CHAPTER 6 – Vinnie Vincent pre-KISS

 

06.01. More

06.02. Summer In The City

06.03. Don’t Bring Me Happy Together

Three songs recorded by Vinnie Vincent’s band, the Younger Generation, during their first foray into a recording studio in 1965. This recording session would be financed by Vinnie’s father who had also recorded material during the 1940s. One person Vinnie was in a band with during this period was one Neil Stubenhaus. Neil would later attend Berklee and had started off as a drummer before switching to guitar and teaching himself.

 

Within a year Neil was taking guitar lessons from Vinnie who wanted to put a band together with Neil if he would switch to bass. Neil is now one of the most sought after session bassists and would play on a number of KISS related projects including albums from Alessi (their final release rather than the one Paul played on) and Heat (which Vinnie also played on). Neil’s involvement may well have related to Vinnie’s later band, “Hunter.”

 

06.04. Push It Through

06.05. Where Have All The Schoolgirls Gone

06.06. I Don’t Need No Lover

06.07. Jam Session

Not much, in fact nothing, is currently known about Vinnie’s band Hunter apart than it was a power-trio that was popular in the Bridgeport area.

 

06.08. Happy Birthday U.S.A.

06.09. The Exorcism Of Kazcnyz

On what may be Vinnie’s first professional recordings, Vinnie would team with David Wolff to write a novelty song in honor of the American bicentennial celebration of 1976. David would later be the manager and partner of Cyndi Lauper. The song, released as the A-side of a Phantom Records single (HB-10579), would be written by Wolff and Cusano though was credited to their pseudonyms of Kid Cashmir (David) and Winnie LeCoux (Vinnie).

 

According to Vinnie: “In 1975 I had a record deal. A one shot single on Windfall Records. One shot. It was called ‘Happy Birthday U.S.A.’ It was a rock ‘n roll Bicentennial song. And his manager Bud Prager heard the song I did and said, ‘Ah man, I’ve got to put this out.’ And you know I was real.... I had no experience” (REH ProTalk w/ Steve Rosen, 1988). While Vinnie played guitar and shared lead vocals on the A-Side, he would not be involved in the writing of the B-side, “The Exorcism of Kazcnyz.” That song would be written by Ed Sprigg, the producer of the tracks, and “Kid Cashmir.” The song is performed with live audience overdubs.

 

 

06.10. This Song’s For You Mama

Vinnie would re-register this song in 1988 as “Mama,” to obtain the full copyright for it under Vinnie Vincent Music Publishing (BMI). It had originally been published by Connecticut Music Studios (BMI) in 1976. At that time the R&B/Gospel band “The Hitchhikers,” with lead vocalist Kenny Hamber, had recorded the song for their self-titled album for ABC/Dunhill Records (ABCD-973). Vinnie would be credited as playing electric guitar on the album as one of the “additional musicians.”

 

This contribution is probably only on the song itself, but not necessarily limited to just one track since Vinnie’s recording contributions are not specified on the credits. Regardless, “The Hitchhikers” was a R&B project based out of Connecticut, which correlates very nicely with Vinnie’s roots in that state. Some fans have long doubted that the song could have anything to do with Vinnie, simply for the reason that it is unlike anything that would be expected from him. It is more Louis Armstrong than “Wiz,” but does illustrate the incredible talent and diversity of Vinnie as a song-writer. The song would be released as a B-side to the “Rolling Dice” single and runs 6:07 in its original format. The single saw pretty wide distribution being issued in several European markets.

 

“Treasure” Album Notes:

Produced by Felix Cavaliere. Engineered by Rick Rowe assisted by Lucy Laurie. Recorded at Sound Ideas, New York City, New York. Band consisted of Felix Cavaliere (Vocals, Keyboards), Rick Laird (Bass), Vinnie Cusano (Vocals, Guitars), and Jack Scarangella (Drums). Released in 1977 through Epic/CBS.

 

06.11. I Wanna Love You

Written by Felix Cavaliere this track would be the primary single released in support of the album. Jack Scarangella played drums on the “Treasure” album as he had also done on Felix’s first two releases solo albums, “Felix Cavaliere” and “Destiny,” released in 1974 and 1975 respectively.

 

06.12. Innocent Eyes

This 2:58 song was written and sung by Vinnie. Both of the tracks Vinnie would write for the album show a strong Beatles influence.

 

06.13. Love Me Tonight

06.14. Jubilation

06.15. When the Sun Shines

06.16. My Lady Once Told Me

 

06.17. Turn Yourself Around

This 3:18 song was written and sung by Vinnie.

 

06.18. Think It’s Love

06.19. Treasure

Apart from 06.12 and 06.17, all of the songs on the “Treasure” album were written and sung by Felix Cavaliere. A vocalist and keyboard player, like Peter Criss, Felix had played with Joey Dee and the Starlighters. In 1965 Felix formed the “Young Rascals,” a legendary band that also included Dino Danelli, Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish. They would have a string of hits through 1969, including “Good Lovin,’” “Groovin,’” “A Girl Like You,” and “People Got to Be Free.” By the early 1970s the band had called it quits.

 

06.20. I Wanna Love You (Edit)

For release as a single the song would be edited down from 4:20 to 3:33. Essentially it is Vinnie whose work suffers from the editing job and his second guitar solo is completely cut. The edit simply starts the fade-out of the song before this solo begins. Still, Vinnie’s pretty melodic 25 second first solo is kept intact.

 

“Nested” Album Notes:

Produced by Laura Nyro and Roscoe Harring; Recording engineers: Pop & Dale Ashby and Frank Koenig; Mixed by Dale Ashby and Ron Johnson. Vinnie plays guitar on this 1978 album, sharing the duties with John Tropea. Which tracks include him are not indicated, though it is possible that he and John appear on the same tracks, playing different parts, and separately. Vinnie was still signed to Epic at the time he did the session work and band mate Felix Cavaliere plays keyboards on two tracks: “The Sweet Sky” and “The Nest.” As a result it is possible that these two tracks, at least, include Vinnie.

 

06.21. Mr. Blue

06.22. Rhythm and Blues

06.23. My Innocence

06.24. Crazy Love

06.25. American Dreamer

06.26. Springblown

06.27. The Sweet Sky

06.28. Light

06.29. Child In A Universe

06.30. The Nest

 

06.31. Double-O-Love

Vinnie plays 12-string rhythm guitar and the second guitar solo on Dan Hartman’s “Double-O-Love.”

 

06.32. Time and Space

Vinnie contributed the guitar solo and background vocals on “Time And Space,” which would be the third single released from Dan Hartman’s “Instant Replay” album in some markets (it wouldn’t chart, though Vinnie appears on the covers of some of the singles that came with picture sleeves). The other guitarist on the album would be G.E. Smith, later the Saturday Night Live band leader. Vinnie would tour with Dan for promotion for the album. Dan was a Connecticut native like Vinnie and had been a member of the Edgar Winter Band. Vinnie also appeared in the video for one of the singles from the album, “This Is It.”

 

“Castles In The Air” Album Notes:

Produced by Felix Cavaliere & Cengiz Yaltkaya; Recorded at Atlantic Studios, New York, New York. Vinnie simply performed on the tracks rather than having any co-writing impact. None of the songs Vinnie played on would be issues on either side of the three singles Felix released to support the album.

 

06.33. All Or Nothing

Written by Felix Cavaliere. Tracks 06.33-06.35 were released on Felix’s “Castles In The Sand” album in 1979. Vinnie simply plays guitar on this track which also includes ex-Rascal members Eddie & David Brigati on background vocals. This song was included on the “Interchords” (Epic AS-709) interview/song promotional album issued to radio.

 

06.34. Love Is The First Day Of Spring

Written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati. Vinnie simply plays guitar on this track.

 

06.35. Don’t Hold Back Your Love

Written by Felix Cavaliere and Dan Beck. Vinnie simply plays the guitar solo on this track which also includes Luther Vandross on background vocals.

 

06.36. Vincent John Cusano Songbook I

What songs this copyright registration (Pau-210-671) included is unclear, but the Library Of Congress indicates that it was a single song solely written by Vinnie of material written in 1980.

 

06.37. Vincent John Cusano Songbook II

What songs this copyright registration (Pau-210-671) included is unclear, but the Library Of Congress documentation indicates that it included 4 songs written by Vinnie with lyrical contributions by Carmine Appice in 1980.

 

“Still Waiting” Album Notes:

Produced and Arranged by Tom Saviano; Executive Producers Charles Koppelman and Gary Klein; Recorded at Fidelity Studios, California. Vinnie is credited as a guitar player on the Heat album, but not specifically by track. “Solarisis” has a pretty good solo which could be him, though it is also possible that he was on rhythm guitar in the mix somewhere. Paul Jackson Jr., Thom Rotella, Pat Kelly and John Hunt also credited as guitarists on the album. Vinnie’s old bass player from one of his early bands, Neil Stubenhaus, would do bass session work on the album.

 

06.38. Still Waiting

06.39. Solarisis

06.40. Take Me There

06.41. Give It A Chance

06.42. Don’t Waste A Minute

06.43. Regina

06.44. Keep On Moving

06.45. Follow You Home

 

06.46. Still Waiting (Single Mix)

06.47. Follow You Home (Single Mix)

Both of the single mixes would be included on the CD reissue of the album. They may or may not have any Vinnie involvement.

 

06.48. Drum City Rocker

Fully titled “Drum City Rocker (The Ballad Of Drum City Surfer Girls) this 3:20 instrumental was co-written by Vinnie and Carmine Appice. Vinnie had hooked up with Carmine when he moved to Los Angeles and played in his band at venues such as the legendary Whiskey. It may have been one of the songs included in the “Vincent John Cusano Songbook II.”

 

The song was recorded by Carmine and released on his 1981 self-titled album, though Vinnie would not be a part of the recording. Additionally, the song would be regularly performed by Carmine’s band “& Friends” during their 1982 group of shows. That band included Rick Derringer on lead guitar. One of the shows would be released in 2002 on CD (possible bootleg) as “Carmine Appice & Friends: The Advent Of Zeus – Live at Nippon Budokan.”

 

06.49. My Love Goes With You

“My Love Goes With You” was one of the two songs which came from Vinnie Vincent’s early collaboration with Adam Mitchell in 1980/1. Demoed at the time, copyright of the song would be obtained in March 1982 (Pau-385-404). Vinnie would resubmit a recording of the song in February 1985 (Pau-693-197) from material created in 1983. It is possible that these two different registrations are representative of the two distinctive versions (different verses) mentioned later, though the writing credits would remain the same. No early recordings of these versions circulate currently and would probably include Vinnie on vocals.

 

06.50. Back On The Streets

While “Back On The Streets” would be covered by Frehley’s Comet prior to Vinnie Vincent recording the song for Invasion’s self-titled debut album in 1986, the song would be released by another band first. Written by Vinnie and Richard Friedman in 1981, the song would be recorded by the band 3 Speed in 1984 for the “Voyage Of The Rock Aliens” movie soundtrack. It would also be released as the A-side of a single, backed with 3 Speed’s own composition “Cry,” on MCA Records (MCA-52429). That the song would be recorded and released so early is interesting, though the movie is more notable for being a Pia Zadora vehicle, as was the soundtrack. Vinnie’s original vocal demo would be 4:11.

 

06.51. Tears

Another early collaboration between Vinnie Cusano and Adam Mitchell, this song would be given to Peter Criss to record on his second post-KISS solo album “Let Me Rock You,” and later John Waite. Vinnie sings lead on the 3:27 demo, though the arrangement barely differs from the versions recorded by other artists. John Waite would also pick up the song to record from Warner Brothers publishing and scored a top 40 hit with his recording in October 1984 when the single reached #37. A live recording of John performing the song would also be released on the “No Brakes Live” video release in 1985.

 

06.52. Rock City

06.53. Rock Island Line

Both of these songs, that date from around 1981/2, were probably used on the television series “Falcon Crest.” Both published by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing via BMI, attributed solely to Vinnie, as works #1260609 and #1260916 respectively. As such, they are grouped with “Tears” which shares the same publisher.

 

06.54. More Than Friends

Another early collaboration between Vinnie Cusano and Adam Mitchell, from around 1981, that resulted in an interesting ballad. The demo recording has French-feeling calliope as the main instrument, along with acoustic guitar. Vinnie sings lead with Adam harmonizing on the syrupy 4:03 demo. The chorus: “We are more than friends / I see it in your eyes / We are more than friends / I know you can’t deny / Say it’s true, that we’re more than friends.”

 

06.55. Gypsy In Her Eyes

Written by Vinnie Vincent this song has been sung by numerous vocalists, but has never made it onto any of Vinnie’s releases. The original 3:26 1981/2 demo features Vinnie on lead vocals. With each re-recording of the song the arrangement varies slightly, never departing too much from the original: “There’s a light that shines in New York City / I swear it feels like years since you were here / Oh, and if you’re not back when it burns out it’s a pity / Oh, you’re tellin’ me, what I don’t wanna hear.”

 

 

06.56. Maybe It’s The Rain

Written by Vinnie Vincent. A 4:42 demo, with Vinnie handling lead vocals with more piano and synth than guitars. This 1981/2 demo demonstrates the flexibility of Vinnie’s song-writing with a melancholy and somewhat romantic piece: “Midnight call, a cold wind blows / Back the memories and times / So hard on my mind / But one and one / I’m so in love and I just knew / We’d always be that way girl / Tonight you’re all light / And I don’t have the right / To need you like I need you now // But maybe, just maybe / Yeah, maybe it’s the rain.”

 

06.57. Never Too Hot To Rock

Nothing is currently known about this Vinnie written song which is registered with BMI as work #1057427. It dates from around 1981/2.

 

06.58. Our Love Was Meant To Be

Written by Bennett Salvay and Vinnie Cusano this song would be performed by Scott Baio on the “Joanie Loves Chachi” television show. It was first broadcast on October 21, 1982 in the “One-on-One” episode. Bennett was the show’s musical director.

 

06.59. Boyz Are Gonna Rock

06.60. It’s Not Pretty

06.61. Gypsy In Her Eyes

06.62. Back On The Streets

During 1979 the band New England had a moderate hit with “Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya,” a song from their Paul Stanley produced album. After a couple of more albums the personalities and styles within the band, and lack of mainstream success, resulted in the band calling it quits. After New England broke up Hirsh Gardner (drums), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards), and Gary Shea (bass) went to Los Angeles to play with Vinnie Vincent in a group called Warrior.

 

According to Hirsch, “just after we broke up Gene Simmons and Lenny Petze (VP at Epic Records) both called me within one week of each other and told me about this guitarist Vinnie Cusano. So I called Vinnie and invited him to Boston to jam with myself, Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea. We immediately hit it off. Within days we were crankin’ out tunes like ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Back On The Streets’ and other great Vinny [sic] songs. We decided that the best place to put together this band would be LA, so we all packed up, moved west and started the band Warrior. I think we probably put together about 8-9 songs, did a demo for CBS records and were about to get signed when Gene and Paul snagged Vinny [sic] for the KISS gig” (Höhn, Andreas – Rock-Area.de). This song would provide the only Warrior material used by KISS, having its riff and some lyrics used in the song “On The 8^th Day.” Following Vinnie’s departure from KISS Hirsch would work with him on demos for 6 months. Jimmy would also later do demo work with Vinnie and Jeff Scott Soto. “Gypsy In Her Eyes” and “Back On The Streets” would be the first songs the band worked on when they initially hooked up to jam in Massachusetts.

 

06.63. I Need Love

Apart from being a Warrior demo, this song would be demoed, along with other Vinnie material during Vinnie’s recording career with KISS. It is sometimes referred to as “I’m In Love.” Parts of this song would be recycled into the Vinnie Vincent Invasion track “Shoot U Full Of Love.”

 

06.64. Baby Oh Why

Originally a 4:14 demo which would be re-written as “Baby-O” for inclusion on Vinnie’s first post-KISS solo album. The chorus seems to clearly go: “Baby oh, Baby oh, why” rather than the later “Baby-O, Baby-O, I,” resulting in the slightly different title for the piece which was published via BMI with this title as work #73498. See also Vinnie Vincent Post-KISS section.

 

06.65. Betrayed

Demoed in instrumental form it is not clear whether this song ever got any lyrics during the Warrior period. However, the 4:43 instrumental track is rough indicating that it was a work in progress with the basic rhythm structure only being complete. One thing obvious from the monstrous riffs and heavy bass is that with lyrics and arrangement work it could have fit perfectly on “Creatures Of The Night” once the keyboards were removed.

 

06.66. Hot Nights

Demoed in instrumental form it is not clear whether this song ever got any lyrics during the Warrior period. Running to 3:19 the piece appears very much incomplete while based on a very Van Halen-ish riff and some interesting time changes.

 

06.67. Baby-O (Instrumental)

06.68. Back On The Streets (Instrumental)

06.69. I Need Love (Instrumental)

Tracks 06.67-06.69 are simply extended Warrior instrumental version of the songs with somewhat stronger keyboards. Most run slightly longer than the versions with vocals.

 

06.70. Smile

Produced by Don St. Was, David St. Was, and Jack Tann. In what may have been Vinnie’s final session work prior to joining KISS he would play second lead guitar on this 3:13 Was (Not Was) track that would be released on their “Born To Laugh At Tornados” album in 1983. Other musicians on the track include vocalist Knack Doug Fieger, guitarists Marshall Crenshaw and Bob Kulick (“power chord guitar”). The track would also be included on a 12” promotional sampler from the album and was the A-side of a 7” single in some markets backed with “The Party Broke Up.”