Review Summary: Peter Criss’ best solo album since 1979 - but that’s not really saying much.
A KISS Away: Peter Criss Solo – Part 3
Fact #1:In 1979, Peter Criss released his first solo album, as part of a KISS marketing push.
Fact #2: The experience of working on that album, alongside former bandmate Stan Penridge, caused him to release no less than two follow-up records in the next three years.
Fact #3: The resounding failure of those long-forgotten records caused Criss to take a 14-year hiatus in recording, returning in 1994 with what was purportedly a real band, simply named Criss.
These three basic facts set up the scene for
Cat #1, the first and only release of the new “band”. To give Criss some credit, he actually seems to have wanted this to be a band effort – he shares writing duties with the bass player and both other bandmembers get a stab at co-songwriting. However, most people just insert this into the Peter Criss solo discography, since most of the input belongs to the former KISS drummer.
But what of the music? Well, thankfully, Criss has left behind the sugary Survivor pastiches in favour of a much classier, typically mid-90’s hard rock sound. The songs on
Cat #1 have a foot in glam rock, the other on blues-rock, and just the tip of a big toe in funk. The result is a sound close to what bands like Bon Jovi, Firehouse and Mötley Crüe would do during that stage of their careers.
Also unlike Criss’ two previous efforts, this one starts out pretty strong.
Bad Reputation is an early standout, a boogie that would make Firehouse proud, and follow-up
Walk The Line is quite strong as well. Unfortunately, things start to derail with
Find The Truth, a piss-poor attempt at writing more “serious” music, which ends up sounding like a long-winded, sparkles pastiche of something like Led Zeppelin. From there, we are taken on a highly inconsistent ride, where the good walks side by side with the boring. The results are listenable, but mostly drab and heavy-handed.
Make no mistake, though: there are more good songs on this album than on any given KISS album from 1983-1991. The problem is that there is just as much filler and bad songwriting choices. Take the middle of the album, for example:
Bad People Burn In Hell undercuts an excellent riff with a childishly dumb chorus, while
Show Me does likewise with its interesting verses, which ultimately only lead to a drab chorus. Quality seems to return with
Good Times, a power ballad that would make Alice Cooper proud, but again, everything goes downhill pretty fast – the next three songs hold absolutely zero motives for interest, and only
We Want You, close to the end of the album, manages to spark our interest again, with another irrepressible boogie-stomp. The album then closes on a shameless note, with a disastrous version of Criss’ biggest hit
Beth which should never have seen the light of day. As the album finishes, the impression one is left with is of a listenable album, with a few good songs, yet excessively plodding and long-winded for its own good.
The band performance itself holds no controversy. The musicians are tight, if not exactly flashy, and Criss is his usual self, unspectacular on drums but competent on vocal duties, his raspy drawl seemingly unchanged since 1979. His attempts to emulate other, better vocalists – from Glenn Hughes on
Find The Truth to Tom Keifer on
Show Me, through C.J Snare and, at times, even Michael Jackson! – are less successful, but the overall result is not bad. The problem, then, is that ultimately there are too many uninteresting songs to really make this a worthy buy. It’s acceptable, sure; it’s also Peter Criss’ best solo album since 1979; but come to think of it, that’s not really saying much, is it?
Recommended Tracks
Bad Attitude
Good Times
We Want You
