Disc 78 is...Dynasty
Artist: KISS
Year of Release: 1979
How I Came To Know It: KISS is one of the "big three" in my early childhood education (along with Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper). My brother bought Dynasty when it came out (I was 9) and I've been listening to it ever since.
How It Stacks Up: I have 10 KISS albums. Of those 10, I'd say Dynasty is about 4th or 5th best - depending on how I'm feeling at the time.
Rating: 4 stars. This was a hard one. Really, this album is a 3 star album with three kick ass songs, but I really like those songs. I'd like to give it 3.5 stars, but don't do half stars, so I went with 4 for sentimental reasons.
As I said in the teaser, Dynasty has been in my life for over thirty years. I really dig it - it captures KISS at their most bombastic, and self-absorbed (the title is "Dynasty" after all).
Having been in my life a long time, this album has a lot of mixed up memories.
The album's classic and best known song, "I Was Made For Loving You" reminds me of being a kid, when disco was king. The song definitely has strong disco elements, but there's no shame in it - most hard rockers in that period were having a hard time resisting (Alice Cooper did "You Just Gotta Dance" around the same time). I would point out in my house growing up, disco was never king.
In my early twenties I remember dancing to it at clubs - it was still going strong fifteen years later.
And a few years back, I had this weird moment at the wedding of my friends, Tony and Allison. They had a rule that in order to "get them to kiss" you couldn't just tap your champagne glass, you had to recite something or sing a song with the word 'love' in it. Having had a couple (people always seem to sit me close to the bar...) I thought the opening of the song would have been awesome in a slightly inappropriate kind of way:
"Tonight - I want to give it all to you
In the darkness, so much I wanna do
And tonight, I wanna lay it at your feet
'Cause girl I was made for you,
And girl, you were made for me
I was made for lovin' you baby,
You were made for lovin' me."
Etcetera. I regret that I never did it - and it wasn't because I wasn't drunk enough (I was) or that it was inappropriate (when has that ever stopped me) - it was because the wedding was populated with theatre students, who had a run of about 10 perfectly in-tune performances rocking the room and frankly, it was an act a regular joe could not follow.
Give me a time machine though, and my tortured version would ring out, certes.
Anyway, this album is peppered with these kind of lascivious lyrics and over-the-top narcissism that can only be delivered by Paul Stanley. This album reminded me just how underrated Paul Stanley is as a vocalist. I love the song "Charisma", which is like Alice Cooper's "Is It My Body" stripped of every shred of introspection:
"Is it my fortune or my fame?
Is it my money or my name?
Is it my personality?
Or just my sexuality?
What is my...charisma?
What is it I've got?
What is it about me
That gets you so hot?"
In the background, the father of all inflated egos, Gene Simmons, sings a running chorus of "what is my charisma?"
I also really dig "2000 Man" which I had always thought was an Ace Frehley song. But when I looked at the liner notes, I see it is a Rolling Stones song - now I must seek out the original, if there is one.
As great as some tracks are, a few are largely forgettable. But even these forgettable tracks have strong guitar riffs that make them fun to drive to.
I also quite like the drumming on this album - so much so I cheated and checked to see if it was Peter Criss. Apparently it was primarily a studio musician named "Anton Fig".
So if you like KISS, you probably like Dynasty - from the opening "oooh, yeah" of Paul's to the last song as he tells his ex to "save her love", he doesn't want it.
But I did - I kept it in the car an extra day and got two listens.
If you aren't a fan of "Dynasty", I can't understand how you survived being nine. It's hard enough, without rock and roll.
Best tracks: I Was Made For Lovin' You, 2000 Man, Charisma, Magic Touch, Hard Times
3 comments:
Anton Fig? I totally recognized the name - aha! He is the drummer for "The Late Show with David Letterman" (since 1986).
He's also worked with TONS of musicians. http://www.antonfig.com/bio.htm
Oh, and I love most of the songs you mention.
I haven't really ever listened to the whole album, but I sure do have some great nostalgia for "I Was Made for Loving You". It's 1980. I am 9 year old. I am going to a new school, and the teacher has come to the office to bring me to the classroom. When we arrive, the classroom has run a bit amok in her absence, and a boy is standing on his desk playing air-guitar and singing that song. I had a crush on him for the next 5 years! And still love that song. Maybe it;s time to give the album a listen! Joel has all the old KISS albums on vinyl.
I remember being entirely facinated with this album cover. At the time (I was also 9) I was not allowed to listen to KISS...(Unfortunately I had no older sibling to show me the way) But I saw a poster of this album cover in Mr. Fry's grade 7 class, and I would walk slowly past the door every day so I could stare at it. Didn't actually listen to it until I was 15 or so, It was the second KISS album I bought, after Destroyer...and I agree, It still stacks up as a top 5 KISS album.
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