Search - Kiss :: Sonic Boom

A VERY WELL-TOLD LIE

Rick Poss | 10/28/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I needed to get this off my chest, as I've been dwelling on it for too long now. Let me start off by assuring you of my credentials for this review: Kiss has been my favorite band for over 30 years, since I first heard Alive back in 1975, and I proudly stuck with them all the way up through the farewell tour in 2000. I'm as hardcore a fan as you'll ever find, and know every note on every album. The band's credibility has been called into question many times throughout their career, but whether it was a disco song, a concept album, line-up changes, or image changes, I could accept (and convincingly defend) all of that.

The one thing I can't accept are celebrity impersonators.

With their 2000 farewell tour, Kiss appeared to close the book on one of the greatest (in my opinion, THE greatest) rock'n'roll bands of all-time. The band was dead and buried, and then Paul and Gene decided to dig up the corpse and start screwing it - perhaps because necrophilia was the only part of Alice Cooper's career that they hadn't tried yet (hey, all great artists steal from other great artists). I was appalled at the idea of them hiring clones to imitate Ace and Peter. I didn't like it, accept it, or support it, but I learned to live with its existence. I mean, all they'd really done was become their own tribute band - sad, but harmless. "Kiss" was now just a ghost, and so-called Kiss concerts were nothing more than glorified séances for hardcore fans who want visitations from the dead and casual fans who don't know the difference (I'd rather see a real Kiss tribute band in a club - not only will you get a longer show for a lower price, I guarantee you'll get a more interesting set list). It was an unnecessary epilogue to an otherwise outstanding book, and as such, it was relatively easy to ignore.

But now we get Sonic Boom, a transparent attempt to legitimize this bastardization of the band, and I can't ignore it (much as I may want to), if for no other reason that from now on, any Kiss discography I see will end with Sonic Boom (or whatever other nonsense they may follow it with). As opposed as I was to it, my emotional attachment to the band is so strong that I felt I needed to at least give it a chance. Maybe, if they came up with a sincere album that truly was a step forward like their other "comeback" albums Creatures Of The Night and Revenge, I might be able to support them again. Maybe, just maybe, I could look past Eric and Tommy dressing up as Peter and Ace, as long as they didn't copy Peter and Ace's playing, too.

No such luck.

Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of this album, but as you may've noticed, I did give it two stars instead of just one. Paul and Gene are guilty of many things, but poor songwriting usually isn't one of them, and objectively I must admit there are a few good moments here. Modern Day Delilah was a wise choice for the first track and single, as it's particularly strong. So is the second number, Russian Roulette. I thought both Danger Us and I'm An Animal are above average as well, though I've only heard those songs once (more on that in a minute). There are a few clunkers, but overall the album is consistent, and often legitimately good.

So why don't I like it?

Well, I've tried listening to it several times. I managed to get all the way to the end once, but every subsequent attempt has resulted in me turning it off about halfway through, because it makes me react the exact opposite way it intends to. As I listen to how calculated, how... "perfect" everything is, it doesn't put a smile on my face and make me happy, the way almost every other Kiss album has.

Instead, it makes me angry.

It's usually around Stand (if I make it that far) that my hands have balled into fists and it's all I can do to keep from tearing the disc out of the player and smashing it to bits. Everything about this album strikes me as incredibly phony, especially Tommy's shamelessly Ace-sounding solos. If I want to hear Ace, I'll listen to Ace (and his new solo album Anomaly is exceptionally good; I'd recommend it to any Kiss fan who still cares about integrity). Since all Tommy ever does is mimic Ace, I have no opinion of him as a guitarist because he's given me nothing to base an opinion on. In Geoff Barton's review in Classic Rock magazine, he writes that he doesn't miss Ace and Peter on this album. Well of course you don't, Geoff, because the album is filled with near-perfect impressions of them! Eric occasionally lets his own style shine through but mostly sticks to emulating Peter (who was a much better drummer than he seems to get credit for - listen to the live version of Parasite from Alive). If you really want to hear what Eric can do with a drum kit, check out his work with Alice. The exciting thing about line-up changes in the past was that whoever joined the band always brought something new to the table that would add another dimension to the Kiss sound. Bruce never tried to copy Ace, and the late great Eric Carr certainly never imitated Peter's drumming style. When Eric Singer joined the first time, he was allowed to be himself, even keeping his hair blonde. And yes, I know they've had others try to copy Ace in the past, like Vinnie on Creatures or Bob Kulick on the Alive II studio stuff, but in each case they were just studio musicians and never passed off as members (of course, Vinnie became a member later, but compare his Ace-mimicry on Creatures to his playing on Lick It Up and it's night and day). No matter what line-up, Kiss always presented itself as four individuals. It sickens me to know that's no longer the case. The four original members had onstage personas that were honest reflections of who they were. Now we simply have actors playing the roles of those personas like they're fictional characters. That's not a band, that's a cabaret act. Kiss has become like a sports team, where the uniform is more important than the players.

Take, for example, All For The Glory, one of the aforementioned clunkers. Despite a decent vocal from Eric, with its "gang mentality" lyric, it sounds like it was written to be the theme to Monday night football, which goes against everything I always felt Kiss represented. To me, Kiss was a band for people who didn't fit in, a band that celebrated the individual. Look back at the lyrics to anything from Getaway to Trial By Fire and you'll see what I mean. It wasn't WE Will Rock You, it was I Wanna Rock And Roll All Night, I Want You, I Stole Your Love... hell, they even have a song just called I. Kiss exemplified individuality and sincerity, yet neither quality is apparent on Sonic Boom. They've become everything their detractors always accused them of being. In 1976, critic Patrick MacDonald wrote, "They could have several groups traveling the country doing the Kiss routine, because it doesn't really matter who the guys are." I guess that's true now. I wonder if they'll put THAT quote on t-shirts now like they did his "Kiss won't be around long" quote from 1974 on some of the farewell tour shirts.

In the last year, I've seen both AC/DC and Metallica in concert, two legendary decades-old bands who could easily just coast on their back catalog now if they wanted to, but AC/DC did five songs off their latest album and Metallica did six off theirs. Conversely, Kiss has only been doing one or two new songs from Sonic Boom on their current tour, which speaks volumes about both their laziness and their lack of faith in the new material, despite all they've said in the press to the contrary. I remember when I saw them on the Animalize tour in 1984, they played more songs off Creatures, a two-years-old album that had sold poorly, than they did off Animalize, the current album that was a solid hit. Their attitude seemed to be, "You may not know these songs, but we're gonna play 'em because we love 'em and you SHOULD know 'em." They clearly don't have that kind of integrity anymore. Tommy has been doing a lead vocal in some of the shows, but is it When Lightning Strikes, his own song from the new album? Nope, it's Shock Me, Ace's signature song. I don't know if it's to continue fooling casual fans into thinking they're seeing Ace, or if it's just because it's easier to do songs they can play in their sleep than it is to actually rehearse the new stuff. Probably a little of both. Thanks, but I saw the farewell tour multiple times, and I don't need to see it again with two imposters.

If you look closely at the back cover of the booklet in Sonic Boom, you'll see the S and B of the album's logo repeated in a circle. However, the way the letters are arranged, it looks suspiciously more like it says "B.S." over and over. Maybe Paul and Gene are trying to tell us something?

Someday I might be able to enjoy this album (maybe the band can still somehow redeem themselves so that I'd want to). I'm not gonna hold my breath. To sum up, listening to Sonic Boom is like listening to a speech by a politician who wants your vote: it sounds great because it's everything you want to hear, but once you consider the source, you know it's just a self-serving lie. Apparently that's good enough for many Kiss fans, but I feel a lie is still a lie, regardless of how well it's told. I'll always love the Real Kiss (1973-2000), but this is simply a carbon copy. A better name would've been Sonic Betrayal.

Yeah, yeah, I know... "It's Only Rock'n'Roll," right? For most other bands, I'd agree, but with Kiss, I expect more, because that's what they always gave.

"

Kiss Me, Again and Again

Edward Damas | Henderson, Nevada | 03/22/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, I've been away from Kiss for a long time now, but this whole album takes me back to maybe Dressed To Kill. It's raw, and it's hard to the ears. But if you can't recognize it as being Rock and Roll, then you are just to old.



Forget what you've heard of people's worst criticism of this album is. Kiss will always have it's detractors and it's apparently that so many people want the old Ace and Peter back. Well if that's the case, then those people need to go and follow Ace and Peter, and forget Kiss as a whole.



Speaking of which....I haven't heard anything from Ace and Peter lately....



But as Gene and Paul will tell you...anyone can put a limit on themselves, and that's exactly what Kiss has not done! They have surgically removed the elements (Ace and Peter) that, even though they had their job...have no need to be in the band anymore. And anyways, both Ace and Peter quit the band anyways. What were Gene and Paul supposed to do?



The songs on Sonic Boom were totally Paul's doing. As Gene himself said at the time of the production of this album, he had way too much under his belt. So he gave the reigns over to Paul, and as far as I am concerned...Paul did, and does, continue to do Kiss justice on every album.



So do us a favor, all you Kiss Detractors....if you don't like Kiss, please take up your mantle, and let us hear your album and see you in concert."

Made Me Smile

Mr. Richard L. Crowfoot | 01/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I first heard Sonic Boom I was pretty ambivalent in my opinion of it as a return to form classic sounding kiss album. Those early classics like Hotter than Hell and Dressed to Kill, and to a certain extent Rock and roll over were ragged yet awesome affairs , sometimes poorly recorded and childish in terms of musical prowess, but therein lay their charm and classic status. Sonic Boom is not poorly recorded and the musicianship is pretty spot on as you would expect of a band of Kiss'vintage. A couple of tracks stood out initially like Say Yeah and All for the Glory and i thought I was pretty well over this album by the third or so listen. How wrong I am and what a sleeper Sonic Boom has proven to be. Nobody's Perfect is the best Kiss track since I Stole Your Love and it puts a smile on my face every time I play it. The rest of the disc is now revealing its treasures and presto, I'm a Kiss fan again after writing them off years ago. I can understand people feeling ripped off about Eric and Tommy wearing the old makeup and perhaps new characters would have been better, But man do they sound like they belong in the band. Don't write them off just yet as I got a feeling the best is yet to come. Here's to a live DVD featuring the song from Sonic Boom."