Album review: VARIOUS – Pure Fire – The Ultimate KISS Tribute

Cleopatra [Release date 19.10.18]

There was a trend in the late 90’s/2000’s where tribute albums were popping up left, right and centre, each one boasting a host of musicians that had not so long before been the staple of MTV, radio and arena shows and were now side-lined by a rapidly changed musical landscape. Some of these albums were great, some were definitely not. “Pure Fire” is a newly repackaged version of “Spin The Bottle”, the KISS tribute put together in 2004 by Bob Kulick and Bruce Bouillet – the former a member of KISS’ inner circle.

The list of players is immense and includes the likes of CC Deville (Poison), Lemmy, Steve Lukather (Toto), Dee Snider, Kip Winger, Gilby Clarke – and I am only just scratching the surface here. Now, when the songs are as well known as the ones on offer here, you could be mistaken for trying to better the original, and that is not what this is about, there are some great covers here- the Snider fronted “Detroit Rock City”, and Kip Winger and Paul Gilbert on “I Want You” are outstanding.

Too many great players on each track to list individually but “Cold Gin”, “King of The Night Time World”, “Strutter” and “I Stole Your Love” are all the good fun you would expect from an album like this.

The new artwork on the album is a great touch and there is also an accompanying DVD, wherein the likes of Doug Aldrich, Fred Coury, Lemmy, Jack Shaw and Bob Kulick talk about KISS.

This is a fun album for KISS fans and those who like a star-studded tribute record. One word of warning though, there are some world class guitarists on here that are trying to out-Ace Ace. ****

Review by Nikk Gunns

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)