While I never fell into the “Kiss your good taste good bye” anti-Kiss crowd of the late 70’s I certainly never cared much for what they were doing musically. By that time I was leaning more towards bands like Led Zeppelin, Yes, Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Not to say I do not like raw bands with a dirty sound or acts that lean towards heavy theatrics. I have no issue with that stuff. I may have had a problem with Paul Stanley’s vocals and lyrics I think as well as his totally arrogant persona backed up by mediocre talent. I am not sure as I have never analyzed it too deeply. I do not think a grwon man should be ruminating over Paul Stanley. I do recall once going to do some partying with some Kiss oriented friends and putting on Relayer by Yes and almost being ran out of the place. I always felt a little more tolerant of certain musical styles than some of my associates have been of mine. It might me easier to adjust from Yes or King Crimson to AC/DC or Kiss than the other way around.

I saw a post at My Retrospace on some Kiss songs and I thought it over and decided there were a few songs I had always liked by them. I think they are from their first albums, before the pretty good Kiss Alive, and I believe I have the correct album covers for the songs here. If I do not and one of the Kiss Army wants to attack me over my ignorance I will apologize in advance. This is my first post in my new “retrology” category because whether I like their music or not I acknowledge they had a significant impact on music and entertainment culture. It is not up to me to decide if it was good or bad. I liked Ace Frehley’s lead work and Gene Simmons actually had some good bass lines. The three samples I have here are what I liked about the band when they were on the mark. There are a few more songs I like but I think this sums it all up. Pretty straight forward rock and roll and there is never anything wrong with that.

Strutter

Cold Gin

Hotter than Hell

AUDIO FILES MAY BE NOT WORK FOR A WHILE. I AM RESOLVING THE ISSUE. PLEASE HANG LOOSE WHILE ALL FILES ARE MOVED TO MY HOSTING ACCOUNT AND THEN MOVED BACK TO INDIVIDUAL POSTS. IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME BUT IT WILL GET DONE EVENTUALLY. SORRY.

URANIUM WILLY 4 FEB 10

How to download the song. Must have Real Player:
1) Play the song.
2) Right click on player and select “Download  This Song to Real Player”
3) Song will down load using your download manger, but song title will change.
4) Save song, rename, enjoy.

Will not show download option? Go to the download link page in my sidebar.

I have been hearing about this infamous falling out between Led Zeppelin maestro Jimmy Page and filmmaker, writer Kenneth Anger for decades now. Sadly the only the material I can find on the net still seems to the same variety of articles that appeared in rock fan magazines back in the seventies. This is actually one of the few great legends in the world that I have some sort of  connection with. Well, in a sort of incalculably indirect  way. I saw Page with Zeppelin back in 1977 in Ohio, and briefly met Anger at a book signing at the fantastic Scarecrow Video store in Seattle, where he signed my special copy of Hollywood Babylon with the Aleister Crowley quote Do What Thou Wilt from The Book of the Law. I had a nice little collection of Crowley books, most from Samuel Llewellyn  Press at one time, though I doubt it could compare to the collection by Anger and of course the filthy rich Jimmy Page who was reputed to have had at one time the 2nd largest collection of Crowley books and memorabilia in the world, including Crowley’s Boleskin House, perched on the cheery shores of Loch Ness in Scotland. It was one of three fantastic houses a then young Page owned (all have since been sold I believe). He also owned a house in the Kensington district of London called the Tower House, designed by Victorian architect William Burgess and formally owned by Richard Harris, and it is in this house  that the drama between Anger and Page unfolded.

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As of this writing it is now 12:00 PM 1 Nov 08 in China, which means there are about three more hours in the States until this riveting poll closes at midnight on Halloween night. I feel any decent  American or European is out trick or treating or partying right now, and not home reading my blog. Barring some unforeseen event I feel secure in releasing the final results in this, the first ever (but not last) Uranium Café public opinion poll. And the question, if you have not read the heading yet, is a burning one: who would you rather sit in a room with and chug down a bottle of Jack Black with? This is an odd poll for me since I do not drink alcohol, but I participated nonetheless. My vote you inquire? Well, I will share my vote, so read on dear reader.

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Jimmy Page was asked by neighbor Michael Winner to score his 1982′s Death Wish II and Page accepted the project, being as Led Zeppelin was now history following the death of drummer John Bonham. 1974′s original Death Wish was scored by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock and is a good movie score. Page does not try to top Hancock and instead does a rock/blues solo album with a few tracks of incidental music. The album was recorded in his SOL studios and features a collection of musician friends. The album is a strange piece of music overall but not in a negative way. Page uses ample Roland guitar synthesizers as well as actual synths. Reputedly some of the score was revisions of Page’s Lucifer Rising soundtrack which was never used for the Kenneth Anger film due to personal conflicts. I have that soundtrack and there are similarities in pieces like Hotel Rats and Photostats and A Shadow in the City, but I would say not really all that much. The incidental music is droning and eerie while the rock parts are straight ahead jams and classic Page riffing. The album went nowhere as far as the charts are concerned and only Page aficionados seem to even know the album was ever made.

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