I had to create this topic... XD
Vinnie Vincent is (not) the most technical player in the world,
I remember his solos from the first Invasion album, kinda' hilarious and fast. I recently saw the video for "Boyz Are Gonna Rock", veeeeery hilarious indeed. I like many songs on that first album, mostly "Animal" and "Boyz Are Gonna Rock".

What do you think of VV's playing? Or Invasion?

I really liked that album and also thought the solos where funny.
I'm 100% sure the leads are sped up, not because of the speed, more to do with the sound..i'm well aware of the subtle differences that a sped up guitar sound has and this is it.

Vinnie rocks the house...saw him live back in the day, I was about 10 ft from the stage, it was a great show. He really pours his guts into his work-despite that the hot pink thing didn't make a lasting impression. Hope to hear something out of him in 2005.

me & my singer buddy were heavy into VV...even the second invasion tape was cool...WOW!!! the waaaaaay back machine!!
you either loved 'em or hated 'em.

I hope VV releases some new material soon. Invasion should do a reunion,

Vincent Cusano. Gene Simmons made him change his name because it sounded like an "Italian fruit vendor". His tone was annoying to me and Slaughter's vocals on top of that... I did like some of Slaughter's (the band's) later tunes though. Classic "butt" rock. The record execs must not have cared for Vinnie as they let his band go but turned around and hired everyone but him back and created Slaughter.

I never took VV serious, don't get me wrong, he can blaze it up on electric fiddle but the songs on that album are pretty weak and cheesy with solos that made no sense other than just tear it up and going for it

Yes he did speed up these up, from what I understand, pitch correction reasons. He can wail pretty fast.

That's the politics of the music business...obviously he's not selling cars in middle America, so the money must have been good. I don't see a bands reunited "Vinnie Vincent Invasion" ever coming down the road, but if it did- I'm front/center....sorry Dan...I like 'butt' rock...

I liked Vinnie's work in Kiss and the first solo album. I caught him live opening for Alice Cooper and he seemed to sound the same live as he did in the studio (however you wanna interpret that. ). I know there's alot of guys here that know way more about studio tricks and pitch that Vinnie could have used, but it didn't sound too much like he was faking it live. I found it funny when Living Colour came out with "Cult Of Personality" and a bunch of the guitar mags were praising the solo, where Vernon Reid plays a totally drunk Vinnie solo rip off and yet they had been bashing Vinnie saying his playing style was a joke.

Another bit of Vinnie info, is that he claims that after Randy died, that Grover Jackson gave him a few of the Jackson models that they had been making for Randy, because they wanted someone to represent the guitar. Likely not the actual ones, but Vinnie was the first person (lets just say national recording artist) to play that Jackson model live (Kiss "Creatures Of The Night" 1982 and "Lick It Up" 1983 tours)after Randy passsed.

Oh well. Last I heard of him was in 1996 when I met him at a rock convention and he was selling a new 4-song EP called "Euphoria", which was a teaser of songs from his then-recently recorded comeback album "Guitarmageddon, which featured his original vocalist Robert Fleichman. Pretty good EP, as it sounded like it could have come straight off the "Invasion" LP. Of course, he is doing his soloing all over the place and naturally starts the Ep with one. But the songs were solid (IMO) and I looked forward to finding "Guitarmageddon", but never heard wind of it coming out.

I remember... didn't Vinnie also have a signature guitar from Jackson at the time? It was almost exactly like the Rhoads model, except on the bottom wing, it had a "double" wing... to resemble not just a "v" but a "VV", you know what I mean? I remember seeing it in some ads and thinking it looked like a really cool guitar. Does anybody remember?

Here it is...

Yeah, after playing the Randy model Vinnie and Grover designed that double V. I remember seeing the add, but never too many other guys playing one.

The pink was probably a little too "feminine."

Listening to this album again, (which I'm really enjoying!) it reminded me that not only the lead guitars where speeded up but a lot of the vocals too...
anyone else think this????
What Bloke has a voice that high and vocal vibrato that fast?

PS..I also loved those 'sports car driving away' impressions he did a lot on this album

Not my cup of tee. Personally I find him a joke to the metal community.
I recently saw a video for Love Kills, I like Mark but Vinnie's smiling just kills me. What a goofball, and such the wrong choice for Kiss in 84'.

I've always known how POWERFUL Gene and Paul are. I mean, nowhere else can you illustrate how much POWER and INFLUENCE those two have than on the LICK IT UP album. The fact that they constrained Vinnie Vincent... that they held him back the way they did... and not even let him solo on the song LICK IT UP (don't tell me that's a solo... it's not) .... NOW THAT'S POWER.

It's almost like theY held Vinnie back so much, that when he escaped KISS he pretty much blew his wad on that first solo album. There was nothing left after that.

As much as Vinnie claimed he was restrained on the "Lick It Up" album, it was his contrinbutions to the songwriting that helped bring Kiss out of the void and into the market again in the early 80's.They were dead as a doornail after the three consecutive floppers, "Dynasty", "Unmasked" and "Music From The Elder" and Vinnie's contributions to "Creatures Of The Night" and Lick It Up" gave the band and the music a kick in the ass.
He brought a more modern sounding guitar style into the band and it worked for a bit. Nothing against Ace Frehely or any other Kiss guitarist, but I think the two with Vinnie are among the heavier, better albums overall, and definetly the best post-Ace albums.

Not turning this into a KISS thread but, Bruce was a wayyyy better choice than Vinnie. Eventhough the albums Bruce played on, they were written mainly for radio and his solos were night and day compared to the Joker's (vinnie's smile). Mark St John was respectable in his own right too, shame he developed carpal tunnel.

I've always appreciated it.

[quote="Rhoads_Forever"]Not turning this into a KISS thread but, Bruce was a wayyyy better choice than Vinnie. Eventhough the albums Bruce played on, they were written mainly for radio and his solos were night and day compared to the Joker's (vinnie's smile).quote]

I got a kick out of that "Joker's smile" comment. Bruce may have been a better "bandmate" because he was happy to just be a part of the band and he let Paul and Gene tell him exactly what to do and when (just ask him. ). Vinnie wanted a bigger piece of the pie and didn't wanna just be considered a hired gun. Yeah, he had an ego) Nothing about Bruce's sound/style is very distinguishable from 95% of the guitarists of the 80's , though he is a good player, just nothing to note. It's been said he's the one Kiss guitarist that they should have MADE wear makeup. I like his work the best on "Asylum" and "Carnival Of Souls". Okay, enough about Brucey.

I saw Ace Frehley in Vegas at the airport one time.... just before they reformed. Believe me, Ironface... he hands down wins the ugly contest. Bruce looks like Tom Selleck next to that guy.

BTW, who played on the PSYCHO CIRCUS release? I thought it was Bruce.

Yeah, why do you think they made Ace wear the makeup? I've met him on his solo tours and his face looks like it's melting, possibly a result of all that makeup he wore for years.

Oh and Ace played on Psycho Circus, it was the album after their reunion tour in 1996. Bruce's last was "Carnival Of Souls", but they kept it in the can till after the Ace/Criss reunion tour was over. It had been done for over a year and leaked out into the boot network, so they finally gave it an official release later. Pretty good swan song for that era of the band.

Yes they had "power" as it is their (Gene and Paul) band. Since the original disolved all members of KISS (except G and P) are hired guns and have no voting power. Even on the reunion tours Ace and Peter were hired guns. G and P are shrewd if nothing else.

Gene talks a bit about Vinnie in "Kiss and Makeup". Basically says he is an idiot and probably one of the most self-destructive people he's ever met. This coming from a man who put up with Ace's sh*t for years too! Gene even tried throwing him a bone a little while back and the guy screwed that up for himself as well.

It's strange that Gene and Paul don't seem to have had the same problem with the face makeup. A, it's no understatement on my part: Ace looked really bad, to the point where I thought he had a skin condition or something. I was more surprised at that than I was about just having seen a "star" in real life.

I agree with your earlier sentiments about Kulick. Not very stand-out-ish. I remember a track he did on one of the GUITAR FOR THE PRACTICING MUSICIANS cds from the 80s that was an instrumental. It wasn't too stellar, and I remember being unimpressed. But I should probably not comment further as I've never heard any of his other work other than what's been played on the radio and that one track I mentioned. He seems to be a really cool guy in real life. Very approachable. I thought it sucked when he got shot recently. But luckily, he's bounced back!

I think he had a brother that was also a good guitarist that may have also recorded with Kiss... but they didn't go with him at the time because he was "bald."

I read an interview with Ace from around 87 when he put out Frehley's Comet and he said that he had some allergic reactions to the makeup and had alot of doctors try to help him out, but it kept coming back. Maybe that, coupled with all the booze he was doing made him look like he does. I know what you mean, his face was/is in bad shape.

On an off-topic,crappy thing he used to do before he got back into Kiss in the 90's is instead of just meeting fans and giving autographs after gigs, he'd charge 50 bucks to join his fan club and for that he would give you an autograph and take a picture with you. Glad I worked at the club he played and didn't have to pay the price.

Oh, and Bruce's brother, Bob, is very good on guitar. True, the bald thing kept him out of Kiss, but he did have some solos appear un-credited on some of the early Kiss albums, as Gene and Paul snuck a few in on Ace. He's done alot of session work, been in bands with Meatloaf, Graham Bonnett (Blackthorne) and been on a ton of tribute albums.

Bruce did some killer solos on every album he played.
What do you think? What kind of makeup would be/would have been good for Bruce?

Kinda off topic, but still about Vinnie Vincent-did anyone catch the tip of the hat (or ripoff depending on youir point of view! ) to the intro to "Crazy Train" during the intro of the song "A Million To One" off the Kiss album "Lick It Up", which Vinnie co-wrote and played on? Check it out.

I think VV was awesome in KISS and his facepaint characther was cool as heck too. I loved the heaviness he brought to the band and I wish he had stayed longer.

I find it so strange he up and left the money making machine. Oh well.

I'd love to have more video footage of him playing in KISS in makeup. I've got some but not bunches.

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, CAUSE I'm A WAR MACHINE!!!

I've got some footage of VV playing with KISS in Brazil. He did some good work on "Creatures". OTOH, he absolutely butchers "Rock and Roll All Nite". You have to play it the way Ace did on Alive! Any other way just ain't right. I never cared for Eric Carr's playing either. He was a heavy hitter but just not much soul there. KISS for me lost there appeal after '77. The super hero crap was just too damn cheesy.

The brazil footage is actually the last concert with makeup .. I have that too. (I guess , if it was the huge 200,000 person show)