Lead single "Radioactive" is a great song, and one of Gene's best songs. I love the bass (not by Gene, but by Neil Jason), great backing vocals (by Katey "Peg Bundy" Sagal!), a very fun and catchy song. Next up is "Burnin' Up With Fever". A typically sleazy Gene ode to women, the lyrics are certainly shallow, but most of Gene's song are pretty superficial anyways. The song has a pretty good groove, and some nice guitars (Gene actually plays guitar on the album instead of bass). Repetitive, but fun enough, a good song, despite being way too long.
"See You Tonite" is another slice of musical pie from this increasingly poppy album. Critics of Gene often talk about his vocal limitations, but I think he delivered some very capable vocals on this album, and this track is a vocal standout. Very influenced by Gene's love of the Beatles, it even features members of the Beatles tribute act "Beatlemania" on backing vocals. A little slow and boring, and certainly not very heavy compared to many Gene songs, it nonetheless is a sweet and sappy tribute to the fab four, surprisingly "cuddly" given the menacing persona of Gene. "Tunnel of Love" is a somewhat disco-tinged rocker. I hate the repetitive and irritating chorus, but I enjoy the verses quite a bit, probably the heaviest song on this album, and the most KISS like. Not terrible, but not a Gene classic. Aerosmith "toxic twin" does deliver a very smokin solo however, and almost saves the mediocre song from complete obscurity, an interesting KISS fact, given the intense rivalry of the two biggest American rock bands of the 1970s.
"True Confessions" sounds like a demo Gene had lying around, and it really fails to do anything for me. The lyrics are quite bad, even for Gene, and the over-saturation of backing vocals starts to annoy at this point (I blame Sean Delaney, as Peter's album suffered from the same sound, and he played a significant part in the production of both albums). The over the top choir at the end shows that this is certainly a bloated album, very over-produced. "Living In Sin" is a pretty cool song, very sleazy. Gene tells tales of encounters with groupies at the "Holiday Inn". I like the fake phone message in the song, it shows that the man certainly doesn't take himself as seriously as people believe. One of the best songs on the album. "Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide" is another Beatles-influenced song. Gene even adopts a fake English accent. Members of Beatlemania again take on backing vocals. The bass-line and guitars are very influenced by the fab four, and the song is basically a take on the classic Beatles sound, but with a unique Gene "filter". The strings and backing vocals at the end bloat the song, but musically speaking, I quite like it. Gene again delivers a solid vocal, and hits notes I have never heard from him at the end of the song, but clearly stretching himself vocally.
"Man of 1,000 Faces" is again influenced by the four lads from Liverpool. Very McCartney-esque, it instantly reminds of what George Martin did on "Abbey Road", saturated in strings , horns, and swirling backing vocals. Gene certainly did set his sights high on this album, a very rich production job. As a song, not a huge fan of the song, an ill-fit with the character and sound that Gene developed in KISS, almost too genuine and soft for a man who sang songs like "Parasite" and "Cold Gin". It seems like Gene (like Peter) is indulging himself too much on this album, failing to give the fans songs they might actually enjoy. "Mr. Make Believe" is another acoustic Beatles-like song. I like the McCartney-like rolling bass, and solid drumming. The strings actually work well here, instead of bloating the song. A pretty good facsimile of the Beatles, it shows how wide their influence of popular music was, with even Gene "The Demon" Simmons paying homage to Lennon and co. "See You In Your Dreams" picks up the pace a bit. A classic rocker, it even features Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen on guitar, very cool to hear Gene and Rick perform together. A nice close to a very decent album.But wait! There is one more!
No other KISS recording has caused as much controversy as "When You Wish upon a Star". Apparently the song had significant meaning for Gene as a child, but I can't really find a use for the song personally, very lame and totally out of touch with the KISS fans.
"Gene Simmons" is a decent album. Anyone expecting heavy metal rockers, you need to look elsewhere. But there are a few gems, and the production is actually quite good (especially compared to Peter Criss'). Not as good as Ace and Paul's, but certainly not as bad as many say. Check it out if you are a KISS fan, otherwise stick with the KISS studio albums.
Rating-6/10
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