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10
'Carr Jam
1981'
From
'Revenge' (1991)
During the
recording sessions for his first album with Kiss, 1981's 'Music From The
Elder,' Eric Carr recorded a demo of a song he was working on, and
spontaneously added in his first and apparently only studio long-form drum
solo. Following his early demise from heart cancer in 1991, his bandmates added
the track to their next album, 'Revenge,' as a tribute. Former guitarist Ace
Frehley's solo was removed from that version, but he had already used the
song's main riff on his 1987 solo song 'Breakout.'
9
'Under the
Rose'
From 'Music
from The Elder' (1981)
Carr must
have been pretty surprised to join hard rock titans Kiss, and then find out
their first album together would be a diverse, orchestra-aided concept album
about a young boy's mystical forest quest. But he made the best of it,
co-writing two songs on the album, the rocking instrumental 'Escape from the
Island' and this more dynamic song, which alternates between delicate verses
and a deep, commanding call to action on the chorus.
8
'Saint and
Sinner'
From
'Creatures of the Night' (1982)
When Carr,
whose real name was Paul Caravello, joined Kiss he had to
change his name,
partially to keep photos of his real face being revealed to the press. The band
was still wearing their trademark makeup, and Carr needed to find his own
character. He first tried being a hawk (looks happy, huh?), but soon settled on
the fox design featured on 1982's 'Creatures of the Night.' The album was a
long-awaited return to hard-rock form for the band, with Eric providing newly
complex and thunderous drumming to their sound, particularly on this track, a
kiss-off to departing guitarist Ace Frehley.
7
'No, No,
No'
From 'Crazy
Nights' (1987)
For most of
this keyboard-heavy album, Kiss seemed to be trying to emulate younger bands
like Bon Jovi. But on this Carr co-written effort, he and guitarist Bruce
Kulick kick off perhaps the fastest Kiss song ever with an extremely flashy
show of guitar and drum virtuosity. Added bonus: the inspired, old-fashioned
"Demon"-era vocal firebreathing from bassist Gene Simmons.
6
'King of
the Mountain'
From
'Asylum' (1985)
'Asylum'
didn't feature a track with an Eric Carr songwriting credit, but he opens the
record with a pretty kick-ass extended drum introduction on this song, a
surging, Paul Stanley-fronted tale of victory over... well, we're not sure what
the struggle was about, but it's pretty obvious Kiss won. Maybe it was a
contest to see which band could wear the most sequins and day-glo blouses.
5
'Under the
Gun'
From
'Animalize' (1984)
Another
barnburning Kiss song co-written by Carr, the borderline metal chug of 'Under
the Gun' succeeds largely on the strength of his propulsive playing. Although,
the lyrics are also a hoot, with Stanley winking his way through Spinal
Tap-esque lines such as "I don't need a reason to get crazy / I'm getting
crazy / And that's enough."
4
'I Love It
Loud'
From
'Creatures of the Night' (1982)
On this
enduring anthem to volume, Carr lets loose with probably the second most
popular opening drumbeat in Kisstory ('Rock and Roll All Night' still wins,
right?) and without a doubt the most massive. The song helped dig Kiss out of a
years-long commercial slump and remains one of their most popular concert
sing-a-longs to this day.
Buy 'I Love
It Loud' from iTunes
3
'All Hell's
Breakin' Loose'
From 'Lick
It Up' (1983)
Reportedly,
Carr at first wasn't thrilled with the spoken-rap vocal approach Paul Stanley
used to convert the drummer's 'Lick It Up' songwriting contribution into
something different than the Zeppelin homage he had planned. But Carr
apparently and understandably changed his tune as the song became a hit single
and further cemented the now make-up free Kiss's recently re-established
popularity.
2
'Heaven's
on Fire'
From
'Animalize' (1984)
One of the
most commercially successful Eric Carr Kiss songs ever (yeah, yeah, we know,
'Forever,' but you wanna talk ballads all day?), this scorching track, which
relies heavily on his rock-solid and surprisingly grooving drumbeat, was one of
the few non-makeup era tracks to make its way into the reunited original band
lineup's setlists in later decades.
1
'Little
Caesar'
From 'Hot
in the Shade' (1989)
It took him
until the second-to-last song on the last album he ever recorded with Kiss, but
Eric Carr finally got to sing lead vocals on a song he co-wrote for the band.
For years he'd been singing classics like 'Black Diamond' live, but this was a
big accomplishment. If his life was a movie, this song would be the soundtrack
for the victorious moment of redemption, and the rousing sing-along chorus sets
the perfect uplifting tone. It's particularly great to hear the whole band
"whoa-oh-oh"-ing along joyously behind him. It's a shame he died so
young, but it would be hard to say Eric Carr didn't bring a lot of joy to
millions of people during his life.
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