Well, I was finally able to squeeze a Carnival Of Souls advance cassette out of our Mercury rep...also finally got the "Jungle" single too. Just to clarify, this is just an advance, so still no pictures, liner notes, etc.

Just listening to COS now, and it smokes! I really get a Revenge feeling from it now, whereas before I got more of a Carnival Of Seattle vibe. Probably because the guitars sound like KISS guitars on the real version, and on the bootlegs they're muddier and have more of that crappy Soundgarden-live guitar sound. I still think COS is about as big of a departure for them as The Elder was (execpt in the almost totally opposite direction), but I can definitely hear more KISS in it now.

I haven't listened to the bootleg for a few months. I got it, listened to it enough to know the songs, and then left it alone so when I got the real version it would be more special...and it is!

I'm just realizing how "I Confess" really sounds like something that would have been on Gene's solo album.

"Childhood's End" is simply an awesome song.

Just when you think, maybe there could be a little more melody on this album, the chorus of "Seduction Of The Innocent" kicks in, and it's like "Fuck Yeah!"

This is my first time REALLY listening to "I Walk Alone". The only time I had a chance to listen to it was at last year's Florida KISS Convention when Eric played his copy over the PA. I purposly didn't try to seek this out, so I could be surprised. It's great listening to it! I've got that sense of pride I felt when first hearing "Little Caesar"...or pretty much anytime hearing a non-Gene/Paul KISS song for the first time. Bruce sounds really cool. I can see where Gene is coming from when he says it's kinda like Ace.

Anyway, I don't want to give a big review about something we've had for over a year, but those are just some of my thoughts after hearing it for the first time for real.