SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Creatures of the Night (1982).
In true fair-weather fashion, Music from The Elder ended my Kiss love–and I was a HUGE Kiss fan! Which is a shame because their follow up album–Creatures of the Night, which I wouldn’t get for many many years is one of their heaviest and strongest albums. Although there may be just as much fun/controversy about the cover than there is talk about the music. Ace Frehley was contractually obligated to appear on their album covers, so his face is on the (original) cover even though he didn’t play a note on the record.
The album was re-issued in 1985 in a non-makeup version. And this album features Bruce Kulick’s photo on the cover because he was then the guitarist in the band. However, it was actually Vinnie Vincent who played all the guitar on the record and while he is credited, he doesn’t appear on the cover of either version.
This album also features Eric Carr on drums and he pounds the hell out of them. Carr was on The Elder, but, well, we won’t talk about that. Peter Criss had a kind of jazzy impact on the drums, but Carr was a heavy metal drummer and it really changes the sound of the album.
“Creatures of the Night” opens with a really heavy title track sung by Paul–he’s got his aggressive vocals down very well here (a song that might normally gone to Gene but which works better with Paul). The only problem is the little poppy section just before the guitar solo–it’s almost dancey and doesn’t really fit. “Saint and Sinner” starts off kind of unpromising–an almost poppy song by Gene, but the chorus redeems it. “Keep Me Comin'” has a pretty typical-by-now Kiss chorus and a fast riff. “Rock and Roll Hell” opens with almost all bass notes (and Gene’s voice). It’s a pretty standard rocker for the time, but it still sounded fresh coming from Kiss (and it’s about Ace Frehley who wanted out of the band so badly).
“Danger” has some unexpected chord changes and features some of Paul’s excellent vocals. It’s also got some genuinely fast guitar work (something that most Kiss song don’t have aside from the solos). “I Love It Loud” is the anthem that should have been huge. Slow, ponderous and catchy, this song should be played at every sports event. It’s followed by the impressive 6-minute sorta ballad “I Still Love You,” the kind of song that Paul shines in–he gets a place to show off his impressive range and his ability to hold long notes (especially live). Between this and “I Want You” Paul could keep an audience entertained for 20 minutes. What’s best about the song is that although it opens as a ballad, it gets really heavy with some great drum fills from Carr.
“Killer” opens with a guitar sound like “Makin’ Love” of old. Simmons’ songs about women are usually pretty uninspired and lyrically this is poor, but the music more than makes up for it. An album this good can’t possibly end strong though, can it? Why yes, it can. “War Machine” is another awesome heavy track. A great riff and a fantastic chorus. It’s a shame that this record was lost in the shuffle, it really stands tall as a great heavy metal album.
[READ: August 8, 2012] “Jonas Chan”
I loved looking at the author name and the title of this story and having literally no idea what to expect. I couldn’t even imagine what nationality the name Pylväinen was. The first character introduced was named Uppu Rovaniemi (nor could I fathom what nationality that was). And then the main character is Chinese and is named Jonas. Woah.
Well, it turns out the story is about Finnish people. I assume that means that Pylväinen is Finnish, although her website only says she is from suburban Detroit.
I have never read anything about Finnish people, I don’t believe. So this was a wonderfully unique story for me. And then to narrow the focus even more, Uppu and her family practice Laestadianism, a kind of Lutheranism that I had never heard of (Wikipedia is pretty informative about its convoluted history). Her family is pretty lax about her (they have nine kids and she gets lost in the shuffle), but they are very strict about her religious upbringing (her father is a preacher). And Uppu hates that.
Uppu is the ninth child of the fabled Rovaniems, the well-known family in the community, full of intelligent people, all of whom Uppu intended to show up. She was confident and smart and seemed immune to everyone. She flies through her exams. She even recognizes that Jonas was a violin player who switched to viola (she could tell by the amount of weight he put on his bow). Cool.
Jonas Chan was new to the school, but of course he knew who Uppu was as well. He couldn’t imagine ever talking to her. I love this description of him: “He wasn’t nerdy enough for the nerds, no one cared that he came from California, and there were exactly enough Asians for him to be different without being interesting.” And yet one day Uppu linked arms with him and said “Let’s be friends.” And so it was. (more…)
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David Rakoff died Thursday from a resurgence of cancer. For those unfamiliar with his work, think of darker, more cynical David Sedaris (did you think that was possible?). The biggest difference between Rakoff and Sedaris is that Rakoff is Canadian. And he is more of a world traveler. I say this not really knowing anything about how much they actually traveled. I mean, sure, Sedaris travels the world for book tours and such, but Rakoff actually lived in foreign lands. Wait, you say, Sedaris lives in France. Yes, but Rakoff lived in Tokyo (which automatically makes him more exotic). And he actually knew Japanese (kind of) whereas Sedaris seems to have not learned any French in the years he has lived there–if his essays are to be believed.
I Just Read About That... 