Monday
Jul052010
Obscure Monday: Kiss of the Gypsy
Monday, July 5, 2010 at 12:01AM
Remember Kiss of the Gypsy? The English band released its self-titled debut in 1992 via Atlantic and made a video for the single "Whatever It Takes." By the debut date you should be able to decode that the band didn't have much chance of lasting very long.
Does anyone own Kiss of the Gypsy? There are a few copies on eBay that are reasonably priced so I need to get on that I guess. Here's "Whatever It Takes."
If that tune didn't do it for you, try this one: "Promised Land." Just listen.
Still not convinced? Try this ballad on for size: "Take This Old Heart."
I'm really excited over this obscure find and I think you will be too. Kiss of the Gypsy rules. Too bad they only did one album.
"No Prize for the Loser"
Reader Comments (12)
Often you have to ask, even if the seller claims the item is new and mint, if they don't mention that it's "not a cut-out" you are better off to ask. There are jerks (either intentionally or not), who try to pass these "cut outs" off as "like new", as sometimes the items can even be still sealed but have either a drill hole through them or a notched spine. If you only really care about the music and not really about the artwork, you can find some great, cheap deals out there.
I've bought CDs for a hundred bux when I coulda gotten 'em for 5 or 10 bux as a cut out. Sometimes, though, if you are really into a CD it may be worth it to you to buy a mint original press.
If you are really nuts (as you may have noticed I can be), you'll wind up buying a mint, still sealed copy, a mint opened copy (which you dump onto iTunes, as they won't have it) and also a Japanese pressing (which are exorbitant but have better sound quality) and if you are a real completist, you get a copy that was pressed in the band's country of origin as I find myself doing quite a bit since a lot of the bands I'm into are from Sweden and Germany. They have better sound quality, too, generally. But enough about the eccentricities of collecting...
As far as this band is concerned, they're not too bad (more on this later) and you have done me a favor, Al, as I was buying this only on the description by the buyer after seeing what year it came out as sometimes I get too lazy or busy to YouTube everything (though I have found some greats by doing just that, too, for sure -- Hello, Masquerade!) -- I'm primarily interested in Hair Metal (for lack of a better term, though you could lump Glam/Sleaze Metal in there, along with AOR/Melodic Rock (hate those classifications as the stuff very often sounds like Metal to me) from '80 to '94, though I have been known to include some stuff from '79 (since a lot of it was projecting the 80's a little) and even '95 to '96 (only a handful) as a lot of the stuff was already in the pipeline and got either delayed or killed when everybody blinked and the plug got pulled on our fave genre and fools (even me, a little) jumped ship for borefest yoddlers like Eddie Vedder.
Phew! Now for the topic at hand (sorry for the digression -- many of you probably know all to well the annoyances of the virtual cut-out bin)... Kiss of the Gypsy. From these clips, all I can say is they are okay, as much as I want to love 'em, just not my cup of tea, sorry, Al.
They are a little too "80's L.A. Electric Cowboy Corporate Rock" for my taste, devoid of any humor or irony both in their music and image (unlike site faves such as Kix, etc). Still, if you go for that sort of thing, it's pretty good and the vids are certainly well done. Had they hit earlier, I'm sure they woulda been huge. Especially with a little exploitation of the singer's good looks (Doesn't he look like Winger's better looking little brother, or something). Okay, now I'm gonna hear from Billy Baddass again, hahaha!!!
Still the completist in me will get this (and no cut-out's, please!) and add some of it to my playlists.
Nice logo, though. Wouldn't it be cool to get a tattoo of their logo that adorns the front cover?
p.s. Now there's a topic we could talk about... What's the coolest Rock Star tattoo you've ever seen (that you can tell us about, hahaha!!!)? One of the coolest I ever saw was a tattoo of Les Paul's signature on the chest of the lead guitarist of Silvertide (speaking of country western hard rock acts). What the hell ever happened to those guys, anyway?
Decent band, sort of rootsier Bon Jovi or Thunder in style - had potential if they could have kept going.
Apparently singer & guitarist now playing covers around Blackpool (english seaside holiday resort).
Electric Boys got a lot "rootsier" and further and further away from their whole initial Funk Metal thing, for the better, with their beautiful last gasp, "Freewheelin'", which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
Get the '94 Music for Nations reissue with a "better-than-the-original" version of one hit wonder Ram Jam's #7 UK Singles Chart Hit (#12 on the US Singles Chart).
Interestingly, before the Electric Boy's version came out, there was a dance remix of the original which also charted in the UK at #14 in '90.
And so it seems with the UK popularity of such artists as Ram Jam and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the 70's dragging into the 80's and 90's when the British thoroughly embraced "Rootsy Metal" by spawning the likes of UK acts such as Electric Boys, Thunder, Skin, Blue Murder, Little Angels along with Katmandu (a terrific now defunct Blues Metal outfit that was fronted by ex-Fastway vocalist supreme, Dave King) and now we see, additionally, Kiss of the Gypsy, among others.
Yee-haw!, England!
p.s. Of course, L.A. had it's "rootsier" last gasp, as well, when Poison, Ratt, Crue, even Axl, all let their hair down and sent stock in AquaNet plummeting and stock in Frye, Harley and Levi's skyrocketing. Heck, ironically even British Ex-Pat and L.A. transplant, Steve Jones, ex-guitarist of the UK's Sex Pistols went all Ironhorse Metal Cowboy on us. I actually wonder if Brit Phil Lewis (formerly British Glam Metal act Girl's frontman and then erstwile lead singer of L.A. Guns), of all people, might have triggered the whole thing as L.A. Guns never got too crazy with the hair and seemed to adopt the whole Harleys and cowboy boots thing before anyone else. Could it be? And what about the Cult? Hello, Sonic Temple! Astbury in his cowboy hat and Duffy with his cowboy boots and vintage Gretch? Who-weeeeee!!! Bloody Ride 'em cowboy, mate!
p.s.s.t. Kenny O! There you are boy! I got some good 80's cheezemeisters for ya... Ever heard Aviator?
They recorded at Abbey Road, which confused me.
Sweden rules!
I've got a ton of 80's/90's Swedish stuff (around 40 cd's) I haven't even listened to yet. Got 'em purely because of their names, logos, song titles, outfits and hairdos in the cover photos, etc. without listening to a single note, just as I've been doing all of my life with a 90% batting average, Motley Crue on the first day that first album came out, included.
And Sweden has not steered me wrong yet!
p.s. Kenny, yes! Aviator is killer. Very Danger Danger! Right up your alley, Ally, too! May not be on the list but we'll get it to ya! In the meantime, YouTube 'em! That's how I found 'em... Probably clicking on someone's collection I noticed while looking at some other band I'd never heard of from Sweden!
It's frickin' great and it's Glam enough. Remember, this didn't come out 'til '92 and the Aquanet was put away by then, pretty much.
So these guys are in the vain of hickier Poison, etc. of that era in terms of that "rootsier" feel. And there are some real rockers on here. I put "Infatuation" on my top "Hard" Metal Playlist and "Take This Old Heart" on my "Mushy" Metal Playlist.
And some there's enough good ones to carve up nearly the whole thing for the "B" and "C" lists, etc. Which are just as good as the top ones of each category.
Great pick, Al!
If you're on facebook check out the Yuto Fest pages for more information or pop over to http://charityconcert.yolasite.com/kiss-of-the-gypsy-dvd-for-yuto.php
hope the above info is of interest to any KotG fans out there
http://charityconcert.yolasite.com/kiss-of-the-gypsy-dvd-for-yuto.php
cheers