After the movie KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park aired on NBC on October 28, 1978, the KISS pinball machine, magazine covers, makeup kit, lunchbox, model cars, dolls, trading cards, and anything else you can think of (Gene once joked that the only thing that KISS didn't market was KISS tampons), KISS had become a marketing machine.  Unfortunately, in their time off from the band with Alive II, Double Platinum, and the solo albums, the music scene had changed.  The popular genre in 1979 wasn't hard rock anymore--it was disco.
    Dynasty was able to capture the essence of this trend and somehow sold over 3,000,000 copies!  Personally, I don't see HOW, other than the fact that fans were thinking KISS would still sound like KISS.
    The single I Was Made For Lovin' You is still a great song today even though disco was laid to rest nearly 20 years ago. 2,000 Man is one of the best songs Ace has ever done (too bad it wasn't his). Sure Know Something has the same disco vibe to it that I Was Made For Lovin' You possesses.  The only other decent songs are Magic Touch, and Gene's Charisma and X-Ray Eyes, and even they are middle-of-the-road.  Peter's Dirty Livin', and Ace's Hard Times and Save Your Love are positively dreadful!  In fact I think Save Your Love is one of the worst songs KISS has ever released.
    That measures up to one-third of Dynasty being absolute rubbish!  The only thing that saves it is the fact that I Was Made For Lovin' You, 2,000 Man, and Sure Know Something are such great songs.  Without them, Dynasty could have been KISS' worst album ever, though it is certainly their worst to date, narrowly edging out Dressed To Kill.
    And where's Gene?  He only has 2 songs on Dynasty, the lowest number yet!  I find that he is sorely missed on this album and more of his material certainly would have spiced things up.

Interesting facts:

• Peter's 1978 car accident was still causing him problems and he only played drums on Dirty Livin'.  Anton Fig was brought in to fit the bill on the rest of the tracks.  Of course, this wasn't announced at the time as KISS was still a perfect family in the fans' eyes and the band wanted to keep it that way.
• In the original album, a huge, but rather unexciting poster was included of the four members.
• The cover of the Dynasty album is actually a collage of photos taken from the photo session, and not a group shot as it appears.
• 2,000 Man was originally performed by The Rolling Stones on their Their Satanic Majesty's Request album in 1967.
• KISS' manager, Howard Marks, co-wrote Charisma with Gene.
• Giorgio Moroder was originally scheduled to produce Dynasty.  Moroder would later go on to fame as producer of the music in Flashdance as well as with Donna Summer.
• Paul plays bass and performs the guitar solo in Sure Know Something.
• Paul also plays bass in I Was Made For Lovin' You, while Ace covers the bass parts in Hard Times, 2,000 Man, and Save Your Love.
• Ace and Anton Fig play everything on 2,000 Man, Hard Times and Save Your Love.
• Richie Fontana plays drums on I Was Made For Lovin' You.
• Escape From Hell was the subtitle of Dynasty's Japanese release.
• Dynasty was to be the last high-charting album by KISS for several years at #9 on Billboard's charts.
• Peter married Playboy's Miss January 1978, Debra Jensen, in December of 1979.
• Paul wrote I Was Made For Lovin' You to show how easy it was to write a disco song.
• I Was Made For Lovin' You was KISS' first songwriting collaboration with Desmond Child, who would show up later on Animalize, Asylum, Crazy Nights, Smashes, Thrashes & Hits, and Hot In The Shade.
• A third KISS comic was suppoed to be released in 1979 but was shelved after KISS found out Marvel wanted ownership of the KISS characters' copyrights.
• The Dynasty tour was the first to have Gene soar up to the rafters after his solo to perform God of Thunder.  This was done again on the reunion tour.
• Paul had originally wanted a laser to appear to shoot out of his eye during the show but found out he could be permanently blinded if he tried it.
• The band was planning to open an amusement park called KISS World at this time.  KISS World would be all KISS, all the time, with KISS themed games, rides and memorabilia, but the cost turned out to be too great.
• A fateful appearance on Halloween 1979 on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder saw an interview turn into mayhem when Peter and Ace overtook the proceedings from the usual conversation leaders, Paul and Gene.
• The Dynasty tour actually lost money due to poor ticket sales and an extravagant stage show (EACH concert cost nearly $1 million!).
• During a December 1979 show in Shreveport, Louisiana, Peter quit drumming in the middle of a show and KISS was forced to end the show early.  The band was infuriated by Peter's actions.  After the Dynasty tour was over, Peter announced his plans to the group that he was leaving.  His last performance with KISS was on December 16, 1979.
• 1979-1984 would be the hardest years of KISS's career as their popularity plummets and they lose a total of 4 members.

    Unmasked, though similar sounding to Dynasty, blows it out of the water.  The disco/pop sound is still there but the songs are infinitely better.
    Without a Peter Criss song to be found, that instantly boosts my liking of the album.  Ace really shines on Unmasked as he takes the mike on 3 songs: Talk To Me, Two Sides of The Coin, and Torpedo Girl.  These are all great songs that unfortunately have not been given due credit in my opinion though the inclusion of Two Sides of The Coin on Greatest KISS was a pleasant surprise.  Shandi, though very catchy, is nothing more than a sped-up version of Beth, but Tomorrow, Is That You?, Easy As It Seems, Naked City, and What Makes The World Go 'Round fall into the category of forgotten songs that were overlooked during an otherwise bad time for KISS.  You're All That I Want and She's So European are the token throw-away tracks on an otherwise excellent album.
    Though Unmasked is by no means a classic KISS album, it is nowhere near as bad as anyone seems to think it is.  The comic strip album cover is also one of KISS' best and most original (and heavily criticized).  I think that fans needed KISS to drop the pop and get back to some rock tunes at this point however the band didn't see it until it was almost too late.  With their next outing, KISS planned on returning to their roots: a kickin' hard rock album.  But......

Interesting facts:

• Exit Peter Criss; enter Anton Fig--again.  On May 20, 1980, Peter officially announced his departure from KISS.  Neither his drums or vocals are anywhere to be found on Unmasked as Fig again filled in.  Even though Peter didn't perform on the album, he appears in the video for Shandi and continued to appear in ads up until his announcement of departure from KISS.  He would soon begin working on his first post-KISS effort titled Out of Control, which would be released in October of 1980 and be poorly received by fans.  In the space of a year and a half, Peter would go from playing sold-out arenas with KISS to being unable to fill a high school gymnasium.
• Bob Kulick co-wrote Naked City.
• Ace and Anton Fig perform everything on Talk To Me, Two Sides of the Coin and Torpedo Girl.
• Ace does not appear on You're All That I Want; Paul plays lead guitar.
• Randy Newman's 1980 album, Born Again, featured him in KISS-style makeup with dollar signs over his eyes.
• Paul's main squeeze at this time was actress Lesley Ann Warren.
• Unmasked was KISS' worst-selling album since Dressed To Kill (except for the solo albums) and reached only # 35 on Billboard's album chart.
• The Japanese version of Unmasked is called The Truth Behind The Mask.
• Paul plays bass on Tomorrow and Easy As It Seems, while Ace plays bass on Torpedo Girl, Two Sides of The Coin, and Talk To Me.
• A big, colorful poster was included with the original album that was a larger image of the frame on the cover where KISS takes off their masks to reveal that they look the same underneath.
• After ending his relationship with Cher in the summer of 1980, Gene became involved with Diana Ross.  Diana Ross really changed Gene, in that, he began wearing a lot of expensive silk suits and doing his hair differently to try to look "respectable".
• In June of 1980, KISS began auditioning new drummers to be the permanent replacement for Peter Criss.  Paul Carravello, later given the pseudonym of Eric Carr by the band to cover any ties to his pre-KISS life, was given the honor on July 1, 1980.  His first show would be only 24 days later and he hadn't been given a persona yet!  Originally Eric's character was going to be The Hawk but he ended up looking like a giant chicken in his makeup and costume so it was revised to be The Fox.
• Confusion once arose over a reporter's announcement that KISS had signed its first female drummer--ERICA CARR.
• To avoid being banned from Germany, KISS was forced to change their logo on all German releases beginning with Unmasked so the two lightning-bolt "SS" didn't resemble the Nazi logo.  Paul and Gene, both being Jewish, took great offense to the allegations that KISS were Nazis.  Gene was born in Israel and his mother spent some time in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.  Ironically, at a show in Milan, Italy on September 2, 1980, a group of skinheads stormed through some barricades and descended on the band believing them to be their allies.
• KISS' toured Australia for the first time in 1980 and they were met with the same type of reaction that they had received in 1977 in Japan--mayhem and hysteria!  The tour of Australia drew the biggest crowds of KISS' career.  One out of every 14 Australians owned at least one KISS album.
• One note on the 1997 Remastered version of Unmasked: the cover artwork simply was not reproduced to its original brilliant hues.  The cover is meant to catch the eye, however the new release is marred by a cloudy, inferior print that deludes the rainbow effect of the original.

    Best of Solo Albums was released exclusively in Europe and is a "greatest hits" of the 4 solo albums from KISS. Best of Solo Albums featured 3 songs from each member's album.  It is a very good compilation with the best songs (at least in my opinion) chosen as the selections.

Rating: 1/2

    People either hate The Elder or they love it; there seems to be no middle ground (a lot like Peter Criss).  I fall closer to the former.  Even though it is a REAL departure from the KISS sound, I think The Elder is a great album.  There are a lot of good songs here but BEWARE--there a couple of real stinkers, too!
    The gothic duo of Only You and Under The Rose, Dark Light, The Oath, and A World Without Heroes are your KISS standard rockers & ballads.  However, a taste of the dreadful Mr. Blackwell and one begins to realize that KISS has not chosen wisely in entering this new phase of their career.  I is kind of a foot-stomper in the same vein as Shout It Loud and Rock and Roll All Nite (though nowhere near as good). Just A Boy and Odyssey are good songs as well but by no means are they KISS classics; they are more in the vein of Great Expectations in an attempt at originality with the elaborate string sections and sweeping choruses.  Escape From The Island is a bizarre instrumental piece, as is Fanfare.
    The Elder has a real medieval feel to it; the horns and elaborate story, choruses--one expects to hear a lot of "thou"s and "thine"s spoken by guys in tights and funny hats.  It's almost operatic in the same style of Rush's 2112 album.  What really stands out for me on The Elder is Gene's vocals.  Instead of the usual growling and snarling, Gene actually sings here...and he does a fine job!  A World Without Heroes is one of KISS' best ballads and we have Gene to thank for that.  The same goes for Gene's solo album--on See You Tonite, for example, he shows that he can really sing.  It's too bad that he doesn't indulge us more often.
    The Elder has received a lot of criticism however I don't believe that it was valid.  At the time, the concept album was a popular format with Pink Floyd's The Wall being the most predominant example.  While Dynasty and Unmasked saw legions of fans leave the KISS Army, the band saw the concept album as another outlet to try to lure back the masses.  Ironically earning KISS their first critically-praised album, the fans--the very people who a musician aims to please--simply could not accept what KISS had become.  I really think that The Elder has gotten a raw deal over the years as it is constantly referred to as rubbish.  Many fans however embrace it as one of their favorite KISS albums.  I fall somewhere in the middle; it has quite a few good songs on it but it's no KISS or Rock and Roll Over.

Interesting facts:

• The Elder was the first studio album which Eric Carr appeared on.
• The hand on the cover is actually Paul Stanley's.
• The door on the cover belongs to a Methodist church on Park Avenue in New York City.
• Ace and Anton Fig perform all of the instruments on Dark Light, while Ace and Eric Carr perform everything on Escape From The Island.
• When The Elder was released in Japan, the distributors feared the worst and put a cover showing the band in their costumes and makeup over the original cover. It was also not called Music From The Elder; instead it was given the title Great Decisive Battle of The Underworld.
• The Elder was a story written by Gene that never got off the ground despite the fact that the soundtrack was written for it.
• KISS believed The Elder would translate into a string of albums that would be connected by a common thread--this concept of a boy chosen to fight against evil.  The Elder would have an immediate follow-up album (tentatively titled War of The Gods) that would continue the story line and then a third album of the film's score.  Of course, this never happened due to abysmal sales of The Elder.  At the time, Pink Floyd was very successful with their concept album, The Wall, and KISS believed that The Elder could do the same for them after the disappointing Unmasked album.
• Ace was unhappy with the band's choice of producer (Bob Ezrin) for the album.  Ace thought that KISS needed to do a heavy metal record to get themselves back on track but Ezrin pushed them to do the concept album.
• The band also refined their looks for the album as they wanted to be taken seriously.  Paul cut his hair short and wore a ridiculous headband; Gene tied his hair back in a strange-looking ponytail, and Ace also cut his hair into a shag.  Other changes included the nixing of the blood-spitting and wild antics, no more platform shoes and a toning down of the outfits.
• An untitled demo was recorded by Ace and Eric at this time and it wouldn't be released until 1992's Revenge album.  The song would later be called Carr Jam 1981.  Ace also reworked the song for his 1987 album Frehley's Comet and called it Breakout.  This song was meant to showcase Eric Carr with a 2 to 3 minute drum solo in the middle; essentially it was to be his Moby Dick.
• Lou Reed co-wrote Dark Light, A World Without Heroes, and Mr. Blackwell.
• Dark Light was originally titled Don't Run and had different lyrics; the same can be said for A World Without Heroes as its original title was Every Little Bit of Your Heart.
• Only You was originally performed as Eskimo Sun by...Wicked Lester around 1970, and was a love song.
• The Elder was the last album to be reisssued on compact disc by KISS in May 1989.
• Ace's unhappiness translated into him being absent for a good deal of the recording sessions.  He knew that The Elder was not the right direction for KISS to take but with Peter gone, he was being out-voted 2 to 1 by Gene and Paul.  Ace was extremely upset with the finished album because he felt that his guitar work had been minimized (without his approval) due to the more "sensitive" nature of the album.
• The stage show for The Elder was to be very elaborate, featuring the band as Keepers of the Light of Truth, protecting a damsel in distress with a freeze gun in a three-act play.  KISS was going Broadway!
• Two videos were produced for the album: A World Without Heroes and I.
• The only live performance of material from The Elder was on the Friday show on January 15, 1982 as KISS played The Oath, I, and A World Without Heroes.
• W.A.S.P.'s Blackie Lawless was in the audience (as a fan) for KISS' appearance on the Friday show.
• An appearance on January 28, 1982 at Studio 54 in New York City is significant because Ace did not perform with the band.  He was home sick with "stomach problems".  It was later revealed that Ace's unhappiness had been driven to the point of not even wanting to appear with KISS any longer.
• Eric Carr would receive songwriting credit on Escape From The Island and Under The Rose, a rare thing in his years with KISS.
• Escape From The Island isn't on the Japanese version of The Elder; instead it was released 7 months later on the Killers album.
• When KISS was preparing to release their catalogue on compact disc in the 1980's, they didn't want to release The Elder but bowed to pressure from fans who took a belated liking to the album.
• Talk of removing the make-up was first brought up during the making of The Elder.
• The Elder peaked at a new low for the band on Billboard's album charts--# 75.
• The 1997 Remasters series features the track listing that the band originally wanted: Fanfare/ Just A Boy/ Odyssey/ Only You/ Under The Rose/ Dark Light/ A World Without Heroes/ The Oath/ Mr. Blackwell/ Escape From The Island/ I.  One listen and you can see that the album is more cohesive this way.  Also of note, the remastered CD has a lot of dialogue and background sounds that were previously inaudible.
• April 1982--Ace and Anton Fig crash his Porsche into a wall doing a reported 200 km/h which incapacitates Ace for months.

 

    Though Killers was never released domestically in North America, it is in the possession of many KISS fans so I feel that it deserves inclusion in these reviews.
    There are only four new songs on Killers: I'm A Legend Tonight, Down On Your Knees, Nowhere To Run, and Partners In Crime.  These songs have never been released in North America except on the CD single for 1989's Forever. I'm A Legend Tonight is a good song, as is Nowhere To Run. Down On Your Knees is OK but Partners In Crime is not so good.  The rest of the album is filled with "greatest hits", though Escape From The Island is a questionable inclusion.
    I am glad that KISS decided to do more of the heavier songs than the pop drivel of the previous couple of albums, but these are pretty unexciting songs whose only significance lies in their collectibility (that's the only reason I spent $35 on the CD) and seeing Paul in that pretty purple headband and Gene's hair tied up like a show-horse's tail.
    Killers gets the honor of being KISS' worst album cover (although Carnival of Souls is a close contender)!

Interesting facts:

• The Japanese release of Killers has 2 extra songs on it: Escape From The Island and Shandi.
• Bryan Adams co-wrote Down On Your Knees with Paul Stanley.
• Nowhere To Run was written for The Elder's sequel album.
• I'm a Legend Tonight was performed later on the Creatures of The Night tour.
• Of the 4 new tracks on Killers, Gene appears only Nowhere To Run; Paul performed the bass lines on the other three.
• Bob Kulick again played guitar on the four new tracks as Ace was out of commission due to his car accident.
• Killers was released for 2 reasons: contractual obligations, and, in many countries, the KISS catalogue was either unavailable or spotty.
• Paul was dating actress and future wife of Dan Aykroyd, Donna Dixon, throughout 1981 and 1982.  Paul had a cameo in the movie Doctor Detroit with Aykroyd and Dixon, which I'm sure he regrets performing in--it was on this movie that Aykroyd and Dixon struck up a relationship that led to her dumping Paul and marrying Aykroyd.

    Finally, we have the REAL KISS back again!
    Creatures of The Night is KISS' strongest album by far since 1977's Love Gun.  Every song is an ass-kicker though Saint and Sinner kind of blows.  War Machine, Killer, I Love It Loud, and Rock and Roll Hell give us Gene at his best--growling, snarling, and mean.  Paul's best song to this point is undeniably I Still Love You.  Creatures of The Night, Keep Me Comin', and Danger are also great songs.  It's too bad that we couldn't get one last song from Ace, though.  I love the heavy bass and drums on this album; it's as if KISS not only wanted to return as a heavy metal band but they wanted you to FEEL it, too!
    Like his later work on the Lick It Up and Revenge albums, and as weird a guy as he is reported to be, Vinnie Vincent really knows how to give the band a kick in the right direction.  His presence is certainly felt both in the song writing and definitely the guitars.  I'm a big fan of Ace Frehley but KISS couldn't have come up with a better replacement than Vinnie.  I've always believed that without the touch added by Vinnie Vincent on Creatures of The Night, KISS may very well have sunk into the creative abyss, never to return again.

Interesting facts:

• Bryan Adams co-wrote 2 more songs on this album: Rock and Roll Hell and War Machine (these are a far cry from his later work, Everything I Do I Do It For You and Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?).
• Rock and Roll Hell was recorded earlier by Bachman Turner Overdrive with different verses but the same chorus.
• Gene wanted the "pumped-up" bass drum sound on the album.
• Creatures of The Night was re-released in 1985 with a different cover (terrible!), someone's ass on the back cover, and the tracks Killer and Saint and Sinner reversed.  The 1997 Remasters series would return Creatures of The Night to its original cover and track order.  Hoo-ray!!
• The four new songs on Killers were recorded during the sessions for Creatures of The Night.  They were originally intended to be released on Creatures in North America but could not be mixed properly to fit the sound of the rest of the album so they were scrapped.
• Guitarists who tried out for KISS as Ace's replacement were Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) and Juan Croucier (RATT).  Since Vincent Cusano was already writing songs with the band anyway, he was their final choice to replace Ace, and would become known as Vinnie Vincent.  Visit the official Vinnie Vincent Web Site or Guitarmageddon or my Vinnie page.
• Many guitarists contributed to the album, including Bob Kulick, Vinnie Vincent, and several session players.  To this day, it remains unclear whose guitar work is on the final album.
• Eric Carr plays bass on I Still Love You and Paul Stanley plays bass on Creatures of The Night.
• Ace's playing is nowhere to be found on Creatures.  Steve Ferris played lead guitar on the title track, Paul Stanley on I Love It Loud, Robben Ford on I Still Love You and Vinnie on the remainder of the tracks.
• Paul hated I Love It Loud, but Gene hated Creatures of The Night so the two compromised and put both tracks on the album.
• Thrills In The Night was done at this time but would not show up on an album until 1984's Animalize.
• It's My Life and When The Legend Dies, two tracks written for Creatures, would appear on the Gene Simmons-produced, Wendy O. Williams album, W.O.W..
• The record company didn't want the fans to know that Ace Frehley was no longer in KISS so they decided on having him on the original cover, keeping it a secret that Vinnie was in and Ace was out.  It wasn't until December 1982 that Polygram released a press notice saying that Vinnie would "temporarily" replace Ace on the tour due to his car accident.  It wouldn't be until August 1983 that an official announcement was made that Ace was no longer a member of KISS.
• In his down-time, Ace Frehley produced the demo record for shock-rockers W.A.S.P. in the fall of 1982.  After this, he would virtually disappear from the music scene until his solo project, Frehley's Comet, in 1987.
• The Creatures tour saw the last time Gene would perform God of Thunder until 1992's Revenge tour.
• Howard Marks, KISS' business manager from 1976 to 1988, stars as the father in the I Love It Loud video.
• Eric first sang with KISS on the tour lending his vocals to Black Diamond.
• Creatures of The Night was not well received by fans and was KISS' worst-selling album up to that point.  In fact, the album wouldn't reach Gold status until 1991.
• Creatures of The Night only reached # 45 on Billboard's album charts.
• It was during the Creatures tour that KISS decided that they would permanently remove their makeup for the next album.
• After a disappointing tour of North America, KISS traveled to South America for the first time.  The response that they got in Brazil was enormous.  KISS played to the largest audiences in the band's history with crowds averaging over 200,000 people per show!