Best KISS Post-Classic-Era Material

[Rikk]

WHAT MATERIAL DO YOU THINK KISS DID THAT IS ON A LEVEL EVEN CLOSE TO THEIR "CLASSIC ERA"?

I guess I basically mean after their popularity faded. I would still consider DYNASTY a classic-era album because they still had the make-up and technically, it's an album that had all four members (although Peter Criss only appears on one song (DIRTY LIVIN').

For me, I'd have to say the only album that approaches their glory days, both in terms of production and quality of songs, is CREATURES OF THE NIGHT. I really like that album. At least three songs are outright KISS Klassics:
. I LOVE IT LOUD
. I STILL LOVE YOU
. WAR MACHINE

And while I don't like the oft-played title track, I like several other tracks (e.g. KEEP ME COMIN', ROCK AND ROLL HELL, KILLER, etc.).

I wish a pro-shot video from this tour would surface, but I've even seen all the material not yet leaked from the band's personal archives and there is NOTHING pro-shot from this tour other than some newscast footage and the over-rated RIO '83 show.

[Terry]

I'd consider Dynasty a classic-era album as well, and not a bad one.

Unmasked wasn't quite as terrible for me as the general consensus paints it to be.

Yeah, I'd say Creatures from start to finish is the best stuff KISS did post-classic era (and maybe a bit better than Dynasty, truth be told). The four new tracks from KISS Killers weren't terrible, either.

After Ace was finally officially out of the band and the makeup came off, that string of post-makeup 80's albums were by and large forgettable. I'm not gonna say every single tune on those albums were shit, but even the ones I sorta liked in the 80's...I can't remember the last time I had the inclination to listen to any of that stuff.

I'd also say that an honorable mention should go to Revenge, which was a welcome return to form after the band had spent several years sort of aping the mid-to-late 1980's hair band formula and going the Desmond Child route in terms of the songwriting. I wasn't over the moon over every track on Revenge, but at least the album had several tracks that I thought kicked ass and showcased the band toughening up the sound and attitude a bit.

I think the band just sort of had a ten year identity crisis of sorts after the Elder flopped. They went back to the harder-edged sound for Creatures and the Killers tracks but their audience had already dwindled substantially by the time 1982 rolled around. By that point, the makeup phenomenon apex period of the band was over. So, they took the makeup off. Then they took a nod from Van Halen and got a couple of gunslinger guitarists in to play lead for a couple of albums. Then they went sort of soft and glammy. The nadir for me was that stupid Let's Put The X In Sex single, a half-assed attempt to copy Robert Palmer's Addicted To Love. Then the Crazy Nights album, which was a half-assed attempt to rip a page out of Bon Jovi's playbook. And that Forever track was co-written by Michael Bolton and totally sounded like something that should have been on a Michael Bolton album. To be fair, the band did have several singles that charted during the makeupless 80's and the group kept going when they could have just as easily faded away like so many fads from the 1970's did. But those years saw KISS following trends, which was certainly a comedown from one of the biggest bands of the 1970s who smacked of originality in terms of their sound and image.

[twonabomber]

Revenge, but it's the only post-Dynasty KISS album I listened to in its entirety so I'm a bit biased.

[Rikk]

I agree with all the comments above.

REVENGE, while not perfect (some filler) was a definite step in the right direction. KISS became more interesting in the 90s. CARNIVAL OF SOULS was not as interesting or as fun as REVENGE...but at least it was worth a listen. (I remember getting an early bootleg, WAY before it was released...a bootlegger I knew sent me a tape.)

By the time PSYCHO CIRCUS came around, I remember being really disappointed. There were tracks I liked...but after all the hype for it being a return-to-form (the band saying it was like the new DESTROYER crossed with DRESSED TO KILL), I remember listening to it and thinking, "This sounds nothing like those amazing 70s albums. And Ace & Peter are really being stifled in their playing here." It was only years later that I found out that Ace plays on maybe three songs and Peter only plays drums on one song, singing on a couple of others. That album wasn't growth. It was regression...with the band attempting to sound like a 90s-version of hair metal with a slight Oasis influence. It went nowhere.

[Rikk]

I definitely count DYNASTY too. Yeah, Anton Figg is on drums on 8 of the 9 songs, but I don't care that much. To me, that's almost still legitimate because he was the drummer on Ace's solo album...and Ace's solo album might be my all-time favorite KISS-branded album in history. It's that good.

DYNASTY is great. It's still classic KISS to me. I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN' YOU, 2,000 MAN, SURE KNOW SOMETHING, DIRTY LIVIN', MAGIC TOUCH, HARD TIMES, X-RAY EYES and SAVE YOUR LOVE are all top-notch KISS material, to me. The only song I don't love is Gene's CHARISMA. And if you want a KISS album with some of Ace's best playing, check out DYNASTY.

UNMASKED is kind of more of the same...but the songwriting is not as good (except for Ace's material). I still like IS THAT YOU?, SHANDI, TALK TO ME, NAKEY CITY, TWO SIDES OF THE COIN, SHE'S SO EUROPEAN, TORPEDO GIRL and YOU'RE ALL THAT I WANT.

[Terry]

Psycho Circus ultimately just didn't have compelling material on it. Even In The Void, the Ace track and the only track all four original members played on, didn't really stack up alongside the best of what the band did in the 1970's (much like the rest of the album).