I never thought that the day would come where I would actually go to a Kiss fansite, but Kissfaq.com actually had some interesting info on the LP that 5$S recorded before this great track....
Is alleged to features Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on backing vocals, BUT this has not been substantiated. Five dollar Shoes was: Gregg Diamond (drums, percussion, vocals), Tom Graves (keyboards, vocals), Jim Gregory (bass, vocals), Mike Millius (harmonica, vocals), and Scott Woody (guitar, vocals).
Now I'm not gonna hold the possible Kiss connection against 'em, because this one great track! T-Rex female backin' vocals, check, Dolls-ey style boogie, 'nother check, and one cool-ass chord progression (you'll know what I mean when ya' hear it).
Look to the top right corner to get this Gem of JSG!
5 comments:
How could you have a whole (great!) site devoted to foot stomping glitter & glam, yet still seem to hold a prejudice against the mighty KISS?
KISS wrote some of the great Bubblegum Glitter Glam anthems of the era, which are more than deserving of a place in every glam fans heart.
I'm thinking of "Do You Love Me?" specifically, and several others from the Kiss canon in general.
"Rock'n'Roll All Nite", "Strutter", "Hotter Than Hell", "Deuce", for instance.
Of course, they became a bloated parody of a parody in pretty quick time, but the "genre" was hardly blessed with longevity, they kept their standards higher than most for far longer.
"Radioactive" from Simmons solo album would have made a great Sweet song too.
I'm not some dyed-in-the-wool card-carrying Kiss Army fool, i'm just making a point, regardless of source, good songs are good songs.
here are a few reasons why I feel the way I do about Kiss. And here they are:
#1: The commercialization and the outright theft of the New York Dolls and Another Pretty Face's "shtick", for the lack of a better term. Sure Alice Cooper and others were shockin' crowds before their time, but when they saw The Dolls and APF's sets at local clubs it certainly pointed 'em in the right
direction, and also showed 'em ya' didn't have to be in front of 30,00 0 people to do it.
#2 Now I'm not one of those stereotypical music snobs who thinks that whenever a band achieves a certain amount of fame that they sold out, per se. But in this distinct case, I think that if Kiss went the way of the Dolls, I'd be listenin' to 'em a hell of a lot more, well if they cut out the 3 minute guitar interludes of Ace.
I will give credit to Peter Criss for coverin' "NY Groove" and I also sorta dig "Strutter", but other than that, they were also a tad to Heavy Metal for my taste. Just imagine if they would of broke a bit earlier or later, we'd be lookin' back to years of Wowii on the cover of the Teeny-rags and not them and the Disco acts.
I forgot to mention above, but thanks so much for readin' the site. I'm glad to see that there are others with a similar taste that have stumbled upon my site! Keep watchin' for more songs!
HEY! I understand the KISS hang up-I had it for YEARS. I actively railed against them-I couldn't stand Paul Stanley's preeningg BS and Gen Simmons demon gimmick-I always thought the music should be WAAYYYYY more evil if the dudes gonna spit blood like that, so for me they were always just a silly ass joke band.
Then something snapped, and I became an active listener, and fan. Now, being that my favorite artists of all time are New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Cheap Trick, Sam Cooke and The Beach Boys, you can imagine that taking KISS seriously in any capacity was a bit difficult. Yet, I eventually could not deny how much fun some of their songs are, and the fact that almost everything they did in those first 7 LPs is ripped off of Slade, Mott The Hoople, MC5, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Sweet and The Yardbirds adds to the fact that YES!, they have some bad ass stuff. All of KISS ALIVE is pretty awesome, and I love "Tomorrow & Tonight" from Love Gun is as rich a glitter rip as any I've ever heard.
I think you just need to get away from the cultural zeitgeist of this group-cause that's what was killing it for me initially. Sure, the music is pretty derivitive, but they really do have an original sound all their own as well-those Paul/Gene octave sing a longs, Peter Criss' dumb as fuck drumming, Ace's hilariously spaced out solos-it's all such good fun, and at the end of the day-it's only rock n roll, just flashy entertainment for the kids-and they did as good a job at it as anybody.
Just thought I'd put in my two cents. I'm a HUGE GLITTER fan (Hello, Hector, Iron Virgin, The Teens-you name it, I dig it, have the actual 45's to prove it....) and it's great to see a site dedicated to the good stuff. Whoo!
-Frankie Delmane
Five Dollar Shoes...I have this LP..no one notice that's Gene & Paul in the band photo on the LP??? Has to be them!
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