Gene Simmons (remastered) (Remaster) (CD)

Back in 1978, at the apex of KISS' commercial success, rumors were starting to churn with fans of the beginning of the end of the band. With the simultaneous release of each original member's solo albums, something that no active group had accomplished at that time, those rumors were fueled even more. Most fans at the time though did not know that KISS was under contract with their label, Casablanca, to produce the albums, with all four solos counting as two complete albums, out of a total of five albums. Each member's inner-self and creative style showed through each album. Ace's, the number one selling album and only one to furnish a top 40 single with "New York Groove" which hit #13 on the charts, was a mostly hard-rock extravaganza, Paul's was typical KISS - hard/soft/ballad rock, Peter's showed his love of Jazz and slow ballads, and Gene's... well... Gene's was all over the place both musically and quality wise. The album starts of well with "Radioactive". While the lyrics may be a little over simplified, the song in general has a good steady, somewhat hard rock beat to it. With a few exceptions though, such as the 1960esque "See You Tonight", "Man of a 1000 Faces" and it's Orchestral sound, and "See You In Your Dreams", another lyrically short but good hard rocker, the album slides into the abyss rapidly. A musically star-studded cast does not help this production recover. The bottom of the well is reached with Gene's cover of Walt Disney's "When You Wish Upon a Star". Many have severely panned the inclusion of the song over the years. My problem is not in fact that Gene did a cover of a Disney song, but that the vocals are terrible. I mean really terrible. It actually sounds as if Gene is gargling with gravel in his mouth. If you are a severe Gene Simmons fan, you will more then probably like this album, as it shows the man behind the mask. If you are a KISS fan, there are much better albums/solos out there to enjoy. As I said above, there are probably four descent songs on this album. Unfortunately, four songs do not make an album. The bad out-weighs the good here. Would I recommend this to a friend? A friend probably wouldn't ask.