Blimey, it was way back in early 1994, I remember it well.
KISS, after an inspired 'come-back' album in REVENGE and a successful (and, at long last, critically acclaimed ) UK Revenge Tour in 1992, had wasted 1993 on a somewhat disappointing ALIVE III package, and were obviously NOT planning 2 do a hell of a lot (internationally at least) in 1994.

1994, was shaping up 2 B a long and very dull year.
The impetus began by Revenge had, in my eyes, been wasted.

KISS seemed destined 2 B on the 'come-back' trail with every year that went by...
We were promised 'something very exciting' in 1994 from KISS, but what we actually received was the shambolic and totally pointless exercise that was 'KISS MY ASS'. A ridiculous package containing awful cover-art, a fat bloke's tattoos, a ridiculous title, and some great internationally celebrated acts such as Toad the Wet Sprockett (Oh, please!!) all doing semi-interesting versions of KISS songs we were already sick of hearing!

It was an immense let-down 4 me my friends. The packaging was shit, everything was shit.
The title 'KISS MY ASS' was also a cause for concern.The word 'ASS' as I'm sure some of U R aware also means 'donkey'. KISS MY DONKEY does not feature highly in the world's greatest album titles!

In fact, the only vaguely interesting thing about the whole period was the amount of times that BBC Radio One (the national UK radio station) saw fit 2 play, and keep on playing, the Lenny Kravitz version of 'Deuce'!! Someone at Mercury Records surely needs their arses kicked 4 not releasing this as a single. Kravitz was still fairly popular in the UK, and this single would have dented the Top 40 quite severely I'm sure. Something tells me that there must be a promo version of this floating around somewhere, but alas, it was never released as a single over here. In the USA, don't 4get, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had their version of 'Detroit Rock City' released as a green vinyl 7" with the original KISS version on the b-side!!

While I'm ranting, if Ace didn't give his permission 2 use his features on the front cover of the album (or whatever the story was), why feature anybody at all? What was the point of showing the faces of a family in KISS make-up when one of them WASN'T wearing KISS make-up? Instead U have some strange hybrid make-up job that was simply dumb 2 include. Change the bloody cover guys! It is with some irony that 7 years later, KISS would again have a problem with make-up, but this time they replaced the guy but kept the same make-up!! Nice one fellas!! Oh, LMFAO. Worse was 2 follow when the video package 4 KISS MY ASS was released. The video itself has some interesting stuff on it, but did the title of the video really need 2 B edited 2 'KISS MY A**'?? That is a joke! What's so offensive about a donkey anyway?

Oh yeah, anyway, Crown of Thorns...

Who R they? Where did they come from? Who did they blow 2 get there?!
Well, quite simply, 'Crown of Thorns' , 2 coin a phrase, R 'the bees knees'.
Originally made up of Tony Thompson on drums, Michael Paige on bass, Micki Free on lead guitar,
and the finest rock-star ever 2 have a moheekan hair-do and wear courderoy trousers at the same time; Jean Beauvoir on guitars and vocals. He gave a whole new meaning 2 the term 'power-chord'...
Or, at least, 'power courds' ha-ha.
And I'm sure they've never blown anybody!
Er, yeah, anyway...

Those of U who love 2 read their KISS album liner notes avidly will B aware that Jean Beauvoir's name has cropped up once or twice down the years, firstly on ANIMALIZE in 1984 and ASYLUM in 1985. Officially at least, he co-wrote KISS songs such as 'Thrills In The Night', 'Who Wants To Be Lonely', and 'Uh! All Night', all of course with our dear own Paul Stanley. Jean's career didn't start with this KISS connection. Jean had a stint with the 'wreck 'n' roll' of the Plasmatics (the live show featured the never fully clothed now departed Wendy O Williams trashing a car, and was once said 2 have put the 'car' in carnage...), worked with Little Steven, had a successful solo career, toured with the likes of Tina Turner and (crikey Moses) The Eurythmics, and filled his spare-time by helping out KISS, The Ramones, Lionel Ritchie, John Waite, and forming his own band; Voodoo X. Jean, then, had a wealth of experience.

When Jean decide 2 put 2gether the band that would become 'Crown of Thorns' the record company execs were falling over themselves in order 2 sign them up. With the likes of Paul Stanley, Beau Hill (writer 4 Europe and Winger), and Jim Vallance (writer 4 KISS, Aerosmith and Bryan Adams) all helping out, a lucrative record deal seemed 2 B a formality on the way 2 super-stardom.
Alas, it wasn't!
Interscope, after reputedely parting company with $1,000,000 in order to get Jean's signature, ultimately shelved the album. The excuse was that the rock music scene had shifted and 'grunge' was now in vogue. That was 1993. By 1994, in the UK at least, Crown of Thorns were finally at home on the 'Now and Then' record label. Within months the 'Crown of Thorns' CD was in the shops. 2 herald the arrival of a new stellar act, Kerrang! (temporarily shaken out of its grunge-following bandwagon) gave the new album a distinct thumbs-up. Furthermore, after a rave review, Kerrang! announced that Crown of Thorns were 2 play their debut gig in the famous Marquee Club, London, England. It was a bit of a trek in order 2 travel from Wales 2 England 2 see a band I'd never heard of until a few weeks earlier. I hadn't even bought the CD yet, but hey, he wrote some songs with KISS didn't he?!
Well, that was excuse enough!

As it turned out, the place was full of KISS fans, and the usual exchanging of views and addresses was soon under way. B4 long, Crown of Thorns finally hit the stage - and then, with anticipation rising in the Marquee.. nothing, not a thing. Silence unbound. Then,when someone backstage finally remembered a band needed power 2 play, Crown of Thorns began 2 play with power!! They knocked me sideways. They were brilliant, and Jean was such a huge star, what the hell was he doing in the Marquee Club? 4 a debut gig it was certainly impressive, and 4 a new band as Crown of Thorns were, it must have been daunting 2 even 2 attempt 2 buck the trend of the music that was around at the time.
But Crown of Thorns were never about trends.

Back in Wales the following day, I put on the sampler CD that Now and Then Records had distributed at the gig. Titled 'Dream In Colour' it featured a whole host of acts that appeared, or were, 2 appear on Now and Then Records. The opening track was the 'The Healer' by the Thorns. Fucking brillaint it was. So, later the same day, I endeavoured 2 find and buy the debut album by Crown of Thorns. I wasn't 2 B disappointed. Though proclaimed as 'melodic rock' this was often seen as a dirty word (or phrase!), particularly in the days of "down-in-the-mouth-so-miserable-but-look-at-the-cash-we're-bringing-in" grunge bands. Crown of Thorns were as melodic as KISS were. Not as commercial as Bon Jovi, but had catchy chorus lines all the same. The over-riding feel of the debut album was it's rawness, and 4 a bunch of people who'd all been around the business 4 ages, the album sounded fresh. And it was a damn sight better than the completely naff KISS MY ASS opus.
"KISS MY HALF-ARSED CASH-IN" more like.

As it turned out, Paul Stanley's name featured on both song-writing and production credits. Even Gene managed 2 get in2 the 'thank you' notes. The tracks Paul was most involved in were 'HIKE IT UP' (co-production), 'DYING FOR LOVE' (co-production), 'STANDING ON THE CORNER FOR YA' (co-production), 'WINTERLAND' (co-write and co-production), and 'HOUSE OF LOVE' (co-production). Also featured on the album was synth-wiz and KISS helper-outer Phil Ashley, not un-coincidentally working with Paul Stanley's contribution on several songs. Most song credits were with Jean and Micki Free collaborating.

Micki Free himself has also had previous KISS-related connections. Oh yes. The Queen of Fuck 'n' Roll, Wendy O Williams, had perhaps the greatest KISS-related album ever in 1984 with her 'WOW' album.

Produced by Gene Simmons, it featured the non-used KISS tracks 'AIN'T NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS', 'IT'S MY LIFE', the original version of 'THIEF IN THE NIGHT', and the Simmons tracks "I LOVE SEX (AND ROCK AND ROLL)", and "LEGENDS NEVER DIE". Also appearing on the album was Paul Stanley playing guitars on 'READY TO ROCK', Eric Carr on drums on "LEGENDS NEVER DIE", Gene (under the guise of Dr.Van Helsing) playing bass on all tracks, and even Ace Frehley playing the lead solo on "BUMP AND GRIND" under a 'special guest' tag. The track 'IT'S MY LIFE' is rumoured to be a full KISS song (with Gene, Eric, Paul and Vinnie playing) with the Wendy Williams vocal over it.

In amongst all of this was a song-writing credit for Crown of Thorns' own Micki Free (on 'LEGENDS NEVER DIE' with Gene Simmons and Adam Mitchell) and with Micki Free picking up the acoustic guitar work also on the same track.

The Crown of Thorns debut album (NTHEN 8) may not have had this amount of KISS influence, and perhaps it's better 4 it, but the connections R there all the same. It is unfair 2 compare like with like, but the most KISS-sounding tracks on the album R 'Crown of Thorns', 'Hike It Up' 'The Healer' and 'Winterland'. 'Crown of Thorns' the song reminds me a lot of KISS' 'Heart of Chrome' ("I gave you my heart but got your crown of thorns"). Think 'Lick It Up' and 'Rise To It' and U can picture 'Hike It Up' nestled between the 2. 'The Healer' is a hard hitting track with a 'Love Gun'-esque drum ear bashing! It also has some Stanley-style chest-beating lyrics ("Someone U bear your soul 2, someone that'll never leave U, who'll B there til the end of time,in the hour of my waking I can feel my body shaking..."). The most startlingly KISS-sounding track however is unsurprisingly the Stanley-penned and Stanley-produced 'Winterland'. Starting off in acoustic mode and soft vocals in much the same way as Paul's KISS solo songs "Take Me Away (Together As One)" and "Tonight You Belong To Me", 'Winterland' soon has chunky power-chords and vocals soaring skywards. If you can find this album anywhere I highly recommend that U buy it KISS freaks! U will not B disappointed. Blummen heck, 'Winterland' is worth the price in itself!!

2 cash in on the rave reviews and successful debut gig in London, Crown of Thorns soon lined up a full UK Summer 1994 club tour. I was lucky enough 2 see them again, this time in Bristol, England. By now, they had just released a 4-track EP (NTHENCDS 1) featuring the Stanley-produced 'Hike It Up' and 3 previosuly unavailable demo tracks of 'THE NIGHT', 'DOWNED' and the brilliant 'LITTLE STONE HOUSE'.

Once again the tour proved popular in the eyes of the journos, and I managed 2 get some very good photos of the band onstage - only 4 me 2 lend them out 2 someone and not have them returned. Bloody hell, I hate that. Anyway, the most visible thing about Crown of Thorns was the absence of drummer Tony Thompson who had been replaced by Hawk Lopez.

The band again returned 2 Blighty 2 support Skin's British tour in November of 1994, but I bloody missed that! It was during this period that a second Crown of Thorns album was released. Dubbed 'Raw Thorns; The Unreleased Demos' it was exactly what it said on the cover - previously unreleased demos (excluding of course, the 3 that appeared on that summer's EP CD).

The sound was indeed very raw. Real demos. With a sprinkling of ballads in the mix, 'Raw Thorns' contained some real rock out tracks such as 'Feel My Thunder' and 'Little Stone House'. According 2 the liner notes "The songs embodied on this CD are 12 track unreleased demos prior to the recording of the first Crown of Thorns CD, much of this expereince as inspiration has helped to make Crown of Thorns what they are becoming today..." The album itself was produced and engineered by Jean Beauvoir with Jean taking up the task of all drums, guitars, bass and vocals throughout, with cohort Micki Free helping out lyrically and playing all lead guitars. Once again Paul and Gene get a thank you, probably due 2 the fact they were involved in the project at this early stage.

1995 was a transistional year 4 Crown of Thorns, the most dramatic change was the absence of Thorns co-founder Micki Free. I was gutted 2 hear this, he was very good, very cool, and wore nice hats! Some big tours were lined up 2 play stadiums in support of the likes of Bon Jovi and Van Halen all over Europe, playing 2 over a million people in the process. A re-worked version of 'Are You Ready' was released in the UK (I never saw it!!) and the band finally signed deals that would see their product released 2 international markets, even 4 the first time the USA. Late 1995 saw Crown of Thorns enter the studio 2 cut a new album, it would be interesting 2 see how Crown of Thorns would develop without Micki Free.

Fortunately, the album 'Breakthrough' (NTHEN26) released in 1996 was great!! Though Micki had departed, Jean's songwriting ability was good enough 2 take up the slack and the album was 2 feature some of the Thorns' best work.

The album starts off incredibly strongly with 'Over My Head' and is backed up with a worthy version of the Beatles classic 'Don't Let Me Down' before heading in2 the classic 'You Wear It Well'. The mood softens and the pace slows 4 'Only One Who's Lonely' (with the final co-credit for Micki Free) b4 we reach, in my view, simply the best C of T track yet - 'Breakthrough'. A classic. 'Right From Wrong' is amongst my favourite tracks also, as is 'Heartbeat' and 'Leave It Up To Fate'. If there was one criticism however, it would be the general slower pace of the album than it's debut predecessor, but this is nit-picking.

Limited 2 a few thousand copies was the version that came with a bonus disc (pictured above). The bonus disc, clocking in at around 25 minutes worth of material, featured re-worked versions of 'Winterland', 'Standin' On The Corner For Ya', and 'Hike It Up', and three new songs in demo form in 'The Rain', 'I Won't Wait' and the Stanley/Beauvoir co-write 'Dirty Talk, Dirty Walk'. The reworked versions of the 3 debut album tracks feature louder drums, echoey vocals and more synths - a bit reminiscent of the reworking of 'Partners In Crime' from the 'First KISS, Last Licks' promo lp. Paul Stanley gets a co-write credit and co-production credit for 'Dirty Talk, Dirty Walk', and it is pretty disposable Stanley stuff, but it's nice 2 hear it all the same. 'The Rain' also features Stanley as co-producer and those background vocals sound suspiciously like Paul Stanley's.

Okay, the story so far (1994 - 1996);

"Crown of Thorns" (1994)