Rockology

Eric Carr many not have gotten many chances to show off his songwriting abilities on Kiss albums, but he wasn't your typical rock drummer, content on sitting in the back and merely keeping the beat. Throughout his career, Carr demoed countless songs -- for Kiss as well as other projects -- some of which serve as the basis of 1999's Rockology. Issued eight years after his passing, the album includes four songs that the drummer penned for an animated rock/cartoon series he was planning, Rockheads, along with tracks that are quite Kiss-esque (no doubt due to Carr's Kiss bandmate, guitarist Bruce Kulick, appearing throughout). Standouts include the rocking "Eyes of Love," the power ballad "Somebody's Waiting," and "Nightmare," the latter of which contains some very Paul Stanley-esque vocalizing. Rockology shows that Stanley and Simmons certainly could have allowed Carr some additional songwriting input -- especially during Kiss' wildly uneven non-makeup period of the late '80s. ~ Greg Prato