CHAPTER 26 - Peter
Criss (1978)
“Peter Criss” Album Notes:
Produced by Vini Poncia.
Tracks 26.06, 26.07 & 26.10 produced by Vini Poncia, Peter Criss and Sean
Delaney. Track 26.08 produced by Vini Poncia and Peter Criss. Recorded and
engineered by Vini Poncia at Sunset Sound Studios,
26.01. I’m Gonna Love You
“I’m Gonna Love You” would
be a slight reworking of a song that had originally started out during Peter’s
partnership with Stan Penridge and Michael Benvenga in the pre-KISS band Lips.
While there would be minor changes between the 1970/1 demo and the version
Peter used on his solo album, the basic essence of the piece remained. Stan
performed some guitars, with Art Munson, on the 1978 recording.
Noticeably, a new second
verse was written for the song, with the original second verse becoming a third
verse with slight lyrical changes: “Sayin’ that you need me / Around you all
the time (time)” would be changed to, “You know you’re gonna find me (gonna
find me) / Around you all the time (time).” Naturally, while the original
version featured Stan on lead vocals, its folk feel would become more of a Bob
Seger-styled song with Peter singing. The new arrangement would add some 30
seconds to the song, resulting in a
Additional musicians on the
recording included Bill Bodine on bass, Bill Cuomo on keyboards, and Tom
Saviano arranging the horns. Tom later had then pre-KISS member Vinnie Vincent
play on one of his “Heat” albums. Backing vocals would be provided by the
Faragher brothers – Davey, Tommy, Danny, and Jimmy – and Maxine Dixon.
Interestingly, the Faragher brothers might be considered part of the “Blue-eyed
Soul” movement, but had recorded their 1978 album under the production of Vini
Poncia. Additionally, Art Munson had been the guitarist (along with one David
Wolfert) on that album. One of the band’s previous albums had been produced by
Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise.
26.02. You Matter To Me
Written by John Vastano,
Michael Morgan, and Vini Poncia. John Vastano was everything that Peter Criss
had been in his pre-KISS years: member of a New York Italian-American band that
had plenty of horns and a rasping singer, almost a cliché at the time. The band
in question would be the Blue Jays, who were signed to Vini Poncia’s record
label,
If any project draws
together many of the participants on Peter’s 1978 solo album, then one strong
piece of evidence would be the 1976 Gino Cunico album released on Arista. The
cast of characters appearing on that album, who also would work on Peter’s
album, makes it clear where many connections originate: The Faragher Brothers
(Backing vocals), Lenny Castro (Percussion), Brie Howard (Backing vocals), Vini
Poncia (Backing vocals & Producer), Tom Saviano (Horns Arranger &
Saxophone), John Vastano (Guitar), and David Wolfert (Guitar).
26.03. Tossin’ And Turnin’
While much of Peter’s
material could technically be considered covers, with the fact that most of his
1978 solo album was recycled earlier material, most of it had originally been
developed for his pre-KISS bands
Peter would be faithful to
the original arrangement of the song, though he would change one lyric: “The
clock downstairs was strikin’ four / Couldn’t get you off my mind / I heard the
milkman at the door” would become “The clock downstairs was strikin’ three /
Couldn’t get you off my mind / I heard the milkman on the street.” Naturally,
this incorporated Peter’s lucky number, the Trinity, into the song. Musicians
on the track would be the same as the first two songs. Allen Toussaint and
backing vocalists Maxine Willard and Julia Tillman, who had also sung
backgrounds with Vini on Carly Simon’s 1975 album “Playing Possum,” would also
perform with sax soloist Michael Carnahan.
26.04. Don’t You Let Me Down
According to Peter, “For
anything on that album and for all the songs I wrote there was a lot of meaning
behind ‘em from ‘Don’t You Let Me Down’ and all that type of stuff. I was
showing my Beatles roots and my R&B roots” (KISS Hell, 1997). The song was
credited to Peter and Stan Penridge, and arrangement changes would be
negligible as the song grew by a minor 15 seconds to
While the song was written
8 years before being recorded for Peter’s album, he saw it as being about how
he felt about his then second-wife-to-be, Debbie Svensk. Peter recalled, “She
was absolutely gorgeous, you know, Playmate of the year, popular, absolutely
gorgeous, but I always had this insecurity, and I really think that that’s one
thing I love about song writing is that you can really put it down, and no
matter how many people maybe don’t get to hear it or do get to hear it,
somebody’s got to relate to it somewhere” (Steve Gerlach, Cat Club, 1997). She
was apparently present during the recording of the song.
26.05. That’s The Kind Of Sugar Papa Likes
Another of the Lips-era
remakes, with Peter replacing the vocals that Stan had originally sung. Minor
changes would include: 1) In the first verse “But now I love you, thinking of
you / I sure do wish you’d come around” would be changed to “You know I love
you, I really love you / Sure do wish you’d come around” for the 1978 version;
and 2) a third repetition of the verse would be added before the outro
vocalization. The arrangement changes would result in the song growing from
26.06. Easy Thing
The first of three songs
that would be credited as being produced by Vini Poncia, Peter Criss, and Sean
Delaney. That credit is indicative of the original source of the material: Sean
Delaney. While the song was written by Peter Criss and Stan Penridge, Sean
would record the original demo for Peter. The situation itself was not entirely
happy according to Sean, who recalled, “So I’d go into the studio with all my
friends, who were Paul Shaffer from Late Night [with David] Letterman, Elliot
Randall (lead guitar player for Steely Dan), and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (lead
guitar player in the Doobie Brothers). So I had all of these hot musicians go
out to the studio with me to record because I had to have the best to record
(quickly) demos for Peter. So I recorded a bunch of demos for Peter, then he
and Vini Poncia just used them! It caused a big stink between Peter and myself”
(Steve Stierwalt, Jr.).
26.07. Rock Me, Baby
Sean Delaney recorded
several demos of material for Peter by using studio session players he knew.
Sean recalled that when he agreed to be Gene’s solo album producer, Peter was
upset at having already been rejected (Steve Stierwalt, Jr.) by one prospective
producer, Tom Dowd, who would later work with Bruce Kulick’s pre-KISS band
Blackjack. According to Sean, “Gene, knowing that all four albums had to do
well and this type of publicity would not be good for the band, said that I
could go into the studio with Peter and do some demo tapes for him so he could
get a producer. We ended up doing my songs, and with that, he got himself a
producer” (Otaku). According to an Aucoin memorandum to Peter, Sean would agree
to split the royalties 50/50 while retaining his writing credit and ownership
of copyright. Sean would wisely register the copyright for his contributions in
August 1978.
26.08. Kiss The Girl Goodbye
Written by Peter and Stan
Penridge, “Kiss The Girl Goodbye” is not all sweet and niceness, as Peter
explains in a Cat Club interview: “‘KISS The Girl Goodbye’ was about my first wife
which I was really leaving to see my second wife” (Steve Gerlach). On the
Electric Lady recording for the solo album, only Peter and Stan would perform
in a stripped-back manner similar to their Lips roots, with Peter playing
percussion and Stan playing guitar and providing harmonies.
26.09. Hooked On Rock ‘N Roll
Credited to Stan Penridge,
Peter, and Vini Poncia, this was the final of the pre-KISS tracks remade for
Peter’s solo album. While the album version of the recording would only be 20
seconds longer than the original, at 3:37, the differences between the two
versions are quite noticeable. While the tense of the song would be changed to
first person, the lyrical arrangement would be different. The first verse would
be changed to “The boy could play before he learned to grow / Worked in a band
who had no name at all / Every mornin’ at the break of dawn / You could see him
draggin’ home his drums / I was vaccinated with a Victrolla needle / And I’m
hooked on rock and roll” from “Well now the boy could play like no one you’d
ever saw (yeah) / Played in a band that practiced all day long / He told his
mama that schoolin’s gotta go / I’ve seen cases like this before / Your boy’s
been vaccinated with a Victrolla needle / He’s hooked on rock and roll / Oh
yeah, yeah, right.” Other differences would not be as major.
26.10. I Can’t Stop The Rain
“I get a lot of compliments
on that song man and it really is funny through all the years that have gone
by, that’s the tune that people still say ‘Jesus that is one great ballad’”
(KISS Hell, 1997). Unfortunately for Peter the song was written by Sean Delaney
and was one of the pieces that Sean had demoed with his well-known cast of
session players. Richard T. Bear would guest on keyboards on the recording.
26.11. Spotlights (And Lonely Nights)
“Spotlights (And Lonely
Nights)” is the only known out-take/demo from Peter Criss’ solo album recording
sessions. According to Peter, “It never got released. Sean Delaney is the only
person I know who has it. What a great song that was, but people thought it was
too depressing so the Company never released it” (KISS Army International via
LF#80). But with lyrics like “Spotlights, and lonely nights / It’s just a game
I’m in / Wake up, in the morning / And I wonder, when will I see you again /
And those rock and roll bars / And limousine cars / Just want somebody to hold
/ I don’t need no friend with a helpin’ hand / I don’t need no drink, to help
me pretend I’m alone,” over a manic monotone piano key, it’s not too surprising
it was left off.
Simply put it was too
graphical in a dark way for what KISS’ audience were becoming. Even Peter
admitted, “It was about how unglorified this life is. It was getting into this
world, into this business, and then becoming a hopless alcoholic or a drug
addict, because it makes you that way, it turns you into an animal. The song
had deep, deep lyrics” (Curt Gooch w/ Peter Criss, Firehouse #71). Perhaps,
considering where Peter was heading in 1978 it was too ironic, regardless of
what the record label thought.
What is interesting is that
Sean’s 1979 solo album “Highway” (released very early in the year and recorded
in the latter half of 1978 while Sean was helping record demos for Peter’s own
solo album) just happens to have the track “Spotlights” on it. As a matter of
discussion concerning the writing of the song in a June 29, 1978 memo from Bill
Aucoin to Peter Criss, Sean had apparently agreed, “Spotlights (And Lonely
Nights) - to be shared equally (50/50) for writers credit, copyright and royalties”
(Aucoin). The version of the song recorded by Sean credits Richard T. Bear on
piano, making it likely that Richard also plays on the demo with Peter’s
vocals. For release on the album the song would revert to its sole writing
credit by Sean, since the agreement with Peter was only applicable if the song
appeared on Peter’s album. The demo was likely recorded by Sean with his
session players, who would also record the other demos Peter used on his album.
26.12. Don’t You Let Me Down (Single Edit)
This