"Sweet & Dirty Love," the rocking kickoff to
***HOLE, could be one of the lesser tracks on
Kiss'
Double Platinum. It rocks, it's simple, it's what
Gene Simmons is best at, but it doesn't hint at the album to follow. The can't-believe-it's-so-faithful-to-the-original cover of
Prodigy's "Firestarter" is the first clue that the album is overly indulgent, but its sampling/composition credit means that
the Breeders'
Kim Deal will receive royalty checks, and that's brilliant in anyone's book. That's the thing about
***HOLE: you don't listen and engage with it as much as sit back and marvel at it, as in "how does he get away with it, and on such a grand scale?" There are plenty of epic ballads in the style of
the Beatles, freakish rockers with provocative lyrics, and an oddball set of guest stars. Believe it or not,
Bob Dylan sat with
the Demon and co-wrote the very plain "Waiting for the Morning Light." That tops the bit of trivia that
Lou Reed once co-wrote with
Simmons, but it doesn't outfreak the fact that "Black Tongue"'s writers' credit reads
Simmons/
Zappa (that the fabulous, glittery photographer David LaChapelle was hired for the cover is freakout number three). Why
Gail Zappa handed over some old tapes of
Frank to
Simmons is anyone's guess, but he builds an almost worthy rocker around the bit of
Frank-on-tape, and the
Zappa kids seem to be having a lot of fun singing backup. It's almost infectious, but more so is the singalong title track, even better on the edited version of the album since all the naughty "A" words get replaced with a ridiculous sheep bleat. "Whatever Turns You On (Turns Me On)" is the other singalong, but this time it's groovy with a near jam band feel. Former playmate Shannon Tweed and her family are in the chorus just to make it extra freaky. ~ David Jeffries