though.
The Wikipedia entry is interesting. I kinda had a feeling that the album was intended to be part of something more (apparently a movie... sucks that one wasn't made..
It would have been Phantom X 10)
I also was unaware of Lou Reeds contributions... He is credited for co-writing "Dark Light", "A World w/o Heroes", and "Mr. Blackwell". Bob Ezrin claims he was in full-on Blow-mode at the time this record was made, therefore, not responsible for it not living up to "Destroyer" or "The Wall"
Ace was the only one that seemed to be against it from the start... enough that he split.
TA, if that album came out this week, I would call it as it (probably) is...Crap-o
That was the last Kiss album that I bought just because it was a new Kiss album. Jackson is right-on... I remember listening to every new Kiss album after "Dynasty" with my fingers crossed ...
scratch that...
After Gene's and Peter's solo albums.
I was horrified to hear Paul's falsetto kick in so early on "The Elder"... It became a hunt-and-pick search for any Ace song, cause they were usually the only ones rocking.
Kiss was a huge part of my adolescence... I had a very hard time letting them go.
BTW Gene makes me nauseous now with his reality shows and Kiss Kasket shit.
No need to explain, one of the great things about the Kiss story is the multi-generational fixation with them. I was amongst the first generation of fans. I was turned onto them in 6th grade with Hotter Than Hell and Alive I. Wore the grooves out of those two records in 1976 or so. Than, Destroyer blew me away. Afterwards, Rock n Roll Over was great, but I kinda scratched my head on a few tracks. I was done after that. Lovegun was released in the midst of a full press of Kiss merch and commercialization. I felt like Charlie Brown on Christmas and was totally disappointed.
I remember coming to the 8th grade at WP Elementary and being shocked at how many of my classmates were still die hard Kiss fans, you know the drill, collecting everything published about them, not listening to anything else, etc... I was like, "Guys, how about Ted N. and Aerosmith, Led Zep, etc..?" Hutch was amongst this group of guys. I couldn't take the sell out thing with them at that juncture, but am glad that I was eventually enlightened to the better of the post Lovegun stuff.
Destroyer is as good a record as anything that was made in the same era. I get hyped up listening to it to this day. Not a bum tune anywhere on it (Beth is even worth a listen). Despite "The Elder" and what they have become today, they are worthy of the worship they recieve in my mind.
You two guys should write a Kiss post for Newcritics. It would be cool as shit.
Put it this way; The Elder vs. Lick It Up.
Sure they got soft when they got rich, made bad judgements, and bad records, but as long as Ace was in the band, there was always at least one good song on the record.
I like Gene's solo record, but most of Paul's and all of Peter's are crap. The Ace tunes on Dynasty are good, notably 2000 Man. I even like some of the Unmasked album, again the Ace stuff, and some of Gene's.
The Elder - I'm already on the record there.
Next? Creatures of the Suck.
You know they were in trouble when they put Ace's face on a record he didn't play a single note on.
As unstable as Ace may have been, he was the credibility, the only credibility, they had.
I have to weigh in and say, I am also an Elder fan as is my brother Don. I will actually allow him to verify this as I am speaking from experience (out of my ass).
Not to say it isn't cheese (I believe it definitely does not suck)
My attitude is that you have to buy into the band as a whole, sort of like suspending disbelief at the movies. Kiss are characters and in the Kiss universe you sell caskets printed with your logo and photograph, you do bad '70's TV, and you rock Madison Square Garden. Why the fuck not!
But that means that I must even give them props thru the 80s which is difficult. But as Snoop Dog said, "You can't harh a man's con". C Mon!
Can I get an, "AW HEY!"
I was a giant Paul Stanely Fan up to Rock and Roll Over.
Oh Yeah, No Place To Run kicks ass.
Post a Comment
<< Home