Yes, I am very aware of that this album isn’t a forgotten solo album by the late Kiss-drummer Eric Carr. And yes, I am aware of that this album is just a collection of demos and out-takes that he made during his time in Kiss. But in all fairness, how fun are those records, really? These kind of albums are made mostly for diehards who might appreciate them more. I mean. Don’t get me wrong, I am and have always been a HUGE Kiss fan and yes, you get pretty curious of how good a song writer Eric really was. But it’s really hard to tell how those songs would have sounded after being produced properly.
On here we have a bunch of re-recordnings by other artists and some of the songs has already been released on an album called Rockology. Such as ”Just Can’t Wait”, then an instrumental, now with lyrics, sung and written by Ted Poley of Danger Danger and ”Eyes Of Love” who here has been polished up a bit still with Eric’s lead vocals. Both are good songs though. Same with ”Dial L For Love”, a catchy tune performed by Eric alone. ”Elephant Man” has been touched up with drums by A.J. Pero (Twisted Sister) and guitars by ex-Europe guitar player Kee Marcello.
A remake of ”Carr Jam 1981” by unknown band Z02 feels totally pointless and a demo of ”No One’s Messin’ With You”, which later became ”Little Caesar” and ended up on the Kiss album Hot In The Shade, the last Kiss album Eric ever played on, may be fun for the diehards, but doesn’t really do much for the rest. Even me included!
The most interesting piece here is without a doubt ”I Cry At Night”, an oldie. In fact it’s Eric’s first recording with his then band The Cellarmen. For us Kiss fans and especially all of those who loved Eric, it’s great that this album is out there. This counts as music history and is therefore interesting. The same thing with the short recordings of Eric telling little stories or joking around that are in between songs.
All of this is interesting and fun. But good? Well, not really. The potential are there, you can hear that in the pieces of music we get, but boy, would I have loved to hear those songs as finished recordings by Eric. If you’re a Kiss fan, you should get this. If you just like Kiss, then this is probably not
for you.
Jon Wilmenius (5/10)
Tracklist:
1. Eric speaks to the fans
2. Just Can’t Wait (featuring Ted Poley)
3. Troubles Inside (Demo)
5. Eric talks about his music
6. No One’s Messin’ With You (Demo)
7. Carr Jam 1981 (Benny Doro/Joey Cassata)
8. Eric talks about audition
9. Shandi (Eric Carr audition vocal)
10. All Hell’s Break-in’ Loose (ZO2)
11. Dial L For Love (Demo)
12. Elephant Man
13. Eric Talks about Mark St. John
14. Midnite Stranger (Demo)
14. Eyes Of Love featuring John Humphrey (Seether) & Benny Doro
15. Bill Aucoin talks about Eric
16. Through The Years
17. I Cry at Night (The Cellarmen)
18. Eric kidding around at a Kiss album rehearsal
CD & Festival reviews 
Sigh.
Jon, I agree with your rating. I didn’t have the heart to do this one, when I did my series on Kiss. I didn’t want to speak ill of the dead, you know what I mean? Shandi is so bad. So bad.
”No One’s Messin’ With You” is one of my favourites for the simple reason that I didn’t know an earlier version of the song existed (beyond the one on the Kiss box set). It’s also cool hearing some of the material that Eric submitted to Kiss but went unused.
Unfortunately the fact of the matter is, most of this material was never meant to be heard publicly. I’m sure Eric wasn’t thinking, “Boy I better do a great job on this demo recording, because one day this is all people will be able to buy of mine.”
FInally, you said: “The potential are there, you can hear that in the pieces of music we get, but boy, would I have loved to hear those songs as finished recordings by Eric.”
Yeah, that’s it right there. There are some decent ideas here. Some of these things could have been built upon and polished, but it wasn’t mean to be, sadly.