Paul Stanley - Live To Win Review
Posted by Evocator Manes on 11.10.2006
KISS frontman steps out on his own.
Paul Stanley Live To Win
2006
Universal
7.5
This definitely sounds nothing like KISS. Let's get that straight right away. The vocal hooks are there. No question, the man knows his way around a chorus and with Desmond Child, there are lots of the soaring variety here (somewhat reminiscent of something that Aerosmith should be singing for a movie soundtrack). This album actually occupies a sort of weird middle ground between an album that seems to belong in another era – this thing would have been huge in the late 80's to early 90's – as well as combining a number of Stanley's more recent experiences, including writing songs for/with the Click Five, then having the backing band from the Rock Star tv show for his band, though not entirely in the studio (John 5 and Bruce Kulick, among others, appear) and finally bringing back David Campbell, who did such great job on the KISS Symphony release, in for orchestration.
Stanley does a lot of unexpected musical things on this disc, starting from vocal effects, which don't work well and just wind up being distracting and going on to effects and even using drum machine tracks from time to time. There are a lot of gutsy production choices on this disc and one has to commend the man for refusing to rest on his laurels. He clearly intended to release a modern-sounding, if not modern, album, an effort which succeeds somewhat well at times.
Fans who were expecting either a continuation of his last solo effort or more KISS-type songs are going to be alternately confused and disappointed, most likely. There are few to none of those killer guitar riffs that Stanley and KISS are known for, gone in favor of what amounts to basically Stanley's take on fluff metal pop/mainstream rock, intertwined with more of the power ballads that he has been in love with for nearly his entire career. It is on those ballads that he gets closest to KISS, though Bulletproof reminds me a lot of (You Make Me) Rock Hard.
The artwork features lots of face shots of Paul Stanley, perhaps for the fan base to decide amongst themselves if the rumors about his plastic facial surgery are true or not. A somewhat gritty shot of him squatting down next to a brick wall with ripped jeans takes us right back to the 80's...note to Paul: Dude, you're fucking 54 years old. Doing that kiddie shit just looks ridiculous. It's weird, some shots have the flash for which Stanley is famous and some are him trying to do the grunge/emo thing...lyrics are fully reprinted, as are credits.
The 411: There's probably a reason that Stanley has done so well as vocalist for KISS and the songs of
that band and that's because they fit him best. While he gets a nod for trying to break out and stretch a
bit, he is simply not that adaptable of a vocalist or songwriter, quite frankly. As expected, traces of
KISS show up, but this is more of Stanley trying to wear as many different-from-KISS hats as he can
in 10 songs and 32 minutes. This album is both better and worse than anticipations. Recommended.
