The Posies were a power-pop outfit from Washington State that didn’t so much set the world on fire as give it a nasty Chinese burn. They did, however, produce some mighty fine tunes and at least one classic album, Frosting On the Beater. (The two remaining original members, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, are also at least as famous for being instrumental in the reformation of Big Star.) The clumsily titled Beautiful Escape… Is Coming Right Along is a seven track sampler of the forthcoming 45 track (3 CD) album containing cover versions spanning the entire career of The Posies. Homage albums such as this often provide new and interesting takes on the source material. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of this release. The artists on this selection do have a good crack at the songs but hardly any of them do anything that might be deemed original. Of the seven tracks present on this CD only Darling Cait’s version of “Precious Moments” and Jim Protector’s “Coming Right Along” really stand up to any scrutiny. The others just sound like pale imitations rather than the intended tribute. The fact that three of the tunes on this collection come from Frosting On the Beater speaks volumes. While the full 3 CD set might tell a different story, this sampler showcases the songs of that greatest album by The Posies and suggests that you might be better off listening to that instead.
Some people have been waiting since 1978 for a new Paul Stanley solo album. The last effort was the second best out of a batch of four solo albums that KISS did during a short hiatus from being the hottest band in the world. The Ace Frehley solo album was the surprising winner of that competition. Temporarily released from the tour shackles of “The Tribute Band Formerly Known as KISS” (TBFKK for short) Stanley announced a new album and tour. He stated quite clearly that this time he is doing it his way, with no compromise. Lapsed members of the KISS Army like myself perked up and waited with anticipation. Stanley certainly was the ringleader of the more pop period in KISStory, and this leads one to believe that he may have a finger on the pulse somewhere. I was hoping that drinking from the cup of Moloch has not left him artistically barren; particularly after that piece of musical doo-doo that his KISS colleague Gene Simmons released a couple of years ago. (Check out Simmons’ version of the Prodigy’s “Firestarter” for an example of cringing nonsense on par with your dad trying to dance “cool” at the family wedding.)
The album begins well in the sense that it sounds quite contemporary. Big fat Nu Metal guitars announce the opening track Live To Win, which really does rock albeit in a sub-Nickelback kind of way. This theme is carried forward for the next couple of tunes. Stanley’s 1980s pop rock sensibilities are masked to the point of obscurity, sounding somewhere between Linkin Park and Bon Jovi little brother. Then the third track cuts through with cheap sounding drum machine and cheesy synth-strings sounds coupled with the chorus from that KISS song that was a bonus track on the third or fourth “best of” album that was released in the later half of the 1980s. This is familiar territory for Paul. He is happiest here, I think, because he doesn’t really stray from this ground for the remainder of the album. It shouldn’t really come as any great surprise that a songwriter who has pretty much made a career out of churning out the same five songs over and over again may have run out of ideas. KISS were never about breaking boundaries, they were a great party band, and now they are their very own tribute band.
From the release notes Stanley would have us believe that he is doing his own thing and doesn’t want to compromise his creative talent anymore. A fine sentiment, and one that you cannot argue with. Cool Paul, go right ahead break your neck. Push the boat right out, perhaps bring in some new creative talent to counterpoint your own. After all, your last album was last century. What? Oh you’d rather use Desmond Child like you have done for the last 30 years; OK that’s fine too. Yes, of course you can write with Holly Knight again, I have no objections. Who is this new guy that you have brought in, a pop genius with his feet firmly in the 21st century no doubt? Nope, Andreas Carlsson, who was famous for penning tunes for some youngster called Britney Spears, a bunch of losers that went by the name Backstreet Boys, Hillary Duff (who?), and, ah surprise surprise, Bon Jovi. Way to do it your way, Paul.
The result is unfortunately a retread of everything you ever heard by KISS in the sans-make up period (think Hot in the Shade, where the songs were also co-written by Child and Knight). It is a fun but not very satisfying chunk of slick, over-chewed bubble gum. I say that like it is a bad thing, but in honesty it sometimes really isn’t. Messrs Stanley and Simmons have only really ever wanted to push the pop buttons and catch the pennies when they fall. They never made any secret about it. In their heyday they grabbed everything that they could, branded it with the KISS logo and sold it. Even the last Paul Stanley solo album was marketed so. Without the KISS banner to prance in front of, Stanley is making it all too obvious that he has nothing new to say.
I’m not sure that I should have expected anything different.
The review was originally posted on popmatters.com
Despite the fact that the band seemed to go their separate ways in 1995, it is difficult to discuss Vernon Reid without mentioning Living Colour, so I will get it out of the way right at the beginning, but I can’t promise that I won’t mention it again. When Living Colour hit the scene back in the 1980s, they promised to be a fusion of metal and funk and soul. This was a promise that they almost made good on, and they went on to spearhead the funk-o-metal carpet ride that rock music became between 1988 and 1990. They took up a lot of column inches and they brought with them into the limelight such acts as Fishbone, Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and (ahem) the Dan Reed Network. The stand out members of the band were Corey Glover, for his powerful and sometimes soulful vocals, and Vernon Reid, for his amazing technical ability to make the guitar sound like it was a wild beast that needed taming. Since 1995, Reid has done turns for the likes of Tracey Chapman, Jack Bruce, and DJ Spooky, as well as recording another Living Colour album in 2003.
VERNON REID AND MASQUE
OTHER TRUE SELF
Favored Nations
2006-04-18
“Masque is about identity,” claims Reid. He maintains that it is this question that has informed everything that he has done from the beginning of his solo career. On listening to Other True Self, it is difficult to see how Mr. Reid has spent his time exploring this question. As an analytical tool, the compact disc format is not exactly foolproof, but it does offer a snapshot of time that one can look at in more depth. Regrettably, he offers no insight into his true self, unless this particular self is disjointed and confused and asks more questions than it answers. As a closet social psychologist, I am willing to believe that is the case. Even more problematic, this particular exploration of the psyche can be a trying experience at times.
The album opens with “Game Is Rigged”, the kind of instrumental that tended to uncomfortably sit on a Living Colour album. It sets the tone for the rest of the album in terms of temperament. The song is poorly behaved; it refuses to stay in one place, like a hyperactive child desperate to grab your attention. One second it is harmonics and hammer-ons, the next it is syncopated beats with a lounge style organ and lots — and I mean LOTS — of guitar. Next up, we get a cover of Radiohead’s “National Anthem”, from their Kid A album. Musically, it is note perfect, but robbed of Thom Yorke’s paranoid ramblings the song loses all of its tension and claustrophobia. The pinnacle of this album has to be the instrumental (did I mention that this album was an instrumental?) version of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”. This is another note-perfect tune that almost lifts off, but then just falls into yet another safe guitar noodle. Reid explores his identity all over Martin Gore’s masterwork, replacing its dark and moody conclusions with diddlydiddlydiddlywahwah followed by a jazz club-style bass solo. You can almost hear bass player Hank Schroy’s head nodding as it happens. Mine too, but for a different reason. Frankly, I would have enjoyed the silence had there been any.
That’s the main issue with this collection and albums of this type. Vernon Reid is clearly a very talented guitar player. However, guitar players do not need to breathe in between musical phrases, thus instrumental sections lack natural gaps and pauses. As Emperor Joseph II said in Amadeus, “It’s quality work. But there are simply too many notes, that’s all.” After a while, the rambunctious noodling becomes tiresome, and when you add this to the scarcity of any songs, or even tunes masquerading as songs, you find yourself wishing the whole experience was just over. I mentioned Living Colour so much at the beginning of this piece because when you listen to this album you realise precisely what it was that made them great. They had songs with words in them that allowed the listener a little recovery time before the next guitar offensive.
