Message #180325

[Strangeways]

Nino, really appreciate your review, but have to say I am surprised (perhaps shocked) at you giving the soundtrack 10/10 given your earlier comments on the pin using the tribute band recordings. What's the deal here? How can it be perfection?

Covered that in the review - although I reviewed the SOUND, not the SOUNDTRACK;

Sounds

Unreal. Sounds like a stereo system. Turned it up all the way and i had the neighbours drop in ! AMAZING quality. The VERSIONS of the song were my biggest gripe, but it has more to do with what Stern was permitted to do with the license. Given tracks were from the early albums, the production from album to album was not uniform at all. KISS fans know that "Hotter than Hell" sounds like it was recorded in a basement, and "Creatures of the Night" has a missive Bonham drum sound. The re recordings of the tribute line up means ALL the songs sound uniform in terms of qulity and production. they lack the "vibe" of the original recordings, but I'm happy with it. The call outs are from Gene and Paul. Would have loved Ace or Peter's voice.


I know for a fact Stern were only allowed to use the re recorded tracks that were recorded for an obscure Japanese album. This was done to avoid paying Ace and Peter a performance royalty. The songs "Love it Load" and "Lick It Up" were not recorded by the original line up - which the pinball is paying tribute to. Both songs were written by Vinnie Vincent who signed over his songwriting credits to KISS many years ago.

To elaborate on my point regarding the soundtrack, here the point I'm trying to make ;

This is the original studio version of "Hotter than Hell"

Background - This was KISS' second album released in 1974. Probably their heaviest album with the original line up, the production is easily KISS' worst effort. It sounds like it was recorded in a basement (not far from the truth). But some of the songs are absolute classics. My AP name is named after the song "Strangeways", which has a long story.. Suffice to say, many grunge bands look back at this album as a point of influence.

Here's the re recorded cover version

Uninspiring. Going through the motions. But better production.

I Love It Loud

Original version has an absolute MONSTER sound. Drumming on this album is bonham like.

Re recorded rubbish

Black Diamond

From the debut album. This is "the" song that you hear the chemistry between the original four. The production is far superior than the album that follows (Hotter than Hell)

Re recorded version ;

It is not too bad - Until Eric starts singing. Peter is 100 times what Eric is as a singer.

If you listen to the disparity in production of the three original recordings, you can see my point. The production is too far apart. The re recordings have the same production - so they fit in with the pinball and make perfect sense. they are TERRIBLE re recordings as they lack the vibe and chemistry of the original.

There are TONS of better tribute bands that have recorded better versions than the tribute band current tourings. But I digress..