What Is A "Real" KISS Album!?
By: jason_lucas@chicago.kirkland.com

There are many people who think they know what a "real" KISS album should sound like, or how it should be written. However, do we REALLY know what a "real" KISS album does sound like??

Let us consider the KISS studio albums. The first thing we have to look at, is who got writing credits for songs on each album, and how much outside influence there actually was within the song-writing process, not to mention the different studio musicians involved in the actual recording of the songs themselves.

Consider the first KISS album. If you refer to the original release, which did not have "Kissin' Time", you find that ONLY KISS members Gene, Paul and Ace wrote or co-wrote the remaining nine original songs on the album. No outside writers or influential producers to be found. This is indeed a true KISS album, and this is how KISS sounded at that time. Nothing extra added in...this is the real deal.

Next, however, we have albums like Hotter Than Hell and Dressed To Kill which contained certain Wicked Lester-era songs like "Goin? Blind" and "She", which were both co-written with Steven Coronel, who was a friend of Gene?s and former member of Wicked Lester. I still consider these to be true KISS songs. However, if we are trying to find out just what the individual KISS members write like on their own, then these are not good examples. So, we are starting to notice KISS using older ideas including co-writers outside of the band KISS to add to their new albums.

Then, we come to Destroyer, which is considered to be KISS?s best album, by the fans and the band themselves. Why is this?? Has anyone ever looked at the writing credits to the album? It is not a good example of what KISS's writing sounds like at all. Bob Ezrin?s influence can be felt on nearly every song, which is not a bad thing. We know that for the first time, Ace Frehley was pushed aside and that Bob himself wrote the guitar solos for "Detroit Rock City", "King of the Nighttime World", "Great Expectations" and "Shout It Out Loud" , leaving Ace free to be himself on "God Of Thunder" and "Flaming Youth". Those are the only two songs that Ace actually contributed to. "Sweet Pain" featured a session guitarist on leads. The album is very well done and the songs are excellent, but we cannot get away from the fact that this album, unfortunately, is NOT what "real" KISS album would sound like. There is way too much outside input to the songwriting for us to know what it would have been like if KISS had actually written it themselves. This is something very obvious that is overlooked all the time by the fans. The reason why much of the album sounds good is because the band themselves did not write half of the actual guitar parts or music. If you hear the original demo of Peter?s song "Beck", for example, you will know how much Bob Ezrin did to improve that song, along with others presented by Gene and Paul to the sessions.

Then, we get back to basics with Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun, which were both produced by Eddie Kramer, who produced KISS?s first demo in 1973. He had nothing to do with the writing processes on these two releases. The only outside songwriters on these two albums (barring the cover tune "Then She Kissed Me") are two old friends of the band, Sean Deleaney and Stan Penridge. Stan had written many songs with Peter in his LIPS days, and Peter, due to his inability to come up with new original KISS songs, was always delving back into his past for tunes, and these were usually co-written with Stan. Paul Stanley wrote a couple songs with KISS?s old friend and touring companion Sean, who ended up producing the new songs on Double Platinum. While these are still considered"outside" songwriters, they were with KISS since the very beginning, and knew the original sound and vibe of the band. However, because of their songwriting presence on these two albums, these cannot be considered 100% true KISS albums. They come as close as the first three, however, in actual writing style and subject matter, in representing a classic KISS style. The studio tracks on ALIVE II also can be grouped with these two albums as well, considering they were written during the Love Gun sessions. The only downside to three of the four original tracks on ALIVE II is the absense on guitar of Ace Frehley. Bob Kulick, however, did a stellar job on these songs, and respected Ace?s style enough to remain true to it in the studio.

After the four solo albums, which all contained outside songwriters, KISS regrouped with producer/songwriter Vini Poncia. They once again allowed the producer to become 100% involved in the actual writing process, and the band was moved into a new direction musically. Each member of KISS wrote with Vini Poncia (except Peter) for the Dynasty and Unmasked albums, and his influence was prominent on all songs. This was the first time KISS ever lost their true sound, which Ezrin was careful to remain true to when he worked with them on Destroyer. Also, having a session drummer, Anton Fig, contribute to both Dynasty and Unmasked, immediately took away from the true KISS sound that was present for most of the first six studio albums. (No disrespect to Anton, who is far and away a superior drummer to Peter Criss, and whose presense was one redeeming feature of these two releases.)

The Elder stands on its own as a KISS release. It is truly a remarkable and interesting album, and several of the songs actually written by members of KISS are supurb, however, once again, we have Bob Ezrin arranging and co-writing songs for the band, and there are songs co-written by Lou Reed and other outside writers as well. This, once again, takes away from the purity of the songwriting by the actual bandmembers. This album is so mired in orchestration and production that it is impossible for it to sound like a classic KISS album. The album is excellent on its own, but compared to earlier efforts, it lacks sufficient imput from the actual bandmembers of KISS for it to sound like a true KISS album.

The Killers/Creatures of the Night albums contain songs that feature a return to classic form for the KISS sound. However, they were able to do it using a plethora of outside songwriters, including future KISS member/songwriter Vinnie Vincent. Once again, Ace was left out of the recording proceedures, and Bob Kulick was brought in for the Killers tracks and Vinnie Vincent was invited to play on Creatures of the Night, since his songwriting skills were adding so much to the band at the time. However, Creatures includes many different outside co-writers, and as much as it sounded like a return to heavy form for KISS, it cannot be considered to sound like a true KISS album. There wasn't enough input from the actual band members on the songwriting.

Now, we come to Lick It Up. This album is unique compared to all other KISS albums, except, possibly, the very first album, minus "Kissin? Time". Lick It Up is the ONLY KISS album not to feature outside songwriters. Every member of KISS received a songwriting credit, and no one who was not a member of the band wrote on the album. By that time, Vinnie Vincent was taken into the band as an official member, and he and Gene and Paul co-wrote nearly the entire album together, as a band. This was the first time KISS had done anything on this scale for several years, not bringing in any outside ideas, as was the case for every other KISS album except the very first one. So, among KISS albums, Lick It Up stands as a true "real-sounding" KISS album. It is completely raw and energetic, with no production at all. It is interesting that the first KISS album can be compared to Lick It Up, the first KISS album without makeup and with the new official line-up. This was definately a return to the basics and roots of what KISS?s songwriting was about. This is an example of what a "real" KISS album sounds like.

From then on, KISS began to suffer from several factors, including guitarist changes and more importantly, Gene Simmons? lack of imput musically on the albums, relegating the bass playing to outside players like Jean Beauvoir , or Paul and Bruce, even on his own compositions. More and more responsiblility for the music on the albums was given to Bruce Kulick, who played more than his share of both rhythm AND lead guitars on the albums he was involved in. In fact, Bruce even played on two songs on the Animalize album, "Lonely Is the Hunter" and "Murder In High Heels". He was also involved in a limited way each album in the the songwriting. However, Gene and Paul had begun writing consistantly with co-writers and other musicians. This method has remained until this day, thus bogging down every KISS album with material that is substandard and un-KISS-like. While many of these songs are good, even excellent songs, that surpass many of the classic true KISS songs, they do not actually represent "true" KISS tunes that are exclusively written by members of KISS. Through this songwriting method, we have lost the actual sound of what KISS actually would sound like if they wrote their own music and songs. Any song that is co-written cannot be considered in the same way relating to KISS as a song written by the actual performing members of the band, at any given time. I can go into minute detail on each of these subsequent albums and individual songs, but for sake of brevity, I will not do that here. This subject is a general one, since the question of what a real KISS album sounds like is also quite general.

In conclusion, in actuality, we KISS fans have not had many "true" KISS albums, considering the amount of releases that KISS has spawned on the public. This is a major criticism of the band by non-fans, because they look at the labels of KISS albums and see all these different songwriters. It cannot be denied...KISS has rarely written an album by themselves, as other hard rock or metal bands do so often, and repeatedly, and consistantly. KISS hasn?t written an album together since 1983, and that wasn?t even the original four members. We can honestly say, that since the very first KISS album, KISS has not written an entire album by themselves, together. There has always been something there to add to the chemistry. The chemistry alone of Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter, has not been really seen at all. It was no surprise that Psycho Circus would have turned out as poorly as it did. The original KISS members hadn?t written an album together since their first years together. And even then, they used co-writers. So, the next time someone says that something "sounds like a KISS album", you can ask them what they mean by that. See how well they know their KISStory!

KISS ASYLUM -- KISS Museum News Archive Features Tour Dates Photos