KISS:HOT IN THE SHADE ALBUM REVIEW

[RJhog]

1. Rise To It…Nice acoustic intro. This is a good song. The vocals are strong as well as Bruce’s guitar playing. I believe the video showed Paul and Gene putting on makeup again, a hint at things to come…8/10

2. Betrayed…Co-written by Gene and Tommy Thayer. The song starts out fairly strong. The drums sound very good. Backing vocals and lead vocals are pretty good on this song. I’m not real big on the spoken lines in the middle of the song…7/10

3. Hide Your Heart…Nice song by Paul. His vocals are absolutely excellent on this song. I’m gonna say I’m not the only one who thinks it’s good because it’s been covered by Ace Frehley, Molly Hatchet, Bonnie Tyler and Robin Beck. One thing though, it really sounds like a Bon Jovi song…9/10

4. Prisoner Of Love…This one was written by Gene and Bruce Kulick. I am not a fan of this song. It sounds like Gene trying to do a song like Paul would do. However, Bruce provides a nice solo…6/10

5. Read My Body…Nothing special about the drum intro. This song sounds like it belongs on the Smashes, Trashes and Hits album with (You Make Me) Rock Hard. Paul tries a little rap in this one that just doesn’t work for me. Bruce’s solo is the only thing good about this song…6/10

6. Love’s A Slap In The Face…So is this song. Another filler track by Gene. The music track sounds a lot like Uh! All Night to me. The chorus is actually not that bad until it turns into “Na, na, na, na/ Na, na, na, na/ Na”…6/10

7. Forever…We have a ballad. I think it’s pretty good. The music and the vocals are both very good. It’s probably just below “Reason To Live”. It is a typical late eighties ballad with acoustic guitar solo and all…8/10

8. Silver Spoon…This song is very similar to Hide Your Heart in my opinion. That’s all I can say about it, but I do like it…8/10

9. Cadillac Dreams…Okay, this doesn’t sound like a Kiss song at all to me. But it does sound very autobiographical for Gene. We all know how bad he wants money (not that there is anything wrong with that). The drums and beat kind of remind me of Cheap Trick’s original album release of “I Want You To Want Me”…5/10

10. King Of Hearts…I really like the guitar intro on this song. Paul yells “do it” at the beginning that really takes me back to the old days and “Deuce”. I don’t really like the backing vocals layered over Paul’s singing of the chorus. It’s a little too busy, but a pretty good song…8/10

11. The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away…Another song co-written by Gene and future band mate Tommy Thayer. This one also has an acoustic intro. It sounds a lot like “Suffragette City” by David Bowie. It does have a good guitar solo. Once again, I don’t like it…5/10

12. Love Me To Hate You…This is actually my favorite song on this album. I love the way Paul’s voice is layered to provide lead and backing vocals throughout this song. I usually don’t like when Paul sings really high, but it just works for me on this song. Simple but good guitar solo…10/10

13. Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell…Believe it or not, I’ve owned this album for twenty years and this is the first time I’ve really listened to this song. I wouldn’t call it great, but it’s better than any of Gene’s other songs on this album. I do like the chorus…7.5/10

14. Little Caesar…This is what a lot of Kiss fans waited a long time for. Eric Carr’s vocal debut on his own original material. Honestly, his voice sounds like an exact combination of Peter Criss’ and Ace Frehley’s voice. His vocal might have been mixed too low. This isn’t a great song, but I sure would have liked to have heard him get more chances to sing on studio albums. RIP Eric Carr…7/10

15. Boomerang…Sounds a lot like “No No No” for Crazy Nights. This sounds like a showcase for Eric and Bruce. They friggin’ tear it up on this song. I could have done without the vocal part. This should have been an instrumental…7/10

Average is 7.2/10 (That is probably higher than it should be)


Wow, this CD is finally over. Don’t get me wrong, I love Kiss’ music, but this album is entirely too long. I could have done without tracks 4, 5, 6, 9 and 11. That would have made the average 7.95/10. I personally think Gene’s songwriting was at an all-time low. It really had not been good for the last few albums. However, he would absolutely redeem himself on the next two studio albums. The artwork for this album was atrocious. I really don’t care for the name of the album either. Overall, this is my least favorite Kiss studio album.

[Scott]

Agreed, although your being generous, I would have scored it lower... It drags on and on. I wonder if the collaborations between Tommy and Gene are a predictor for the new album? If so, Im not feeling very excited all of the sudden.

[RJhog]

Yeah, I hope this new album is a lot better than that.

[Gordon Williams]

Isn't music a strange thing? As in, funny how we do or dont like it? To me, this record is very "up and down". Meaning, I think the good songs are really good, and the bad songs seem like complete filler, like "we need a few more songs to complete the record...we gotta come up with something and get it out there".

My list of good songs off this record: Rise To It, Hide Your Heart, Read My Body, Forever, Love Me To Hate You, and Little Caesar.

Good point, RJhog, about Genes writing during this period...Pauls songs just blow his away.