Kiss - Animalize
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CD Details
Artist: KissEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1998-09-01
Music Label: Island / Mercury
Soundtracks:
- I've Had Enough (Into The Fire)
- Heaven's On Fire
- Burn Bitch Burn
- Get All You Can Take
- Lonely Is The Hunter
- Under The Gun
- Thrills In The Night
- While The City Sleeps
- Murder In High-Heels
Music reviews of Animalize
Music Review: Sucker for a great guitar player
Rating: 3 Stars
From the remastered CD:
When KISS had completed their 1983-1984 Euro-American tour supporting Lick it Up, the band had proven to the fnas and to themselves that it was the music - not the make-up - that mattered most.
KISS had by now let guitarist Vinnie Vincent go and without a lead guitarist searched for a new axeman before recording their next album. After several unsuccessful auditions took place in New York City, Mark Norton - a California guitar tutor known for his amazing technical telnt - was selected to begin work on Animalize. Renamed Mark St. John, KISS' newest member seemed to have the fuel that the band needed to skyrocket to the top again. Perhaps equally as important - St. JOhn didn't have an egotistical personiality: he simply wanted to be a member of KISS.
Shortly before KISS entered Right Track Reocrding Studios to lay down initial tracks on Animalize, band co-founder Gene Simmons had abruptly decided to fulfill his second childhood dream: acting. The filming of Runaway - Simmons' first movie since 1978's KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park - took place in Vancounver, British Columbia. As a result, Simmons was forced to rlinquish Animlize's co-production chores to his partner, Paul Stanley. Ambitiously, Standly accepted these responsibilities and produced an album that, ultimately, solidified KISS' popularity with the MTV generation. Propelled by the single smash "Heaven's On Fire," Animalize was certified Platinum.
Howver, the band's success was tempred with tragedy once more. Within months after joining KISS, Mark St. John was afllicted with Reiter's Syndrome - a rare disorder causing severe swelling fo the hands and joints. To their dismay, Stanley, Simmons and Carr had to accept that Mark's crippling illness would limit his involvement on the upcoming Animlize tour. The band opted to hire a temporary guitarsit until St. John was well enough to play live. At the suggestion of longtime colleague and fellow musician Jean Beauvoir (who co-wrote "Heavena's On Fire" and who - in Simmons' absence - played bass on several of the album's tracks), Stanley immeditaely hired Bruce Kulick to substituted on lead guitar for the entire Animalize tour. Although St. John traveled with KISS in hopes that he would get better, his disability only grew worse. After less than three performances, the truth had to be faced: St. John could no longer play guitar. To fill the void, Bruce was hired as KISS ' fourth lead guitarist. With no time to spare, KISS Animalize Live toure opned in Brighton, England on September 30, 1984.
I have KISS Animalize Live/Uncencored and it is telling that there are only two songs in the set list from Animalize whilst there are 3 from Lick it Up (the previous album) and 4 from Creatures of the Night (the album before that).
General concensus is that the band's songwriting didn't go on the upswing until Revenge, when they brought back Vinnie Cusano (= Vinnie Vincent) to help with the songwriting.
My speculation is that Paul and Gene need a guitar player to round out the songwriting, but are control freaks who don't want to surrender any power, and the only reason the two have stayed together so long is that they think so much alike. They couldn't get along with the only other songwriters they ever had: Ace and Vinnie. Mark St. John isn't listed in any of the songwriting credits on Animalize, but he may have arrived after the songs were written and been reduced to adding solos and fills much like Adrian Smith on Killers. Bruce Kulick is a talented guitar player who contributes little to the songwriting - exactly what Paul and Gene wanted.
In playing ability terms, Animalize is the best lineup KISS ever had. Thrills in the Night is a middling quality song with a good chorus and the best guitar solo ever done on any KISS song. Heaven's on Fire is one of my absolute favorite KISS songs - it's only shortcoming, oddly enough, is that the solo is rather lame.
On the whole the songwriting on this album is uninspired but it isn't until the follow up Asylum that the band's songs descend into saccharine 80's wussy metal (I'm being polite with my language). Also, the production on Animalize is very good, as opposed to the totally neutered sound on Crazy Nights (following Asylum), and I'm not saying that because of the keyboards, which I have no problem with.
Description of Animalize
Japanese only SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2011.Classic Rock CDs
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