By Paul Hanson

For 11 years and 8 records, Eric Carr played drums for KISS. He was with them through their re-emergence with CDs like "Lick It Up" (when they dropped the facepaint), "Animalize" (with the single "Heaven's on Fire") and the follow-ups that brought KISS out on world tours. Then in 1991, Carr was diagnosed with cancer and died soon after. Carr brought a more percussive sound to KISS, with a lot more deep resonating tom-tom parts than Peter Criss, the original drummer. That sound was his trademark in KISS as well as now, with the release of 11 songs never-before-released songs on this CD. Most of the material here sounds like KISS, which is not much of a surprise since KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick plays guitar on all the tracks. There are some gems, like "Nightmare." Included here are two versions: the full song and the 'live demo' which amounts to Carr humming some of the lyrics while Kulick plays. Kulick shines on "Nightmare" as well as the outstanding instrumental "Just Can't Wait." The material gets shaky with the cliché-thick "Too Cool for School" and the power ballad "Tiara." This release, like Slaughter's tribute to Tim Kelly, demonstrates that yet another talented musician has been taken from this earth.

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