Attending junior high school in the Washington, D.C. area, I
\nvividly remember being exposed to several forms of “homegrown” for
\nthe first time. The one I naturally took to was D.C.\/Baltimore area
\nrockers, Kix, right at the time they released their third
\nfull-length album,
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i>. And while I may have chosen the form that
\nMom would have initially preferred, the choice had as much to do
\nwith the fact that DC\/101 regularly featured the band on their
\nweekly “Local Licks” radio program to any parental advice she could
\nhave given me.<\/p>\n
My first impression of
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i> left me with a giddy feeling that Kix were
\neasily a more exciting version of Aerosmith during their toxic-twin
\nera. This Kix release had a heavy recorded tone to the songs and
\nthanks to some searing harmonica solos by vocalist Steve Whiteman,
\none could easily spot elements of the same blues-based rock formula
\nthat catapulted Aerosmith to the top of the charts.<\/p>\n
Beginning with the self-titled track, Whiteman and company
\nresist the urge to race through a song and chorus that might
\nlyrically suggest otherwise. The vocalist allows guitarists Ronnie
\nYounkins and Brian Forsythe to prove that faster is not always
\nbetter as the two axemen set the table for Whiteman to masterfully
\ncroon his way through the song.<\/p>\n
While
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i> “hits” on the first song, it begins to
\nmisfire as the songs “Red Hot (Black & Blue)” and “Bang Bang
\n(Balls of Fire)” suffer from weak and predictable lyric
\ncomposition. Whiteman’s screeching vocals save these songs from
\nbeing classified as filler and, as far as I’m concerned, his unique
\nvocal style kept any Kix song from entering the increasingly
\nubiquitous landfill of cock-rock schlock that the 80’s were known
\nto have spawned. The two tracks listed above suffer from titles too
\nblas\u00e9 to try and finesse a song and chorus around. A little
\nstronger turn of the ignition switch in amping up the guitars and
\nmaybe these songs would have worked.<\/p>\n
The hidden gem on
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i> is buried eight tracks deep into the
\nrelease. I’ve yet to understand why bands force listeners into this
\ngame of hide n’ seek, but as always, the discovery of such a grand
\ntrack is always most fulfilling. “Cold Shower” is anchored by a
\ndeep and dark bass line and features Whiteman delivering his lyrics
\nin a sinister fashion. The rhythm section of Kix, drummer Jimmy
\nChalfant and bassist Donnie Purnell, accelerate the groove on this
\nsong during the several instances they back Whiteman on his vocals.
\nAnd to top things off, Whiteman ices the track’s splendor with a
\ndeparting harmonica salute. “Cold Shower” is easily the most
\ndynamic track on the album.<\/p>\n
In addition,
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i> benefits largely from the two tracks that
\nconclude the 10-song album. “Lie Like a Rug” and “Sex” are upbeat
\nboogie-blues rock n’ roll tunes which in retrospect, provide the
\nsubstance that distanced Kix from their mid-80’s L.A. metal scene
\ncontemporaries.<\/p>\n
Think of the last three songs matching up with a strong title
\ntrack and
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i> sandwiches its way into an album that could
\nhave benefited from more than the regional exposure radio provided.
\nAny serious rock n’ roll fan would also do well to refrain from any
\npreconceived notions that Kix thrived or even belonged in the
\nlargely shallow hair-metal scene of the 80’s. That being said,
\nMidnite Dynamite<\/i> is an album that would fit comfortably into
\nany rock fan’s music collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":26440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6890],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37674","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kix","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37674"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}