Artist name: Peter Criss
Album Title: Peter Criss
Tracklist:
Rock, Rockin’, Rock & Roll
In The Dark
For The Money
Murder
Walking On Water
Creepy Crawlers
Justice
Cheaper To Keep Her
Sugar
Rubber Neckin’
Bonus Track
Hard Rock Knockers
Rating: 9/10
Running Time: 42:41
Label: Silvercat Records, Inc.
Release Date: December 19. 2025
Version Reviewed: Digipak CD (Black Version)
Band Members:
Peter Criss - Lead And Background Vocals, Drums And Percussion
Mike McLaughlin - Rhythm And Lead Guitar
John 5 - Guitar On Tracks 6, 7 And 10
Billy Sheehan - Bass
Matt Montgomery - Bass On Track 8
Paul Shaffer - Piano And B3
Additional Vocals By Dennis Collins, Sharon Collins And Cat Manning
Additional Album Credits:
Engineered And Mixed By Barry Pointer
Mastered By Ryan Smith For Sterling Sound
Graphic Design By Matt Montgomery
Billy Sheehan Photo By Rayna Leigh
Cat Manning Photo By Bob Watts Photography
Peter Criss is one of the few guys directly responsible for my love of Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. I got into Kiss when my Aunt Kelly bought me Paul Stanley's solo album for my birthday in 1979 and a year or so later my cousin Terry bought “Double Platinum" on a double cassette and we’d play that over and over in my bedroom and I was a Kiss fan ever since. I bought all of the albums up to that point, including all four solo albums. While I’ve always liked Peter Criss’s solo album the least because I’m not into Jazz and that was heavily influenced by jazz just as Peter is as a drummer, but Peter showed on the Kiss studio albums he could rock the drums as heavy and powerful as any drummer out there. And that slight jazz vibe in his drumming gave Kiss a very distinct sound. Peter left Kiss on a high note with “Unmasked”. His drumming there sounded great. He came back to the band later on but left again and I really didn’t follow him after that. When I saw he had this new studio album with a ton of great guest musicians including Paul Shaffer, best known in the hard rock world from the movie This Is Spinal Tap (but best known to me as David Letterman’s band leader for decades) and John 5, I just had to buy this and review it. What did I think of it? Well, that Cat Man delivers with this self-titled new album!
At its core, this is what you would expect from Peter. It has its jazz and sometimes bluesy moments, but it’s a bit more Rock And Roll than his original Kiss solo album. Peter’s voice is in top form and is a throwback to the old Kiss songs he sang on. He’s a very underrated vocalist, and an even more underrated drummer as is evident here on “Peter Criss”. He hits hard, he has his own style and it’s just great to hear him again. Paul Shaffer is a nutjob on the piano as he always has been, Mike McLaughlin and John 5 came up with some insanely good guitar melodies, solos and leads and bassist Billy Sheehan? What? I didn’t know until I bought this that he was on this! I mean, come on! Sheehan! I've been a fan of his since he played on David Lee Roth’s “Eat ‘Em And Smile”. You know this is good. The entire album has a more positive vibe but does get a bit melancholy at certain points. The lyrics are about Rock ‘N’ Roll, love and more. I have to specifically mention that “Walk On Water” moved me to tears the first time I heard it. “Creepy Crawlers” has a serious Alice Cooper vibe. An Alice Cooper/Peter Criss tour would be perfect!
The cover art is a bit simplistic and is just a black cover with the Peter Criss logo, but it works well. The “T” in Peter is a cross and the two “S” characters are lightning shaped in an homage to the legendary band he was part of. There are three different covers for this digipak. The black one I bought, a white cover and a silver cover. Pick whichever one you want as all three versions have the same exact track listing and the same bonus song.
Now that Ace Frehley is gone, Peter Criss is the only band member of Kiss that I can respect anymore. I will always love Paul and Gene for their music and stage presences, but that new version of the band just isn’t Kiss to me. Good job to everyone involved with the making of this album. Any fan of Kiss should add this to their collection. Thanks Peter, for the fifty years that I've enjoyed your music!
As always, I like to ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the albums they love or by going to their Bandcamp and Facebook pages and supporting them there.
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