ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 84

[RJhog (Admin)]

Artist: Kiss
Album: Asylum
Producer: Paul Stanley/Gene Simmons
Band Members: Gene Simmons/Bruce Kulick/Eric Carr/Paul Stanley
Singles: Tears Are Falling
Best Single/Best Album Cut: Tears Are Falling/Who Wants To Be Lonely
Best Of The Rest: King Of The Mountain/Trial By Fire/Love's A Deadly Weapon/Secretly Cruel
RIAA Certification: Gold
Album Cover: 7/10

This week's album will be short and sweet, just like Jon's Lost/Forgotten album. It's Kiss' 13th studio album, from 1985, Asylum. This one gets overlooked quite often. It's the first album to feature Bruce Kulick. I remember being excited about this album. I also remember thinking, and I still do, that it was better than the previous effort (Animalize). Everybody talks about Eric Carr's drumming on Creatures Of The Night, but I happen to think he was outstanding here as well.

Also, folks seem to think Kiss put out very little exceptional music in the 80's, but Tears Are Falling and Who Wants To Be Lonely prove that wrong (of course, Radar For Love supports the former theory quite well).

It's still easy to find if you are interested. Either way, have a safe and Merry Christmas! I hope everybody gets all of the awesome rock music they want this year (I won't, 'cause I want way too much).

Next Week: Maybe a week off to refocus, I'm not sure.

1. King Of The Mountain
2. Any Way You Slice It
3. Who Wants To Be Lonely
4. Trial By Fire
5. I'm Alive
6. Love's A Deadly Weapon
7. Tears Are Falling
8. Secretly Cruel
9. Radar For Love
10. Uh! All Night

[Alan Christensen]

Tears are Falling is a great, for sure!  I miss it dearly on the radio! There might be a few other lost classics on it too.

I think the local stations here once played a wider variety of material, now they seem stuck in a rut? One station seems to play the same old G'N'R' songs, maybe a few other classics mixed with random newer material. White the other stations are too far steeped in the 70s which can be OK sometimes. But I miss the lost Kiss, Lynch Mob (Dream Until Tomorrow), Dokken, White Lion, etc. tracks.

Either way. This isn't the best Kiss Album. The artwork SUCKS! But I'll have to revisit all Kiss albums over the next week! :)

[Alan Christensen]

OK, I just listned to the album as a whole, it is a Kiss CD. I'll give it a 5 out of a 10. The songs that are playlist worthy are Who Wants To Be Lonely, Trial By Fire and Tears are Falling. But here are the videos. They are worth enjoying! :)

[Scott]

For me this is the lost KISS era.  I lost interest in them after Animalize and didnt really go back and listen until Revenge.  Now days, I own all of the albums though these are collecting dust to this day.  With the exception of Crazy Nights, which has some cool moments, I dont ever play them anymore... A fresh listen isnt inspiring me to change that either.

[Jon]

Well, I must make a correction. I had this on cassette, not Hot In The Shade. This album swore me off of Kiss for a long while, mostly because all the songs suck except for the first one. I guess Tears Are Falling is decent, but I didn't think so back then.

I remember thinking that the geeetars were a mess, it just sounded like geetar solo's just for the hell of it. At the beginning, in the middle, at the end...no matter, we'll toss a geetar solo in.

And I've always wondered how to "Uh!' all night. What does that entail?

[Scott]

Yep!  You nailed biggest the issues with that geetar stament.  I think Animalize also suffered from the same issue, and in fact was a problem the band had with Mark St John and then they moved forward without him doing the same thing.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I hate to disagree, but I disagree.  I like Kulick's playing and think it was way better than St. John's 75 notes per second playing on Animalize.

[Niels (Mod)]

I agree about the guitar-solo's. The only great guitar-"solist" in KISS were Ace. Vincent, St.John and Kulick sucked. Big time!!!