CoronaVinyl Day 463 (K): Hotter Than Hell by KISS

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "K," and I still have a few KISS albums to get through.  Today, I listened to their sophomore album, 1974's Hotter Than Hell.

Released a mere eight months after the band's self-title debut, Hotter Than Hell was far from a big hit, only reaching #100 on the Billboard album chart.  The only single released from the album, "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll," didn't chart, making it the only KISS album from the '70s (aside from Peter Criss's 1978 "solo" album) that didn't have a charting single.

But the band was building up its fanbase through their electric live shows, and in another year, they would release what would become the standard for live albums, Alive!  Five of the 16 songs on Alive! would come from Hotter Than Hell -- "Got to Choose," the title track, "Parasite," "Watchin' You," and "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll" -- and they would become fan favorites and live staples as a result.

One of the strangest KISS songs ever is "Goin' Blind," which, I kid you not, is a song sung from the point of view of a 93-year-old man who is attempting to woo a 16-year-old female ("I'm ninety-three, you're sixteeeeen" is an actual lyric).  It doesn't hold up well, though apparently one of the original verses referenced a "little lady from the land beneath the sea" -- which Gene Simmons revived during the band's 1996 MTV Unplugged show -- and thus, in an apparent attempt to tamp down the creepiness, some have hypothesized that the song's narrator is a dying sea captain who is trying to woo a mermaid.  But he's still 93 and she's still 16, so I don't know if that makes it any better.

Anywho, despite the albums relative commercial failure, I still think it's an awesome album.  The band was honing their sound, making arena-ready hard rock music that would soon take over the world.  And as was their Beatle-like commitment to spreading the love around, both with songwriting and lead vocals (though it would be several years until Ace Frehley was comfortable enough to get behind the mic), of the ten songs on the album, Paul Stanley wrote or co-wrote five, Gene wrote or co-wrote four songs, and Ace wrote or co-wrote three, while Paul sang lead vocals on three songs, Gene on five, and Peter on two.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Parasite"
Penned by Ace and sung by Gene, "Parasite" has an infectious driving guitar riff from Ace, with howling vocals from Gene in the verses, mellowed by more harmonic choruses.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "All the Way"
The second side kicks off with one of my favorite underrated KISS gems, "All the Way."  Gene wrote the song and sang lead vocals.  It's a nice, catchy rock song.  Until a few years, I had been mishearing the chorus as "You just keep talking about her / Whoa no, 'til you're gonna get louder / One of these days you'll push me all the way."  Turns out, it's "You just keep talkin' louder / Complain to your mother and father / One of these days you'll push me all the way."  I still sing it the wrong way.

Retro Video of the Week: "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads

Tomorrow will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Talking Heads' fifth studio album, Speaking in Tongues.  Though the band had been critical darlings prior to this album, Speaking in Tongues was their commercial breakthrough, reaching #15 on the Billboard album chart (still their highest-charting album) and going platinum in the U.S.  It also reached the Top 10 on the album charts in Canada, Germany, Iceland, and New Zealand.

The album produced the band's biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100:  "Burning Down the House," which reached #9.  It also proved to be one of the rare singles that appealed to rock audiences and dance club audiences, as it went to #2 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.  Internationally, it reached the Top 10 on the pop charts in Canada and New Zealand.

Produced and directed by lead singer David Byrne, the video for the song is predictably weird, with shots of the band playing the song in a sometimes empty concert hall and/or playing to what appears to be a screen with film of an audience, and sometimes a child replaces Byrne.  Then there are shots of children, geriatrics, or appropriately aged humans' faces transposed with the band members' faces on an otherwise black screen.  And there are shots of fire projected against a suburban house.  And, of course, there is weird, disturbingly synchronized dancing.

This song brings back a particular memory from college.  In April 1997, my freshman year at IU, the Evans Scholars fraternity house burned down.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  A friend of mine was a member of the house.  He said that guys at the neighboring SAE house -- whose reputation at the time was that they were the druggiest house -- were lighting off bottle rockets.  It was a beautiful spring Bloomington day, so the window of the Evans Scholars' formal lounge was open.  A bottle rocket -- perhaps errantly, perhaps not -- went into the open window and landed in a garbage can, setting the contents on fire and quickly spreading.  While the Evans Scholars watched as their house was engulfed in flames, on the other side was Sigma Nu, who was blaring "Burning Down the House" out of their windows.  God, I miss college.

CoronaVinyl Day 462 (J): Evolution by Journey

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "J," and it's all repeat artists for J, so I went with Journey's fifth studio album, 1979's Evolution.

The album title proved to be prescient, as it was the band's most successful album to date, reaching #20 on the Billboard album chart, and it eventually went triple platinum in the U.S. -- the second in a string of six multi-platinum albums in a row.  It was their second with lead singer Steve Perry, who wrote or co-wrote all but one of the eleven tracks on the album.  It was also the first album with Steve Smith, who replaced Aynlsey Dunbar on the drums.

Evolution featured the band's first Top 40 and Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 -- "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," which went to #16.  In addition, "Just the Same Way" (with original lead singer and keyboardist Gregg Rolie on co-lead vocals) and "Too Late" were minor hits, reaching #70 and #58, respectively, with the former getting more AOR play on radio over the years.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "When You're Alone (It Ain't Easy)"
I picked this one because I feel like it's one of the better representations of the sound the band was cultivating.  It's kind of poppy, but also has moments of pure rock and roll, like Neal Schon's mini guitar solos, and when Perry unleashes his voice a few times.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Lady Luck"
It was a tough choice between this and "Just the Same Way," since I do love the interplay between Perry and Rolie on the vocals in that one, but I gave "Lady Luck" the slight edge.  It's kind of a grittier rocker, with Rolie ripping it up on the organ, Perry wailing, and Schon filling things in with the guitar before kicking ass on the solo.

Hair Band Friday - 5/26/23

1.  "Backstreet Symphony" by Thunder

2.  "Dead of Winter" by Spread Eagle

3.  "Running Wild" by Judas Priest

4.  "Little Dove" by Faster Pussycat

5.  "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake

6.  "Modern Day Cowboy" (live) by Tesla

7.  "Broken Heart" by White Lion

8.  "Blind in Texas" by W.A.S.P.

9.  "Mr. Tinkertrain" by Ozzy Osbourne

10.  "Bad Girl" by Trixter

CoronaVinyl Day 461 (H): Hot Tuna by Hot Tuna

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "H," and my choice was Hot Tuna's self-titled live debut album from 1970.

Hot Tuna started as a side project for Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady, while lead singer Grace Slick recovered from surgery on her vocal cords.  Kaukonen, Casady, and occasionally harmonicist Will Scarlett played a week of acoustic live shows at the New Orleans House in Berkeley in September 1969.  They used recordings from those shows to compile their debut live album, which was released in May 1970.

The album is mostly covers of early acoustic Delta and country blues songs, with a couple Kaukonen original instrumentals thrown in.  It's very intimate and stripped down -- just Kaukonen on the acoustic guitar (and vocals), Casady on an acoustic bass, and Scarlett on harmonica.

Despite not having a radio-friendly single, the album reached #30 on the Billboard album chart.  Other members of Jefferson Airplane, including Marty Balin and Papa John Creach, would join Hot Tuna (while also being in Jefferson Airplane), and Hot Tuna ended up having legs of its own.  Once Jefferson Airplane broke up in 1972, Hot Tuna carried on, releasing four studio albums in the '70s, another one in 1990, and yet another one in 2011.  They have had various "side" members over the years, but Kaukonen and Casady have been in the band the entire time.  They are still touring, with a bunch of dates this summer.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Uncle Sam Blues"
This is one of the songs with Scarlett on harmonica, which always gives songs a bluesier feel.  It's a traditional blues song that Jefferson Airplane played at Woodstock, also with Kaukonen singing, though electric.  I also like this one because you can hear a bottle break just before the one-minute mark.  That's how intimate the shows were and how apparently quiet the audience was during the songs.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Know You Rider"
Another traditional blues song, this one was first known to be recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1927 as "Deceitful Brownskin Blues."  It's another one with Scarlett on the harmonica, and it's a little bit peppier than some of the other songs.

Retro Video of the Week: "I Hate Myself for Loving You" by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts

Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the release of Joan Jett and The Blackhearts' sixth studio album, Up Your Alley.  The album peaked at #19 on the Billboard album chart and went platinum in the U.S., and it was a bit of a comeback album for Jett and her band, who hadn't had a Top 20 album in the U.S. since 1983's Album.

The big hit from the album was "I Hate Myself for Loving You," which rose to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Jett's third Top 10 hit in the U.S. and first since 1982's "Crimson and Clover."  Co-written by Jett and songwriting hit maker Desmond Child, the song  also featured a guitar solo from former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor.  More importantly, it reintroduced Jett to the hard rock audience of the late '80s.  And of course, the song has since been altered to be the theme song to Sunday Night Football.

CoronaVinyl Day 460 (G): Grand Funk by Grand Funk Railroad

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "G," and I listened to power trio Grand Funk Railroad's second studio album, 1969's Grand Funk.

I know I've said it before when I reviewed other Grand Funk albums, but I'm still amazed and impressed at how heavy the band's early music was.  This album is pure hard rock, bordering on proto-metal, with some blues influence.  While it's not like the psychedelic rock of the tmie, it does a few extended jams where the band just wails.  The more I listen to their early material, I still don't know how Grand Funk isn't cited as a bigger influence on heavy metal and hard rock.  They were doing a lot of the same stuff Deep Purple was doing.

This album was their first platinum album in the U.S., and it reached #11 on the Billboard album chart -- while their next seven studio albums would all reach the Top 10.  Even more impressive is that the album did so well despite the lack of any successful singles.  The only single that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 was "Mr. Limousine Driver," which squeaked in at #97.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Got This Thing on the Move"
The album starts out with a banger with an apt title to kick off an album.  Fuzzed out guitars, heavy bass, crashing drums, and soulful vocals make for a great first track.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Inside Looking Out"
Side 2 is the jam side, with only three songs, none of them shorter than six and a half minutes.  The album closes with a nine and a half minute hard rock cover of an Animals' song that became a Grand Funk live staple, and you can see why.  They crush it, leaving it all on the table and taking the original (that was less than four minutes) and putting their own stamp on it.  I could definitely see this being extended out during a live show.  And this version is also sampled by Beck on "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" from the Odelay album (one of my favorite albums of the '90s).

Hair Band Friday - 5/19/23

1.  "Standing in the Shadows" by Britny Fox

2.  "Masters and Slaves" by Y&T

3.  "Temptation" by Hurricane

4.  "Armageddon It" by Def Leppard

5.  "Born on the Sun" by Dio

6.  "Get in the Ring" by Guns N' Roses

7.  "Don't Let Me Down Tonight" by Lita Ford

8.  "Piece of the Pie" by Kix

9.  "I Want It All (I Want It Now)" by Black 'N Blue

10.  "Someone Like You" by Bang Tango

CoronaVinyl Day 459 (F): Luna Sea by Firefall

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and I went with soft rockers Firefall's sophomore studio album, 1977's Luna Sea.

First, I have to say that I appreciate the wordplay in the title.  Luna Sea.  Lunacy.  See what they did there?  Or should I say "sea" what they did there?  A lot of times I come back to the stark realization that I should have been a professional boat namer.

This is one of three (!) Firefall albums I have somehow acquired over the years.  As I'm sure you recall, I reviewed their debut album two years and eleven days ago.  I've been waiting exactly that long to review Luna Sea because it is their second album (two years) and went to #11 on the Billboard album chart (and eleven days).  I'm nothing if not a total psychopath for numerological coincidences.

Overall, like their first album, Luna Sea is mixture of soft rock, country rock, and folk rock.  By reaching #11 on the album chart, Luna Sea was the band's highest-charting album, matched by their follow-up, 1978's Elan (which I do not own -- yet).  Following the success of their breakout single from their debut album, "You Are the Woman," which went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and is a staple on SiriusXM's Yacht Rock Radio), the band's first single from Luna Sea was another big hit.  "Just Remember I Love You" reached #11 -- there's that number again -- on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening (now Adult Contemporary) chart, and #8 on the Canadian pop chart.  "So Long" from the album was a minor hit, reaching #48 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Sold On You"
With a little harmonica and country rock riffs, this is an uptempo little ditty that rocks a little harder than some of the other songs on this side.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Getaway"
Side 2 kicks off with another more rocking song, complete with cowbell.