Kiss – Unmasked

With ‘Unmasked’ however, which along with ‘Crazy Nights’, it is easily the AOR highpoint of Kiss’s career.

Written by: Dangerzone

ARTIST: Kiss
ALBUM: Unmasked
LABEL: Casablanca
SERIAL: NBLP 7225
YEAR: 1980
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Paul Stanley – guitars, bass, vocals * Ace Frehley – guitars, bass, vocals * Anton Fig – drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 Is That You * 02 Shandi * 03 Talk To Me * 04 Naked City * 05 What Makes The World Go Round * 06 Tomorrow * 07 Two Sides Of The Coin * 08 She’s So European * 09 Easy As It Seems * 10 Torpedo Girl * 11 You’re All That I Want

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

‘Unmasked’, along with ‘Asylum’, is perhaps Kiss’ most forgotten album. It came at a time when the band’s popularity was waning in the U.S. It wasn’t helped by the departure of drug addled Peter Criss who although featured on the albums artwork, did not play a note on the album, replaced by session man Anton Fig, who was a member of Spider at the time. 1979’s ‘Dynasty’ had showed a more mainstream melodic side of Kiss, and they took it a step further.

With ‘Unmasked’ however, which along with ‘Crazy Nights’, it is easily the AOR highpoint of Kiss’s career. With Vini Poncia producing and contributing to all tracks minus two, he took Kiss in a direction that might have irked fans of the earlier, heavier albums, but ‘Unmasked’s worth as a credible venture into classic AOR cannot be undermined. That it failed was a result of changing times, not due to a musical failure, a bit like ‘The Elder’ and ‘Creatures Of The Night’.

The Songs

The reliable pen of Gerald McMahon provides ‘Is that You’ with ambiguous lyrics and music (‘you went too far, being the bitch you are, your reputations in the bathroom’), a heavy handed yet worthy slice of melodic rock which Stanley was born to sing.

‘Shandi’ was a hit in Australasia, an area which was still enthoned in Kiss mania in 1980, to this day a ballad which was advanced for its time, sounding more like 1985. Frehley has three tracks featured, ‘Talk To Me’ being the first, with his simplistic lyrics and knack for a bouncy chorus which endeared him to the fans as the peoples choice of the band.

Of his other two efforts ‘Two Sides Of The Coin’ shades ‘Torpedo Girl’, a typical piece of Frehley naughtiness, the former containing the unforgettable lyric ‘Ive met some ladies, then some girls, but they don’t tell you, they just want a whirl’. I Peppy Castro and Bob Kulick get in the act, co-writing ‘Naked City’ with Simmons and Poncia, an automatic AOR classic that would have easily fit on a Balance album, especially those marvelous backing vocals.

The keyboard work on ‘Tomorrow’ veers off into new wave, which explains Stanley’s bogus haircut of the period, the song itself a key piece of pop-AOR which in another time might have been a hit.

A true AOR classic arrives in the shape of ‘Easy As It Seems’, defining the genre in 1980 better than a Styx, Journey or Foreigner could, the guitar solo a stand out, although surely it isn’t Frehley, perhaps it is some faceless session man behind the curtain as Kiss so often did. Simmons chips in with a pearler, ‘You’re All That I Want’, with the heaviest riffs of the album, but perhaps the most accessible chorus with guitar harmonies that read ‘Bob Kulick’ like a front page headline.

In Summary

Depending on what version of Kiss tickles your fancy, this may not be for everyone, now or back then. But for true fans it’s every bit as accomplished as a ‘Destroyer’ or ‘Lick It Up’. AOR fans who may have overlooked this or disregarded it simply because of the name ‘Kiss’ may want to give this a chance.

The band steered away from AOR in the ensuing years, but gradually worked their way back during the mid 80’s, with some of their heaviest and melodic work in the process. ‘Unmasked’ might have seen Kiss at a turning point in their career, but decades later has stood the test of time, sounding fresher than many an album from the same year.

Video

Naked City