Burning skulls, burning scarves
MROW | Long Beach, CA United States | 09/28/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Long considered a mere footnote in the respective careers of Nikki Sudden & Rowland S. Howard, in hindsight KISS YOU undeniably contains some awe-inspiring moments that shoulda met with a much wider audience upon its orginal release 15 years ago. "Wedding Hotel" stands with the best of Rowland's 80's work with Crime & the City Solution and These Immortal Souls, while Nikki's "Girl Without a Name" carries with it a darkness he rarely conjoured up in his solo recordings proper. And the harrowing version of Billy Holiday's "Don't Explain" still floors me after 100+ spins. The real treat here, though, is the the bonus disc of these cads caught tearing it up live in Augsburg on 09/18/87. Totally loose, wildly rockin', and REALLY REALLY LOUD, this is concrete proof Nikki didn't spend all of his days crying in his beer."