It's a small world, Edith and I were rummaging through a Stockholm CD store this weekend - I buy the new Kiss and a couple of Rory Gallagher remasters, she buys Simon & Garfunkel plus Steeleye Span, old folkie she is. We hear this singer/songwriter music in the store, interesting lyrics, sounds like a younger Dylan in places, we both like, we ask, we buy. It's the "new" Rodriguez CD that came out sidelong with the film.
The new Kiss you ask? Catchier than Sonic Boom, more Paul Stanley type pop hooks, some awfully evident theft from other songs/other bands (I would not have believed that even the Bros Chaim and Stanley would have the chuzpah to recycle exactly the MC 5's Kick out the Jams riff for an "own song" and they don't just cite it, but play it throughout in the verse!). Busy, lovably old-fashioned (rock and roll elements and all) and as usual heavy-handed bass playing by Gene, very distorted, but you immediately recognize it's him - didn't he use an old Ripper for recording this one?). It's a bit a mix of Crazy Nights (the hooks) and Rock'n'Roll Over (the abrasive sound). Some of the songs sung by the new guys, i.e. not Gene or Paul, are among the best.
