Review : Kiss Tribute In Japan
04/19/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Not a lot of people knwo that somewhere in the first quarter of 1998, an official Japanese Tribute CD was released. Check Out this Link at KISSFAQ for more on the release of that album...
First song on the cd is "Shout It out Loud By The Yellow Monkey".
This version of this song reminds me of the version KISS released themselves on the Greatest Kiss album.. It sounds the same... Is played the same... Except for the typical Japanenglish in which the song is sung... I don't like it... I mean, if your going to do a tribute in my opinion that means that you're influenced by KISS, but it should add something to what you're doing... This sounds to close to the (3th) original version.2nd song is "Deuce by Diamond Yukai".
Again, a copycat version. But this time the way Lenny Kravitz played in on KISS MY ASS..
Only the production is a bit better than the Kravitz version.. Also a Mouthorgan (Is this the right name...???) solo... And again, the English pronounciation leaves a lot to be desired.3th on the album is "Parasite by KINNIKU SHOUJO-TAI".
This becomes a bit more interesting.. It kinda sounds like Marilyn Manson would do it... Very uptodate musicwise, except I'm not a fan of those distorted vocals... Another thing which puts the song down is that they choose to sing the chorus the normal way which kinda ruins the song because the tempo used on the verses is very fast. Then on the other hand, the guitarsolo which is totaly different than Ace's (Are we sure about this ) adds something to the song.4th song is "I was made by NOMIYA W/ DIMITRI FROM PARIS".
Here it starts to become interesting.. Dimitri is well known in Europe as on of the top DanceDJ's in what is should call "Mellow House". Check out his discography at Amazon... He combines I Was Made with the Synthesizer loop from Donna Summer's I Feel Love... And on top of that he ends the song with a men's choir so it kinda becomes a cross between the Village People & The Pet Shop Boys.. So here you see where this guys influences come from.. Oh yeah .. The female singer knows her English.. Number 5 is "Beth by SCUDELIA ELECTRO"The heavy keyboard intro reminds of the song/intro 1984 by Van Halen.. The rest of the song is played on Grand Piano and here the song starts to feel more like Chariots Of Fire by Vangelis... Too bad the singer gives an average perfomance on the song..Numero 6 "Nothin' To Lose by Rolly (The Rockrolly).. Really.. Again this is a close copy of the original.. The handclaps on the chorus is something which I allways found missing from the original version.. So another point scored... But again a copy of the original...Number 7 is "Hard Luck Woman by K.NAKAYAMA AND REDD KROSS".Again a blatant copy of the Garth Brooks version.. Although it sounds great and all, I don't see a point to it...Number 8 is "Cold Gin by ONDAS BOOZER BROTHERS"And again very close to the original... All played nice and neat... But what's the use ??.. Number 9... "Detroit Rock City by PUGS".The Intro starts out on traditional Japanese instruments but quickly turns into a distorted John Zorn like version... Except for the drumline which is close to the original... One of the more interesting covers.. The female vocals really add to the song and the guitarsolo is sung in choir !!!The last one is "C'mon and love me by PSYCHODELICIOUS"A very slow version which reminds me of some NIN songs... Very epic intro... Xcellent guitar part which adds to the song... Add some vocals which remind me the way Marc Bolan used to sing.. This is the way a tribute should be done.. All in all, a very interesting album.. Buy it if you can find it and don't mind the price... ... This review was made with the aid of the following products.1 Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2 Cigar
1/2 bottle of Havana Club Anejo Rum
1 Brandnew Pioneer DV-47A DVD Audio, Multi-Channel SACD, DVD Video Player.
1 Girlfriend who took the kids to Eurodisney"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
