softer touch

Paul Stanley of the hard-rocking band Kiss showcases his love for soul music legends on his new album ‘Now and Then’

Say what? ■ Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Paul Stanley, artistically reborn as a vintage soul music crooner? ■ The guitar-playing frontman of the hard-rocking Kiss — minus his trademark makeup, glittery stage garb and eye-popping pyrotechnics — earnestly performing classics by Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Al Green and others, plus some new blue-eyed soul ballads of his own? ■ “It’s liberating anytime you allow yourself out of the boundaries that other people set for you,” said Stanley, whose debut album with his 10-piece band, Soul Station, is due out Friday. ■ “It doesn’t have to please everybody — that’s not the point at all,” he stressed. “When I starred in (a 1999 touring Broadway production of) ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ some people asked me if I was reinventing myself. And I say the same thing now: ‘I’m not a rock singer. I’m a singer who loves rock.’ That’s a choice. I love doing it. But it’s not all I am or want to be.” ■ Stanley makes that point abundantly clear on “Now and Then,” his first album with Soul Station. It’s an unabashedly rock-free album that may have casual and die-hard Kiss fans alike doing double-takes upon first — and second — listen. The band teams him with veteran Kiss drummer Eric Singer and seasoned musicians whose previous credits range from Whitney Houston and Natalie Cole to Stevie Wonder and Pink.

Released by UME, “Now and Then” features four new ballads, including “I Do” and “I, Oh I,” that Stanley wrote for the album. All four were inspired by his love for many of the timeless records released during the 1960s and ’70s heyday of Motown, Stax-volt and Philadelphia International Records.

Records like, specifically, The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything,” The Delfonics’ “La-la Means I Love You,” The Spinners’ “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” and The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” — to cite five numbers devotedly performed by Stanley on his band’s new album.

All of these songs are silky, joyous odes to the power of love. Each was a hit for venerated Black American soul artists, whose meticulously constructed and lushly orchestrated music embodied a suave elegance. And they all featured sonorous lead singers and lush vocal harmonies, performed with deeply felt ardor and delicate nuance by artists who strove for a sense of earthly rapture that sounded almost angelic.

Music, in short, that seemed to exist in an altogether different sonic and emotional universe than Kiss in general, let alone such pile-driving, fist-pumping, proudly nuance-free Kiss songs as “Hotter Than Hell,” “God of Thunder” and “Rock and Roll All Nite.”

Given such obvious differences, is Soul Station a lark? A sound vehicle for Stanley to deliver a musical valentine? Or something else?

A ‘passion project’

“Projects like Soul Station might be lumped in with what gets called ‘vanity projects,’ ” Stanley noted. “But mine is a passion project. It’s (spotlighting) the music I grew up with that was really fundamental and foundational, in terms of where I came from. That music is at the core of my music.

“Although sometimes it might not seem obvious, there are even songs on earlier Kiss albums that demonstrated that. ‘Kiss Unmasked’ has a song called ‘What Makes the World Go ’Round,’ which is basically like a stonecold Spinners song; we just arranged it differently.

“And ‘Shout It Out Loud’ — that’s The Four Tops! Although Kiss very much avoided the (soul) genre, that music has always been in my wheelhouse. Long before I listened to all the English rock bands in the 1960s, I was listening to Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, The Supremes — the list goes on and on.”

Speaking of The Supremes, the “ooh, ooh, ooh” vocal parts near the conclusion of Stanley’s new Soul Station song “Save Me” sound like a notefor-note homage to The Supremes’ 1968 hit “Love Child.”

“Ah, you’re good!” Stanley said. “Yes. Whether it’s a musical valentine, it is indeed very much that part of ‘Love Child’ at the end of ‘Save Me.’ I think that acknowledging your roots and incorporating them into what you do is almost essential.

“I don’t think you can write any song in one of those genres — Motown, Philly Soul or Stax-volt — if it doesn’t invoke certain memories or comparisons. You’ve gotta be on the mark. You can’t continue the tradition without it being the foundation.”

There is no doubt Stanley is devoted to capturing the specific sounds, textures and moods of the ’60s and ’70s soul he salutes on “Now and Then.” Witness his version of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything,” which — like the 1971 original — features an electric sitar for just the right instrumental flavor.

“Well, they say God is in the details,” Stanley said. “Quite frankly, I’ve heard people try to record or try to re-create some of those songs. And they miss the mark, because it becomes scientific and too cerebral, instead of emotional.

“I wanted to capture the passion of it. And each one of those classic songs on ‘Now and Then’ certainly has things in it I think are intrinsic. Rather than mimic the songs overall, it was more of an effort to capture the emotion of those songs.”

In the beginning

Motown Records was launched 1962 in Detroit by Berry Gordy Jr. Billed as the home of “The Sound of Young America,” the label’s talent roster soon boasted such soon-to-belegends as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Junior Walker and The All Stars, the Smokey Robinson-led Miracles and The Jackson Five.

Seemingly overnight, Motown created a musical template that would influence everyone from The Beatles and Phil Collins to Amy Winehouse and Adele. The success of Motown and its ability to attract and inspire a broad, racially diverse audience was all the more notable in the 1960s. It was an era that saw the civil rights movement rise to new heights, while also enduring the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Fred Hampton and other prominent Black American leaders.

“I do think music can be a unifying force,” Stanley said.

“Interestingly, when these songs were first made and heard they were embraced by pretty much everyone — and with good reason. You can call it ‘soul music.’ But if you do, it’s because it has a soul. This music is deep and the people who made it were so passionate and keyed into their emotions. So if, in any way, people will hear this album and feel any of that optimism or unity, that would be terrific.”

Classy and elegant in sound and look, Motown’s artists paved the way for Philadelphia International Records, which was founded in 1971 by

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The label was the home for The O’jays, The Three Degrees, MSFB and more, and it later played a pivotal role when disco broke into the commercial mainstream in the 1970s.

The impeccable musical arrangements and production that were trademarks of both those record labels were as distinctive as the artists who performed for them. Stanley, who was 10 when Motown debuted in 1962, strove to emulate those same qualities with Soul Station’s debut recording. His admiration for the musicians, arrangers and producers at both labels is unmistakable. Ditto his desire to reverently emulate them on his “Now and Then” album.

“Those records were so glorious and beautifully written, so emotional and cinematic,” Stanley said. “They were brilliant! And I thought: ‘Wow. Wouldn’t it be great if I could put together a band of musicians who have that same passion for this music?’ And I did. What is so interesting is how bonded we all are. They come over to my house, we have pizza parties. It’s like a group on a crusade.

“There is so much of that (classic soul) music in me that may have people scratching their heads. But I find myself wanting a lot more of that music than just hearing it cut up for samples on rap songs.”

Stanley makes only a passing reference to his love for soul music and R&B in his 2014 memoir “Face the Music: A Life Exposed.” That’s an unfortunate omission, since he cites concerts by soul vocal greats Otis Redding and Solomon Burke as two of the earliest musical epiphanies he experienced as a teenager growing up in Queens, N.Y.

Now, as then, both singers rank among the most impassioned and dynamic performers in any genre. Redding, who died in 1967 at the age of 27, and Burke, who died in 2010 at the age of 74, were combustible artists with voices to match. Both inspired scores of singers on both sides of the Atlantic, from the Rolling Stones and Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company to Jason Aldean, The Black Crowes, and St. Paul & The Broken Bones.

“I saw Otis in New York in 1967 and I was blown away by how much authority he had onstage, how he commanded it, and how big he appeared to be onstage,” Stanley, 69, said.

“You know when you’re in the presence of greatness — and it doesn’t have to conform to a (stylistic) stereotype one might have. Otis was stellar. He ruled! He was the real deal, the full package. Solomon was no different. He was a little more blunt-sounding back then. Over time, he developed more depth that he didn’t necessarily have early on, but that (growth) is what artistry is all about.

“I’d like to think that rather than impersonate or or mimic anything I ever loved, it’s all inspired me. There have been so many singers, songwriters and performers that inspired me to try to raise the bar.”

Incubus, one of the fledgling bands Stanley played in as a teenager, found him enthusiastically covering soul hits of the day by Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd. In that regard, he was like myriad aspiring young and veteran musicians around the world playing songs that have been bar-band mainstays ever since.

“I don’t know anybody who didn’t play (Pickett’s) ‘In the Midnight Hour’ or (Floyd’s) ‘Knock on Wood’ at some point. How well you did it is another question,” Stanley said with a laugh.

“Certainly, when I was 13 or 14 and singing those songs, it puts a smile on my face now to think about it. You have to have a certain amount of seasoning and real depth to nail that stuff.”

Did Stanley consider having Soul Station record Otis Redding’s timeless ballad “These Arms of Mine” or Solomon Burke’s similarly stirring “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” the latter of which sounds like it could have been an early Motown song?

“I wanted to veer more towards the more lush tunes and perhaps some that either were crooned, so to speak, or sung in falsetto,” he replied.

“I really wanted to veer away from the shouters on this album and go more towards an evening of romantic songs that would have people smile or take a deep breath. Because some of the songs that we were playing when Soul Station started five years ago, and still play now, were not necessarily the biggest hits by those artists. But they are songs that, once you hear them, you immediately connect. So that’s what I was gong for, rather than trying to do Edwin Starr’s (galvanizing 1970 anti-war anthem) ‘War.’ ”

Judging by online reaction to videos of Stanley performing with Soul Station, some Kiss fans welcome the opportunity to hear him explore a different musical arena. Others, though, have been caustic in their responses about “Now and Then,” even though the album won’t be released until Friday.

“It will easily be in the top 10 worst albums released this year, maybe even this decade,” reads one post on the website kissfaq.com.

“For some weird reason, (Paul) seems more passionate about butchering soul classics. I guess that’s his prerogative,” reads another post.

Stanley, who takes it all in stride, is unconcerned about winning over naysayers.

“‘Winning over’ somebody has the connotation of trying to convince somebody, and I’m not really interested in doing that,” he said. “If someone has such a strong opinion about something, without giving it a chance, they would probably do both of us a favor by taking a pass on this.”

Since its formal debut at a Hollywood club in 2016, Soul Station has played no more than 16 or 17 concerts, by Stanley’s count. While most of them have been sandwiched in between dates on Kiss’ multiyear world farewell tour, he predicts that Soul Station will resume live shows before Kiss — and that his post-kiss musical future will be with Soul Station.

“We don’t really know what the prognosis is yet for live concerts on a big scale in stadiums and arenas,” he said. “And to get the behemoth that is Kiss back on the road, and get all the wheels turning again, just isn’t that easy . ...

“Once you see Soul Station live, or one of our videos, it becomes real clear that this is a labor of love and that we not only love playing together, but that we really enjoy each other. It’s so much fun — and everybody gets a chance to shine.”

“I really wanted to veer away from the shouters on this album and go more towards an evening of romantic songs that would have people smile or take a deep breath.”

Paul Stanley, above with his band Soul Station

BRIAN LOWE