Realizing that their last albums weren't even close to being in league with their output from the '70s,
Kiss
made a conscious effort to get back on track with 1989's
Hot in the Shade
. The group began trying out new material, and was soon forced to issue a record in conjunction with an upcoming tour. Hence,
is a slight improvement over its flat predecessors (
Asylum
,
Crazy Nights
) -- but not by much. The songwriting is still unfocused, but at least the keyboards that plagued
had thankfully been put away, and the production isn't as
pop
-oriented as most of their other '80s albums. The album did spawn
' first Top Ten single in ten years with the syrupy
ballad
"Forever,"
but again, the group missed the mark by padding the album with lots of filler (
"You Love Me to Hate You,"
"Love's a Slap in the Face,"
"Cadillac Dreams,"
etc.). Also included were a couple of obvious attempts at hit singles (
"Rise to It"
and the dreadful
"Hide Your Heart"
), and a track that sounds like a total ripoff of
Def Leppard
's
"Pour Some Sugar on Me,"
titled
"Read My Body."
Drummer
Eric Carr
's only lead vocal on a
record,
"Little Caesar,"
is one of the album's few bright spots, but
unfortunately proved to be
Carr
's last album with
; he died from cancer in 1991. ~ Greg Prato