| Kiss | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Kiss |
| Cover: | Kiss_first_album_cover.jpg |
| Released: | [1] |
| Recorded: | October–November 1973 |
| Studio: | Bell Sound (New York City) |
| Genre: | |
| Label: | Casablanca |
| Next Title: | Hotter Than Hell |
| Next Year: | 1974 |
Kiss is the debut studio album by American rock band Kiss, released on February 18, 1974, by Casablanca Records. Much of the material on the album was written by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, as members of their pre-Kiss band Wicked Lester. Simmons estimated that the entire process of recording and mixing took three weeks, while co-producer Richie Wise has stated it took just 13 days.[4]
The album was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, which was owned by the company that owned Buddah Records. Neil Bogart, the founder of Casablanca Records, was an executive at Buddah before forming Casablanca.[4] Casablanca Records held a party at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles to celebrate the West Coast release of Kiss (February 18) and to introduce the record company to the press and other record industry executives.
The original release of the album did not include "Kissin' Time". It has been on every pressing since. There were approximately 100,000 copies of the original pressing without "Kissin' Time" on the track listing.
The album's photoshoot took place on January 31, 1974 by Joel Brodsky at his studio on 57th Street in Manhattan.[5] According to Paul Stanley, everybody except Peter Criss did their own makeup on the shoot. The makeup personnel did Criss' makeup, as Stanley described, like a "tribal lion mask".[6]
In keeping with the Casablanca theme, the party included palm trees and a Humphrey Bogart lookalike. Kiss performed their usual loud and bombastic stage show, which turned Warner Bros. Records (Casablanca's record distributor) against the group.[4] Soon after the show, Warner Bros. contacted Neil Bogart and threatened to end their deal with Casablanca if Kiss did not remove their makeup. With manager Bill Aucoin's backing, Kiss refused. Shortly after the release of Kiss, Warner Bros. released Casablanca from their contract.[4]
Kiss began their first album tour with a performance at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, Alberta, on February 5, 1974. A few weeks later, they made their first national TV appearance on ABC's In Concert (aired March 29, 1974), performing "Nothin to Lose", "Firehouse", and "Black Diamond", followed by a performance of "Firehouse" on The Mike Douglas Show (also aired March 29, 1974). During the interview portion of the show, Gene Simmons declared himself to be "evil incarnate", eliciting nervousness, confused reactions from the studio audience, to which comedian Totie Fields humorously commented, "Wouldn't it be funny if he's just a nice Jewish boy underneath the makeup?" Although neither confirming or denying his Jewish heritage, Simmons replied, "You should only know", to which Fields countered, "I do. You can't hide the hook", referring to Simmons' nose.
The album's cover showed the group positioned against a black background in a pose visually reminiscent of the Beatles' With the Beatles album. Three of the four band members applied their own makeup for the album cover photo, as they usually did, but Criss's "Catman" makeup was applied by a professional, whose work came out looking quite a bit different from the look Criss had established, and to which he would return immediately afterward. Ace Frehley, wanting to impress the other members of Kiss, dyed his hair with silver hairspray, which easily came out with shampoo.[4] According to Criss, photographer Joel Brodsky thought Kiss were literally clowns and wanted to place balloons behind the group for the shoot.[7] Brodsky denied this, chalking it up to their imagination.[4]
All of the material for Kiss was written before the band entered the studio. Some of the songs were written during Wicked Lester's brief existence, while "Firehouse" was written by Paul Stanley while he was attending the High School of Music & Art in New York City.[4]
The song refers to the stimulating effect that cold gin supposedly has on the male sex drive. The song credits cold gin as the only thing that keeps the couple together in a troubled relationship.
There was a Kiss tribute band from Los Angeles named after this classic song, featuring Tommy Thayer as Frehley, Jaime St. James as Criss, Chris McLernon as Simmons and Anthony White as Stanley. St. James and Thayer previously played in Black 'N Blue, a band produced by Simmons, and Thayer would eventually join Kiss, taking Frehley's place after the Farewell tour.
A live version of the song was included on Kiss' popular and successful live album Alive!. When Alive! was re-released as part of the Kiss Alive! 1975–2000 box set, the song was mistakenly credited to Stanley instead of Ace Frehley in the 72-page booklet that accompanied the album.
"Cold Gin" was named the seventh-best drinking song by Guitar World staff.[8]
Ace Frehley later rerecorded "Cold Gin" with his vocals for his cover album, Origins, Vol. 1.
In the mid-late 1980s, the album was reissued by Mercury Records on vinyl and cassette with a live version of "Nothin' to Lose" (from Alive!) in place of the studio version. This substitution was reportedly done unauthorized by a malicious employee at PolyGram Records' tape library. The studio version was restored when the album was issued on CD and the 2014 vinyl re-issue.
Despite the band's promoting and touring, Kiss sold approximately 75,000 copies after its initial release without the presence of a hit single.[4] It was certified gold on June 8, 1977, having shipped 500,000 copies. The album was re-released in 1997 (along with most of Kiss' earlier albums) in a remastered version.
In 2003, Kiss was included in the Spin list of essential glam rock albums.[2]
Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley have stated that Kiss is their favorite Kiss album.[9]
All credits are adapted from the original release.[10]