Search - Kiss :: Crazy Nights

KISS New Wave!

Alberto Cuya | 11/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Crazy Nights album shows KISS as a New Wave band of the 80's doing very well. Although Simmons was not focused on the band, songs like "Hell or High-Water" and "Good girl gone bad" would remark his style on album.



Stanley as always impeccable in vocals, Kulick define style and expertise to record the powerful solos of "No, No, No" and "Turn on the Night". If you liked the 80's with Tear for Fears, Warrant, you should buy this CD!"

Kiss on Halloween

Van Halen Kurtz | Twin Oaks | 11/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, the make-up's off, the light's are on, and the party's over. Who were you kissing on Halloween when I had to dance with myself? How many times will you break my heart? Bust my trust? I guess as many times as I allow. It's up to me, who else can I count on on? Well, I can count on Kiss, I suppose. No Santa, no Superman, no soul mate. Kiss is real. Crazy Crazy Nights. God gave Halloween to you. Would you rather hear Grateful Dead songs the rest of your life? That don't sound like heaven at all. Crazy crazy nights. Remembering his youth (in 1970), John Lennon said "Rock and roll was real, everything else was unreal." Excellent jukebox to cure the hurt. Who was kissing me on Halloween?"

Ignore the heathens... this is a 4.5 star album

Sam Allen | Newburyport Mass. | 01/01/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"KISS' fourteenth studio album, Crazy Nights (1987) is one that often gets overlooked by casual fans, gets bashed on by KISS army members, and one the band themselves seem to want nothing to do with anymore (since Eric Carr's passing this album has never been represented in a live show). It's easy to see why: it is very different from the KISS sound that people came to know and love. Rather formulaic, pop-friendly, synth-driven, and glossed-up production by Ron Nevison (who also worked his magic with Heart, Survivor, Jefferson Starship, Ozzy Osbourne, and Europe among others) make for an album that would make purists of Destroyer say, "WTF?"



But here's something they've forgotten. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons are both there, and in spite of being produced and played in a style fans of the classics aren't used to, it's full of catchy hooks and equally catchy choruses. With this in mind, a majority of the songs are very much adapted to the 80's glam scene that was big at the time, but a few tracks are thoroughly reminiscent of the classic KISS sound. Take away Nevison's production on "Hell Or High Water" and "Good Girl Gone Bad," and you'll notice that they have the tempo and basic style that belongs on an early work (Hotter Than Hell is the first that comes to mind), while doing the same to "When Your Walls Come Down" would make it seem right at home on Dressed To Kill.



Almost every other song on this album is a highlight; in addition to the ones mentioned already, "Crazy Crazy Nights," "I'll Fight Hell To Hold You," "No No No," "My Way," "Reason To Live," and "Turn On The Night" rank among my favorite KISS songs, with "Reason To Live" being my favorite ballad of theirs and "My Way" being my favorite song on the album (and the one most abundant with synths). The only reasons this gets 4.5 stars?



First off, all the songs have pretty much the same formula: an 8-bar verse, an 8-bar bridge, and an 8-bar chorus. Sometimes it mixes it up, but not too often. If KISS continued on this formula, then I'd probably say that this and all KISS albums after it suck royally. However, this is the only time that this is used, so I'll give it more credit. Also, "Bang Bang You" may very well be the worst KISS song ever written. "I'm gonna bang bang you, shoot you down with my love gun baby..." okay, as much as i like the reference to a KISS classic, those are some of the worst lyrics I've ever read. Closer "Thief In The Night" also leaves a fair amount to be desired. But overall, this is a solid album that you should just accept for what it is. Is it anywhere near the debut or Dressed To Kill in terms of greatness? Absolutely not. But if you can't accept it for what it is and enjoy it to some extent, I feel you just aren't truly a KISS fan."