The CRITICS Corner of the VVFF- Creaures Of The Night

[poserboy71]

Discuss.

[Slayer]

Creatures Of The Night - Steve Ferris = 4 Stars
Saint And Sinner = 3 Stars
Keep Me Coming - Bob Kulick = 4 Stars
Rock N Roll Hell - Robben Ford = 4 Stars
Danger - Bob Kulick = 4 Stars
I Love It Loud = 4 Stars
I Still Love You - Robben Ford = 5 Stars (I cant believe that Vinnie didn't do the solo to his own song)
Killer = 3 Stars
War Machine = 3 Stars

Great album but not any where near Vinnie's best work

4 Stars

[wolfgang161272]

The drumming sound is amazing. The best I've ever had in my music player!
The songs are heavy and nasty. Fuckin' cool vibe.
But I still love you....love it or hate it I don't now it 'till this days
8 from 10 points for a KISS album

[Sandimas]

Great album, a close second to Lick. Good songs in the main, the Bryan Adams collaborations stick out like a sore thumb as having his melodies and chord changes. Good explosive drum sound, and energetic pace compared to most earlier Kiss.

[teej]

loved creatures .. i was errrr.. 12 or something .. thought it was genious

[doublev]

liked it when i first heard it. Last time I listened to it was in about 1991

[vinniefan83]

Creatures Of The Night - Steve Ferris = 4 Stars
Saint And Sinner = 3 Stars
Keep Me Coming - Bob Kulick = 4 Stars
Rock N Roll Hell - Robben Ford = 4 Stars
Danger - Bob Kulick = 4 Stars
I Love It Loud = 4 Stars
I Still Love You - Robben Ford = 5 Stars (I cant believe that Vinnie didn't do the solo to his own song)
Killer = 3 Stars
War Machine = 3 Stars
Great album but not any where near Vinnie's best work
4 Stars

I met Bob Kulick and asked him about this once, he told me he didn't play anything on COTN. He was quite open about other playing he'd done for them (Alive2, Killers, PS Solo album), so it didn't seem like he was covering anything up for any reason.

[Slayer]

Creatures Of The Night - Steve Ferris = 4 Stars
Saint And Sinner = 3 Stars
Keep Me Coming - Bob Kulick = 4 Stars
Rock N Roll Hell - Robben Ford = 4 Stars
Danger - Bob Kulick = 4 Stars
I Love It Loud = 4 Stars
I Still Love You - Robben Ford = 5 Stars (I cant believe that Vinnie didn't do the solo to his own song)
Killer = 3 Stars
War Machine = 3 Stars
Great album but not any where near Vinnie's best work
4 Stars

I met Bob Kulick and asked him about this once, he told me he didn't play anything on COTN. He was quite open about other playing he'd done for them (Alive2, Killers, PS Solo album), so it didn't seem like he was covering anything up for any reason.

That is interesting as I believe he is documented to have played on the songs that I mentioned. We can probably find the truth from Julian Gill @ Kiss Faq

[Slayer]

From Kissfaq.com

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT (1982)
Creatures Of The Night - Unknown (pos. Mike Porcaro) on bass; Steve Ferris on lead guitar; Adam Mitchell on guitar
Danger - Bob Kulick on guitar; Jimmy Haslip on bass
Keep Me Comin' - Bob Kulick on guitar
I Still Love You - Eric Carr on bass; Robben Ford on lead guitar
Rock And Roll Hell - Robben Ford on lead guitar; Jimmy Haslip on bass
War Machine - Gene Simmons on rhythm guitar
Note: Other session players on this album may even include Bruce Kulick!

[Genebaby]

Bruce stated in his interview that he did not play on Creatures, so we know that much for sure.

[vinniefan83]

I would think Bob Kulick would know better than Julian @KissFAQ which songs he'd played on. I also asked if he'd played in Naked City, as he'd co-written it, he said no. But he did say Paul called him for advice while Paul was recording the solo to World Without Heroes and played it down the phone to Bob just to get a second opinion.

Also if you listen to Creatures on headphones, it sounds like there's two completely different bass sounds. Half the songs have a rumbly, slightly distorted feel. I think that's Gene miked through an ampeg. The other half of the songs have a clean DI sound, I think that's Mike Pocaro or Jimmy Haslip... have another listen...

[madvincent]

i remember buying the lp in spain back in '82
stuck by the huge drum sound. haven't heard such a phat one to this day !
also remembering i was buying everything with michael james jackson involved in production to find THE drum sound, especially a la guns album (i don't remember the title) and it was pure shit, not to mention the poor drum sound on that one
after all this time i don't know who played guitar on every track lol

[doublev]

i think it may have been partly to do with the engineer rather than the producer (the drum sound), Lick it up had a much weaker mix and sound.
It sounds like they recorded the drums in an 10 story elevator shaft and had a boom mic at the top of the shaft. I am sure they didn't, but thats one way to get that kind of sound. My friend who is a producer records his drummers in the back of a big truck. The sound is huge like the Creatures sound.

[doublev]

i think the basic idea is VV played on Gene's tunes but not Pauls.

I liked all the songs and Killer is a forgotten classic that would have been great live.. Actually I think a VVI version of Killer with Robert singing would have given that song the lease of life it deserved.

[doublev]

SEEMS LIKE NIKO BOLAS was the guy that recorded the drums..


Credits
Engineer - Dave Wittman
Engineer [Assistant] - David Bianco , Kevin Eddy , Ricky Delano
Engineer [Mixing] - Bob Clearmountain
Guitar - Bob Kulick , Steve Farris (2) , Vincent Cusano
Liner Notes - Robert V. Conte
Performer - Ace Frehley , Eric Carr , Gene Simmons , Paul Stanley
Producer - Gene Simmons , Michael James Jackson , Paul Stanley
Recorded By [Drums On All Tracks] - Niko Bolas
Remastered By - Joseph M. Palmaccio
Supervised By [Remastering Supervision] - Bill Levenson

[doublev]

it would be interesting to speak to Niko and see what he did to get that sound

[doublev]

this is his website http://www.neeks.com/ anyone care to email him?

[shramiac]

LIU was inferior production no doubt there dv! I think the drums on creatures were recorded in a big room with ambient mics (as well as the close kit mics) and the room doors left open and mics down the hall used as well! I remember reading something along those lines anyway. The drums are awesome on creatures. And it's a great album.

[doublev]

mics down the hall sounds like a good idea.

I remember with all the money they had to record Steely Dan had on boom mic pointing at the drums set from a distance and sometimes a boom overhead from the drums set too.. that was it. no individual micing etc.

People have no clue how to record drums these days. I know a guy who recorded the drums in a cave in the 70s and its an amazing sound. Recording drums in a studio individual is the death bed for a good sound in my opinion.

[Genebaby]

I think LIU sounds fantastic in it's own right. I like it better actually.

[Slayer]

It looks like there is some truth to both debates of whether Bob Kulick played on Creatures of the Night depending on your view point. According to Wykepedia the 2 songs that Bob played on that were included on Creatures of the Night "Danger" and "Keep Me Comin" were actually recorded for the album Killers and were not included there. They were companion songs to "I'm a Legend Tonight", "Down on Your Knees", "No Where to Run" and "Partners in Crime".

When Bob told VVfan83 that he didn't record for Creatures of the Night it was true he recorded for Killers but the fact is that 2 songs from the Killers Session ended up on Creatures of the Night rather than Killers.

Interesting stuff and I think Bob Kulick is an ultra talented guitarist / producer.

From Wykepedia Bob Kulick

'Early career / Kiss association
At a very young age, Bob Kulick once gave a young Jimi Hendrix a spare guitar string when he broke his during an audition in New York City.[2] Kulick took a chance in 1973 and auditioned for the lead guitar spot in a then-new band called Kiss. The band, then Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss, were very impressed by his performance, but it was the glitzier Ace Frehley (who auditioned immediately after him) who was chosen to fill the spot.[2] He later played (uncredited) on three Kiss albums: Alive II (three of the five studio tracks), Killers (all four new studio tracks), and some minimal work on the following Creatures of the Night (from the same sessions in which he did the tracks on "Killers"). He also played (credited) on Paul Stanley's 1978 solo album and on his 1989 solo tour."

[Genebaby]

Bob is a great player for sure. Who knows if he's even listened to Creatures or knows the track listing.

[doublev]

I have also heard Paul played the solos on creatures.

[Genebaby]

Paul has played some tasty leads in some Kiss songs, back from the 70's.

[vinniefan83]

That`s an interesting angle I hadn`t considered (the two songs being from Killers sessions). I`m sure you`re right in that Bob probably wouldn`t know the track listing for each album (Paul doesn`t seem to either, always introducing songs from wrong albums or just "from Alive"). The only problem with that hypothesis is that the songs have that very distinctive Creatures drum sound. Maybe they re-recorded the drums?