Rock and Roll Overalls
Overall Album Score: 6.5 out of 10 Kiss ... I think that it's time to throw in the old towel. I know that you've managed to convince a flock of late-70s adolescent weirdoes that your music is good, but you've convinced nobody else. And this wild band of late-70s adolescent weirdoes, I'm pretty sure, was too high on naughty drugs to have a real opinion about anything, so ... Please, dudes. You're scaring the babies. If there's one major piece of evidence that a band's style is messed up, it's that whenever they deviate from that style, their music is suddenly good. Kiss did that at the beginning of "Rock Bottom" from Dressed to Kill with their luverly acoustic strumming. However, on Rock and Roll Over they completely and intentionally mimic Rod Stewart in "Hard Luck Woman" ... and it's not only impressive that Kiss managed to sound just like the man in voice and style, but it's one of their best danged songs of all time! It's even better than "Rock and Roll All Nite," because it ain't so bloody annoying! Heck! If the roaming late-70s wild flocks of teenagers weren't so vast, then Kiss might have realized that they would never gain commercial heights through gimmickry and have been able to evolve into something a little bit more tasteful ... but that's merely a fantasy world! We're left wallowing in Kiss-filth for the rest of eternity, I guess (...or until wunna them finally kicks the bucket ... or trips on their platform shoes or something). Nevertheless, Kiss remains ... so let's look at their fifth studio album, which is entitled Rock and Roll Over. *Looking over Rock and Roll Over* Hmmmhmmmm... No. I still cannot say that Kiss rules. They are still feeble songwriters, feeble instrument players ... and they are still commercial phonies. However, they-yet-continue to improve as artists! I don't detect any sort of major instrument-playing improvement that was also evident on Alive!. But I have noticed a major improvement in their songwriting. The overall song score that Kiss achieves on this album is a 7.1. That's pretty good! I still don't fully enjoy Kiss, but I actually find a good handful of songs on this album pretty entertaining. "Calling Dr. Love" and "Love 'Em Or Leave 'Em" are perhaps their most decent heavy-metal/hard-rock songs to date. And, as I mentioned earlier, the band undergoes a major songwriting breakthrough with "Hard Luck Woman," which is actually a good song outside the world of Kiss. The songwriting is so strong on this one, that I swear they must have stole it from someplace. (It was written by Paul Stanley, even ... I don't think he's normally considered Kiss's primary talent! ... At least his solo album was the worst-reviewed. Well, kudos for that guy!) Overall Album Score: 6.5 out of 10 (You've got to admit it's getting better, getting better all the time!) Average Song Score: 7.1 (Er, what? Now Kiss is writing a decent set of songs? We'll be putting them on the moon, next.) Album Tilt: 6.5 (Yuc-oh wait... I still don't enjoy this album as a whole, but there are moments within the album that I enjoy.) Artist Rating: 6.0 (The day Kiss makes an artistic statement will be the day that I die.) Track Reviews I Want You 6.5/10 Hey! Guess what! The start of this song is actually light and tuneful ... heck, it actually sounds something like a normal and talented band would come up with. When I first heard it, I thought "Whoah... maybe Kiss is metamorphosing into a normal band ... what with a normal song and all. Nevertheless, my bubble is burst after these first 15 seconds have started. And then we are "treated" with that good old cocky and aesthetically repulsive Kiss that we've all come to know and love. Nevertheless, unlike the stuff Kiss came up with when they first started, this track is only mildly offensive! The songwriting here isn't really much (though improved!), but they did perform it well ... I suppose. Take Me 5/10 Boy ... I'm so glad that Kiss actually sat down in their rooms one day and figured out how to comfortably play their instruments ... but they're still not very good innovators. Where's the bass player? This song needs some backbone! The melody is feeble. This song is just a bunch of noisy guitars! Yawn! Calling Dr. Love 8/10 Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-oh! I'm going to have to throwaway my basic Kiss stereotypes now ... Kiss actually comes up with a convincing metal song! The melody is still feeble, but this time, the correct elements seem to be in the right places. The riff is pretty good ... and surprisingly there is also a well-written melody. The arranging was well done and the instruments were well played by everyone ... and they all contribute something worthwhile to the song. There's even a memorable chorus! For Kiss, this song is very solid! I can't give it such a high rating, however, because like it or not, the songwriting is still very feeble! It's the songwriting that keeps me from enjoying this song to its full extent. I still feel that there is something significant missing. Ladies Room 6.5/10 This one is pretty solid, too, but instead of trying to achieve such niceties as "Calling Dr. Love," they go back to their boring cheese-metal stuff. The melody isn't very good ... and neither is the arranging, particularly. The riff is good, however, and they seem to work well with it, but this isn't a very good song, really. Baby Driver 7/10 Well! This one does have a pretty good riff. It's nice n' bouncy ... and they do make this riff seem worthwhile. I still don't think there is any reason for me to like the song. The melody ... still ... isn't very strong. But as far as its ability to pump adrenaline in you, it's got that! The nice n' raunchy vocal performance here is about as good as I remember hearing from this band. (Ohhhhhh. The raunch...) Love 'Em and Leave 'Em 8/10 Again! Kiss is really starting to make use of their riffs. On their eponymous debut, they had developed some riffs, but they had no idea what to do with them. Now, they have figured out the finer-points of song-construction. Nevertheless, even though they are making good songs now, they haven't started making "great" songs ... and if the other critics are right, they probably will never make a great album. But I am digressing! This song was well-done. The average melody was arranged well enough that it is not offensive to my ears, and I can finally start to enjoy some of Kiss. Mr. Speed 7.5/10 Holy Moly! Is it just me or is this album improving? I still find this song aesthetically offensive ... but only mildly. I'm almost enjoying this one, actually. Again, all the elements are in the right place ... and we even have some of that good old bass-playing! And a nice guitar solo! Yeah! See You In Your Dreams 7/10 Okay ... I guess this album isn't really improving. This is another kind of blah Kiss song ... but it's actually somewhat enjoyable! Again, they construct a decent song! I just don't think the melody is any good. And as if Kiss were really saying "In Your Dreams" about them ever hearing them doing decent melodies, they come up with... Hard Luck Woman 9.5/10 CRAP! This song is so good that I had to look it up to see if this one actually isn't being performed by somebody else! I originally thought that Rod Stewart sang it. But it apparently was written for Rod Stewart ... and someone's just trying to sound like Rod. Isn't it strange that a band such as Kiss, who has their own style, would have their greatest moment in an album when they are trying to mimic somebody else? ... Umm ... I'm guess I'm not that surprised. Kiss doesn't have the greatest, most innovative style known to mankind, ya know, so there's nothing wrong with some Rod Stewart imitating! Makin' Love 6/10 Crap! We're back to the old Kiss head-banging style that I so very much hate! BANAL! BANAL! BANAL! It's solid, but I can't enjoy it. Yawn. I'm done. Rock and Roll over and then leave some comments here, dude. GBAETEN@AOL.COM (GREG) received Aug. 8, 2005 YOU SUCK |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He does no tricks.
