Various Artists - Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute To KISS (2004)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Label Number: KOC-CD-9545

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 2004 Koch Records

Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss Review by David Jeffries

If you were in a room with the all of the players on Spin the Bottle it would certainly be an honor. There's the mighty Lemmy, the needs-no-introduction Dee Snider, and guitar and drum legends like Robben Ford, Paul Gilbert, Carmine Appice, and Aynsley Dunbar. That's a lot of hard rock royalty, but it's not "too many cooks in the kitchen" that hurts Spin the Bottle, it's the flat-as-a-pancake production. There's a feeling that there was a wipe board in the studio with each player's schedule ("Tommy Shaw will be here on the 20th, and Mark Slaughter can lay his track down on the 22nd..."). Even if it's missing that "live" feeling, the recording is at least very crisp, so all the shredding guitar playing -- and there's plenty -- comes through loud and clear. Aspiring guitar heroes get a wealth of solos to transcribe thanks to producer Bob Kulick, who's not only the brother of Bruce Kulick (Kiss guitarist 1984-1995), but he's also the guy who auditioned for the group right before they found Ace Frehley. Rounding up King Buzzo from the Melvins and wrestler turned rock star Chris Jericho and coupling Kip Winger with Paul Gilbert are just some of the great ideas Kulick realizes on Spin the Bottle, and Doug Pinnick's gutsy take on the great "Parasite" is a Frehley fan's dream. The good points outweigh the bad, and if you can overdrive the overly clean sound through some dirty old speakers this album really rocks. [The first pressing of Spin the Bottle included a bonus DVD with a 40-minute documentary on the making of the record.]

tags: various artists, spin the bottle, an all star tribute to kiss, 2004, flac,