Your channel is old school TH-cam for sure... meaning good! I actually appreciated Peter and Gene's material because it was completely off the grid from the Kiss formula. Ace and Paul produced awesome rock albums for sure.... But I give Peter and Gene top ranking for going solo and being more daring, less safe in their approach to their efforts. I like your channel, I'm a new subscriber ....keep em coming 🙂
My Kiss 78 album would honestly just be Ace's album with some of Paul's tracks thrown on. I've played Ace's album somewhat recently but haven't listened to the others in ages. The Natty Light mind wipe was pretty good, 4.5 out of 5.
On Paul Stanley your Ranking is pretty similar to mine too. Wouldn't you like to know me is my favorite of this Album. Its alright and Tonight Belongs to me are in the Top Spots too. Basicly I like every Song of the Album. And this Album is by the way my favorite Album of the 4 Solo Albums. Short after it comes Ace, than Peter than Gene.
Thanks for sharing this review. I have never heard the solo album of Paul. Ace and Peter are the only ones I owned. I did have Gene's for a while but I gave it to a friend who was just learning about KISS. The best one is by Ace Frehley. Every single is terrific. My favorite track on the Peter Criss album is I Can't Stop The Rain. A close second - Easy Thing Well done on the Gene LP . I know it would be impossible to give every Ace track 5 ⭐. If it were me reviewing the Ace Frehley LP it would be as follows Rip It Out 5 Speedin Back .. 3 Snow Blind. 2 Dont like it Ozone 3 What's on Your Mind 5 New York Groove 5 Wiped Out 2 Fractured 5 I can't think of the title of the 9th track. Sorry my comment is so long but I have always wanted to comment on my favorite group.
This may be long winded but stay with me. What if they would’ve released a double album of the solos? Side 1 Paul (of course his ego would insist) it’s alright, tonight you belong to me, ain’t quiet right, love in chains and goodbye. Peter side 2-hooked on RNR, move on (Paul wrote it pete songs it) speedin back to my baby(ace wrote it, Peter sings) don’t you let me down and I can’t stop the rain. Side 3-rip it out, new your groove, snowblind, I’m in need of love and fractured mirror. Side 4- radioactive, see you tonite, always near you, Man of 1000 faces and mr. make believe. Each side of the album would have their faces and their dominant color. Probably would’ve been a top 10 album.
Great review, didn't realize at first you were going to go through track by track, but enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the different tracks. In case you're curious, I've always liked the albums in this order: Gene, Peter, Paul and Ace, with Ace's being my most favourite. This hasn't changed since I first heard them. I put it down to the following; Gene's - huge disappointment, particularly after the great opening track. Peter's - pretty much what I was expecting. Paul's - Liked most of the songs, although a little too much like a Kiss album. Ace's - apart from "Shock Me" & "Rocket Ride" didn't know what to expect, in other words, for all the reasons you mentioned. I also thought it was very clever that he covered "New York Groove" and put it out as a single, even thought it doesn't really highlight the album as a whole, it actually attracted more people than any of the other solo album singles because it appealled to a wider audience. A ploy that was used a lot back in the seventies.
I think you nailed my opinion of all 4 albums. Oddly, I scored the Peter songs the same way you did, and his 5 star songs are in my favorite all times songs. I considered Gene's album forgettable, over all, it's my least favorite of the 4. I only liked the same ones you did, especially See You Tonite, Always Near You/Nowhere to Hide, and Mr. Make Believe. The rest, I skipped. Paul's album was the most Kiss-like, and Ace's was the strongest of all four.I think the only songs I really didn't like on Paul's album were Move On and Love In Chains. I LOVED most of the album, though, It's Alright is my favorite, and then Tonight you Belong and Hold me, Touch Me. I think what everyone loves about Goodbye is the DRUMS THUNDER!!!! Incidentally, Paul's solo album was the first I got of the 4, because my dad's coworker thought it was "faggy" and wouldn't listen to it, after he bought it, and gave it to me, rather than waste the money and throw it away, lol. On Ace's album, I would remind you that he also did Rocket Ride on the studio side of Alive II, and it blew EVERYBODY away... I think that encouraged him to really spread his wings, when it came time to do the solo albums. I loved New York Groove, I think Ace made that song his own. I wasn't really a fan of Speeding back to my baby or Wiped Out, but the rest of the songs were 5 star, I thought.
Great video! I agree with your rankings over all, I feel that Ace is definitely #1, but Pauls album is excellent also. Like you I had peters album first, and was pretty disappointed, when I heard Gene’s album, I was basically disappointed too. I just thought they were going to be different, heavier, more like they were in the albums before the solo albums. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate Gene and Pete’s more and more, but still feel that Genes was somehow more disappointing, not that I dislike it, but something about it makes it the last of the 4 that I go to ( just by a little). Thanks again!
Yes! Exactly! It was just so weird, hearing Peter's and Gene's for the first time. I mean, how do you prepare for that as an 8 or 9 year old kid who's used to what's on the first six studio albums?? Thanks again for the kind words and the comments!
Would rank the Peter Criss Album like you. The only thing is, that my favorite Song is Easy Thing....but I would have given Don't you let me down 5 Stars too...(and you gave Easy Thing 5 Stars)....so it doesn't matter. :)
I think another key difference between the solo albums in favor of Ace's being best is one of durability. It just held up in the long run and the evidence is there by it continuing to sell some legitimate units each year all these years later, whereas the others made albums that were just snapshots in time. Just from what I have heard, people will still pull out Ace's album and listen to it, while the others efforts may just be collecting dust. I think Ace was also a very good picker of people to support him, like Anton Fig on drums and Eddie Kramer producing. Ace is the only one to have had a legitimate solo career and I think it really started with this effort. Just an opinion and I am sure that hard core Kiss fans may listen to the others albums but I am talking about more mainstream rock fans accepting the Ace Album as well,
@@HARDROCKreverie Thanks for your great overview! I was 14 when the '78 solo albums came out... BTW, I always thought it odd that Paul Stanley would go to great lengths in his book to say that Ace's material wasn't always up to snuff and so he didn't contribute many songs. In '78, Ace was pretty heavy into drugs and alcohol, and it is hard to believe that he came up with that many solid songs in so short a period of time for his solo album. This is speculation on my part, but my guess is that Ace did present at least some of these solo songs previously to Paul and Gene and they were just rejected out of hand. The rejections must have been for other reasons as it certainly wasn't because they were lousy songs as we have seen. One thing is true though that after the solo album by Ace came out, he did get more songs on the next few KISS albums...
@@bowtieguy377 I have actually seen interviews with Ace where he said he was holding most of the "good songs" back, not submitting them for KISS, because he was saving them for a solo album as far back as, I think, '76, which would seem about right in that he had songs he'd written on each of the first three albums but hardly any on the second three other than Shock Me. If so, it's a real shame, because those songs would make Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over even stronger. But it's also pretty understandable. Still, a bit weird considering he didn't want to sing until Shock Me.
@@HARDROCKreverie Yes, you make a good point there on the interviews so that is probably mostly it. However, I have also heard Ace state that he didn't get much encouragement from Gene and Paul during the prior years. Paul may be rewriting history now in his book as far as Ace's songwriting chops. Yes, Ace was rather self-conscious about his voice and glad he conquered that issue. Ace may not have as strong a voice technically as the others but there was authenticity in it and that sells records.
I didnt agree actually... But!!! Im a 56 year old fart from Sweden whom listened to Kiss since I heard hotter than hell in the school bus, while Micke "from the mill" showed me pictures of the superheroes... In some way I actually love all the solo albums as an adult, im writing this before you go to two of the histories most COMPLETE albums Ace and Paul
Probably an unpopular opinion and I understand. Peters has to be close to the top for me. He didn’t put out an album songs that sound like Kiss. He recorded songs in the vain that influenced him
Yeah, and, honestly, wasn't that what the solo albums were supposedly going to be - a chance for the guys to do their own thing and be in their own spotlight? So, if you look at it with that in mind, Peter and Gene are really the only ones who weren't kind of still pandering to the fans they already had. I think Peter's goal was genuinely to prove that he could be something completely different from "the Kiss drummer." He wanted to be a crooner. If I look at it that way, it's a favorite for me, too, even though Ace and Paul did the albums I wanted to listen to every day.
Paul said: "Honestly, I didn't think much of Peter's album". (KISS Kruise XI , Mike Brunn 2022). He didn't in 1978. But how does he think of it now? Noone in the audience asked him. Which is a pity.
"I thought Ace's album was really cool. I thought my album was really cool". Paul Stanley. Why did he mention Ace first? Ace was maybe his #1. Or he was just diplomatic. For me Paul's album is, without hesitation, absolutely the best. Ace is cool 🆒 But Paul is ❤+🔥 Rock with passion+soul. "Ain't Quite Right" (with Bob Kulick) still hits me deeper than Ace's sound ever could. I agree "Hold Me. Touch Me" is too sugery. Maybe Paul wanted a "girl-friendly" song, as Bob Ezrin taught them. Of course, Gene and Peter made quite, more or less, good albums too.
Yeah, I feel like Gene's album was a victim of expectations, to a large extent, with probably almost all of us thinking we should have gotten something totally different. I will say, though, that once I accepted it for what it IS rather than dwelling on what it's not, I do actually enjoy it.
Your channel is old school TH-cam for sure... meaning good! I actually appreciated Peter and Gene's material because it was completely off the grid from the Kiss formula. Ace and Paul produced awesome rock albums for sure.... But I give Peter and Gene top ranking for going solo and being more daring, less safe in their approach to their efforts.
I like your channel, I'm a new subscriber ....keep em coming 🙂
Thanks, Tom! Welcome aboard!
I have a lot to say but typing it feels like a task. I'll just say thanks for another fun review!
My Kiss 78 album would honestly just be Ace's album with some of Paul's tracks thrown on. I've played Ace's album somewhat recently but haven't listened to the others in ages.
The Natty Light mind wipe was pretty good, 4.5 out of 5.
Hahaha. "Natty Light mind wipe." Maybe that should be the name of the channel.
Love you guys
Love from Sweden 💖
Just... Dont diss The Ace beyond TypeO...
Hmmm just wishing...
On Paul Stanley your Ranking is pretty similar to mine too.
Wouldn't you like to know me is my favorite of this Album. Its alright and Tonight Belongs to me are in the Top Spots too. Basicly I like every Song of the Album.
And this Album is by the way my favorite Album of the 4 Solo Albums. Short after it comes Ace, than Peter than Gene.
Dynasty was a continuation of solo albums, each song on it had very little band input per track.
True. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for sharing this review. I have never heard the solo album of Paul. Ace and Peter are the only ones I owned. I did have Gene's for a while but I gave it to a friend who was just learning about KISS. The best one is by Ace Frehley. Every single is terrific. My favorite track on the Peter Criss album is I Can't Stop The Rain. A close second - Easy Thing Well done on the Gene LP . I know it would be impossible to give every Ace track 5 ⭐. If it were me reviewing the Ace Frehley LP it would be as follows
Rip It Out 5
Speedin Back .. 3
Snow Blind. 2 Dont like it
Ozone 3
What's on Your Mind 5
New York Groove 5
Wiped Out 2
Fractured 5
I can't think of the title of the 9th track. Sorry my comment is so long but I have always wanted to comment on my favorite group.
You matter to me will forever remind me of my mom... She loves that song, still today
My Favorite on Ace Album was Wiped Out. I love it because of this funky riff in the verses and that it goes into this ulra heavy Riff in the chorus.
This may be long winded but stay with me. What if they would’ve released a double album of the solos? Side 1 Paul (of course his ego would insist) it’s alright, tonight you belong to me, ain’t quiet right, love in chains and goodbye. Peter side 2-hooked on RNR, move on (Paul wrote it pete songs it) speedin back to my baby(ace wrote it, Peter sings) don’t you let me down and I can’t stop the rain. Side 3-rip it out, new your groove, snowblind, I’m in need of love and fractured mirror. Side 4- radioactive, see you tonite, always near you, Man of 1000 faces and mr. make believe. Each side of the album would have their faces and their dominant color. Probably would’ve been a top 10 album.
Add when u wish at the end of mr make believe!
WOW, I LOVE that idea! Nice song choices, too!
Must check these albums out. Never heard of them
Oh really? Yeah, definitely do.
Great review, didn't realize at first you were going to go through track by track, but enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the different tracks. In case you're curious, I've always liked the albums in this order: Gene, Peter, Paul and Ace, with Ace's being my most favourite. This hasn't changed since I first heard them. I put it down to the following; Gene's - huge disappointment, particularly after the great opening track. Peter's - pretty much what I was expecting. Paul's - Liked most of the songs, although a little too much like a Kiss album. Ace's - apart from "Shock Me" & "Rocket Ride" didn't know what to expect, in other words, for all the reasons you mentioned. I also thought it was very clever that he covered "New York Groove" and put it out as a single, even thought it doesn't really highlight the album as a whole, it actually attracted more people than any of the other solo album singles because it appealled to a wider audience. A ploy that was used a lot back in the seventies.
Thanks for watching! And for your thoughts!
I think you nailed my opinion of all 4 albums. Oddly, I scored the Peter songs the same way you did, and his 5 star songs are in my favorite all times songs. I considered Gene's album forgettable, over all, it's my least favorite of the 4. I only liked the same ones you did, especially See You Tonite, Always Near You/Nowhere to Hide, and Mr. Make Believe. The rest, I skipped. Paul's album was the most Kiss-like, and Ace's was the strongest of all four.I think the only songs I really didn't like on Paul's album were Move On and Love In Chains. I LOVED most of the album, though, It's Alright is my favorite, and then Tonight you Belong and Hold me, Touch Me. I think what everyone loves about Goodbye is the DRUMS THUNDER!!!! Incidentally, Paul's solo album was the first I got of the 4, because my dad's coworker thought it was "faggy" and wouldn't listen to it, after he bought it, and gave it to me, rather than waste the money and throw it away, lol.
On Ace's album, I would remind you that he also did Rocket Ride on the studio side of Alive II, and it blew EVERYBODY away... I think that encouraged him to really spread his wings, when it came time to do the solo albums. I loved New York Groove, I think Ace made that song his own. I wasn't really a fan of Speeding back to my baby or Wiped Out, but the rest of the songs were 5 star, I thought.
Great video! I agree with your rankings over all, I feel that Ace is definitely #1, but Pauls album is excellent also. Like you I had peters album first, and was pretty disappointed, when I heard Gene’s album, I was basically disappointed too. I just thought they were going to be different, heavier, more like they were in the albums before the solo albums. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate Gene and Pete’s more and more, but still feel that Genes was somehow more disappointing, not that I dislike it, but something about it makes it the last of the 4 that I go to ( just by a little). Thanks again!
Yes! Exactly! It was just so weird, hearing Peter's and Gene's for the first time. I mean, how do you prepare for that as an 8 or 9 year old kid who's used to what's on the first six studio albums??
Thanks again for the kind words and the comments!
Would rank the Peter Criss Album like you. The only thing is, that my favorite Song is Easy Thing....but I would have given Don't you let me down 5 Stars too...(and you gave Easy Thing 5 Stars)....so it doesn't matter. :)
I think another key difference between the solo albums in favor of Ace's being best is one of durability. It just held up in the long run and the evidence is there by it continuing to sell some legitimate units each year all these years later, whereas the others made albums that were just snapshots in time. Just from what I have heard, people will still pull out Ace's album and listen to it, while the others efforts may just be collecting dust. I think Ace was also a very good picker of people to support him, like Anton Fig on drums and Eddie Kramer producing. Ace is the only one to have had a legitimate solo career and I think it really started with this effort. Just an opinion and I am sure that hard core Kiss fans may listen to the others albums but I am talking about more mainstream rock fans accepting the Ace Album as well,
Hard to argue with anything you said, Scott.
Thanks for watching!
@@HARDROCKreverie Thanks for your great overview! I was 14 when the '78 solo albums came out... BTW, I always thought it odd that Paul Stanley would go to great lengths in his book to say that Ace's material wasn't always up to snuff and so he didn't contribute many songs. In '78, Ace was pretty heavy into drugs and alcohol, and it is hard to believe that he came up with that many solid songs in so short a period of time for his solo album. This is speculation on my part, but my guess is that Ace did present at least some of these solo songs previously to Paul and Gene and they were just rejected out of hand. The rejections must have been for other reasons as it certainly wasn't because they were lousy songs as we have seen. One thing is true though that after the solo album by Ace came out, he did get more songs on the next few KISS albums...
@@bowtieguy377 I have actually seen interviews with Ace where he said he was holding most of the "good songs" back, not submitting them for KISS, because he was saving them for a solo album as far back as, I think, '76, which would seem about right in that he had songs he'd written on each of the first three albums but hardly any on the second three other than Shock Me.
If so, it's a real shame, because those songs would make Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over even stronger. But it's also pretty understandable. Still, a bit weird considering he didn't want to sing until Shock Me.
@@HARDROCKreverie Yes, you make a good point there on the interviews so that is probably mostly it. However, I have also heard Ace state that he didn't get much encouragement from Gene and Paul during the prior years. Paul may be rewriting history now in his book as far as Ace's songwriting chops. Yes, Ace was rather self-conscious about his voice and glad he conquered that issue. Ace may not have as strong a voice technically as the others but there was authenticity in it and that sells records.
No question, Ace’s album is by far the best imo.
I'm with you, I liked Peter 😺 as well!
I grew up liking Gene's the most, mainly for couple songs- Radioactive & See You Tonite. As I've gotten older, I rather Ace's album.
Agree with ace sometimes i wann buy you a beer
Love from Sweden 💖
Thanks for watching!
Ace. Peter. Paul. Gene. That’s the order.
Nice! Don't see it that way very often.
Thanks for hanging out!
Love from Sweden 💖
I didnt agree actually... But!!! Im a 56 year old fart from Sweden whom listened to Kiss since I heard hotter than hell in the school bus, while Micke "from the mill" showed me pictures of the superheroes...
In some way I actually love all the solo albums as an adult, im writing this before you go to two of the histories most COMPLETE albums Ace and Paul
I understand now why Gene sang When you wish upon a star
Best to worst
1. Ace
2. Peter
3. Paul
4. Gene
Probably an unpopular opinion and I understand. Peters has to be close to the top for me. He didn’t put out an album songs that sound like Kiss. He recorded songs in the vain that influenced him
Yeah, and, honestly, wasn't that what the solo albums were supposedly going to be - a chance for the guys to do their own thing and be in their own spotlight?
So, if you look at it with that in mind, Peter and Gene are really the only ones who weren't kind of still pandering to the fans they already had.
I think Peter's goal was genuinely to prove that he could be something completely different from "the Kiss drummer." He wanted to be a crooner. If I look at it that way, it's a favorite for me, too, even though Ace and Paul did the albums I wanted to listen to every day.
@@HARDROCKreverie Exactly! Paul didn’t care about it and probably never listened to it. Then put out Soul Station.
Paul said: "Honestly,
I didn't think much of Peter's album". (KISS Kruise XI , Mike Brunn 2022). He didn't in 1978.
But how does he think of it now? Noone in the audience asked him. Which is a pity.
"I thought Ace's album was really cool.
I thought my album was really cool".
Paul Stanley.
Why did he mention Ace first?
Ace was maybe his #1.
Or he was just diplomatic.
For me Paul's album is, without hesitation, absolutely the best.
Ace is cool 🆒 But Paul is ❤+🔥
Rock with passion+soul.
"Ain't Quite Right" (with Bob Kulick) still hits me deeper than Ace's sound ever could. I agree "Hold Me. Touch Me" is too sugery. Maybe Paul wanted a "girl-friendly" song, as Bob Ezrin taught them.
Of course, Gene and Peter made quite, more or less, good albums too.
Yes, I still have a really hard time picking between Ace's and Paul's when people ask me.
I like all these albums but Aces is by far the best in my opinion.
The alarm from the 8track gave me an iraq flashback
Lol. Well, since you made other comments after this one, I'm going to assume that it worked out okay in the end.
Thanks for watching!
This is so good
Thanks!
Ace and Paul where waaäaaay ahead in solos
Ahhh cmon man. Even Peter Criss didnt want to be Peter Criss
I like Aces album alot. Pauls was very good power pop. Peters had i think 2 good songs. I'm not a fan of Genes at all.
Yeah, I feel like Gene's album was a victim of expectations, to a large extent, with probably almost all of us thinking we should have gotten something totally different. I will say, though, that once I accepted it for what it IS rather than dwelling on what it's not, I do actually enjoy it.
The Gene Simmons one I would rank way lower. I really don't like any of this Songs....except for See you tonight...that one is alright
Ace - 9/10 Great
Paul - 5/10 Predictable
Peter - 3/10 Lame
Gene - 1/10 Awful