I'm no Kiss aficionado, and won't profess to have the inside scoop on the band's storied career. I know bits and pieces of it from what I've heard over the years, but couldn't do any sort of deep dive. As such, I'll try to keep things limited in terms of what I profess here about the band's history, all while utilizing Wikipedia for (what are hopefully) facts about the specific album in question.
I've listened to a handful of Kiss albums, but have yet to really make a dent in their entire discography, which I own. Over these next few days, I'm going to focus on their 80's era, barring those I've already listened to and posted a Retro Spin for. First up would be 1980's Unmasked.
It's no mystery that the band has had its troubles with members Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss, which ultimately led to both members departures. I mention this because while Criss is noted in the liner notes on the album, he apparently was not involved with any of the recording process. His participation in the Unmasked tour, and appearance in the music video for Shandi would apparently also be his last before being fired.
As for the album, things started out pretty bleak in my listening session. Openers Is That You? and Shandi were pretty boring, at best. Then came Talk To Me.
Oh, Ace Frehley, how you always upstage Paul and Gene with your minimal tracks they allow you to contribute to. He's the only band member that seems to provide consistency in solid music. It's as if the other two knew this, and intentionally kept him in the background, lest they be upstaged, which they are, every time.
There were decent tracks on the album, as a whole, but nothing really that I would call memorable, beyond Frehley's contributions, Talk To Me, Two Sides Of The Coin, and Torpedo Girl, as well as Gene Simmons' Naked City. Everything else is just kind of blah. It's as if the hard rockers hailed as the greatest rock band, forgot how to play rock. Instead, they were coming off an ill advised disco era of Dynasty, into a new wave pop era, and didn't know how to adjust to that.
Critics alike panned the album, and even Gene Simmons bluntly stated it's, "A sh***y album." So, at least I'm not alone in my assessment. He would elaborate by saying he had taken his, "Eye off the ball and started to trust producers." I suppose that means he let others dictate how Kiss should make music, resulting in a very poor sounding final product.
I mean, it is what it is. You can't cry in your mascara all day long. Instead, we'll just move onto their next album tomorrow.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS July 2, 1983 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS July 2, 1988 |
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