Beth (Kiss cover) - Mike Massé

"Beth" by Kiss, an acoustic (vocal/piano) cover by Mike Massé. For booking information: https://mikemasse.com/contact/ Listen on Spotify: http://www.mikemasse.com/spotify Buy on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1217... Mike’s 80-song collection, “Covers (Mostly Live)”: https://itunes.apple.com/album/id5387...
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https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1127...

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Liner Notes: This is dedicated to every significant other/spouse of a musician who was ever late coming home from rehearsal. Which is all of them. :) And this is for all of the Beths out there, especially the ones named after this song--I know you're out there. I hear you callin'! :)

When I was a kid, I had Kiss wallpaper in my room. Or at least that's what I called it. It was all of the posters and pictures of the band from magazines I could find, covering all of the square footage of wall space I could reach. I was an "Ace" guy in some ways, but loved the whole band. They were like super heroes to this little kid. I even used them as a personal coping mechanism when I'd have nightmares. I'd wish them into existence/summon them, and they'd magically appear to fight my personal demons, like something out of "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park". My dad traveled regularly for work, and started the coolest tradition of bringing me back an LP from his longer trips. He carried around in his wallet a handwritten (by me) list of which Kiss albums I wanted, presumably in some sort of order of preference. [That later evolved into a Rush LP list.] So I eventually collected them all, and they were in heavy rotation and a staple of the soundtrack of my 70's youth. "Shout It Out Loud" and "Detroit Rock City" and "God of Thunder" were probably my favorites. But "Beth" was way up there. As an aspiring piano player, it just tickled my ear bone in the best possible way. And that Peter Criss vocal just shredded, or at least sounded shredded. The man gargles thumbtacks.

So I wanted to learn how to play "Beth". I was probably 9(?). I had the sweetest little old lady piano teacher in Melbourne (I was living in Satellite Beach, FL). I told her I had a song I wanted to learn, assuming if she heard it, she'd think it was pretty (with the orchestration and whatnot). So I showed her the sheet music book I'd bought, which happened to be "Kiss Alive II". It was something like this, if not exactly this: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/k... I'll never forget how she recoiled when she saw the picture on the cover, which included a sweaty made-up Gene Simmons with fake blood dripping (more like flowing) from his mouth. These were simpler times, bless her heart. So yeah, I didn't end up learning "Beth". And for some reason, I just never did. Maybe out of respect for that sweet old lady and her near cardiac arrest. :) I did finally get around to learning it recently, and man, I'm glad I did. It's the coolest piano part, originally played by Bob Ezrin, Kiss' producer at the time (no members of Kiss performed any music on the song). He was even given a writing credit on the song, so I like to think he was a big factor in molding it into the sweet ballad it became (probably handling the orchestration, etc.). I consider this a Bob Ezrin cover in many ways. ;)

My version/arrangement preserves the original piano part for much of the song, or at least as close as my ears could get me. I incorporated the key elements of the orchestration into the piano voicing where appropriate/possible, and did my best with the interlude. I'm sure a better pianist could tear that section up and make it super cool. I kept it simple. :) For the vocals, I didn't want people to say, "it sounds nice, but too nice". Like most humans, my voice is naturally way cleaner than Peter Criss's. So while my voice isn't raspy all the time, I can induce a temporary rasp (don't try this at home). I recorded the vocals first thing in the morning one day, without drinking any fluids before or during. By about take #12 or so, I was getting the intended results. And this is about as close as I can safely get. You don't wanna go the full Peter Criss. That's just madness! I can't afford to live in Raspland, but it's a fun place to visit. On a related note, can you imagine what Peter Criss would sound like deploying those same rasp-inducing tactics? White noise.

Thanks for watching/listening,

-Mike