The ‘Let Me Rock You’ album from Peter Criss was a marked improvement over his poor 1978 self titled effort and 1980’s dull ‘Out Of Control’, showing more urgency in hard rock and AOR areas.
Written by: Dangerzone
ARTIST: Peter Criss
ALBUM: Let Me Rock You
LABEL: Casablanca
SERIAL: 6302 194
YEAR: 1982
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Peter Criss – vocals, drums * Steve Lukather, Bobby Messano, Steve Stevens, Michael Landau, Caleb Quaye, Phil Grande – guitars * John Lo Presti, Davey Faragher – bass * Michael Braun, Dennis Conway – drums * Jai Winding, James Howard, Jim Roberge, Ed Walsh – keyboards, synthesizers
TRACK LISTING: 01 Let It Go * 02 Tears * 03 Move On Over * 04 Jealous Guy * 05 Destiny * 06 Some Kinda Hurricane * 07 Let Me Rock You * 08 First Day In The Rain * 09 Feel Like Heaven * 10 Bad Boys
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The first thing that springs to mind about Criss’ third solo album is the dodgy cover. A disturbing close up of Criss’ face which showed him in a less than heterosexual manner might have appealed to those of a certain orientation, but for Kiss fans it was probably a rude awakening after Criss left the band in 1980.
The ‘Let Me Rock You’ album from Peter Criss was a marked improvement over his poor 1978 self titled effort and 1980’s dull ‘Out Of Control’, showing more urgency in hard rock and AOR areas. Criss roped in outside songwriters such as Russ Ballard, Gene Simmons, Steve Stevens, Vinnie Vincent, Tommy and Davey Faragher to try and improve the songwriting. This ploy worked but did not increase sales.
The Songs
AOR heights are scaled (but not bettered) immediately through ‘Let It Go’, with a nice blend of keyboards and heavy riffing, but overshadowed by a brilliant hook and Criss’ own superior vocals. If you’re looking for an unrecognised AOR classic this is it.
Vinnie Vincent and Adam Mitchell contribute the well worked ‘Tears’, the albums lone single and another worthy piece of AOR, on the softer side it has to be said. Criss and producer Vinnie Poncia team up for the updated doo wop of ‘Back In Town’, which isn’t as suspicious as it sounds, but hardly compulsive listening.
Criss adds a cover of John Lennon‘s ‘Jealous Guy’, which as you’d expect is fairly dull and wiped out by the stunning melodic excellence of ‘Destiny’, another AOR cut to watch out for. Ballard chips in with the title track and ‘Some Kinda’ Hurricane’, both great examples of Ballard’s legendary songwriting prowess and handled superbly by the able Criss.
‘First Day In The Rain’ is a major non-event, a dreary ballad written by Stevens, but thankfully Simmons is on hand with the fiery ‘Feel Like Heaven’ which adds more hard rock credibility to the album. ‘Bad Boys’ opens in West Coast style but could be the Rolling Stones too, if you can imagine the two combined!
In Summary
An overlooked piece of vinyl which sunk upon release and was the last Criss album until 1994. During the intervening years, Criss was fairly anonymous and it wasn’t until the original Kiss lineup’s reunion in 1996 that he was back in the limelight.
Always a fine vocalist, his ability is demonstrated throughout ‘Let Me Rock You’, and it is a shame he wouldn’t record again for the rest of the decade. This is well worth looking into for melodic rock enthusiasts.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
[Seand] Personally love Peter’s vocals .all his solo lps have more highs than lows.
[PatrickHemming] For my money LMRY is easily Peter’s best solo album. Let It Go is definitely worth a listen with its killer Steve Lukather solo. Top notch stuff here.