Well,
Vinnie Vincent's reign as
KISS' axe shredder was short lived. After reviving the band musically, he became increasingly difficult to work with, both on stage (20 minute guitar solos!! wtf!) and off, making certain financial demands. So out with the old and in with the new. Stepping into the meat grinder was
Mark St. John.
Mark was another gun slinger in the mold of the LA scene. But this time
Gene and
Paul would write all the songs with no input from him, more or less telling him what to play so as not to have another
Vinnie fiasco on their hands. Even
Gene's partcipation on
Animalize was minimal since he was off making movies. Hell, they had
Jean Beauvoir come in and play his bass parts on half the album. So it all falls onto
Paul's shoulders, and because of that, this album suffers from it. But
Mark's tenure with the band was short lived as he suffered from
Reiter's Syndrome. So, he was out of the band after the first leg of the tour.
Remember
Bob Kulick from previous reviews here? Well
Gene and
Paul asked him to come on board full time. He refused. But he recommended his little brother
Bruce for the gig. He got it and went on to become the longest tenured guitarist for
KISS in it's history, longer than
Ace Frehley himself.
I admit that when
Animalize first came out, I thought it was great. But over the years it's getting harder and harder for me to listen to it. It has certainly lost a lot of it's edge over time. Average at best is the kindest thing I can say about it.
Fave Songs:
I've Had Enough (Into The Fire), and
Heaven's Of Fire. Cover is meh.