Bob Kulick – Skeletons In The Closet
Vanity Music Group
Release Date: 15/09/2017
Running Time: 43:55
Review by Dawn “The Metal Priestess” King
8/10
You must be doing a good job as a review website when someone approaches you to review their latest album, right? But, when that someone is none other than American guitarist and Grammy Award winning record producer, Bob Kulick, you must be doing an awesome job! Well, that’s exactly what happened to us at Ever Metal headquarters and we are honoured to review his latest album ‘Skeletons in The Closet.’
Best known for his studio work with Kiss and his tenure with WASP, Bob was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is the older brother of former Kiss lead guitarist, Bruce Kulick, who, incidentally, was put forward for the job by Bob, himself.
Bob took a chance in 1973 and auditioned for the lead guitar spot in the then-new band, Kiss, but, although he impressed the other members of the band, it was the glitzier, Ace Frehley, who had auditioned directly after him, who was chosen to fill the spot.
Despite this, Bob later played (albeit uncredited) on four Kiss albums: Alive II (he played on three of the five studio tracks on the second side), Unmasked (where he played guitar on the track Naked City), Killers (playing on all four of the new studio tracks) and some minimal work on Creatures of the Night. He also played guitar on Paul Stanley’s 1978 solo album and on his 1989 solo tour.
But his contribution to the music world didn’t stop there. He has also worked with the likes of Motorhead, Meatloaf, Doro, Lou Reed and Tim “Ripper” Owens as well as playing guitar on WASP albums The Crimson Idol and Still Not Black Enough. This, as well as forming his own bands Balance, Skull and Murderer’s Row, have earned him 11 platinum or gold records throughout his career.
So, what of this album? Well, after a career spanning over forty years, this is actually Bob’s first solo album!! Recorded at Vegas View Recordings in Las Vegas, and produced and engineered by Bob himself, along with Bobby Ferrari, this is a collection of five new tracks and five classics from his albums with Skull and Murderer’s Row and features an array of musicians.
For a first solo album it would have been nice for all the tracks to be brand new ones, but I don’t really know much about Bob’s catalogue, so they were all new to me. While this is fine with me, older fans might feel a bit cheated by this.
Despite this, Skeletons in the Closet is a feel-good album, with lots of great rock tracks. The first half of the album consists of the five new tracks, probably the best of these being “London”, which tells the story of Jack the Ripper, and features the vocals of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. The only slightly ‘dodgy’ track of these five being the cover of “Goldfinger!” I didn’t really see the point of it and didn’t think it quite worked. I would have much rather seen another track like “London” or opening track “Rich Man”.
As previously mentioned, I don’t know much about Bob’s back catalogue so none of the classic tracks were known to me, but my favourite of these must have been title track “Skeletons in the Closet”. Sounding like it could easily have been pinched from the back catalogue of WASP, it features the vocals of David Glen Eisley, although he could easily be mistaken for Blackie Lawless (who I actually thought was singing at first!)
This album was never going to break any new ground, and I can picture some of the “older” music fans saying that it’s all been done before but even if you buy it simply for Bob’s guitar playing, its more than worth it. I’ve had this in my car for over a week now and I am still not bored with it, each track sounding better the more times I listen to it.
So, if you are a fan of technical music and poetic lyrics then this is not the album for you, but if you like a bit of rock you can listen to loud in your car with the roof down then go and get a copy of this! I loved it and I am sure you will too!
TRACKLISTING:
01. Rich Man
02. Not Before You
03. London
04. Goldfinger
05. Player
06. India
07. Skeletons in The Closet
08. Guitar Commandos
09. Eyes of A Stranger
LINKS:
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