So your top 3 studio albums are ?

Mine

Love Gun
Hotter Than Hell ( terrible recording sound but awesome songs )
Destroyer

As of today:

Creatures
Hotter Than Hell
Love Gun

Honorable mention:
Revenge
Lick It Up
R.A.R.O.
Dynasty

1. Creatures of the Night
2. Lick it Up
3. Dynasty/Unmasked(it's a tie for me - these albums both broke Kiss here in Australia and I played these to death! I listened to Unmasked every day after school for about six months... Good times!

Lick it Up
Animalize
Carnival of Souls (Very Under Rated)

The Elder and C.O.S. are top five for me.

I would have to catagorize mine:

Original line-up
1. Dressed to Kill
2. Rock and Roll Over
3. KISS (1st)

Without makeup:
1. Lick It Up
2. Asylum
3. Animalize

Overall :
1. Lick It Up
2. Creatures of the Night
3. Dressed to Kill
4. Rock and Roll Over
5. KISS (1st)

worst...... Revenge and Carnival of Souls LOL Sorry Kev....

FREDDYB3 wrote:I would have to catagorize mine:

Original line-up
1. Dressed to Kill
2. Rock and Roll Over
3. KISS (1st)

Without makeup:
1. Lick It Up
2. Asylum
3. Animalize

Overall :
1. Lick It Up
2. Creatures of the Night
3. Dressed to Kill
4. Rock and Roll Over
5. KISS (1st)

worst...... Revenge and Carnival of Souls LOL Sorry Kev....

Fred,
Share why you don't like Revenge and COS? I think those are both great albums and amongst the best in the Kiss Catalog.

Just curious bro

Kev

Well Kev, The worst of the 2 for me is Carnival of Souls. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Jungle is a pretty good tune and probably the best song on the record for my money.
However, the others don't really do much for me.
Songs like "Childhoods End" grate on my every last nerve. LOL
As you may already know, I am not a huge Bruce Kulick fan (from a playing standpoint )
and never saw him as much of a quality songwriting contributor. I also don't care much for the
Low tuning stuff (in general) and moments in the production like all the noise at end of songs
(sounding like someone unplugged with the amp on and laid the cord on something metal ) also serve as irritants to me.... : - D LOL

Revenge is Clearly the better of the 2...... Vinnie's song writing return helped. In my opinion though there just aren't enough good songs on the record. For me it's most of the Gene tunes that I don't care for.
I find that to be the case in general. ( from about Asylum forward ) All though, there are a few decent one's along the way. "Unholy" is a well written song , even though I don't personally care for it. Songs like "Domino" , "Spit" , "Thou Shalt Not" and "Paralyzed" are largely forgettable in my mind.

I realize I am in the minority with this opinion.....

Creatures of the Night
Hotter than Hell
Dressed to Kill

1) CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
2) KISS
3) LICK IT UP

FREDDYB3 wrote:Well Kev, The worst of the 2 for me is Carnival of Souls. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Jungle is a pretty good tune and probably the best song on the record for my money.
However, the others don't really do much for me.
Songs like "Childhoods End" grate on my every last nerve. LOL
As you may already know, I am not a huge Bruce Kulick fan (from a playing standpoint )
and never saw him as much of a quality songwriting contributor. I also don't care much for the
Low tuning stuff (in general) and moments in the production like all the noise at end of songs
(sounding like someone unplugged with the amp on and laid the cord on something metal ) also serve as irritants to me.... : - D LOL

Revenge is Clearly the better of the 2...... Vinnie's song writing return helped. In my opinion though there just aren't enough good songs on the record. For me it's most of the Gene tunes that I don't care for.
I find that to be the case in general. ( from about Asylum forward ) All though, there are a few decent one's along the way. "Unholy" is a well written song , even though I don't personally care for it. Songs like "Domino" , "Spit" , "Thou Shalt Not" and "Paralyzed" are largely forgettable in my mind.

I realize I am in the minority with this opinion.....

I totally understand! I get in trouble here because even though there are some great songs on the oldest albums they sound very dated to me. I know Vic is a huge fan of the 1st album. Case in point I'm ok with the song Hotter than Hell but the version on the album of the same name sounds old and tired. It was recorded in 1974 but might as well have been recorded in 1964 the way that it sounds. Ace Frehley sounds terrible here.

Let's call a spade a spade Ace Frehley may be the most influencial guitar player of all time in terms of leading people to play electric guitar but it's not because he is a good player.

I agree with your assessment of Bruce Kulick but I will give him one thing on the albums that he played on. He had decent tone and was good in the mix. When it comes to the guitar playing Kulick's it's all about Bob as far as I'm concerned.

Have a great weekend bro!

Good points Kev,

I think the KISS remasters made a huge leap forward in terms of sound quality in regards to the early records. (not sure if you have any of them or not ? They are worth getting in my opinion. ) Very true about Ace, trouble with Ace was in the early 70's he was a good player for the time period and that bluesy, penatonic rock and roll style. However, unlike some other "old school" players, he never progressed.
i.e Jeff Beck

In fact, (probably due to personal issues and a lack of dedication) he never grew as a player.
I don't think that there is necessarily anything wrong with that, people are sometimes just who and whatever they are as players and just because they don't "keep up with the times" it means they aren't good players. Maybe they have just tapped out their potential as a player ???

On Bruce, I don't think he is a bad player obviously. His playing just doesn't move me. I don't think he has anything in the way of tone or expression that perks my ear . I remember reading somewhere (I think right after he was out of the band) where he was complaining that they (Gene and/or Paul ) wanted him to use a Rockman on the first few albums he played on. (Animalize , Asylum , etc ) and his tone had that early "Gallian- Kruger" type sound where the chorus was always on.....it was just a matter of how much.
With that being said, none of that prevented me from liking the KISS records that he contributed too.

We largely agree though....... Have a Great weekend too Kev !

albums i listened to the most when I listened to Kiss.

Lick it Up
Dynasty
Kiss (1st record)

Still listen to Dynasty but not much of the others.

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
UNMASKED
LICK IT UP

1. Lick it Up
2. Creatures of the Night
3. Kiss (debut album)

Sandimas wrote:1. Lick it Up
2. Creatures of the Night
3. Kiss (debut album)

If I could have one more vote, 4. would be Dynasty.

Two more votes, Alive and Alive II.

LIU
Creatures
Revenge

Iceman75 wrote:LIU
Creatures
Revenge

This is a great top 3 too as far as I'm concerned

My favorite KISS albums are:

Carnival Of Souls (I love this album and the dirt vibe so much!)
Lick It Up
Creatures Of The Night (drums are sounding like the hell!)

KISS(the self titled album)
Unmasked
Lick it up

I love ace's songs from unmasked!

wolfgang161272 wrote:My favorite KISS albums are:

Carnival Of Souls (I love this album and the dirt vibe so much!)
Lick It Up
Creatures Of The Night (drums are sounding like the hell!)

Absolutely great choices Wolfgang!

zemsguitar11 wrote:KISS(the self titled album)
Unmasked
Lick it up

I love ace's songs from unmasked!

Man battle stations torpedo!

My top 5 are

1. Destroyer
2. Love Gun
3. Dressed To Kill
4. Lick It Up
5. Creatures of the Night

1) Animalize (That's the album that got me into KISS to begin with!)
2) Creatures of the Night (the only KISS vynil I own... and I don't own a turntable!)
3) Lick it Up

Special Mention

4) Asylum
5) Crazy Nights

Yes I know the production values of this ones were a bit off... but I just love the corny, sappy lyrics. I mean, "Who wants to be lonely?" and "I'll fight hell to hold you"? SWEET!

My top three...in no particular order:
Lick It Up
Rock N Roll Over
Love Gun

And in reference to the "why" conversation going on:

FREDDYB3 wrote:Well Kev, The worst of the 2 for me is Carnival of Souls. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Jungle is a pretty good tune and probably the best song on the record for my money.
However, the others don't really do much for me.
Songs like "Childhoods End" grate on my every last nerve. LOL
As you may already know, I am not a huge Bruce Kulick fan (from a playing standpoint )
and never saw him as much of a quality songwriting contributor. I also don't care much for the
Low tuning stuff (in general) and moments in the production like all the noise at end of songs
(sounding like someone unplugged with the amp on and laid the cord on something metal ) also serve as irritants to me.... : - D LOL

Revenge is Clearly the better of the 2...... Vinnie's song writing return helped. In my opinion though there just aren't enough good songs on the record. For me it's most of the Gene tunes that I don't care for.
I find that to be the case in general. ( from about Asylum forward ) All though, there are a few decent one's along the way. "Unholy" is a well written song , even though I don't personally care for it. Songs like "Domino" , "Spit" , "Thou Shalt Not" and "Paralyzed" are largely forgettable in my mind.

I realize I am in the minority with this opinion.....

I'm in the minority here as well. There are a couple of songs off of both these albums that are killer, but Revenge has a couple of stinkers that IMO eliminate it's ability to fall in a KISS top 5 list and Carnival of Souls just isn't a "KISS" album. I like the production, but don't care for most of the tunes.

Slayer wrote:I totally understand! I get in trouble here because even though there are some great songs on the oldest albums they sound very dated to me. I know Vic is a huge fan of the 1st album. Case in point I'm ok with the song Hotter than Hell but the version on the album of the same name sounds old and tired. It was recorded in 1974 but might as well have been recorded in 1964 the way that it sounds. Ace Frehley sounds terrible here.

Let's call a spade a spade Ace Frehley may be the most influencial guitar player of all time in terms of leading people to play electric guitar but it's not because he is a good player.

I agree with your assessment of Bruce Kulick but I will give him one thing on the albums that he played on. He had decent tone and was good in the mix. When it comes to the guitar playing Kulick's it's all about Bob as far as I'm concerned.

Have a great weekend bro!

I've never been bothered by the "tonal quality" of the first 3 albums because the songs, playing and energy are so great. But I get why it bugs some people. As far as Ace is concerned, one need only listen to the solos on Anomaly to see the guy has not only failed to progress, but doesn't seem to have much control or style anymore. (I like Anomaly BTW.)

FREDDYB3 wrote:On Bruce, I don't think he is a bad player obviously. His playing just doesn't move me. I don't think he has anything in the way of tone or expression that perks my ear . I remember reading somewhere (I think right after he was out of the band) where he was complaining that they (Gene and/or Paul ) wanted him to use a Rockman on the first few albums he played on. (Animalize , Asylum , etc ) and his tone had that early "Gallian- Kruger" type sound where the chorus was always on.....it was just a matter of how much.
With that being said, none of that prevented me from liking the KISS records that he contributed too.

We largely agree though....... Have a Great weekend too Kev !

I've mentioned in other posts that Bruce has so much skill and control that he doesn't have a style or feel of his own. What made Ace so exciting in the early days, Bruce is the complete opposite and therefore...sometimes...a little boring.
Point: If you play a Frehley solo it is recognizable, but if you play a Kulick solo it could be any number of very talented studio players.

Nice post ERG2 and fairly put!

erg2 wrote:My top three...in no particular order:
Lick It Up
Rock N Roll Over
Love Gun

And in reference to the "why" conversation going on:

FREDDYB3 wrote:Well Kev, The worst of the 2 for me is Carnival of Souls. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Jungle is a pretty good tune and probably the best song on the record for my money.
However, the others don't really do much for me.
Songs like "Childhoods End" grate on my every last nerve. LOL
As you may already know, I am not a huge Bruce Kulick fan (from a playing standpoint )
and never saw him as much of a quality songwriting contributor. I also don't care much for the
Low tuning stuff (in general) and moments in the production like all the noise at end of songs
(sounding like someone unplugged with the amp on and laid the cord on something metal ) also serve as irritants to me.... : - D LOL

Revenge is Clearly the better of the 2...... Vinnie's song writing return helped. In my opinion though there just aren't enough good songs on the record. For me it's most of the Gene tunes that I don't care for.
I find that to be the case in general. ( from about Asylum forward ) All though, there are a few decent one's along the way. "Unholy" is a well written song , even though I don't personally care for it. Songs like "Domino" , "Spit" , "Thou Shalt Not" and "Paralyzed" are largely forgettable in my mind.

I realize I am in the minority with this opinion.....

I'm in the minority here as well. There are a couple of songs off of both these albums that are killer, but Revenge has a couple of stinkers that IMO eliminate it's ability to fall in a KISS top 5 list and Carnival of Souls just isn't a "KISS" album. I like the production, but don't care for most of the tunes.

Slayer wrote:I totally understand! I get in trouble here because even though there are some great songs on the oldest albums they sound very dated to me. I know Vic is a huge fan of the 1st album. Case in point I'm ok with the song Hotter than Hell but the version on the album of the same name sounds old and tired. It was recorded in 1974 but might as well have been recorded in 1964 the way that it sounds. Ace Frehley sounds terrible here.

Let's call a spade a spade Ace Frehley may be the most influencial guitar player of all time in terms of leading people to play electric guitar but it's not because he is a good player.

I agree with your assessment of Bruce Kulick but I will give him one thing on the albums that he played on. He had decent tone and was good in the mix. When it comes to the guitar playing Kulick's it's all about Bob as far as I'm concerned.

Have a great weekend bro!

I've never been bothered by the "tonal quality" of the first 3 albums because the songs, playing and energy are so great. But I get why it bugs some people. As far as Ace is concerned, one need only listen to the solos on Anomaly to see the guy has not only failed to progress, but doesn't seem to have much control or style anymore. (I like Anomaly BTW.)

FREDDYB3 wrote:On Bruce, I don't think he is a bad player obviously. His playing just doesn't move me. I don't think he has anything in the way of tone or expression that perks my ear . I remember reading somewhere (I think right after he was out of the band) where he was complaining that they (Gene and/or Paul ) wanted him to use a Rockman on the first few albums he played on. (Animalize , Asylum , etc ) and his tone had that early "Gallian- Kruger" type sound where the chorus was always on.....it was just a matter of how much.
With that being said, none of that prevented me from liking the KISS records that he contributed too.

We largely agree though....... Have a Great weekend too Kev !

I've mentioned in other posts that Bruce has so much skill and control that he doesn't have a style or feel of his own. What made Ace so exciting in the early days, Bruce is the complete opposite and therefore...sometimes...a little boring.
Point: If you play a Frehley solo it is recognizable, but if you play a Kulick solo it could be any number of very talented studio players.

Well said erg2

Thanks guys.

A) I'm not trying to say what Bruce plays isn't difficult and not interesting or fun to listen to...I'm just saying that sometimes it lacks distinctive characteristics. A recognizable "trademark" if you will. To me the guy is probably the most technically advanced of ANY of the KISS guitarists, but I think it's all technique over style most of the time. IMO.

B) I had hoped that KISS would've given Toby Wright a chance as producer for the album that became PSYCHO CIRCUS. I think he captured a real, raw sound on CoS that harkened back to the original 3 albums, but with more modern production values. Think of him actually working with the original 4 and getting a heavy, raw, "grungy" sound out of them. Instead Gene & Paul went for the pop/radio brass-ring and ended up with a bland turd.

1.Destroyer
2.Creatures
3.Love Gun

LICK IT UP

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

ANIMALIZE

All three really bring me back in time to when I really loved those guys.

They could do 'no wrong' in my eyes.

eddiepagechicago wrote:LICK IT UP

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

ANIMALIZE

All three really bring me back in time to when I really loved those guys.

They could do 'no wrong' in my eyes.

This a great list of 3 Eddie Page!
I dig all 3 of these albums a lot!

Thanks Slayer...