Kiss – Not For The Innocent! (The Godfatherecords G.R.141)

Not For The Innocent! (The Godfatherecords G.R.141)

This compilation of studio out takes was released a few years back by Godfathers and deserves some attention from the collecting community due to its diverse selection. The disc has a playing time of just over 78 minutes and has a wide variety of material mainly focusing on the 1970’s.

The packaging is typical Godfathers tri fold sleeve adorned with full color out takes done by photographer Norman Seef for the Hotter Than Hell record, the photo shoot was set up with the band getting wasted (except for Gene) and has strippers and “professional” women to liven things up.

There are a couple of great shots of an obviously wasted Paul Stanley hamming it up and one of him passed out and it comes with a insert with track back ground and information, great stuff indeed.

As with most demo material the quality can vary but the cover states that the material comes from original acetates and master reels and after numerous listenings I can only agree. Most all the material comes from the Simmons archive and his song writing ability is the main showcase on this release. A very nice set from Godfathers, a must for KISS fans and the general collector.

Stanley The Parrot 1969;Written by Gene Simmons Pre Wicked Lester and the embryonic version the classic Strutter. The song starts out with two minutes of instrumental before evolving in the song, the music itself sounds very sixties and not a bit at all like KISS, supposedly after the partnership of Simmons/ Stanley was established they honed the song into KISS perfection. Sound quality is excellent and a very different listening experience.

High And Low 1975; A Gene song recorded around the Dressed To Kill record, a nice heavy riff that would soon evolve in parts into Calling Dr Love, the lyrics Come baby get on your knees is there and a small riff that would be used for Baby Driver.

Burning Up With Fever 1975; The original version of the song that later appeared on Gene’s solo album in 1978, more basic with a slightly different feel than the one that would ultimately be released three years later. A decent enough song with a good Gene vocal and good guitar solo, perhaps with a little faster and heavier arraignment it would had a KISS record.

Rotten To The Core 1976; A song with a long history, it was worked on the previous year and never finished and would eventually be dusted off during the 1998 Psycho Circus sessions and finally revamped as Sweet & Dirty Love on Simmons 2004 Asshole record. Typical Gene lyric about sex, the song has a decent riff and some great drumming, very up tempo.

Jelly Roll 1975; A strange song that was worked on through out 1975 as it is on many sessions, kind almost sounds like Queen’s tie Your Mother Down with laughable lyrics, “She’ll make your jelly roll”.

Daily Planet 1975; A KISS instrumental with a nice fat riff that is just repeated with some slight variation.

Do You Love Me? 1976;Early pre Destroyer version of a classic song with Paul singing in a faux English accent, slightly different arrangement and lyrics to the version that would finally appear on Destroyer. A great song is a great song, the slight differences just give another perspective and is surprisingly strong version.

Flaming Youth 1976; Different arraignments with a slightly different lyric coming from a different perspective.

Great Expectations 1976; Bare bones version, no choir and with slightly different lyrics it does not have the heavy Bob Ezrin production on it but has some interesting organ playing the middle melodic section. It shows the band had it worked out well and it would have been a great song with out all the production extras.

None Of Your Business 1976;Written by Becky Hobbs and Lew Anderson that was brought to KISS by Ezrin. Peter Criss has the main vocal but certainly not going to fit the Destroyer mold and was eventually omitted from the record. Perhaps with more work it could have been used as it has a simple and good riff and decent song structure, lyrically it is simple at best.

Howlin For Your Love 1976; Another leftover from the Rotten To The Core sessions and would eventually be re worked as Plaster Caster for the Love Gun record. Obviously there was a lot work put into this song, it has a polished feel complete with female background vocals.

I Don’t Want Your Romance 1976; Another from the rotten To The Core sessions, again with female background vocals. The song is an up tempo version of Ladies Room from Rock And Roll Over record, many of the lyrics are already in place. Thank god they did not keep the background vocals.

Man Of 1000 Faces 1976; A song that would later appear on Simmons 1978 solo record with some lyrics that would make their way into Got Love For Sale from Love Gun and Tunnel Of Love from Simmons 1978 solo record. Obviously inspired by his love of horror movies and Lon Chaney.

Rock And Rolls Royce 1976; The original version of Love Em’ Leave Em’ from Love Gun with a little Sweet Pain guitar riff thrown in. A very together song complete with a great Ace guitar solo.

See You In Your Dreams 1976;Background vocals come from the female Group With No Name who had a Casablanca record deal and featured Married With Children’s Katey Sagel who Gene was involved with at the time. The song would eventually be re worked and recorded for the Rock And Roll Over Record.  

See You Tonite 1976; A song with origins back to 1969 and later recorded for Simmons 1978 solo record, a very good song with a nice chorus it is similar to Hard Luck Woman and owns a nod to there Beach Boys.

True Confessions 1976; Referred to as a “Cock Rocker” this Gene song features Helen Reddy on back ground vocals who apparently did not care for the lyrical content.

It’s Gonna Be Alright 1977; A true Gene bare bones demo, he plays guitar along to a drum machine. Even in its rough shame the song has some interesting parts with some decent back ground vocals and great guitar riffs.

Love Came To Me 1977; Another Love Gun out take that features more female background, it would eventually morph into the also un released Love Is Blind song, harmony guitar playing is decent but over all an annoying song.

Bad Bad Lovin II 1978; Version number 2, the 1975 original would be worked into Calling Dr Love, this version was possibly done around the time of Gene’s 78 solo record. It has some interesting Sax playing and back ground vocals. Definitely not in the KISS mold and has a late 70’s feel.

Fourever 1978; A stab at an anthem song in the Rock And Roll Vein and You Wanted The Best from 1998 Psycho Circus. Has your typical All For One style lyrics and a sax solo, Gene was obviously enjoying fleshing out these songs with additional instruments.

Reputation 1978; Again another song in the same vein as the above two songs, womanizing lyrics with a decent chorus. A bare bones affair with simple guitar and bass but no drums.

Not For The Innocent 1982; Totally different than the version that would appear on the Lick It Up record. A rougher version that has Paul on vocals, stripped down and very heavy, possible recorded during the Creatures Of The Night sessions. The song length is 5:53 and is longer that the demo found on Godfathers If its Too Loud Your Too Old Release, it is not as polished.

Outromental 1995; The coda from the Childhood’s End song from Carnival Of Souls, it was cut from that song and released at the end of the record as a hidden bonus track. Heavy as hell and evil sounding it would have fit in well with God Of Thunder.