Album of the weekend

Peter Criss-Peter Criss

Peter Criss, the solo album released in 1978 along with the three other bandmates is widely considered to be the worst one of the four, and that's saying something because none of the solo albums are really spectacular in their own right.

Criss is more of a blues based drummer, and his main influences growing up were the blues. His influences show with this album. It's certainly the most different sounding of the four albums and that's not a good thing-it's one thing for an artist to express themselves, but when you do something totally different from your genre (like Dee Dee Ramone turning to rap) the outcome will probably be bad. In Dee Dees case, it was.

And in the case of Peter Criss, it's bad too. This album isn't just different, it's terirble. I try to give every album the benefit of the doubt and don't let public opinion taint my own (I'm sure we all say that) so I've listened to this with an open mind. Masochist that I am, I even played it several times.

I call this album "dentist music" because most of the songs are those you hear at the dentist. Even calling it bland "Muzak" would be an insult. It's beyond bland. It's forgettable, dull and Peter Criss can't sing-if you can't sing, the don't sing. Simple as that. He sings several of the songs and he just can't do it.

Kiss revisionism asks to give this album another look. A book I was reading recently by Julian Gill makes the case that this album is over bashed. I really liked the book, but I totally disagree with him on that. This album is a D at best. You will be remembering the songs, but not for a good reason.