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KISS - Crazy Nights

 

	YEAR: Sep 1987 PRODUCER:Ron Nevison LABEL:Mercury BAND: Paul Stanley Gene Simmons Eric Carr Bruce Kulick
+ Stanley's Songs                Eric Carr                            - Filler, Cheesyness Production, Simmons	TRACKS: 1.Crazy, Crazy Nights 2.I'll Fight Hell to Hold You 3.Bang Bang You 4.NoNo No 5.Hell or High Water 6.My Way 7.When Your Walls Come Down 8.Reason to Live 9.Good Girl Gone Bad 10.Turn on the Night 11.Thief in the Night

 

OVERVIEW

KISS always get bad press about their 80's material, including from the band themselves. Truth be told, they actually produced some really great songs (well Paul Stanley did anyway). The biggest problem is the mountain of filler that saturate these albums. Crazy Nights is no different. If the pop production had been toned down and a few more decent tunes added, this could've been a real winner. As it turns out, it's just another 80's KISS record.

SONGS

The title track starts things out great (if your in the mood) and sets the tone for most of the album. The video for this song actually added crowd effects and added a lot to it. Apparently the original demo is far superior. The shine-clean production can be hard to swallow. An emotional Fight Hell To Hold You is another great Stanley number. Pity it's followed up by the embarrassing Bang, Bang You. Which is so derivative of Simmons' 80's work. No, No, No starts out with a great Van Halen-Hot For Teacher intro. But fades into boredom. Hell Or High Water nearly brings the band back up with a great melodic chorus. More average filler follow before the cheesy Stanley ballad No Reason To Live, which is actually pretty good. Turn on the night fares better and is very similar to Crazy Nights, perhaps would've worked better higher on the playlist. The album finishes out with the fairly average Thief In The Night.

CONCLUSION

I actually want to like the record, because it does have great moments. But I can't help but lay the blame on Gene for the lacklustre 80's releases. Paul was consistently fabricating high quality pop/rock, just for Gene to bring the albums down with his share of stale and lifeless filler. I'm sure Paul could have hit super stardom in the 80's, had he gone solo. If you put an album of Paul's cuts from the 80's together, you have some decent pop/rock. But that wasn't the case. Old school KISS fans will hate it and 80's pop/rock fans will love a handful of tracks. Could have been a 4, barely makes a 3. SSIK!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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