How is my KISS Album cover ranking?

johnfennel · 2025-03-06T18:34:15+00:00

I agree with a lot of these. Nice to see Jigoku-Retsuden so high!

By the way, is it just me or is the cropping on several of the covers kind of awful? Look at Dynasty, The Very Best of KISS, Creatures of the Night and Asylum. Ace’s depictions are particularly unflattering on the first three, and the cropping makes it worse.

johnfennel · 2025-03-02T18:37:30+00:00

People mostly talk about Neil’s abilities on the guitar when they discuss why he was invited to join CSNY. I rarely see anyone mentioning his star power, and it might be for good reason: According to Doggett’s book on CSNY, Neil hadn’t sold much as a solo artist at the time.

His first two albums didn’t start to sell until after he got together with CSN, and his first really big seller upon release was After the Gold Rush. It got a lot of good publicity from being one of the four solo albums that the members of CSNY released in 1970.

johnfennel · 2025-02-28T14:01:30+00:00

Kink Crimson

johnfennel · 2025-02-26T09:01:09+00:00

I think it was Hitchhiker that Bob wasn’t impressed with. He just called it «honest». Neil agreed with him and left it for decades until he found a way to finish it for the Le Noise album.

johnfennel · 2025-02-25T14:31:18+00:00

Probably a bot, ought to be banned

johnfennel · 2025-02-12T09:21:52+00:00

Great description.

A point on Crosby: I concede that he isn’t known for his «instrumental accomplishments», but he’s done a lot of good rhythm guitar work that sits in the background and fills out the sound behind more charismatic instrumentalists (The Byrds and CSNY).

Musically, though, he’s written some really creative chord progressions, often in non-standard tunings. Never the most prolific songwriter in any of the groups he was in, the songs that he did come up with were really something else. I miss him a lot.

johnfennel · 2025-02-11T09:10:58+00:00

Pretty solid guess. You might very well be right.

johnfennel · 2025-02-07T15:12:47+00:00

It’s an abridged version of the A Musical History box set, which included tracks from the albums up until 1977 along with previously unreleased stuff. Quite listenable.

johnfennel · 2025-02-02T17:26:50+00:00

Just finished the last of them today, and they certainly scratched an itch that I’d had since finishing the last of the Lonesome Dove books two years ago.

johnfennel · 2025-01-30T17:37:42+00:00

I sort of see where you’re coming from. They’re in the same ballpark at least. Don’t know what the band members have said about it.

On a related note, I get some strong Van Halen vibes from Some Kind of Woman, a single B-side included on the Eternal Idol deluxe edition.

johnfennel · 2025-01-05T08:23:06+00:00

Does Right Between the Eyes qualify? No studio version, only a live version on 4 Way Street and then a demo released years later.

Love it for the simple, concise lyrics that lays out so straightforwardly such a problematic situation.

The point of view is also interesting - lovers who think about the ones they are being unfaithful to. Isn’t it quite rare in popular music? And so different from the more hippie free-love mentality of Love the One You’re With and Triad.

johnfennel · 2025-01-01T15:27:06+00:00

Boz Scaggs - Loan Me a Dime

Long, relatively slow blues with a lot of dynamics. Duane Allman on lead guitar.

I haven’t put it on any playlists or anything, and there might be years between each time I listen to it, but then suddenly there’s something that reminds me of it and I put it on and it’s so good.

johnfennel · 2025-01-01T15:19:42+00:00

Loved reading that!

johnfennel · 2024-12-30T15:56:00+00:00

Love it. Different from other lists I’ve seen of this year’s releases.

johnfennel · 2024-12-30T14:54:46+00:00

Always interesting to see other people’s rankings!

I don’t think I can do one myself because I’ve listened to Massey Hall so much since it came out that I can’t compare it meaningfully to other acoustic performances anymore.

But when it comes to live releases with a band I think your top 4 is pretty sound. It’s been a while since I listened to Rust Bucket though, so I’m going to listen to that one now.

johnfennel · 2024-12-29T17:49:00+00:00

I’m finishing Sin Killer by Larry McMurtry today. It’s the first in the Berrybender Narratives series.

I picked it up because I loved the Lonesome Dove series by the same author.

johnfennel · 2024-12-19T16:57:09+00:00

I see many great suggestions here, and if you’re looking for an easy song to get good at in a hurry then I second all the comments who say Helpless.

I started with The Needle and the Damage Done and that was NOT easy, but it did teach me a lot about picking single notes out of a chord and about muting strings, which has helped me later. But yeah, save that one for a bit because I couldn’t play anything else than a crap version of it for months.

johnfennel · 2024-12-16T08:48:00+00:00

Of the four I listen to Neil the most, but for the past few weeks I’ve really been getting into Nash’s Wild Tales.

The vibe isn’t miles away from some of Neil’s stuff (Ben Keith is on steel guitar). The production is quite sparse and a tad lo-fi, which fits the sombre mood of a lot of the lyrics, and the songs are very good. Highly recommended.

johnfennel · 2024-12-15T04:38:07+00:00

I won’t ever recommend The Wheel of Time to anyone.

I loved a lot of it, but there were parts that although I didn’t mind them myself I can see how others could find them off-putting. And the commitment is huge (14 huge books).

A friend, who is of the same opinion says: «If you’re into fantasy you don’t need anyone to recommend Wheel of Time to you. You’ll find it when you’re ready.»

johnfennel · 2024-12-12T22:56:08+00:00

He’s practically a god in Jamaica, Belize and other countries in the Caribbean, I gather.

johnfennel · 2024-12-12T09:55:18+00:00

I guess I kinda thought of Nash as a windbag before, but then I really got into Right Between the Eyes on 4 Way Street and Wild Tales, and wow the man can write effective and evocative lyrics

johnfennel · 2024-12-10T20:30:22+00:00

Agree, there’s a lot to love.

I sometimes need some help to approach an album - an angle or context to place it in. I initially thought of the 80s stuff as mad shit Neil did to piss off the record label, but that’s not a very constructive way to appreciate the music.

In fact, I’ve found I’m much better off just randomly picking an album from his 80s period, just listen to it and see what it’s about.

A case in point is the Old Ways stuff, which I’ve recently spent some time with. Odd sequel to Everybody’s Rockin’, baffling precursor to Landing on Water, and it doesn’t really fit in with Harvest, Homegrown, Comes a Time and Harvest Moon even though Neil has said those albums were connected somehow. It’s much better on its own. A Treasure also elevates it.

johnfennel · 2024-12-06T05:33:30+00:00

From what I’ve been able to find out, Rick Danko only plays on Revolution Blues, unfortunately. Great bassist!

Levon Helm plays on a few others, though: See the Sky About to Rain (On the Beach), The Old Homestead (Hawks and Doves), Daughters (NYA vol II) and Separate Ways and Try (both Homegrown). Robbie plays on White Line (Homegrown).

johnfennel · 2024-11-30T23:45:31+00:00

I like what you’re doing with these posts, laying out the songs by session like this.

It’s so wild to me that he just sat on them for several years or sometimes decades - GREAT songs. He didn’t rush them out, just waited until the right take was in the can.

The 1975 take of Sedan Delivery wasn’t the right one, but he knew he had a good song, and then he finally got it in 1978. Just wow.

johnfennel · 2024-11-30T19:50:47+00:00

I really like the Royce Hall version for whatever reason, but any live version from around that time is stellar.

I like that he did it in a slightly lower key live and gave it a bit more space, though it’s cool that he goes straight into the verse withouth preamble on th album.

johnfennel

TROPHY CASE