KISS- Hotter Than Hell

1.  Got To Choose -  sound murky, muddled, slow, and dull.  Did KISS invent grunge in 1974?  Like a couple of tracks on the debut it sounds like it was recorded at the wrong speed.  I've heard this song on Alive! and it sounds much better.  The studio does not capture this song in a good light. If I hear "who's your baby" one more time I'm kicking a puppy.  D

2.  Parasite - this is good.  great movement to start.  uptempo and moving...can bob the head to this one.  This is guitar rock 101!  peter plays well with ace again.  having trouble hearing gene on this.   usually the drummer plays with the bassist...here it's peter and ace.  sounds like early pennywise with no bass or metallica's justice...maybe this is the metal sound they were going for when they took jason out of the mix. ...all distorted treble...B+

3.  Goin' Blind - back to the Melvins-style sludge rock.  Gene's vocals are bad.....really bad.  painful actually.  is this a ballad?  fuckin' horrible.  if i were in a band and a guy came to the table with this i'd work to get him out...this is total shit.  i wish i were goin' deaf...even Ace's leads are trite and uninspired here ..F

4.  Hotter Than Hell -  Good rockin' groove to open.  Another song with the start stop thing going on.  good vocals..raw.  Good rock n' roll lyrics about a pretty lady.  the murky production makes it land a bit flat though. And the drum fills seem a bit clunky.  Cowbell is a plus.  You can never go wrong with cowbell. Sort of a redundant song though...it goes nowhere.   B-

5.  Let Me Go Rock N' Roll -  another one for the honky tonk.   Good leads by Ace once again though.  Dull....got that Broadway cheese again...Ace's playing saves the song. C+

6.  All the Way - sounds like a bunch of guys fucking around at practice trying to come up with something.  And it's not working. Awkward riffing.  Flat vocals.  No groove, no rock.  More Broadway honky tonk....i do like the tin can sound of Ace's soloing and a little whammy or string bending is the best part of the whole song. I can picture people line dancing to this....stomping the heels of their cowboy boots on the wood floors as they turn with each verse.   D

7.  Watchin' You-  thin, sparse guitar to start.  A really heavy bass could've made this song huge.  when the second guitar hits the song takes off.  Song has multiple parts.  Most interesting thing on the album so far.  Vocals are pretty good even if a bit down in the mix and layered with multiple takes/tracks.  KISS does get a pretty good drum sound in the studio....sounds unmixed and raw...sort of a natural sound.  the guitars on this are pretty rugged.  After a close listen to this first two albums I will agree that I didn't give Ace and Peter their proper due as rock n' rollers.  A

8. Mainline -  potential in the opening riff and drums but song slips into total cheese.  bad tv show theme sound.  sucks donkey dick.  D-

9.  Comin' Home - more of a rocker than mainline or all the way but still sort of cheesy.  I expected more from an Ace composition.  Reminds me of Cheap Trick...but not as good.  Total elementary song structure.  That simple chorus breakdown is so basic and dull.  Any 15 year old with 3 months experience could fling this shit together.  D

 10.  Strange Ways- starts off dark and grimy...vocals are sleazy.  Great creeping riff...it's lurking just outside your door....waiting to get in.  Chorus is weak, especially the "bridge" before going back into the main verse.  But still a cool creeping groove to this one.  Criss even gives a few shrieking high notes in his vocal delivery.  Ace's lead solo is wicked...might be the best work he's laid down on either of the first two albums.  One of Metallica's recent criticisms is that they just write riffs and throw them together instead of composing songs.   Kiss was definitely the standard bearer for that...come up with a cool riff or two, build  song around it and then clunk a couple of weak bridges in between and have some chanting as a chorus that repeats a couple of times and boom, a song.   B-

Overall :  C