Search - Kiss :: Hot in the Shade

Raef N. (Budgie) from GAITHERSBURG, MD
Reviewed on 2/20/2008...

Kiss at their non-musical best.
Their worst.

Some Great Songs, But An Inconsitent Album

Erik Rupp | Southern California | 04/19/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hot In The Shade marks the end of an era for KISS. It was the last album featuring the late, great, Eric Carr on drums, and it was the last album where "pop" Metal tunes were in the majority. HITS boasts some of KISS' best material in songs such as "Rise To It" (a classic KISS stomper very similar to their 70's material), "Betrayed" (the son of "Deuce"), "Hide Your Heart" (written for Crazy Nights, and would have been a standout track on that album), the top 10 hit "Forever" (one of the best "power ballads" ever), and "Silver Spoon" (Paul's nod to latter-day Aerosmith). Plenty of solid but unspectacular tracks such as "Prisoner Of Love," "Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell," and "Little Caesar" (Eric Carr's vocal debut on one of his own songs) fill out the album. There are also a couple of tracks that should have been left off of the album simply because they were nowhere near the caliber that warrants inclusion on a KISS album. Those songs include "Read My Body" (a poor attempt at cloning Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me," with a rather stiff rap verse from Paul), and "Cadillac Dreams" (a rather un-KISS-like shuffle). Gene's "The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away" is another standout track (giving just a little tip of the hat to Guns N Roses), as is "Boomerang," another fast and furious tune driven hard by Eric. All in all a truly mixed bag."

Nothing Wrong Here.....

Daniel Pinto | Brooklyn, NY USA | 03/05/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"HITS is one of the better non makeup Kiss albums. With 15 tracks total, there was bound to be a little filler, so I can deal with the occasional clinker. HITS comes off as an album of Demos and unfinished songs, it is what it is, and at times its very good. Its not nearly as wimpy as some of the other 80's releases, and at the time when it came out, was actually a breath of fresh air for Die hard makeup era Kiss fans, as some of the songs where tougher and not just Bon Jovi type knock offs.



Regarding the songs themselves, they are allover the place, so many different styles, and basiclly non produced, the sound is very raw and unpolished on a lot of tracks, but this is part of the albums charm. "Love is Like A SlapIn The Face" does not have one drum fill or cymbal hit in the entire song, it could very well be a drum machine or better yet, Gene on the drums as he played in many of his demos anyway. A lot of Gene on guitar as well of the other demo songs included. "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" is a good example.



Hide Your Heart was a Crazy Nights Throwaway. Many bands tried their hand at this one (Molly Hatchet as well as Ace on trouble Walkin), very Bon Jovi-ish. Prsoner of Love is Great! Betrayed & Rise To It are cool Kiss Songs! Silver Spoon has a great hook as well. Forever gave Kiss a much needed BIG HIT! Some very good material here....



Overall, HITS has a bum rap among Kiss fans, yet its much better than at least 3 of the Non Makeup albums (Personally, I feel its better than Revenge as well), and ranks as one of the FUN Kiss records. People ofter forget that it has one of their biggest if not the biggest hit in "Forever", which is a very cool song. It was a step in the right direction, following 3 of the wimpiest, weakest albums of their career. They toured with a huge stage show, and brought back some of the classic Kiss tunes in the process. I saw Eric's last concert at MSG in 11/90 as well.



I have great memories of this album, this is when I Finally accepted Kiss without the makeup, because the music is GOOD!"