Artist: Paul Stanley Venue: Irving Plaza (New York, NY) Opener: Slunt Date: 10/28/2006 Label: New Door/Universal Music
Tonight was a night that KISS fans have been waiting for since 1989, as it has been that long since Paul Stanley had performed on a solo tour. He would choose Irving Plaza in New York City which guaranteed a level of intimacy to the attending and long sold-out crowd. Paul would be showcasing his first solo album in two decades “Live To Win” and choose as his band the members of the House Band for the hit television series “Rockstar: INXS & Supernova”. The opener for the set would be Slunt and together all of this combined would surely be a night to remember. Here is what an excited venue full of KISS fans got to experience.
I remembered catching Slunt as the opener for Motorhead sometime last year and at the time I felt that it was a badly matched pairing. The band had talent and a look – but to me could not generate the level of excitement needed for a Hard Rock Metal group like Motorhead. Yet tonight I would find myself feeling different, as the band led by Abby Gennet, a Rock & Roll siren if there ever was one, would truly impress me with their brand of high-energy Rock & Roll. The band features Pat Harrington (guitar), Chris Ruggiero (drums) and Jhen Kobran (bass) and all of them work perfectly with the kind of music Paul would be delivering tonight. They rock when it comes down to it, and they all look like they are having a great time onstage which is always what one should display during lively music. Their performance would focus on music from their debut “Get A Load Of This” and a sneak peek at some stuff on the forthcoming effort “One Night Stand”. Some people might remember Gennet from before, as she was a former MTV2 VJ. She simply decided that talking about Rock & Roll was not as fun as doing it. The group showed a great amount of personality onstage and we would find them after their set mingling with the audience at the merchandise booth and posing for pictures. This was a good mix of music and they are set to do most of the dates on Paul’s tour – it should help with sales of their new record I am certain.
Artist: Paul Stanley Title: “Live To Win” Label: New Door Records/Universal Music Release Date: 10/24/2006 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 4/5
Paul Stanley of KISS is a man who needs no introduction as for over 30 years he has been the Starchild, a front man without peer, a legendary performer and the epitome of the words “Rock Star”. Paul is truly a man who has done it all and now to the delight of his millions of fans he has recorded and released his second solo album of totally new songs. Fans of KISS need not worry about this being a cloned record of his career highlights or a revisit to the killer solo album he released in tandem to the other KISS members in 1978, but instead will find a tasty and well-produced Hard Rock recording. Entitled “Live To Win”, the album starts off with a positive message on how to handle ones life and it is a classic sounding rocker. The album itself is full of mixed feels and this is probably because of the various writers Paul had helping him. The presence of Desmond Child, a long time writing partner of Paul’s is there and that is fine by me but I was left wondering why he felt the need to use other song-writers who are more geared to the contemporary Pop scene than to that of a classic Hard Rocker like Paul. Fans will not find the same impact on this recording like the old 1978 album, but this is because time and musical climate has changed since then. Songs like “Lift” sounds like something you would expect to find Evanescence doing but Paul’s pure and powerful voice makes this style work. “Bulletproof” and “Where Angels Dare” have some KISS-like vibe ala their “Crazy Nights” or “Smashes, Thrashes, Hits” years with a sleek and polished drive and highly catchy lyrical content. The key that all listeners must be aware of is the fact that this is NOT a KISS record, and just new music from Paul. His band is largely studio players but he also has former KISS band mate Bruce Kulick and John 5 handling some guitar. On the coming tour Paul will have the “House Band” from the hit television series Rock Star: INXS & Supernova. That should be exciting since those guys could play. Continue reading “Live To Win” by Paul Stanley→
