Album: Vinnie Vincent Invasion
Released: 1986
Rating: ***
KISS fans may remember Vinnie Vincent from his days as Lead Guitarist for the band from around 1982 to about 1984. If you talk to Gene and Paul, they let Vincent go because he wanted too much control in the band. Vincent, however will tell you a different story. Oddley enough though, the same story was told by Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum, who were members of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion for a few years. The pair even wrote a song about good ol' Vinnie on Slaughters first album. The song, "Burning Bridges". Seems that Vincent has more of a high opinion of himself and his music, than he has for anyone else, and that's fine if you want to be a solo artist. But all too many times, that type of attitude doesn't work in a Band situation. I can tell you that myself, first hand, since I spent over 20 years fronting bands. Every now and then, you get someone in the band that thinks that his or her opinion matters more than anyone else in the band. Sadly, there were even times I, myself suffered from this disease.
But, I digress. This review isn't about me, it's about Vinnie's 1986 debute self titled album. The one thing that you notice right off is that, hmm... maybe everyone that has come into contact with Vinnie have been right about this guy. The guitars are very loud and overbearing. Not to mention that Vincent's solos are just all over the place and really seem to have no real direction. They sound more like they gave my 5 year old the guitar to pound out a guitar solo. I seem to remember Gene Simmons putting it best in the "KISS: Extreme Close - up" video. Vincent sounds more like an angry Bee behind a pane of glass trying to escape by any means possible. I actually know 5 year olds that could compose solos better than this guy! I've tried, over the years, to sit through this album for more than just one run through, but I just can't and have never been able to do it without ending up with a headache at the end of it. Each time I listen to it, I end up wondering were the hell the Bass guitar is?! And if it wasn't for the constant click of the snare drum, I'd ask the same thing about the drums. Luckily, you do get to hear Robert Fleishmen, all though, I don't know how lucky. He's okay, but he's no Mark Slaughter, who doesn't make an appearance on a Vinnie Vincent album until the second release. And believe me, Mark is ten times the vocalist that Robert is.
And then there is the music itself. Really, the songs themselves, musically, are not half bad. They do show a lot of promise, which, if Vinnie really would have taken his time with them, the songs on this release could have been some top notch stuff. Vinnie is capable of writing material that is top shelf, as evidence of his work with KISS. Vinnie was actually better when he was with KISS, as they were able to harness the energy of this guy and keep it focused. If anything, Vinnie should have learned from Gene and Paul, because had he done so, this debute would have been better for it, because Vinnie would have been a better person and guitarist.
Stand Out Cuts: Believe it or not, I know by what you have read up top, you would think that I wouldn't have any. But, there are some hidden gems here that do rise up above the rest. "Boyz Are Gonna Rock" has always been one of my favorites from that time period. It's strong and rebelious, despite Vinnie being overbearing. Then there's "Shoot U Full Of Love", "Animal" and "Do You Wanna Make Love". Now, just because I've picked these songs as Stand Outs, doesn't mean that they couldn't use some improvement, I'm just saying that these are the tunes that show the most potential for this recording. If your looking for albums from great guitarists of the 80's, anything from Vinnie Vincent's own albums would not, and should not be your first choice. There are plenty of other 80's guitarists that are 20 times better. But, there is a certain amount of fun in his albums, which is why I gave the debute three stars.
Reviewed By: JT
0 comments:
Post a Comment