The latest roll on the Odyssey was a very short album, and so I was through it in a single drive home. It is yet another KISS album - and here it is!
Disc 217 is...Rock and Roll Over
Artist: KISS
Year of Release: 1976
What’s Up With The Cover?: The faces of the band done into a bit of circular art. This would look good spinning on a turntable, which as we all know, was the style at the time.
How I Came To Know It: Although this album came out the same year as "Destroyer" which I bought right away, at the age of six my purchasing power was a tad limited. I didn't actually own this album until much later - and then only on CD. I think I bought this in the early to mid-nineties while rounding out my early KISS collection.
How It Stacks Up: I have eleven KISS albums, which includes two of four solo efforts. Of the eleven, "Rock and Roll Over" is not my favourite, and falls in the bottom half. I'd say around 7th or 8th depending on how I'm feeling about "Hotter Than Hell" at the time. For those keeping track and remembering how I also said "The Elder" was 7th or 8th back at Disc 55, congratulations - you're very thorough. I'll bump the elder down to 9th - I can do that, since it's my Odyssey.
Rating: 3 stars.
"Rock and Roll Over" is a pretty straightforward seventies rock album. The songs are all very short, with nothing longer than 3:46. They are tight little numbers, heavily dependent on their hooks.
This is OK, because the hooks are pretty good. Also, as lyrics go, this is KISS at their most ridiculous, lascivious best. Most of the songs seem to be variants about having sex with groupies. Hey - first rule of writing is stick with what you know.
Some favourite lines include these from "Ladies Room"
"Put your hand in my pocket
Grab onto my rocket."
and these from "Ladies Room"
"You're such a jewel in the rough
You wanna show me your stuff
For my money, you can't be too soon.
Meet meet you in the ladies' room."
While these lines are pretty good for a laugh, the songs are good, although nothing on par with what they accomplished later in the year on "Destroyer". Of note, there are at least two songs ("Calling Dr. Love" and "Ladies Room") that prominently feature cowbell. I was shocked to find it wasn't produced by Bruce Dickinson.
Reluctantly setting aside their liberal use of cowbell, "Rock and Roll Over"'s production is a little too tinny for my tastes, but I'm not sure if it is the fault in the original tapes or just that it is the one KISS album that I don't have remastered. Either way, I find myself wishing the songs were just a little heavier sounding.
The one oddball track on this album is "Hard Luck Woman", which has a folk/rock sound that made me think (unpleasantly) of Rod Stewart songs from the same period. In fact, it made me think so strongly of Rod Stewart, I started to suspect it was a cover song.
When I looked it up I found out that KISS had written the song - in fact they had written it for Rod Stewart! When he didn't want it, they put it on this album, and apparently released it as a single which peaked at #15. Good for them, but to me this song stands out like a sore thumb on what is otherwise a pretty good rock record.
This isn't a must-have KISS record unless you are a completionist like me, but it is pretty good, and generally gives me a pleasant surprise when I decide to put it on.
Best tracks: I Want You, Take Me, Calling Dr. Love, Ladies Room
Disc 217 is...Rock and Roll Over
Artist: KISSYear of Release: 1976
What’s Up With The Cover?: The faces of the band done into a bit of circular art. This would look good spinning on a turntable, which as we all know, was the style at the time.
How I Came To Know It: Although this album came out the same year as "Destroyer" which I bought right away, at the age of six my purchasing power was a tad limited. I didn't actually own this album until much later - and then only on CD. I think I bought this in the early to mid-nineties while rounding out my early KISS collection.
How It Stacks Up: I have eleven KISS albums, which includes two of four solo efforts. Of the eleven, "Rock and Roll Over" is not my favourite, and falls in the bottom half. I'd say around 7th or 8th depending on how I'm feeling about "Hotter Than Hell" at the time. For those keeping track and remembering how I also said "The Elder" was 7th or 8th back at Disc 55, congratulations - you're very thorough. I'll bump the elder down to 9th - I can do that, since it's my Odyssey.
Rating: 3 stars.
"Rock and Roll Over" is a pretty straightforward seventies rock album. The songs are all very short, with nothing longer than 3:46. They are tight little numbers, heavily dependent on their hooks.
This is OK, because the hooks are pretty good. Also, as lyrics go, this is KISS at their most ridiculous, lascivious best. Most of the songs seem to be variants about having sex with groupies. Hey - first rule of writing is stick with what you know.
Some favourite lines include these from "Ladies Room"
"Put your hand in my pocket
Grab onto my rocket."
and these from "Ladies Room"
"You're such a jewel in the rough
You wanna show me your stuff
For my money, you can't be too soon.
Meet meet you in the ladies' room."
While these lines are pretty good for a laugh, the songs are good, although nothing on par with what they accomplished later in the year on "Destroyer". Of note, there are at least two songs ("Calling Dr. Love" and "Ladies Room") that prominently feature cowbell. I was shocked to find it wasn't produced by Bruce Dickinson.
Reluctantly setting aside their liberal use of cowbell, "Rock and Roll Over"'s production is a little too tinny for my tastes, but I'm not sure if it is the fault in the original tapes or just that it is the one KISS album that I don't have remastered. Either way, I find myself wishing the songs were just a little heavier sounding.
The one oddball track on this album is "Hard Luck Woman", which has a folk/rock sound that made me think (unpleasantly) of Rod Stewart songs from the same period. In fact, it made me think so strongly of Rod Stewart, I started to suspect it was a cover song.
When I looked it up I found out that KISS had written the song - in fact they had written it for Rod Stewart! When he didn't want it, they put it on this album, and apparently released it as a single which peaked at #15. Good for them, but to me this song stands out like a sore thumb on what is otherwise a pretty good rock record.
This isn't a must-have KISS record unless you are a completionist like me, but it is pretty good, and generally gives me a pleasant surprise when I decide to put it on.
Best tracks: I Want You, Take Me, Calling Dr. Love, Ladies Room
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