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Tag: Peter Criss

Apr102014 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Listening Booth — Kiss New York City Loft Rehearsal, 1973

Listening Booth — Kiss New York City Loft Rehearsal, 1973

Listening Booth, Music
Well, today's the big day. After years of waiting, and a whole lot of politics and gossip in the meantime, Kiss is finally being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And so I felt it only appropriate to publish the first edition of the Listening Booth in more than a year. And this one should be a real treat for devoted members of the Kiss Army. Today's offering is a bootleg from the earliest days of the band, before they even had an album out. Hell, when this was recorded no one outside the immediate New York City area even knew who Kiss was. This recording, my friends, was reportedly made by Gene Simmons while the band played for an audience of no one in their New York City rehearsal loft (located at 10 East 23rd Street). What you will hear on this is a band still gelli...
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Jan272013 by Chris Holmes1 Comment
I Love You, Internet: Peter Criss Is Matlock, 1978 Solo Album Style

I Love You, Internet: Peter Criss Is Matlock, 1978 Solo Album Style

Internet
Man, I want to find the person who drew this and shake his or her hand. Because Andy Griffith as Matlock as Peter Criss from the front of his 1978 Kiss solo album is inspired. For reference, here's the original. Genius. They even nailed the classic Kiss font. Update: Chet Loggins, the creator of this fine work of art, has stepped forward! See the comment section below.
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Oct192011 by Andrew RatliffNo Comments
Why The Hell Should I Like… Kiss? (The Rebuttal)

Why The Hell Should I Like… Kiss? (The Rebuttal)

Music
Why the hell should I like… ?” is an experiment of sorts between Popblerd and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. What we’re going to attempt to do is to pick 10 songs from our favorite artists — one for which the other has professed dislike or disinterest — and show them why they’re wrong. I'm a fairly simple man. I like unique, intricate, interesting music, sure, but I'm also a tenacious advocate of the simple, three-minute pop song, and a staunch defender of the notion that, sometimes, a fistful of chords and a catchy chorus is the stuff pop music glory is made of. With that in mind, I'm not sure why I've never found it in my heart to appreciate Kiss. It's not that I grow weary of their party-hearty, sex drugs and rock n' roll mentality: I'll defend to the death the early career
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Aug32011 by Chris Holmes1 Comment
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Kiss

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Kiss

Featured Posts, Music
It's been nearly 40 years since Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss put greasepaint on their faces and took the stage as Kiss for the first time. Since then they've amassed 24 gold albums in the United States, took the makeup off, got a bunch of new members, put the makeup back on, and toured seemingly in perpetuity. In those four decades a lot of facts, rumors, and myths about Kiss have circulated. Of course the diehard members of the Kiss Army usually know what's what, but for everyone else, here are ten things you probably didn't know about Kiss. 10. Katey Sagal was a backup singer on Gene Simmons' 1978 solo album. Before she gained fame with American television audiences for her portrayals of Peg Bundy (Married... with Children) and later Leela (Fu...
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Jun282011 by Chris Holmes3 Comments
Listening booth — Kiss at the Cow Palace, 1977

Listening booth — Kiss at the Cow Palace, 1977

Listening Booth, Music
As the Fourth of July approaches, I felt it only right to dedicate an edition of the Booth to one of my favorite all-American bands -- Kiss. This show captures the original foursome during a stop on their Love Gun tour, August 16 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Fans will note that this setlist is nearly identical to that found on Alive II. A few noticeable differences are the order of the songs and the fact that Peter Criss's "Hooligan" is in this set. Oh yeah, and this recording wasn't completely doctored and fabricated. I'd say that Kiss was still firing on all cylinders at this point, although history tells us that the end wasn't too far away. Although Alive II continued the band's hot streak later in 1977, they were just a year away from the commercial fiasco of the four solo al...
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Aug162010 by Chris Holmes2 Comments
Platters that matter: 20 albums that changed my life (#20-#11)

Platters that matter: 20 albums that changed my life (#20-#11)

Listcruft, Music
Music is - or at least used to be - at once a very shared and a very personal thing.  And truth be told the only thing I've spent more time doing in my life than listening to music is sleeping.  Music has informed my life since I was a kid and continues to do so, although to a lesser degree now that I'm a family man.  So it's time for me to give credit where credit is due, and list the 20 albums that had a bigger impact on me than any others. Some of these records opened my eyes to a new style of music.  Some of them resonated on a deep, emotional level.  Some were just too good to be ignored.  Some are wrapped in nostalgia now and nothing more.  But they are all critical to my development as a music lover in one way or another. #20 - Queen, The Game Memory is a tricky thing, espe
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Sep272009 by Chris Holmes2 Comments
New release roundup (Ace Frehley, Muse, and more…)

New release roundup (Ace Frehley, Muse, and more…)

Music
Man, I take a short break from updating the site and, just like that, I'm buried under a pile of new music releases.  Not to mention, of course, the Beatles remasters.  So with no big preamble, let's get right into it... Ace Frehley - Anomaly (Brooklyn Born Records) Peter Criss couldn't do it, Paul Stanley almost did it, and who the hell knows what Gene Simmons was trying to do.  I'm speaking, of course, about original Kiss members putting out a solo album this decade that even approached their best work from previous decades.  So how does the Spaceman fare on his first release since George Bush Sr. was president?  Pretty decently, by and large.  Sure the album art is...well, it sucks.  It's just bad.  But who even notices such things anymore? The music's the thing, and Ace acqu
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Jun262008 by Chris Holmes4 Comments
Pearl Frehley

Pearl Frehley

Music
As if I needed any more vindication for my love of Kiss, I offer the following clip of Pearl Jam performing "Black Diamond" with Ace Frehley during their June 25 show at Madison Square Garden. That's drummer Matt Cameron on vocals, by the way, playing the part of Peter Criss.  And because I can't pass up a good chance to post some more Kiss, here's Ace and his former bandmates doing the very same song at the very same venue, in 1977. Take that Thom - If Kiss is cool enough for Pearl Jam, they're cool enough for you.
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Jul272007 by Chris Holmes7 Comments
Peter Criss releases one for the diehards

Peter Criss releases one for the diehards

Music
Longtime Kiss fans recognize that Peter Criss has always lived a double life, musically speaking. On the one hand there is the hard rocking Catman, found on songs like "Hooligan," "Baby Driver," and "Dirty Livin'." On the other hand, there is the tender side of Criss, most evident on his 1978 solo album and the classic 1976 ballad "Beth." Criss's first solo effort since 1994, the self-produced One for All, falls squarely in the latter camp. In fact, it's even more subdued than his '78 solo effort. Of the 12 songs on the album, only one ("Heart behind These Hands") gets any warmer than a simmer. In and of itself that's not a problem, unless listeners were hoping for something harder. What is a problem is Criss, as much as he obviously poured his heart into One for All, lacks the son...
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