Not the best KISS album, but still good
927537
KISS's sophomore "Hotter Than Hell," is a fine album, but one of the weaker offerings from the classic era.

If you listened to KISS's self-titled debut album, and then listened to "Hotter Than Hell" you might conclude that "Hotter Than Hell" was a demo tape recorded years earlier. This album sounds very stuffy, as though it were recorded in a basement on an eight-track.

KISS also run into a bit of a sophomore slump with "Hotter than Hell." You know how it is when a band uses up all their best songs for their debut, and then they have to use the leftovers for the followup (i.e., Van Halen II). The songs on "Hotter Than Hell" are by no means bad. They're all quite good, it's just that they don't quite reach the level of greatness as the songs on the debut, or future releases. Still, this album does have some undeniable classics, like "Got to Choose," "Parasite," "Goin' Blind," Watchin' You," and "Commin' Home." The rest of the songs on this disc are good, if not quite as memorable.

One thing that really works for this album is that the band sounds young and hungry. The whole band sounds focused and energized.

"Hotter Than Hell," is a bit of a step back from the classic debut, but it's still a fine album and should please most KISS fans.
688939
The boys went out on a limb with this one.  In my opinion this was less of a KISS album and more of a producer exerting too much
influence...It happens.  I do like a few of the tracks though you will probably never hear them again.  "I" was good, and of course, "A World Without Heroes".  They ventured too far from what made them great during the 80's but they figured it out and came back from the brink.  This is one that is kept purely for historical record by the hardcore fan.
4629854
A necessary album for any hardcore KISS Army fan!
1814402
This album has taken some time to grow on me, but it's a good effort by the band.  Too bad the reunion didn't last.

The songs are an outgrowth from their earlier work; not much in the way of hits here, but still worth listening to.
3457947
...but KISS actually hit it with Crazy Nights. Three videos from this album are three to many. If you own this I hope it was a gift, otherwise you were ...
874026
I don't think people give this album the credit that it deserves.  This is good album.  I'll admit that it's not as great as previous records, but truely, what is?  A lot of people would agree when I say this is not their worst album  and this album has some great songs on it.  They include:  Here To Stay, Alone I break, and a song that didn't make the greatist hits and I don't think they released, One More Time.  This song is the best song on the album.  I mean come on.  The drums are the best on the album.  The harmony is great.  It might be 'commercial' and 'metal pop' but its still great.  With that said, I conclude by saying that this is worthy of the couple of bucks, and you won't regret getting this.
1994403
Criss is here far from the Kiss sound. But it doesnt matter. Its
a little improvment from the Out of Control album, and it sounds fresh in todays music. Kiss producer Vini Poncia has taken over the production, and the soundpicture is pure magic. Its sympho rock, espesially on Track 2 Tears. Let it go Track 1 is more rock and roll. Move on Over Track 3 its more simple. He also have
a go on the John Lennon hit Jealous Guy. Eat you're heart out Brian Ferry, who also had a minor hit with this one. Track 5 Destiny has a certain quality over it, but its not Criss on his best. Track 6 Somekinda hurricane, is a real rocker, fast and moving towards a climax of pure rock orgasm. Track 7 Let me Rock you, is the title track, and been out for a surprise. Criss doing doooo op, and its doesnt sounds like rock, is pure pop with the sound from the sixteees. This is a treat, and earfriendly. Pure joy. More or less. Track 8 First day in the rain is a ballad, but its not up to it`s usuall standard. Track 9
Feel like heaven is back on what we can called a "light heavy metal track". Track 10 Bad Boys is rythm and blues and its interesting. Over all Its time for a new Solo album from Peter Criss. Peter Criss will surely rock you on this one.
2783115
Well, I know I'll get some flack for this, but I can't get too worked up about this album.  Yeah, yeah, I know it's an album about the aftermath of 9/11, but that doesn't automaticly mean that it's any good.  At worst, the album sounds like leftover John Mellencamp.  It doesn't have the "signature" E-Street sound, and while that isn't necessary all the time, I think in this case it might've helped.  It's not a terrible album by any means.  "Mary's Place" is a fun little rocker, and "Lonesome Day" kicks off the album nicely.  But, the constant repeated imagery of "one more kiss from your lips" (Where else did you want a kiss from, considering this image is used three times) and "may your strength give me strength" gets overbearing and silly after a while.  Still, the haunting "My City Of Ruins" almost makes it worth while.  But almost doesn't count as much as it used to these days.
151156
This is the collection intended for the time capsule, 40 songs covering 40 years of Kisstory since the band's debut release in 1974. The concept is a good one: a song from every album the band has released over the last decade, including four live, four solos, other compilations, and even a soundtrack (for the movie Detroit Rock City). If I were grading the selections as a total package, I'd score this a B+. For more thoughts/details, read on.

 There are a few glaring omissions. This is the first KISS hits compilation not to include "Calling Dr. Love." "Hard Luck Woman" represents the album Rock and Roll Over, a Peter Criss track replacing one of Gene Simmons's definitive cuts. (Was Gene paying attention?) And the set does not include one of Paul Stanley's favorite tunes, still on the band's touring set list: "Love Gun." ("Christine Sixteen" represents the LG album.) Those two and "Black Diamond" are missing pieces that would have those opening the time capsule wondering.

 The collection features the songs most identified with each album (for the most part; see above). Which means you aren't necessarily getting the best tune from each release. "Is That You?" is my favorite tune from Unmasked (we get "Shandi"). "I" stands out from The Elder (we get "A World Without Heroes"). Nothing wrong with this, really. Again . . . time capsule.

 Paul's solo album (from 1978) was the best of the four. It really has only one bad song on it . . . precisely the tune selected for this collection: "Hold Me, Touch Me." Baffling. So many great cuts to choose from (I would have gone with "Move On"). There are three other Paul ballads in this batch (and not his best, "Every Time I Look at You"). This selection wasn't needed. Or wanted.

 Paul's original "God of Thunder" demo is included. Again, was Gene paying attention? Paul's is a cool version. But "GT" has been an iconic part of the KISS experience for more than 30 years, always sung with "blood" still dripping from the Demon's chin. This was over-thinking something that should have been left alone. (A live version would have been nice.) It's the equivalent of including Eric Carr's 1988 version of "Beth." Nicely done, but not for the time capsule.

 Final note. The most neglected, under-appreciated KISS Klassic is "Rock Bottom." Never included in a greatest-hits package. Should have been a part of this one. I would have been happy with the Unplugged version (instead of "Do You Love Me?").

I'm a sucker for all things KISS. Have been for more than three of these four decades. This is a very good collection of the band's work, across all eras. Just shy of great.
691664
I have never been a huge KISS fan from the get go, but I've learned to respect them for what they've done and who they are. In and about the time I was really starting to get into listening and playing music, I though that they sucked for the most part. I was into bands like the Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden etc and Kiss never really did anything for me back then. However looking back, I probably never really gave them a chance. As time passed I began to revisit their older stuff and to my surprise, I really liked what I heard coming from my speakers. The 80's and 90's had some high points, but it's the early years that really paint the true picture of what these guys were about and I personally found this out some 20 years later. I guess you could say the their first full reunion tour was a coming out party for me *lol*.

Sure Gene and Paul are businessmen and yes they looked at this as both being a way to get rich and a way to express themselves both musically and lyrically. From the moment they started out, they had a plan and followed it with the a passion. No one should ever say anything bad about that as they had a dream and they've lived that dream. They were at one time basically laughed at, however they had a vision and they worked at their craft and took on the world and it's would be critics. KISS is or was one of the worlds biggest bands and most recognizable names. They had achieved what they sought out to do and I see nothing wrong with that. They worked their butts off to show the world and probably themselves just what they could do or become. They delivered live shows that absolutely blew their audience away and their reputation and following, insert KISS ARMY here, was built on that. Make no mistake here, KISS was never the most talented band in the world, nor the best selling act ever, however they were not as untalented or as crappy as some people would have you believe. The musicianship is pretty darn good all around here so they get props from me.

KISS are what they are and they are masters at what they do. They deliver great live shows time after time and they have a very good collection of albums that contain some really good tunes that have stood the test of time. They are business men who in the end have given us a good days work for many years!

This DVD contains what really is KISS at it's zenith. The first disc shows us just how raw they really were when they started out. It has lots of bad notes and really funny imagery that is somewhat hilarious at times. As the disc gets further in, you can see that they are indeed getting better and are really starting to define who they are and what they could be. The second disc is really KISS at it's best!! They had found their way and were working it for all it was worth. All in all great stuff for any KISS  fan or even the casual fan like myself who over time has grown to respect what these guys were all about!

Easily a 5 star rating here!!
422247
This album could be described as two things: 1)More Instruments/Less Pro-Tools and 2) It seemed Rushed.  The focus of the writing of this album seems more to be what there IS in life rather then what they want.  But I listen to the songs, and they seemed to of been written a little hurried, i.e. not as intelligent.  (also the singer has an obsession w/ Sh*t this album, lol).  This album will please more people of basic rock distortion albums but strays away from the first two albums.  Old Saliva fans may not be into it as Every or System, but if you never heard Saliva before this, you'd think they love AC/DC and Motorcycle Gangs.  Still, its well produced and worth it, but def. not there best work...
1306752
Dont pay attention to what the older kiss fans will say about this album, they just cant stand the fast that the band has a new much heavier metal sound, which in my opinion is a better thing for this band.  Because if they were still singing soft songs like Beth and Great Expectations in the 90s, they would have no new fans from the era raised on Glam Rock and Metal.  Consequently with that being said, this is EXACTLY the album that attracted me to KISS in the first place (heh), I first heard the flagship title for this album, Psycho Circus, on Fox's now-canceled Series Millenium and thought it was the best thing I heard in a few years, afterwords I learned of the Psycho Circus album and the rest is history, bringing me to my 12+ collection of KISS cds.  This album has strong heavy metal and should at least have a second look before its trashed by bias.
3899011
Kiss traveled out of their element to L.A. to record Hotter Than Hell, released just 8 months after the debut. Neither album had reached much success, but both of them are revered classics of 70s "metal". So Neil Bogart, head of the label pushed them back into the studio following their tour's end to record another follow up. 3 albums of original material in a year. Of course now that's unheard of but back then it was the norm, you always wanted to have something out there. Hotter Than Hell had a real muddy sound, the most stand out element of it so Bogart nixed the producers (who had also done the debut) to handle the controls himself. He figured himself a pop mogul of sorts of course in recent years this has been argued that he really didn't know what he was doing. Either way, all of the albums cuts, except for 2 are suspiciously under 3 minutes in length. The music is another great Kiss album though. Simmons/Stanley were fashioning themselves after the Lennon/McCartney songwriting force. Room Service and Ladies In Waiting deal with life on the road, and most of other tunes deal with women and typical dude point of views on relationships. It's that catchy melodic rock formula at it's finest. Paul's C'mon And Love Me, Anything For My Baby, and Love Her All I can are great short punchy rockers with that pop and at times almost bubblegum edge. The latter has some great Frehley lead work over time a real energetic section complete with cowbell and some fine Peter Criss drum work. The sound manages to be edgy but clean all the same.

Gene's more slowed down groove rocker Two Timer is cool too, and Ladies In Waiting features some great lead work from Frehley. Who had written a pretty cool song himself in Getaway, which Peter sings once more. One of the 2 oddities here is the Gene track called She. Originally written during the Wicked Lester years, it had been in the bands live show since the beginning and they finally included a studio version here, it has a sort of mysterious vibe to it. Rock Bottom is the other. Featuring an interesting deviation from the usual, an Ace and Paul 12 string acoustic instrumental intro that's pretty cool. It leads into a pretty rocking tune. C'mon  And Love Me is probably the best song though, a really cool set of lyrics and great unforgettable music to match. But the real "hit" here is of course Rock And Roll All Nite. Urged by Neil Bogart to write an "anthem" akin to I Want To Take You Higher by Sly Stone supposedly, Simmons And Stanley wrote one. And the single wasn't a hit originally but of course the 4 minute version on Alive! complete with the Ace solo became the band's first hit and of course history was made there. At the time, radio wouldn't touch these original 3 Kiss albums. Kiss were really thought of a phantom band, scary to some and a joke to others. Their music was too "heavy" and at the time it looked like Kiss were going to have to settle to linger in obscurity with many an unknown hard rock band at the time only to be unknowingly discovered years later by hardcore rock enthusiasts on the internet. But that wasn't to be of course, in just a few short months after Dressed To Kill was released the bombshell last ditch attempt to make it happened. Alive! came out, capturing the bands exciting sell out live show. This was also the last album the band recorded before they hit it big, it marks them as a young band that really cared about their music, which is way more than can be said about the current version of Kiss.
4859801
Essentially a very good greatest hits package which Kiss has had several of. Very good song collection but not the best; Double Platinum, for example, has a stellar song collection as does one or two others Kiss has released. Nonetheless, enjoyable to listen to for any diehard Kiss fan. Thank you.
3310062
This almost not released record is often unfairly lambasted. It is true that Kiss had almost run out of puff on more than one occasion (1985 with `<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Asylum/dp/B00000AF96/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Asylum</a>', 1989 with `<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Hot-in-the-Shade/dp/B000001FQQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Hot in the Shade</a>'), but `Carnival of Souls' is a different kettle of fish. It could not be further from the Kiss of the 70s or indeed the Kiss of the 80s. It sounds muddy, it is heavy and dirgey. The subject matter is almost nihilistic at times (`Hate', `Jungle' - both excellent) and the vocals have a 90s drawl to them. If 1992's heavy, dark and dirty `<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Revenge/dp/B000001FZP/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Revenge</a>' lacked a sense of fun, `Carnival of Souls' was close to miserable in comparison.

Recorded somewhere around 1995, the frivolousness with which Kiss were equated was most definitely `out'. It was a time when the sounds of grunge, indie rock and grunge metal were the approach that gave a band cred. `Carnival of Souls' was coproduced by Toby Wright who was aligned with the likes of Alice in Chains, Slayer and Queensryche. So Kiss' intentions on this effort are pretty easy to read. Measured against those benchmarks, `Carnival of Souls' could easily be dismissed as a wanna-be effort. But measured against other Kiss albums, it is a far more intriguing creature.

This album is the band's greatest departure and contains some of their most interesting and unusual songwriting. They also go back to Kiss basics by backing one another on vocals and relinquishing the last dozen years of screeching in favour of their lower registers. Bruce Kulick even sings the final track (`I Walk Alone'). A great (and unusual) thing about it is that the six tracks co-written by Gene Simmons are all well crafted and among the strongest of his career. In abandoning silly sex romps as a subject matter, he seems to have really risen to the occasion and equaled himself with the ever-reliable Stanley. `Hate', `Childhood's End', `In My Head' and `Seduction of the Innocent' are all dark, durgey grunge metal with occasional melodic flourishes thrown in. Stanley's six songs are also good. The funked-up grunge of `Jungle' is excellent and, if it weren't for the subject matter, the closest to sounding something like a tradition Kiss song. The morose ballad, `I Will Be There' is also outstanding - a vast improvement on the equivalent on 1992's `Revenge'.

`Carnival of Souls' is a dislocating experience for the most part. It takes a lot of getting used to and is initially hard to get all the way through in one listen. It sounds under-mixed and it definitely doesn't sound like Kiss - which is probably why it has been so badly received - no pop rock melodies or fist-raising anthems here. Dark and gloomy, it is the only real heavy metal album they ever recorded. But if you are prepared to stick with it, you realize it is not only the riskiest and most intelligent thing they ever made, but quite riveting on its own unique terms.
634713
1979 was a year of mixed emotions for KISS.They each released debut solo albums on the same day with less than phenonimal results the previous year. They also starred in their own TV movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. The ratings weren't record breaking. But for some strange reason it was the second highest rated TV movie of 1978.
KISS decided that 1979 was the year for regrouping and returning to true form. On the advice of Peter Criss,Vini Poncia was hired to produce their next album(a previous meeting with Giorgio Moroder went nowhere).Dynasty was released in May of the same year. It quickly climbed to #9. Their fourth top ten album and their fourth platinum. Likewise with Double Platinum(see review) the previous year,it also helped dispel rumors that they were breaking up.
Aside from producing,Vini also co-writes three songs(I Was Made For Lovin'You with Paul and Desmond Child,Sure Know Something with Paul and Dirty Livin' with Peter and Stan Penridge).Paul solely writes one(Magic Touch).Gene also solely writes one(X-Ray Eyes)and co-writes another(Charisma with then business manager Howard Marks).Ace also contributes two more(Hard Times and Save Your Love)on which he also sings lead. The cover tune is 2,000 Man.
It also features some strong songwriting. In retrospect,some of their best. I Was Made For Lovin'You has Paul singing to a woman that they were made for each other. Sure Know Something has Paul teling a woman that she's the best thing that's ever happened to him. Hard Times is one of Ace's best. This song exemplifies that while Ace never wants to go back to the hard years of his past,he also shows that those hard years are the reason why he's still around and still stronger. Dirty Livin' has Peter sending a message to himself to break free from the fast and dangerous rock star life that was tormenting him(It would also be his last time with the band. He left KISS after the Dynasty tour. He wouldn't perform with the band again until the reunion).The remainder of the original songs are as well written as their previous songs. They are in the typical KISS groove but seem tamer than their previous songs.
The remake of The Rolling Stones classic 2,000 Man is a stellar performance by Ace. He turns in his best vocal effort to date. He also gives this song a style as well as a flair that would even make Mick Jagger & Keith Richards jump for joy.
Poncia captures the band in its true rocking spirit. Despite the disco tags that this album has earned over the years,this really isn't disco in the true sense. It's actually power dance pop successfully mixed with KISS's brand of thunder rock. He successfully creates a "FUN" album. Poncia deserves an A+ for his efforts. Likewise,each of these songs are rock and roll party tunes. They are also unforgettable. When you put this CD in your CD player,you'll have a rocking good time. This album is even better than Strutter '78 on Double Platinum. Once again,an A+ for Vini Poncia.
So KISS fans everywhere. Pick up Dynasty and rock your rolls right off. No fans music library is complete without it.
1494855
This album lived on my turntable back in the day the year that it came out.  The Right to Rock is one of the better anthems from this era.  It does not surpirse me that Gene Simmons had a hand in producing this album.  It has the same general makeup of a Kiss Album.  It has some good riffs and catchy lyrics.  Keel coulda been a contenda.