Whilst wondering around the net today, I found a few discossions from a couple of months ago regarding the merits of the second CD in Kiss’ “Sonic Boom” release. For anyone who’s unaware, it’s a disc of rerecordings of old songs with the current line-up.
The general consensus on one site seemed to be that Gene and Paul were just trying to push Ace and Peter out of a slab of royalties and that they were douchebags for acting thusly.
Cobblers.
Firstly, a wodge of the ’70s albums were not well mastered originally. Heck, some of them weren’t recorded terribly well in the first place and the passage of time might not have treated some of the masters terribly kindly. Add to this that Paul’s voice has changed, Gene’s play style has changed (and this time he’s using good pick-ups in his bass) and away we go.
Let’s also remember that, frankly, Peter was not the most technically accomplished player or timekeeper in the world and that his absences on his later Kiss albums are really noticeable due to the playing ability of whoever was sitting in at the time.
The originals are all out there as well remastered as they can be, so it’s not about screwing the fans or Peter and Ace. It’s about a new version that sounds competitive with a modern album whilst retaining the feel of the original.
Get over it – it’s a good album.
Around this time of year, I start to take stock of the last 12 months. There have been years when I’ve just been glad, nay relieved to be still enjoying the benefits of breathing.
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