Couple quick things:
- Use of the words "great" and "dumb" anywhere re: Kiss is completely relative and should not be taken very seriously. I'm more than happy to discuss at length the finer points of what makes something like "Turn On the Night" dumb and something like "King of the Night Time World" great, but for these Album-by-Album blogs, I'm really only talking about favorites. By all means, tell me your own. Like most Kiss fans, I'm forever amused by my own fandom of the band, so it's a moveable feast, come one, come all.
- I usually try (and usually fail) to provide as few links as possible so as not to interrupt the flow of things. But I decided to just go to town and hyperlink to my heart's content, below and beyond. Don't feel you have to click on anything, of course - they're there if you want them but feel free to skip them. (Not like you need my permission, just saying.)
- re: The Ownability Factor (at the end of each album-entry below.) If you're into Kiss, you need it all, obviously. No excuses. This is an army not a garden party!
Enough preamble. As someone once said, "The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes. That is fact; everything else is pure theory."
Paul Stanley (image below from his '78 solo album) would probably word that differently:
Kiss's first record is more a proof-of-concept affair than a classic album. Virtually every song was a live staple for their 70s concerts. Great tunes, no doubt, but the production is notoriously flat, something that wouldn't change on their next record, either. (One of its producers went on to produce the official Baywatch soundtrack.)
Favorite tunes: "Strutter," "Black Diamond." Least favorite: "Kissin' Time," "Firehouse." When I hear Kiss described as dumb, it's the riff of "Firehouse" that I hear in my head. But that's not to say it isn't an effective delivery mechanism for what Kiss is all about; I just prefer other iterations of their mission statement. But man. When you're not a fan of "Firehouse," you've had to sit through it a million times, know what I'm saying? I like to think it's helped me become a more tolerant and patient person. So, thank you, "Firehouse."
Sagacity of the Starchild: Kiss all the way to Seattle, LA and Baltimore / You know we've been kissin' in Frisco, so let's kiss some more. ("Kissin' Time")
Ownability Factor: As Steven Hyden puts it, "Kiss has the best material of any Kiss album, but the versions on Alive! are uniformly superior." I disagree that this is the best material of any Kiss album, but it is true that the versions of these songs are better served elsewhere, and it is the first Kiss record and therefore a historical document, so I'll go as high as 11 out of 10.
Produced by infamous Casablanca Records impresario Neil Bogart, it provided Kiss with their first radio staple: "Rock and Roll All Nite." My friend let me borrow this LP back in 1988 or so, and before I even finished spinning it - and start to finish it's only 30 minutes long - his older brother (whose record it actually was) showed up at my parents house and demanded it back. Man, was he pissed.
McAnecdote: When said older brother (who graduated high school in the early 80s) showed up at my parents' house, he had his shirt unbuttoned to his bellybutton to best showcase his Paul-Stanley-esque chest hair. When I ran into him 25 years later as a patron of the bar I was running at the time, he was still rocking this look (although not quite to his bellybutton) in stubborn defiance of any fashion trends in the interim (or belonging to this century.) I asked him if he remembered the above, and he didn't. But he did ask me if I wanted to do some blow - straight out of Gross Pointe Blank. (I declined.)
Favorite tunes: "Getaway," "C'mon and Love Me," "Rock Bottom." Least favorite: "Ladies in Waiting." Good lord, Gene. And yet:
Sometimes The Demon Surprises Me: "She" is one of the classic 70s riffs. Top 10, at least. Gene's got more Kiss classics to his songwriting credit than I generally acknowledge. This is one of them.
Sagacity of the Starchild: She's a dancer, a romancer / I'm a Capricorn, and she's a Cancer ("C'mon and Love Me")
So Dumb It Might Actually Be Brilliant: "Anything For My Baby." To quote Mr. Hyden once more: "The key to appreciating Kiss is approaching it as one might a vaudevillian actor or Borscht Belt comic. You'll get nowhere by parsing the wit of the material or the nuance of the presentation. You must accept that the performance will be broad and the one-liners wince-inducing, and focus instead on the insane amount of effort on display. Kiss's specialty is delivering shameless showmanship with guileless energy, which it does in the service of songs that fumble across your reflexive pleasure centers with the grace and purpose of a 16-year-old boy unhooking his first bra strap."
Ownability Factor: 11 out of 10.
Vinnie left the band due to creative and financial differences with Gene and Paul. The Vinnie Vincent Invasion achieved some modest success with their songs from A Nightmare on Elm Street pt. 4, but Mark Slaughter (their second singer, soon to be famous for his own band via "Up All Night") left soon after.
Other players in the Kiss saga: Bob and Bruce Kulick, Tommy Thayer (Ace's replacement after the Farewell tour,) Eric Singer (Eric Carr's replacement, and the current Kiss drummer) and Mark St. John.
Having said that, if I graduated high school in, say, 1975, and was a big Kiss fan, hearing Dynasty and seeing all these 6-year-olds with Kiss make-up on might have turned me off, too.
"Charisma" and "X-Ray Eyes" could be better, but the album as-a-whole continues to age well. It's a miracle it's coherent at all. At this point in their career, the band wasn't talking to one another, the tours were hampered by elaborate stage effects that didn't always work, the manager (thanks to Bill Aucoin's 50% of the merchandising profit and 25% of tour profits) was making more money off the band than the members themselves, and Ace and Peter were almost single-handedly keeping Colombian cocaine cartels and their US distributors (not to mention pharmaceutical companies) in business. Under those conditions, the album can't help but feel like a sequel to the solo albums but all on one record. Oddly enough, it might be their strongest collection of tunes.
And Men Shall Call Him... Space Ace: Ace's songs on Dynasty are great. I knew "2000 Man" was a Stones song, but I never heard it until I saw Bottle Rocket. I'm still on the fence as to which version I prefer. And I am forever amused by the way Ace delivers the line (emphasis in the original) "You tried to change me... and mess up my mind!" in "Save Your Love."
Look What the Cat Dragged In: Peter's swan song with the band, "Dirty Livin'" is probably the most disco-esque track of all. Someone should utilize it for a period piece.
Fun Fact!: Escape from Hell was the subtitle of Dynasty's Japanese release. God bless you, Japan.
Ownability Factor: 15 out of 10.
And Men Shall Call Him... Space Ace: Ace's songs carry the day, here. "Talk To Me" should be in every teen movie ever made (as should "What's On Your Mind" from his '78 solo record.) And "Torpedo Girl" is, for my money, the great unsung Kiss song:
Look What the Cat Dragged In: Peter's on the cover, but he was out of the band at this point. Anton Fig plays on the album, and Eric Carr joined the band prior to the tour.
Sagacity of the Starchild: I started off enjoying "Shandi" as a goof, but I've grown to love the damn thing through over-listening. Hazards of the trade; proceed with caution.
Sometimes The Demon Surprises Me: For years, "She's So European" annoyed me, but, as with "Shandi," repeated listenings opened it up for me. It's one of the last times Gene sounds like he's actually having fun being a rock star. And the chorus is catchy. At no time do the lyrics bring to mind anyone vaguely European, whatever that means, but realistic lyrics are not what anyone comes to Kiss for, I'd wager.
And hey!: Another fun TV ad prior to its release.
- Use of the words "great" and "dumb" anywhere re: Kiss is completely relative and should not be taken very seriously. I'm more than happy to discuss at length the finer points of what makes something like "Turn On the Night" dumb and something like "King of the Night Time World" great, but for these Album-by-Album blogs, I'm really only talking about favorites. By all means, tell me your own. Like most Kiss fans, I'm forever amused by my own fandom of the band, so it's a moveable feast, come one, come all.
- I usually try (and usually fail) to provide as few links as possible so as not to interrupt the flow of things. But I decided to just go to town and hyperlink to my heart's content, below and beyond. Don't feel you have to click on anything, of course - they're there if you want them but feel free to skip them. (Not like you need my permission, just saying.)
- re: The Ownability Factor (at the end of each album-entry below.) If you're into Kiss, you need it all, obviously. No excuses. This is an army not a garden party!
Enough preamble. As someone once said, "The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes. That is fact; everything else is pure theory."
Paul Stanley (image below from his '78 solo album) would probably word that differently:
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| "Hit it!" |
Kiss (1974)
Kiss's first record is more a proof-of-concept affair than a classic album. Virtually every song was a live staple for their 70s concerts. Great tunes, no doubt, but the production is notoriously flat, something that wouldn't change on their next record, either. (One of its producers went on to produce the official Baywatch soundtrack.)
Favorite tunes: "Strutter," "Black Diamond." Least favorite: "Kissin' Time," "Firehouse." When I hear Kiss described as dumb, it's the riff of "Firehouse" that I hear in my head. But that's not to say it isn't an effective delivery mechanism for what Kiss is all about; I just prefer other iterations of their mission statement. But man. When you're not a fan of "Firehouse," you've had to sit through it a million times, know what I'm saying? I like to think it's helped me become a more tolerant and patient person. So, thank you, "Firehouse."
Sagacity of the Starchild: Kiss all the way to Seattle, LA and Baltimore / You know we've been kissin' in Frisco, so let's kiss some more. ("Kissin' Time")
Ownability Factor: As Steven Hyden puts it, "Kiss has the best material of any Kiss album, but the versions on Alive! are uniformly superior." I disagree that this is the best material of any Kiss album, but it is true that the versions of these songs are better served elsewhere, and it is the first Kiss record and therefore a historical document, so I'll go as high as 11 out of 10.
Hotter Than Hell (1974)
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| Track listing: Got To Choose / Parasite / Goin' Blind / Hotter Than Hell / Let Me Go, Rock and Roll (that comma has always confused me - are they telling Rock and Roll itself to let them go?) All The Way / Watchin' You / Mainline / Coming Home / Strange Ways |
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| There's a lot of rock and roll in this room. And a lot of 70s. |
A pretty solid collection of tunes. As with their debut, most of them are better heard on Alive or Alive II. But still.
Favorite tunes: "Got To Choose," (woo-ooo-OO!) title track, "Parasite," "Watchin' You." Least favorite: "Goin' Blind," which details the doomed romance of a 93 year old man and underage girl. Written by Gene, obviously. The lyrics are practically non-existent except for the title of the track, repeated over and over, and the curiously on-the-nose bridge: "I'm 93, you're 16." In spite of this description, it's not the worst holdover from the Wicked Lester days.
And Men Shall Call Him... Space Ace: "Strange Ways" and "Parasite" have such a cool guitar sound. "Parasite" is a great example of Kiss Savant: just brilliantly dumb / stupidly awesome from conception to execution. (Megadeth covers "Strange Ways," if Dave Mustaine is your cup of tea.)
That Cover Is a Hot(ter than Hell) Mess, Though: I get that they were going for a Japanese influence, but it's poorly coordinated. Those yellow strips with the Japanese writing + the orange-and-purple ripped mountain-ranges extending into frame: blecch. So cluttered. And I don't know if Paul's grabbing Peter's bare ass and pulling his crotch into his backside is in actual fact hotter than Hell. But hey: 70s.
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 10.
Favorite tunes: "Got To Choose," (woo-ooo-OO!) title track, "Parasite," "Watchin' You." Least favorite: "Goin' Blind," which details the doomed romance of a 93 year old man and underage girl. Written by Gene, obviously. The lyrics are practically non-existent except for the title of the track, repeated over and over, and the curiously on-the-nose bridge: "I'm 93, you're 16." In spite of this description, it's not the worst holdover from the Wicked Lester days.
And Men Shall Call Him... Space Ace: "Strange Ways" and "Parasite" have such a cool guitar sound. "Parasite" is a great example of Kiss Savant: just brilliantly dumb / stupidly awesome from conception to execution. (Megadeth covers "Strange Ways," if Dave Mustaine is your cup of tea.)
That Cover Is a Hot(ter than Hell) Mess, Though: I get that they were going for a Japanese influence, but it's poorly coordinated. Those yellow strips with the Japanese writing + the orange-and-purple ripped mountain-ranges extending into frame: blecch. So cluttered. And I don't know if Paul's grabbing Peter's bare ass and pulling his crotch into his backside is in actual fact hotter than Hell. But hey: 70s.
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 10.
Dressed to Kill (1975)
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| Track listing: Room Service / Two Timer / Ladies in Waiting / Getaway / Rock Bottom / C'mon and Love Me / Anything for My Baby / She / Love Her All I Can / Rock and Roll All Nite |
Produced by infamous Casablanca Records impresario Neil Bogart, it provided Kiss with their first radio staple: "Rock and Roll All Nite." My friend let me borrow this LP back in 1988 or so, and before I even finished spinning it - and start to finish it's only 30 minutes long - his older brother (whose record it actually was) showed up at my parents house and demanded it back. Man, was he pissed.
McAnecdote: When said older brother (who graduated high school in the early 80s) showed up at my parents' house, he had his shirt unbuttoned to his bellybutton to best showcase his Paul-Stanley-esque chest hair. When I ran into him 25 years later as a patron of the bar I was running at the time, he was still rocking this look (although not quite to his bellybutton) in stubborn defiance of any fashion trends in the interim (or belonging to this century.) I asked him if he remembered the above, and he didn't. But he did ask me if I wanted to do some blow - straight out of Gross Pointe Blank. (I declined.)
Favorite tunes: "Getaway," "C'mon and Love Me," "Rock Bottom." Least favorite: "Ladies in Waiting." Good lord, Gene. And yet:
Sometimes The Demon Surprises Me: "She" is one of the classic 70s riffs. Top 10, at least. Gene's got more Kiss classics to his songwriting credit than I generally acknowledge. This is one of them.
Sagacity of the Starchild: She's a dancer, a romancer / I'm a Capricorn, and she's a Cancer ("C'mon and Love Me")
So Dumb It Might Actually Be Brilliant: "Anything For My Baby." To quote Mr. Hyden once more: "The key to appreciating Kiss is approaching it as one might a vaudevillian actor or Borscht Belt comic. You'll get nowhere by parsing the wit of the material or the nuance of the presentation. You must accept that the performance will be broad and the one-liners wince-inducing, and focus instead on the insane amount of effort on display. Kiss's specialty is delivering shameless showmanship with guileless energy, which it does in the service of songs that fumble across your reflexive pleasure centers with the grace and purpose of a 16-year-old boy unhooking his first bra strap."
Ownability Factor: 11 out of 10.
Alive (1975)
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| These two dudes holding up their homemade sign reunited in later years to relive their moment of glory: |
This is the album that established Kiss as the "hottest band in the world," as J.R. Smalling used to famously announce them before taking the stage. From the wiki:
"In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, it was called 'a nonstop Kiss-krieg of two-note
guitar motifs, fake-sounding audience noise, and inspirational
chitchat,' but it was then restated as the next best thing to being
there, clearly. Jason Josephes of Pitchfork Media
rated it 10 out of 10 points and said that 'the album may seem like a
joke, mainly because it contains every arena rock cliche in the book,'
but called it 'total sonic proof of Kiss climbing their apex'."
Favorite tunes: All of them.
Phony Outrage: For some reason, anytime this album comes up, people focus on the fact that there are overdubs on a supposedly "live" album. I've never understood this. Do the same people complain about color correction or ADR looping in films? It's not even standard industry practice; it's absolutely necessary to do.
Sagacity of the Starchild: Paul Stanley's stage banter is the stuff of legend. He's not quite the Ray Hudson of the stage banter world, and in recent years seems to have lost his way. (I originally wrote "has goes too far," but I don't know if that's possible with Kiss.) Actually, maybe not - maybe going from "Do you believe in rock and roll?" to "The terrorists hate our damn freedom!" is a natural evolution. Anyway, his stuff on Alive is hilariously over the top and is the first glimpse of the microphone madness to come. Vinnie Vincent was criticized for taking too long with his solos onstage and making Paul and Gene wait, but Paul never seemed to mind making everyone else on stage wait while he asked the crowd, multiple times, whether or not they had "rock and roll pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu? I CAN'T HEAR YOU..."
Ownability Factor: 12 out of 10
Phony Outrage: For some reason, anytime this album comes up, people focus on the fact that there are overdubs on a supposedly "live" album. I've never understood this. Do the same people complain about color correction or ADR looping in films? It's not even standard industry practice; it's absolutely necessary to do.
Sagacity of the Starchild: Paul Stanley's stage banter is the stuff of legend. He's not quite the Ray Hudson of the stage banter world, and in recent years seems to have lost his way. (I originally wrote "has goes too far," but I don't know if that's possible with Kiss.) Actually, maybe not - maybe going from "Do you believe in rock and roll?" to "The terrorists hate our damn freedom!" is a natural evolution. Anyway, his stuff on Alive is hilariously over the top and is the first glimpse of the microphone madness to come. Vinnie Vincent was criticized for taking too long with his solos onstage and making Paul and Gene wait, but Paul never seemed to mind making everyone else on stage wait while he asked the crowd, multiple times, whether or not they had "rock and roll pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu? I CAN'T HEAR YOU..."
Ownability Factor: 12 out of 10
Destroyer (1976)
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| Track Listing: Detroit Rock City / King of the Night Time World / God of Thunder / Great Expectations / Flaming Youth / Sweet Pain / Shout It Out Loud / Beth / Do You Love Me / Rock and Roll Party |
Alive broke the band big, and to capitalize on the success, they brought in Bob Ezrin, who, in addition to snorting up half of Bolivia's Gross National Product during the recording session, put the band through what Paul called "musical boot camp." The cover is by renowned fantasy artist Ken Kelly.
Favorite tracks: "Detroit Rock City," "King of the Night Time World," "Do You Love Me."
Sagacity of the Starchild: You really like my limousine / you like the way the wheels roll ("Do You Love Me?")
Look What the Cat Dragged In: "Beth" is Peter Criss's proudest moment in the band. Just ask him.
So Dumb It Might Actually Be Brilliant: "God of Thunder." I mostly don't enjoy this track, to be honest. The production bells and whistle are kinda-sorta fun, but it's basically just a peg to hang stage theatrics on. Fair enough, of course, it's just having grown up on stuff like Slayer or Metallica, I'm unable to connect to either the mystical-menace intended or enjoy it in a retro sense, because the vocals are terrible, there's no riff, and it's just not really a proper song. But every now and again, it'll come on, and the lyrics and gothic pretension of it all tickles my satirical fancy. They should definitely use it in the Thor movies, mostly to have Thor hear it and raise an eyebrow. (Or a scene where he gets wicked into Kiss and cranks this all the time while drinking; make it happen, Marvel.)
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 10.
Favorite tracks: "Detroit Rock City," "King of the Night Time World," "Do You Love Me."
Sagacity of the Starchild: You really like my limousine / you like the way the wheels roll ("Do You Love Me?")
Look What the Cat Dragged In: "Beth" is Peter Criss's proudest moment in the band. Just ask him.
So Dumb It Might Actually Be Brilliant: "God of Thunder." I mostly don't enjoy this track, to be honest. The production bells and whistle are kinda-sorta fun, but it's basically just a peg to hang stage theatrics on. Fair enough, of course, it's just having grown up on stuff like Slayer or Metallica, I'm unable to connect to either the mystical-menace intended or enjoy it in a retro sense, because the vocals are terrible, there's no riff, and it's just not really a proper song. But every now and again, it'll come on, and the lyrics and gothic pretension of it all tickles my satirical fancy. They should definitely use it in the Thor movies, mostly to have Thor hear it and raise an eyebrow. (Or a scene where he gets wicked into Kiss and cranks this all the time while drinking; make it happen, Marvel.)
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 10.
Rock and Roll Over (1976)
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| Track listing: I Want You / Take Me / Calling Dr. Love / Ladies Room / Baby Driver / Love Em and Leave Em / Mr. Speed / See You In Your Dreams / Hard Luck Woman / Makin' Love |
A rushed affair and the weakest effort from the original line-up. But that cover! Totally awesome. And if you said, "Man, that'd be a great frisbee," they're way ahead of you.
Favorite tracks: "I Want You," "Hard Luck Woman." Least Favorite Tracks: "Ladies Room," "See You in Your Dreams."
Deserves Special Mention: "Calling Dr. Love." I am far from convinced that anyone ever called Gene "Doctor Love." If anyone did, it had to be ironic. Not like Kiss has an obligation to be accurate, it's just ironic that the one guy in the band whose entire identity is wrapped up in being Doctor Cash-and-STDs is telling us people call him Doctor Love. (Then again, it's a little more believable than "God of Thunder.") Anyway. Like "Firehouse," I've learned to enjoy the process of waiting for this one to finish.
Ownability Factor: 6 out of 10. (Frisbee: 20 out of 10.)
Favorite tracks: "I Want You," "Hard Luck Woman." Least Favorite Tracks: "Ladies Room," "See You in Your Dreams."
Deserves Special Mention: "Calling Dr. Love." I am far from convinced that anyone ever called Gene "Doctor Love." If anyone did, it had to be ironic. Not like Kiss has an obligation to be accurate, it's just ironic that the one guy in the band whose entire identity is wrapped up in being Doctor Cash-and-STDs is telling us people call him Doctor Love. (Then again, it's a little more believable than "God of Thunder.") Anyway. Like "Firehouse," I've learned to enjoy the process of waiting for this one to finish.
Ownability Factor: 6 out of 10. (Frisbee: 20 out of 10.)
Love Gun (1977)
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| Track listing: I Stole Your Love / Christine Sixteen / Got Love For Sale / Shock Me / Tomorrow and Tonight / Love Gun / Hooligan / Almost Human / Plaster Caster / Then She Kissed Me |
Another Ken Kelly cover - classic. Here's its TV ad - I get such a kick out of these things. The original came with this insert, to boot:
Favorite tunes: The title track (if not the best Kiss song of all time, definitely top 3,) "I Stole Your Love," (stealing fire from the gods!) "Shock Me," "Hooligan." Least favorite: "Plaster Caster." It is frankly remarkable how fascinated these guys were with their dicks. It's tempting to think they were just pandering to their newly-pubescent fan base, but then you read up on them and nope: they basically out-adolescent-ed their fan base 10 to 1.
End of an Era: This is the last album where the original line-up appears on every track.
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 1. Which is not to say it's very good - it's actually one of my least favorites. But yeah, you got to have it. On vinyl.
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| Assembly required. |
End of an Era: This is the last album where the original line-up appears on every track.
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 1. Which is not to say it's very good - it's actually one of my least favorites. But yeah, you got to have it. On vinyl.
Alive II (1977)
Not as good as the first Alive, but still loads of fun. (Track listing at the wiki.) Features 4 originals on Side Four (the best of which is "Rocket Ride," which features the classic line "The gravity that used to hold us down / just don't exist no more..." but does not feature any guitarwork from Ace. Kudos to Bob Kulick - he mimics Ace's style almost perfectly) and a cover of The Dave Clark Five's "Anyway You Want It."
Ownability Factor: 8 out of 10.
(In April 1978, Casablanca released a double-album of Kiss's greatest hits, Double Platinum. The only "new" track was "Strutter '78," which was just a remake with an allegedly more "disco" beat. It sure doesn't sound disco to me, though.)
Ownability Factor: 8 out of 10.
(In April 1978, Casablanca released a double-album of Kiss's greatest hits, Double Platinum. The only "new" track was "Strutter '78," which was just a remake with an allegedly more "disco" beat. It sure doesn't sound disco to me, though.)
The Solo Albums (1978)
The TV ad is pretty fun. Sean Delaney was firmly against the idea of doing the solo albums, as he thought there would be winners and losers and that pointlessly dividing the band any further than it was already divided would be fatal to the original line-up. He was proven right. But, from just a fan/ consumer point of view, I love the idea. I won't do Least Favorites for these, but here are my Favorites:
Ace - all of them, will cover in depth when I get to the Space Ace blog. (EDIT: Here it is.)
Paul "Wouldn't You Like To Know Me," "Tonight You Belong To Me," and "Love In Chains." Apparently, when Paul showed up at the first studio Casablanca had booked for him, the colors/ vibes weren't right, and he insisted on booking somewhere else. When told of the money this would waste (somewhere around half a million) he replied, "Well, it's cheaper than not making the album at all." Rock star logic at its finest.
Gene "Radioactive" is fun, but you can only hear it so many times. Great call-and-response chorus, very catchy. The rest of the album is terrible. Gene's voice and compositions are both already far too prominent in the Kiss catalog, but here they are stretched beyond thin. I like the simplicity of the line/ idea of "Living in Sin," but it's ruined by the awful bit in the middle wheresomeone Cher pretends to be in the throes of ecstasy brought about by Demon penis. Just terrible.
Peter All of them, really. Once you get past the "non-Kiss-ness" of this record, it's actually pretty smooth. For years I considered it the weakest of the solo albums, but now it's my second favorite. When I say "non-Kiss-ness," I mean the arrangements and general sound of the record, not the lyrics, as certainly You're the kind of sugar Papa likes, and when we do it, it drives me crazy would find itself at home in any Kiss tune. (Except maybe "Beth.")
And while we're on this side road, let's spare a thought for the other members of Kiss:
Ace - all of them, will cover in depth when I get to the Space Ace blog. (EDIT: Here it is.)
Paul "Wouldn't You Like To Know Me," "Tonight You Belong To Me," and "Love In Chains." Apparently, when Paul showed up at the first studio Casablanca had booked for him, the colors/ vibes weren't right, and he insisted on booking somewhere else. When told of the money this would waste (somewhere around half a million) he replied, "Well, it's cheaper than not making the album at all." Rock star logic at its finest.
Gene "Radioactive" is fun, but you can only hear it so many times. Great call-and-response chorus, very catchy. The rest of the album is terrible. Gene's voice and compositions are both already far too prominent in the Kiss catalog, but here they are stretched beyond thin. I like the simplicity of the line/ idea of "Living in Sin," but it's ruined by the awful bit in the middle where
Peter All of them, really. Once you get past the "non-Kiss-ness" of this record, it's actually pretty smooth. For years I considered it the weakest of the solo albums, but now it's my second favorite. When I say "non-Kiss-ness," I mean the arrangements and general sound of the record, not the lyrics, as certainly You're the kind of sugar Papa likes, and when we do it, it drives me crazy would find itself at home in any Kiss tune. (Except maybe "Beth.")
And while we're on this side road, let's spare a thought for the other members of Kiss:
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| Eric Carr (1950 - 1991) |
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| Vinnie Vincent. Here's how Chuck Klosterman described his post-Kiss debut: "a Tasmanian devil whirling towards vaginas and self-destruction:" |
Vinnie left the band due to creative and financial differences with Gene and Paul. The Vinnie Vincent Invasion achieved some modest success with their songs from A Nightmare on Elm Street pt. 4, but Mark Slaughter (their second singer, soon to be famous for his own band via "Up All Night") left soon after.
Other players in the Kiss saga: Bob and Bruce Kulick, Tommy Thayer (Ace's replacement after the Farewell tour,) Eric Singer (Eric Carr's replacement, and the current Kiss drummer) and Mark St. John.
Ownability Factor: Ace (20 out of 10.) Paul (10 out of 10.) Peter (10 out of 10.) Gene (3out of 10.) Vinnie Vincent Invasion (12 out of 10.)
Dynasty (1979)
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| Track listing: I Was Made For Loving You / 2000 Man / Sure Know Something / Dirty Livin' / Charisma / Magic Touch / Hard Times / X-Ray Eyes / Save Your Love |
This album was polarizing for Kiss fans at the time. As Ace put it, before shrugging and going along with it, "What, disco's big now, so we gotta do a disco song?" I'm sympathetic to some degree, but the two so-called disco tunes ("I Was Made For Loving You" and "Sure Know Something") are, once removed from the rock vs. disco passions of the era, great tunes. Why draw a line in the sand?
Having said that, if I graduated high school in, say, 1975, and was a big Kiss fan, hearing Dynasty and seeing all these 6-year-olds with Kiss make-up on might have turned me off, too.
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| Incidentally, it's my friend's 6 year old's Kiss fandom that got me thinking about these guys again. |
And Men Shall Call Him... Space Ace: Ace's songs on Dynasty are great. I knew "2000 Man" was a Stones song, but I never heard it until I saw Bottle Rocket. I'm still on the fence as to which version I prefer. And I am forever amused by the way Ace delivers the line (emphasis in the original) "You tried to change me... and mess up my mind!" in "Save Your Love."
Look What the Cat Dragged In: Peter's swan song with the band, "Dirty Livin'" is probably the most disco-esque track of all. Someone should utilize it for a period piece.
Fun Fact!: Escape from Hell was the subtitle of Dynasty's Japanese release. God bless you, Japan.
Ownability Factor: 15 out of 10.
Unmasked (1980)
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| Track listing: Is That You? / Shandi / Talk To Me / Naked City / What Makes The World Go Round / Tomorrow / Two Sides of the Coin / She's So European / Easy As It Seems / Torpedo Girl / You're All That I Want |
This album was a commercial disappointment and isn't regarded too fondly by some folks. I'll go to the mat on this one; Unmasked is great. Some of the songs aren't so hot, but that's par for the course for any Kiss record.
And Men Shall Call Him... Space Ace: Ace's songs carry the day, here. "Talk To Me" should be in every teen movie ever made (as should "What's On Your Mind" from his '78 solo record.) And "Torpedo Girl" is, for my money, the great unsung Kiss song:
C'mon, get your feet wet!
Look What the Cat Dragged In: Peter's on the cover, but he was out of the band at this point. Anton Fig plays on the album, and Eric Carr joined the band prior to the tour.
Sagacity of the Starchild: I started off enjoying "Shandi" as a goof, but I've grown to love the damn thing through over-listening. Hazards of the trade; proceed with caution.
Sometimes The Demon Surprises Me: For years, "She's So European" annoyed me, but, as with "Shandi," repeated listenings opened it up for me. It's one of the last times Gene sounds like he's actually having fun being a rock star. And the chorus is catchy. At no time do the lyrics bring to mind anyone vaguely European, whatever that means, but realistic lyrics are not what anyone comes to Kiss for, I'd wager.
And hey!: Another fun TV ad prior to its release.
Ownability Factor: 12 out of 10.
Music from The Elder (1981)
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| Track Listing: The Oath / Fanfare / Just A Boy / Dark Light / Only You / Under the Rose / A World Without Heroes / Mr. Blackwell / Escape from the Island / Odyssey / I / Finale |
This album tanked in the charts and with fans at the time, but its reputation has improved in the years since. It's a bit confusing - any soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist can't help but be - but personally, I applaud them for doing it. As with Kiss "going disco" or "going grunge" (yet to come,) it's easy to see it as a misstep, but I kind of like the attitude. "We can't do that? Screw it, we're doing it."
And hell, Lou Reed even was involved. That alone is worth a chapeau / answer on Jeopardy.
Favorite tunes: "The Oath," "Dark Light," "I," "Escape from the Island."
Fun Fact!: Sales were so bad they didn't even tour, but they did put in some promotional appearances, such as this one in Holland, which has the distinction of being the first and only time Kiss played as a trio. (Although it looks and sounds lip-synched to me, so I guess it's the first and only time they pretended to play as a trio.) Ace was probably sleeping one off, or playing cards with his buddies. Or visiting the Keukenhof.
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 10.
(In June of 1982, Killers, another compilation record was released. I've never been a fan of the new tunes recorded for it, so I'm just mentioning it in passing.)
And hell, Lou Reed even was involved. That alone is worth a chapeau / answer on Jeopardy.
Favorite tunes: "The Oath," "Dark Light," "I," "Escape from the Island."
Fun Fact!: Sales were so bad they didn't even tour, but they did put in some promotional appearances, such as this one in Holland, which has the distinction of being the first and only time Kiss played as a trio. (Although it looks and sounds lip-synched to me, so I guess it's the first and only time they pretended to play as a trio.) Ace was probably sleeping one off, or playing cards with his buddies. Or visiting the Keukenhof.
Ownability Factor: 10 out of 10.
(In June of 1982, Killers, another compilation record was released. I've never been a fan of the new tunes recorded for it, so I'm just mentioning it in passing.)
Creatures of the Night (1982)
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| Track Listing: Creatures of the Night / Saint and Sinner / Keep Me Comin' / Rock and Roll Hell / Danger / I Love It Loud / I Still Love You / Killer / War Machine |
Ace is on the cover, but he was gone from the band at this point. He was replaced by Vinnie Vincent, whose impact was fairly immediate; he co-wrote half the album.
Favorite tunes: Title track, "I Still Love You." And:
Sometimes The Demon Surprises Me: "I Love It Loud" is one of those So Dumb It Might Be Brilliant / Kiss Savant tunes, except there's no "might" about it. The stream of consciousness lyrics, ("Whiplash! Heavy metal accident. Rock on! I want to be President. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!") the chanting, the stripped down production: all combine for a complete classic that doubles as brilliant (though unintentional) genre deconstruction.
And "War Machine," while not a favorite, could have been a huge hit if they'd just sped it up a notch and tightened it up a bit, as Stone Temple Pilots proved less than 10 years down the road.
Sagacity of the Starchild: Even for Kiss, "Keep Me Comin'" is a bit over-the-top. You gotta keep me comin', keep me comin' / (Keep me comin', keep me comin') / You gotta keep me comin', whoa, keep me comin', babe / (Keep me comin', keep me comin') / OOH, YEAH!
Favorite tunes: Title track, "I Still Love You." And:
Sometimes The Demon Surprises Me: "I Love It Loud" is one of those So Dumb It Might Be Brilliant / Kiss Savant tunes, except there's no "might" about it. The stream of consciousness lyrics, ("Whiplash! Heavy metal accident. Rock on! I want to be President. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!") the chanting, the stripped down production: all combine for a complete classic that doubles as brilliant (though unintentional) genre deconstruction.
Absolutely one of my favorite things ever. 
And "War Machine," while not a favorite, could have been a huge hit if they'd just sped it up a notch and tightened it up a bit, as Stone Temple Pilots proved less than 10 years down the road.
Sagacity of the Starchild: Even for Kiss, "Keep Me Comin'" is a bit over-the-top. You gotta keep me comin', keep me comin' / (Keep me comin', keep me comin') / You gotta keep me comin', whoa, keep me comin', babe / (Keep me comin', keep me comin') / OOH, YEAH!
Ownability Factor: 8 out of 10.
NEXT: Lick It Up to The Present
