Welcome one and all to a first here well, now that I think about it a 2nd.
Welcome one and all to a first here well, now that I think about it a 2nd.
I usually only review videos for the KISS ASYLUM but when I heard this CD was coming out and being the huge Eric Carr fan that I am I figured I'd try to expand my horizons and review this disc of unreleased Eric demos. My other audio related review was with the Capt. of the Thought Vault enterprise, the lovely & talented Ron Albanese. Together we reviewed the Union debut album for his Union Thought Vault.
Now moving along I am taking off my Video hat and putting on my audio on. I'm also going to put aside all love & admiration for The Fox and review this as impartial as possible. Let's check this CD out and see how each track holds up.
Too Cool For School- This opens up with a cool little riff from Bruce and we hear Eric talking as two characters. It goes like this:
#1 hey man, are you still thinkin about that girl
#2 ya so what
#1 man she doesn¼t even know you¼re alive
#2 C¼mon man don¼t say that
One can argue that this part is reminiscent of Twisted Sister's cover of Leader of the Pack and it may be similar only that it's 2 characters talking but the context is different. Dee talks to the Twisted guys about if he's still with this girl he was with. Eric's characters are talking about trying to get a certain girls attention but she thinks she¼s just too cool for anything.
With that the riff kicks in and we off into the first song. It's a really catchy song and you can with a bit of imagination see The Rockheads actually performing this song. The hook is there like a classic Kiss song & Eric, Bruce & Adam Mitchell stay true to the rock formula for all great songs which is solid riff with a hook, catchy chorus that can be sung in an anthem-like fashion & a solid drum beat and a hummable guitar solo. This song to me sounds similar to "Secretly Cruel." Being it was written around 1985 maybe Gene heard it and said to himself. "Hmm maybe I can take the feel of this song and come up with a song for myself" One never knows being he confessed to ripping off the Doors 5 to 1 for "She" & "Bitch" from The Stone and turning that into "Deuce".
That formula is evident in all these songs actually. At some point the lyrics kinda make you say, "huh, what Ice cream & hot dogs doing in a rock song's lyrics. Easy it¼s just not a rock song Keep in mind they couldn't write War Machine cause Eric¼s dream for this was a Saturday morning cartoon show. Besides Van Halen had Ice Cream Man in 1977 right. Reason I mentioned that is a few people I¼ve talked to mentioned that they found the lyrics a bit corny for a KISS song so I hope that what I said helps set the record straight. I personally think the lyrics are pretty cool actually Too Cool.
Tiera- This sweet ballad starts off with a simple drum beat actually a kick drum and rim shot evident in many ballads but it totally changes once the piano kicks in and it gives it an off time feel creating a very cool change musically. This again carries on where Too Cool For School left off. Now one of the characters is singing about the girl who was Too Cool. He basically confesses how he feels about her and that he's constantly thinking of being her little Rockhead. The one thing that makes this song & CD for that matter so enjoyable is we finally get to see different sides of Eric vocal capabilities. He really was well versed and could sing any style and do it well. But unfortunately we had to wait 8 years going on 9 in November to find out how well he really could sing. This is all due to the control freaks of KISS (you know who I¼m talking about) always turning down songs Eric brought in to the band in fear of change or that people might actually like the way he sang more than they liked how the other 2 sang. Bruce shows off a really tasteful style in this guitar solo not overplaying for the sake of a solo, a Kulick trademark. This song if it were used for Kiss would've definitely been Eric's Beth and it easily ranks up there as one of the tear-jerking ballads of all time.
Can You Feel It- Ok I lied I need to be a little biased here. This song just plain out ROCKS!!!
Everything about this song is catchy and this song IS without a doubt my favorite on this 4 song EP.
It's so contmemporay that any artist today would be a fool not to cover it cause I feel it would be a massive hit for someone with the right vocal style & in the genre of rock. Bryan Adams are you reading this!
Hell even Bruce could re-do this with Union. I think John Corabi could handle this song with ease and keep it true to the original version. The thing I like most is in the chorus Eric backed with Adam Mitchell sing this in a falsetto fashion ala Paul Stanley and they even sound better than Paul could have if KISS had done this song. IMO
Nasty Boys- A really up-tempo ass kicker finishes the EP off. It starts off with a Do You Love/Crazy Nights beat and the riff comes in like a runaway train. This would make a cool cover for Quiet Riot as it sounds similar to their style almost in the vein of "Party All Night" or even their cover of Slade's "Mama Weer All Crazee Now". This is a real raunchy rocker and even though the title when I first heard it made me think, Eric did a Janet Jackson song? OH MY GOD! When you hear it you can easily be assured his name isn¼t baby it¼s Eric Mr. Carr if you¼re nasty.
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Rockheads Poll Results 1) Favorite Song Off Of The Rockheads CD --Can You Feel It - 16 --Tiera - 5 --Nasty Boys - 4 --Too Cool For School - 3
2) Would You Like To See More Eric CD's In The Future?
3) What Eric Product Would You Most Like To See?
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Since I know no matter what most KISS fans will try to compare this to KISS songs and see where in the 80's KISS catalog it would fit.
You know it's also interesting to ponder if at some point Eric brought these songs in for KISS to consider for an album even thought they were written specifically for the Rockheads.
So anyway having said that now for all of you who haven't heard it I'll attempt to find a Kiss album these could've fit on.
What KISS album could these songs fit on?
This is a real treat for all Eric Carr & KISS fans to enjoy. The packaging is like a CD single in a slimline package. The front is a cool picture of Eric while on the back is a picture of The Rockheads and the story of how this CD came about. Inside there is a cool little insert of the Rocheads with a breakdown of each character, what instrument they play & a bio of sorts of each member.
The cost of this CD is very reasonable at $12.99 and can be ordered through David Snowden Productions at http://www.davidsnowden.com and through Eric¼s company, which has been given life again StreetGang Productions(links below)
Now one last thing it's a limited edition of 5000 so hurry up and buy you're copy now before their ancient history!
Please also feel free to visit the Official Rockheads Website at http://idt.net/~snoopy9/
Or e-mail the Streetgang Staff at snoopy9@idt.net or samnthaIM@aol.com
Also available on that site are cool Eric Carr drum sticks, an AWESOME tribute T-shirt & just in the new Rockheads T-Shirts (which are so cute!) & coming soon more official Rockheads merchandise. & in July a full length Eric Carr CD. This is going to be known as THE YEAR OF THE FOX!
Hope you had as much fun reading this review as I did writing it!
'Til Next time,
See you in the Video Spotlight.
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