From: Joey Taylor

I am a huge Kiss fan and I could not wait to get Psycho Circus. I would have got the Japan version but it would have cost me about $50 bucks Canadian for the money order, postage and the exchange; so it would be like paying $30 dollars for one song. Maybe if it was written and sung by Paul but it wasn't.

REVIEWS: It is pretty clear that Kiss will never be able to please every Kiss fan. Some hate the new record and some love it. One person loves a song and than the next person hates that same song. Some fans have decided that if it doesn't sound like something from the 70's they aren't going to like it no matter what.

BRUCE FAIRBAIRN: He has produced records for some of my favorite bands. The best BON JOVI album is the Bruce Fairbairn produced New Jersey (Out of the 462 CD's I have New Jersey is my favorite) The best Poison album is the awesome BF produced Flesh n' Blood. The best Aerosmith album is the awesome BF produced PUMP. But on the other hand he has worked with some of the best talent in the business. Jon Bon Jovi is the best singer/songwriter to ever walk the face of the earth; and as much as I love the BF produced Slippery When Wet I like the non BF produced Keep the Faith and These Days better. He is now working with two of the best in the business with Mr. Stanley and Mr. Simmons, so Bruce is going to have some great material to work with. Bob Ezrin has produced my favorite and least favorite Kiss Disc. Basically I feel the producer can only do so much, if songs are no good the CD will be no good, if the songs are good then the CD will be good regardless of the producer.

Ace and Peter: These guys are good musicians and they stand up as good singer/songwriters on their own but when compared to PAUL and GENE they are outclassed. I'm not saying I don't like their music because I do, but on all of Kiss' albums Paul and Gene have written the majority of the material and they obviously have the better singing voices. I think Ace is a good lead player and Peter is a good drummer; but I prefer the lineup of Singer and Kulick.

PAUL and GENE: These guys are Kiss. PAUL (Some people have said they don't like PAUL'S high notes but I love all of his vocal ranges especially the higher notes) and GENE are two of the most talented singer/songwriters in music, past, present, and future. The sound of their music has changed as the times have changed and that is expected. I think their best material may be yet to come, they certainly have been doing their best material in the past 10 years. As long as Paul and Gene are together, writing and singing great songs there will always be a KISS.

KISS ALBUMS: I have them all (31 in total) and I love everything Kiss has done except for The Elder (which I do like). My favorite 10 KISS albums are: REVENGE- 10/10(The guitar work on this album is the best I've ever heard on a Kiss record). HOT IN THE SHADE- 9.5/10, CARNIVAL OF SOULS- 9.5/10 (Master n Slave is probably my favorite Kiss song; and this album contains the second best guitar work on a Kiss disc.) CRAZY NIGHTS- 9.5/10, Dressed To Kill- 9/10 Love Gun- 9/10 ASYLUM - 8.5/10, Creatures of the Night- 8.5/10, Kiss- 8.5/10, and Hotter Than Hell- 8.5/10.

Everything above was written before I bought Psycho Circus.

TACK BY TRACK:

PSYCHO CIRCUS- Paul Stanley is a MUSICAL GOD with his vocals, they are phenomenal, and his songwriting, it is continuously unbelievable, and his guitar playing, which is very under-rated. This song here is no exception. Very cool intro with the circus music then the music kicks in with Paul's voice, it is a very hard rockin' song, with a great lead and guitar riff and an excellent chorus. I love the part where the song slows down with the drums and Paul's voice. Great Tune! 9/10

WITHIN- COS? Well I guess so but I can't think of which song it is supposed to sound like. Great guitars, probably the best song guitar wise on the album and the opening riff after the backwards guitar is awesome. Gene sounds as awesome as ever and the chorus is great; I especially like it when the verses are being sung with the chorus, a nice touch. 9/10

I PLEDGE ALLIGENCE- Mr. Stanley comes up with another great song and it really rocks. This is a very guitar driven song with a slamming chorus (I think Paul could write a good Chorus in his sleep, and he could probably sing a bad Chorus and make it sound good). 9/10

INTO THE VOID- Vocals? Well they are real good for Ace. The song starts with an awesome guitar riff and then goes into an excellent verse and pre-chorus and I'm thinking this song is going to blow me away and then Chorus comes and it is good but does not live up to the opening riff. Maybe Paul or Gene should have wrote the chorus or at least helped out with it. Overall this it is solid song, one Ace should be very proud of. 8/10

WE ARE ONE- This is my favorite song on the album. Gene is not very far behind Paul in the songwriting department and he does a great job here. It's a little bit different than your basic Rock n' Roll song, and I like that Gene can go on a bit of a different path and still do a great song. The verses are excellent, the chorus is very catchy and Gene sounds great. I would have liked to have maybe an acoustic lead put into song but I love it nonetheless. 10/10

YOU WANTED THE BEST- People have been complaining about the lyrics on this record; this song more so than any other. In the 12 years I have been listening to music I have never disliked a song based on lyrical content. To me if the lyrics fit the music and make sense that is all that matters. If the lyrics have a deep message than that's a bonus but not a necessity in Rock n Roll. I feel KISS have done a good job throughout their career with their lyrics and this album is fine lyrically. Anyway onto the song and it KICKS ASS this is another favorite for me on the album. It is very cool the way the four members trade off vocals, every one is at the top of their vocal ability. The drums are the best on the album and the guitars are awesome. 9.5/10

RAISE YOUR GLASSES- I would like to know what Bon Jovi song this sounds like. This song reminds of, if anything the end of the song Paul did with Desmond Child called Shocker. The song has an overly catchy chorus (and I mean that in a good way) with an excellent pre-chorus and good verses. Paul does a great job on guitar but I wish Paul's voice stood out a little better on the chorus but that is my only problem with this awesome song. 9.5/10

I FINALLY FOUND MY WAY- I am not saying Peter Criss can't sing because he can but it doesn't make much sense to have him singing when you have someone that can sing like Paul Stanley in your group. All he does here is take away another chance for us to hear Paul sing. I'm not trying to slam the Catman but I feel when you have vocals ala Paul Stanley you have to utilize them as much as possible. Well as for the song the best part is the part with Paul and Peter singing together but other than that the song is kind of lame, the song just doesn't seem to contain any emotion. Other than The Elder I can't think of any Kiss album that contained a week song but this one here is below Kiss standards. When I listen to album I don't skip over the song, so as to see if it will grow on me and I do like the parts with Paul.5.5/10

DREAMIN'- MR. STANLEY has his best vocal performance of the album, he sounds awesome throughout the album but he never seems to let loose ala Crazy Nights, Who wants to be Lonely. The song contains a riff very similar to Alice Cooper's I'm 18, it makes you wonder if Bruce or Paul, whoever came up with the riff, ever heard that song before because if they did why would they release such a carbon copy of it. That fact does not hurt the song however and it is a great one, the chorus is very powerful and Paul really does prove he is one of the best singers in the business. 9/10

JOURNEY OF A 1,000 YEARS- Gene takes another trip off the path of your basic rock song; this song is real good for the first three minutes then it kinds of drags on. I think Gene should have written another verse. It is great way to close off the album. 8/10

Album Rating:

This album needed at least two more PAUL songs (the more the better) and two more GENE songs (songs written and sung by them). I find it hard to believe with the songwriting ability of these two guys, that they didn't have two more songs each that were good enough for the album. It was alright when you got a Kiss album every year for there to be only 3 or 4 PAUL songs, but it will probably be 3 years before the next Kiss record; and 4 songs from Paul is just not enough when you have to wait that long. Kiss is spending all this money, time and effort to have this big tour, (and they got their dolls and their comic books and their car); and I think that is great. But I feel if Kiss wants to go big, they should have went all out with the music as well and did a double studio album or at least do 12-14 songs. Maybe they will do the fans a favor and throw the material that didn't make Psycho onto the boxed set; I love the album and give it an 8.5/10 rating. KISS ROCKS!!!!! BON JOVI RULES!!!!!! PANTERA SHREDS!!!!!

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