Step up! No one leaves ’til the night is done The amplifier starts to hum The carnival has just begun… You wanted the best? You got… a buttkickin’ title track from an otherwise crappy album. Look, I make no apologies for being a Kiss fan, and by “fan” I mean “actual fan of the music”,…
In order to shake off the stench of commercial disappointment that accompanied their three previous albums (Unmasked, Music From “The Elder”, Creatures of the Night), Kiss was now at the biggest crossroads of their career. After being increasingly viewed as a dated relic of the 1970s, their album sales continued to suffer. One more flop…
Destroyer was Kiss’s larger-than-life effort to keep momentum rolling after the multi-platinum success of their landmark 1975 live album Alive!. After releasing three studio albums to middling results, the band bet the farm on an album that endeavored to replicate their “live concert” experience, and successfully at that, even if the amount of actual “live…
Kiss’s 1976 LP Rock And Roll Over is one of the most celebrated albums by die-hard Kiss fans, held in high relief as the sweet spot at which everything seems to be in synch: great production values, strong songs, iconic Kissography, and the entire band performing and recording together with minimal intrusion from outside songwriters…
In a lot of ways, you have to admire the sheer chutzpah that Kiss exhibited by dubbing their 1981 concept album Music From “The Elder” with that moniker. Almost immediately that title elevates the material to something of a new plateau; I mean, it’s not just another dopey album or anything like that. It’s the…
Legendary Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley — the original and ONLY Spaceman, as far as this fan is concerned — had been an integral component of the band’s success since its inception. As Kiss’s lead guitarist, his licks, riffs, and solos gave their music much of its memorable character and tenor. Frehley wasn’t a perfectionist, nor…
We turn our attention today to Kiss’s 1979 release Dynasty, or as it’s known by fans: “The Disco Album”, or perhaps even “When Things Go Horribly, Horribly Wrong”. Depending on your particular sensibilities, you wouldn’t be wrong with either assessment, but you would be able to walk away feeling that Dynasty is still a pretty…
Pound for pound, I’d say Love Gun is probably my favorite Kiss album, or at the very least in my Top 3. Everything about it screams quintessential Kiss. First there’s that cover. Look at that thing. Beautiful. Artist Ken Kelly painted it (he had done the Destroyer cover as well) and that is some buttkickin’…
Creatures Of The Night is one of the great ’80s hard rock albums. And easily one of the best Kiss records. On a personal note, Creatures Of The Night is a big nostalgic favorite. Even though I was only 11 when it came out in 1982, I had already zoned out of Kiss after Dynasty in ’79.…
Before I begin this album review, let’s get one thing perfectly clear, and dare I say, out of the way immediately. I am a massive Kiss fan, and it’s because of the music. I mean, maybe not at the very beginning. As a very young child of the 70s, I remember seeing one of their…