Yes, this is a band that is a total and complete sell-out, and exploited every gimmick in the book (probably created most of them too). They followed every musical trend from rock to rock-lite, to disco, proggish concept album, glam, grunge (Carnival of Souls?) before settling on and retiring on the nostalgia spectacle circuit, playing only the 'classics' for the last 20 years.
The argument is that KISS was always meant to be experienced live, rather than be judged purely on their recorded output. They would never be the critics' choice but one could say even at their most simplistic, their worst stuff was never as bad as the worst stuff from other shock-rockers like say Twisted Sister or WASP. They were OK. There were some good cuts. Some glimmers of sophistication. Paul Stanley had one of the great rock voices of all time. Ace had a style that was charmingly goofy, and of course he just looked cool onstage. Gene in my opinion is underrated as a bass player. Though some quarters of the public loathe him for his behaviour & comments, but purely from a musical standpoint, his basslines & harmony vocals are often overlooked, his musical contributions overshadowed by his over-the-top persona. And having read his 'self-help' books, I actually tend to mostly agree with his points of view, though I probably wouldn't put them across so brazenly. I think that's where he gets misunderstood by the public. Because there are also many accounts by his peers and people who have worked with him, of Gene being warm-hearted and generous in person.
I was learning guitar and in my first band right just before the time of the first KISS reunion mania. In fact my very first 2 albums were the non-makeup KISS: Unplugged and Revenge, which in hindsight are really among their best. (Unplugged, for example, is not only the best sounding KISS record, but one of the best 'unplugged' albums ever made by any band, period) I was following their escapades in the rock mags and the fan-sites or "homepages" as they were known in the nascent world wide web.* There wasn't youtube or streaming yet either, and they weren't ever played on local radio (except for a couple of tracks from the MTV unplugged album) so you either had to buy the albums or guess what they sounded like. Eventually I did get all their albums, right up to Psycho Circus, which went back to the disappointing juvenile rock sound. I say disappointing following the promise of the prior Revenge-era lineup with Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer whom I feel kicked the musicianship up several notches, before getting canned for the Second Coming reunion lineup.
* (side note: If you are too young to remember, official websites and facebook pages for bands didn't always exist. Creating a web page of anything required at least some HTML coding expertise, and KISS was probably the band with the most web content made by fans in the early days of the WWW. Though Megadeth is credited for having the first official website for a band.)
The argument is that KISS was always meant to be experienced live, rather than be judged purely on their recorded output. They would never be the critics' choice but one could say even at their most simplistic, their worst stuff was never as bad as the worst stuff from other shock-rockers like say Twisted Sister or WASP. They were OK. There were some good cuts. Some glimmers of sophistication. Paul Stanley had one of the great rock voices of all time. Ace had a style that was charmingly goofy, and of course he just looked cool onstage. Gene in my opinion is underrated as a bass player. Though some quarters of the public loathe him for his behaviour & comments, but purely from a musical standpoint, his basslines & harmony vocals are often overlooked, his musical contributions overshadowed by his over-the-top persona. And having read his 'self-help' books, I actually tend to mostly agree with his points of view, though I probably wouldn't put them across so brazenly. I think that's where he gets misunderstood by the public. Because there are also many accounts by his peers and people who have worked with him, of Gene being warm-hearted and generous in person.
I was learning guitar and in my first band right just before the time of the first KISS reunion mania. In fact my very first 2 albums were the non-makeup KISS: Unplugged and Revenge, which in hindsight are really among their best. (Unplugged, for example, is not only the best sounding KISS record, but one of the best 'unplugged' albums ever made by any band, period) I was following their escapades in the rock mags and the fan-sites or "homepages" as they were known in the nascent world wide web.* There wasn't youtube or streaming yet either, and they weren't ever played on local radio (except for a couple of tracks from the MTV unplugged album) so you either had to buy the albums or guess what they sounded like. Eventually I did get all their albums, right up to Psycho Circus, which went back to the disappointing juvenile rock sound. I say disappointing following the promise of the prior Revenge-era lineup with Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer whom I feel kicked the musicianship up several notches, before getting canned for the Second Coming reunion lineup.
* (side note: If you are too young to remember, official websites and facebook pages for bands didn't always exist. Creating a web page of anything required at least some HTML coding expertise, and KISS was probably the band with the most web content made by fans in the early days of the WWW. Though Megadeth is credited for having the first official website for a band.)
Gibson USA Yamano Ace Frehley LP Custom 1997
An extremely rare (have not seen another one yet) Gibson LP Custom flametop from 1997 in the style of Ace. Yamano Music was the Japanese distributor for Gibson in Japan at the height of KISS reunion mania in 1996-97. Apparently this was a special order for a music store display. You will recall that in 1997-98 Gibson offered the custom Shop Ace signature model limited to 300, and then the USA series, both with his visage on the headstock and the lightning bolt inlays, and so on. Of course the Japanese were way ahead of the curve as usual, as you can see this is a reproduction of Ace's famous "Budokan" guitar, something which he was actually well-known for, a good 14 years or so before Gibson offered one.
And as always, the Japanese unofficial version is a bit cooler and the US official versions are a bit lamer. You will notice this with their artist models, Gibson always makes USA versions a bit lamer than the original for whatever reason.
The difference is that this is a flametop guitar very similar to what was being offered on the Ace Frehley signature run (no surprise being that they were made at the same time), and is unusual in that it is a split diamond Custom with a flametop. It has 3 Dimarzio PAFs, which also corresponds with the supposed Dimarzio pickup shortage of the time, when USA Ace Frehley models were being shipped with 3 PAFs or a combination of Super Distortions and PAFs as cited by the awesome Acefrehleylespaul.com online resource. Like a typical LPC it also has ebony fingerboard & block inlays, but with Gotoh pearloid banjo tuners (like Ace's preferred Grovers)
The actual Budokan LP Custom modified by Ace was a 3-piece top.
The USA Budokan run had regular plaintops, and richlite fingerboard... which makes no sense!
And as always, the Japanese unofficial version is a bit cooler and the US official versions are a bit lamer. You will notice this with their artist models, Gibson always makes USA versions a bit lamer than the original for whatever reason.
The difference is that this is a flametop guitar very similar to what was being offered on the Ace Frehley signature run (no surprise being that they were made at the same time), and is unusual in that it is a split diamond Custom with a flametop. It has 3 Dimarzio PAFs, which also corresponds with the supposed Dimarzio pickup shortage of the time, when USA Ace Frehley models were being shipped with 3 PAFs or a combination of Super Distortions and PAFs as cited by the awesome Acefrehleylespaul.com online resource. Like a typical LPC it also has ebony fingerboard & block inlays, but with Gotoh pearloid banjo tuners (like Ace's preferred Grovers)
The actual Budokan LP Custom modified by Ace was a 3-piece top.
The USA Budokan run had regular plaintops, and richlite fingerboard... which makes no sense!
Gibson USA Ace Frehley Les Paul 1997
This is a typical Gibson USA Ace Frehley Les Paul. Always wanted one but could never afford one of the '300' Custom Shop ones when they first appeared in ads in magazines. It doesn't have as fancy a top as the custom '300'. It does have the nice body binding and ebony fingerboard. Just a great rock guitar with the Dimarzio Super Distortions.
ESP Horizon Custom 1987
The original old school Horizon with pointy Jackson-style headstock. Along with the Mirage Deluxe these were the biggest thing in rock guitar circa 1987, utilized by top rock stars of the day including Bruce Kulick, Adrian Vandenberg and Michael Wilton. This example in brilliant metallic blue with extremely rare maple bound fingerboard has survived the rigours of late 80s hard rock intact, and boasts the ubiquitous ESP LH-200 pickup, with Seymour Duncan single, and Synclear bridge.
