Review Summary: Did anybody order a ballad album? I thought not.
A KISS Away: Peter Criss Solo – Part Four
The story of Peter Criss as a solo artist is well known by now: after an initial surge of soul-cleansing recordings in the early 80’s, the ex-Catman drummer laid silent for twelve years before making his triumphant return with the decent
Cat #1, under the band moniker Criss. But what could have marked a full-fledged return by the singing percussionist ended up being just another blimp in a mostly silent radar, and Criss’s solo career laid dormant for another thirteen years, while the drummer made a round-trip return to his former band. The next sign of activity appeared as late as 2007, with Criss’s fifth solo album,
One For All.
Now, the clichéd title and cover art are to be expected from an aging rock star trying to prove that he’s still as relevant as he was when he was banging groupies thirty years ago. What
isn’t expectable is the stylistic turn Criss takes for this album. Well, considering the drummer’s taste for old-timey soul and r’n’b, maybe it
was to be expected; but it still takes the listener by surprise to hear an album by a former rock drummer which is composed exclusively of ballads.
That’s right,
One For All is a ballad album, and a bad one at that. While Criss’s attempts to include 70’s soul-blues influences are commendable and sound pleasantly surprising at first, the lack of excitement offered by this album – which does not include a single power-chord over the course of its fifty minutes – quickly drags the whole thing down. This effect is not helped by the poor quality of the songs themselves, which can be divided into only two categories: those that aren’t emulating the sounds of Albert King and his ilk are fruitless, schmaltzy attempts at writing a second
Beth, which of course fall as flat as every other attempt of the sort Criss has tried over the years. What the listener is left with in the end is a snoozer of a “maturity” album, which does very little right and a whole lot wrong.
Let’s start with the positives, if there are any. Admittedly, the first two songs aren’t all that bad, especially before you realize that the
whole album is going to be slow tempos;
Hope is also fun, in a cheesy sort of way, and would have worked well as a stand-alone power ballad in a rock record.
Heart Behind These Hands is as close as this album comes to a standout, being a Hammond-fueled soul-blues boogie which, in parts, actually manages to be interesting; and the guitar work remains stellar throughout, with nearly every song benefiting from a blistering solo which, unfortunately, is never quite enough to save them.
As for high points, that’s about it. Everything else in the album fails miserably, and not just because the songs themselves are boring. No, Criss pulls out the book of clichés and applies every single one of them to the album, from schmaltzy orchestral arrangements to even schmaltzier pianos to a fake crowd sound on
Faces In The Crowd, which is probably the worst of all the offences this album commits. In amidst all this, he still finds the time to murder old jazz standard
What A Difference A Day Makes – sorry Pete, but Ella Fitzgerald you’re not – and Stephen Sondheim’s
Send In The Clowns (here, his performance isn’t so bad, but the song itself is unbearably sappy).
So in conclusion, nearly everything about this album is either misguided or poorly executed, with the overall results being little short of disastrous. As much as Criss tries to inject variation into these songs – and he does, whether through a bossa nova beat on one song or through funk citations on another – the similarity in tempo and sound between all these tracks make for one gigantic, boring ball of cheesiness. Only at the very end of
Space Ace, the last track homoerotically dedicated to Ace Frehley, does the album
finally descend into an all-out blues-rock boogie, which makes me think that
that was the Peter Criss album I wanted to hear.
Unfortunately, that is too little, too late. Just as it seemed the drummer’s solo career was taking a turn for the better, with
Cat #1 being an at least semi-commendable effort,
One For All takes it right back to its starting point, being just as execrable as his earliest solo efforts. If you still keep even an inkling of respect for Criss as a rock drummer, stay far away from this album. You have been warned.
Recommended Tracks
Doesn’t Get Better
Heart Behind These Hands
