• AllMyVinyl #159
• Band: Kiss
• Album Title: Kissworld
• Release Date: 2 Jun 2017 (UK), 25 Jan 2019 (Worldwide)
• Date purchased: 4 Aug 2020
• Location purchased: Amazon
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 2
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

Kiss.  A band that’s always seems polarizing for some reason.  Even in years gone by there’s always some controversy.   There’s plenty to choose from going back in time.  The “Knights in Satan’s Service” nonsense, the general sexual attitude of the band, the makeup coming off, the makeup coming back on, the makeup being worn by others besides the original lineup, and then their current stuff regarding the Kennedy Center honors.  I’m not really here to talk about that stuff, I’m going to do what I always do in these reviews.  A few memories, and thoughts about the tunes here.  That other stuff is a discussion for another time.

I got into Kiss back when Lick It Up was the then incumbent album.  I was swept up in the press at the time about them taking off their makeup.  I was aware of them prior to that, but I didn’t have any albums, I just heard the big hits on the radio back then.  I did buy all their studio albums from that point forward – but either on cassette tape or on CD.  I never bought Kiss on vinyl back in the day.  So jump forward in time, and I’m in 2020 when I got a record player.  In the first few months during covid I was going around buying things for bands I liked.  I thought of Kiss, and immediately wanted to buy Double Platinum.  That covered all of their really good early stuff, and when I went looking, it wasn’t in print.  The only way to get it is to severely overbuy for a used copy, which I didn’t want to do.  It surprised me a lot that Kiss wasn’t actively printing that album (at the time I was looking to get it).  I haven’t looked since then, so I don’t know what the current status was.

When I was looking around for Double Platinum I found that Kiss had just released a new two disc compilation that covered their entire career.  That’s this – Kissworld.  It technically came out in Europe in mid 2017, but was released here in early 2019.

Thought I’d do a breakdown of all their studio albums and what comes from this compilation. As with any compilation, there’s always tracks you’d want to be there – this is no different. How can it be with just 20 songs?  But I do think it does a fair job of covering their entire career without having four or five discs in the package.

• Kiss (1974) – 0
• Hotter Than Hell (1974) – 0
• Dressed to Kill (1975) – 1
• Destroyer (1976) – 3
• Rock & Roll Over (1976) – 2
• Love Gun (1977) – 2
• Solo Albums (1978) – 0
• Dynasty (1979) – 1
• Unmasked (1980) – 1
• Music From The Elder (1981) – 0
• Killers (1982) – 1
• Creatures of the Night (1982) – 0
• Lick It Up (1983) – 1
• Animalize (1984) – 1
• Asylum (1985) – 1
• Crazy Nights (1987) – 1
• Hot in the Shade (1989) – 0
• Revenge (1992) – 2
• Carnival of Souls (1997) – 0
• Psycho Circus (1998) – 1
• Sonic Boom (2009) – 1
• Monster (2012) – 1

That’s a fairly good representation.  Of 20 tracks, eight of them comes from four of the first six albums, so that’s a definite statement on where they think tracks should go.  Nothing from Creatures of the Night was a bit of a surprise.  I have a soft spot for Hot in the Shade, but I know it’s not their most popular.  Overall, not a bad selection, although I would have put Cold Gin on here in place of Shandi or I’m a Legend Tonight.

There’s not a ton to say about this one intro wise as it’s a compilation that I got in the last few years, so no huge backstory to write about.   Time for some tunes, which I’ll dig into track by track as I don’t have a ton of Kiss on vinyl, and will be the only time I write about most of these songs.

Crazy Crazy Nights (from 1987’s “Crazy Nights”) – I’m a big fan of the 80’s no makeup Kiss – that was where I started, so I remember those albums well.  However Crazy Nights is for me the weakest of the no makeup albums.  This one was a specific attempt to write catcher tunes – they brought in other songwriters.  That wasn’t anything new with Kiss, but on this album it seemed a more deliberate attempt than it was in the past.  The song itself is fairly pedestrian, and it was an odd choice to lead off the album here, unless the angle was “let’s get it out of the way right now”.

The song itself is very weak and pedestrian by Kiss standards.  The riff is way too simple – the kind of thing that someone starting to play guitar could do.  The chorus vocals are somewhat catchy, but the rest of the song is just “meh”.  Even the solo in the track was nothing special, and this was the BIG lead in for this album.  Made me think the album was DOA when it showed up in 87.  It felt like Kiss lite, to be honest.  Fortunately the album gets better after that.

Rock & Roll All Nite (from 1975’s “Dressed to Kill”) – Led Zeppelin has “Stairway”. Black Sabbath has “Paranoid”.  Deep Purple has “Smoke on the Water”.  Kiss has Rock & Roll All Nite.  This is the one song that you’re absolutely 100% guaranteed to hear at a Kiss concert. It IS their staple song.  It’s not the most inventive song, but it has developed an attitude – it defines who Kiss is really.   It’s probably the most popular Gene Simmons sung songs.  The Simmons songs are always hit or miss – but this one is definitely right up there.  It’s actually hard to write about – it’s one of those songs that everyone knows.  Even if you’re not a fan of Kiss, I wager you know this song.

I will say this – it is peak Kiss visually, and by that I’m talking about concerts.  Say what you will about Kiss, but they know what makes for a good visual show.  When I saw them in 2017, they closed with this song, and they had an absolute OBSCENE amount of confetti when they played.  There was a bunch at the start, then they got to the middle, it stopped for a bit, and when they got into the last verse of the song, it returned – at double the amount.  I was like 3 feet from one the blowers and it was all over me.  I have a video from this performance embedded below.  It was EVERYWHERE.  I couldnt’ decide where to look at the end, there was just so much of everywhere.  This song and what they do with it is defines Kiss.

The band had a compilation in 1988 called “Smashes, Thrashes, & Hits” (which I bought), and during the promotion of that they produced a music video for Rock & Roll All Nite – it’s embedded below.  It’s an oddity as it was produced in the no makeup era with a different lineup of Kiss than the version that recorded the audio there.

I Was Made for Loving You (from 1979’s “Dynasty”) – Kiss goes disco.  This was their first writing collaboration with Desmond Child, who will pop up on several other albums.  It was an intentional attempt at writing a disco sounding track which was stupid popular at the time this came out (1979).  I was alive and listening to music then, so I can attest this does sound like the era.  It probably was written intentionally to appeal to the current market.  It does sound different, but it still sounds like Kiss.  I do like the track, even though I really shouldn’t.  :)

I love in concert they bring out disco balls to go along with playing the song live.  It’s a really fun effect especially when there video screens also have a disco ball texture to them.  I know it’s not one of Gene Simmons’ favorite tracks, but even he can’t deny what the song has done for the band.

It’s also my wife’s favorite Kiss song.  It came out when she was around 10.  She also told me that when it was new, the little girl version of herself believed it was sweet song about being perfectly matched in life by love (my paraphrasing).  She didn’t find out until much later it was just flat out about sex – which we both had laugh about.

God Gave Rock & Roll To You II (from 1992’s “Revenge”) – This also appeared on the soundtrack for the second Bill & Ted movie.  The song is  actually a cover – the original was from 1973 by a band called Argent.  It was also covered by the Christian rock band Petra.  But the Kiss version is my version.  it’s a great track.  Fundamentally, the Kiss version doesn’t vary wildly from the original, but there are choices and differences for sure.   There are some lyrical changes to the song, which apparently is why this has a “II” in the title vs just being a straight cover.

This is one of those songs that I get stuck on. When I hear it once, I can never ever hear it just once.  I have to listen to it two or three times.  First off, I enjoy the track, but I get caught up in the emotion of the background of the song.  At the time they recorded this in 1991, their then drummer was going through problems. Eric Carr (who had replaced OG dummer Peter Criss) had gotten sick, and was battling cancer.  His chemo treatments had weakened him to the point where he couldn’t play on the track.  It is the studio debut of Carr’s replacement (Eric Singer).  But Carr pushed the guys when it came time to shoot a video.  Eric Carr is IN the video for this, wearing a wig to cover his lack of hair.  It’s the final thing he did with Kiss before dying a few months later.  Carr does sing vocals in the acapella section of the song, so he is on the track.  The emotion of this one makes me listen to it several times in a row.

I love it for that reason.

Detroit Rock City (from 1976’s “Destroyer”) – This has always been one of my favorite Kiss songs.  I remember it well from the era where I only ever heard Kiss on the radio in the late 70’s and into the early 80’s.  It’s a great beat, I loved singing along with the “Get Up – Get Down” in the lyrics.  It features more of Gene Simmons on bass.  I mean he’s always there, but this on features him more in parts where you can hear mostly him.   I love Ace’s rather fluid guitar work here.  Especially in the solo.  It’s a killer solo.  Great stuff – RIP Ace.

The song has opened every Kiss concert I’ve seen, going back to the first one on the Asylum tour in 1985. I always wondered what the deal with the story in the lyrics is though.  Did that actually happen?

Beth (from 1976’s “Destroyer”) – Another one of those songs that I’d wager a lot of non Kiss songs know.   It’s an out of left field track for them.  It’s written and sung by Peter Criss – easily the highlight of his “out front” time in Kiss, IMO.

It’s also the track that I never minded my mom overhearing me listen to, as it’s a slower track, isn’t filled with a ton of loud screaming guitars, it’s a slower rather orchestrated track.  It’s also a damned good track.   Really good change of pace for them, and they hit it out of the park with this track.   It reminds me a bit of Black Sabbath’s “Fluff” – a song that’s mostly against the grain of what the band normally does.

It’s also the only time I really come down on current Kiss for using the OG makeup and bits.  They have Eric Singer come down and sit at a piano and sing this.  That was Criss’ bit.  I really wish they had left that part alone.  I don’t mind them singing the song, but the drummer at the front singing the song felt like one thing too far for me.  Oh well.  Doesn’t matter now that Kiss is done I guess.

Lick It Up (from 1983’s “Lick It Up”) – This was my real onramp to Kiss.  I ADORED this song when new.  It was the relaunch of Kiss in 1983 without makeup – something I fully supported (and honestly wished they kept).  Like most Kiss songs, it’s not super deep – the chorus is a simple quiet guitar riff going behind them singing “Lick it Up… Lick It Up” in the chorus.

This was where Vinnie Vincent was introduced to most people – myself included.  I know he was on Creatures before this, but uncredited.  It was also before he went Grade-A nutso and became the raging egomaniac he developed into.  I always imagined he hated this song, as the guitar work here isn’t terribly complex – something he’s known for.  This is a slower track all things considered.

I did LOVE the guitar solo section tho – probably the best on the song,.  It’s one of those songs that if I take a cold eye and look at it now 40+ years later (WTF Father time) it isn’t the greatest, but I have a lot of emotional ties to the song and where I was in life when it came out, so it sticks with me.

Was glad they did it on the final tour gig I saw.  Was odd seeing a full makeup Kiss doing this song.

Heaven’s On Fire (from 1984’s “Animalize”) – This comes from the album after Lick It Up, and is the part where Kiss develops that “fat middle age” section in their catalog.  There’s a handful of great tracks here and there (like this one) ,but the rest of the album this came from is fairly forgettable.  What I said above about Crazy Nights applies here too to the album anyway.  When I look at the track list for Animalize I can’t tell you much beyond this track.

Which is damn good.  Heaven’s on Fire is a great track.  Love the Stanley vocal gymnastics at the start before any instruments come in.  The chorus is eminently sing-able – unless of course you get hung up on your lyrics.  “Burn with me… heaven’s on fire”.   Great beat, catchy as hell chorus, and some great guitar work.  Makes for a great song.  Shame that nothing else from the album really measured up to this track.

It’s also another album with a different guitarist.  After Vincent went full egomaniac, Kiss fired him and replaced him with Mark St. John.  He’s on this album, but not much after that as he got ill, and had to be replaced again for the tour and then albums going forward.  But I liked St. John on here – I thought he was more in line with what Ace Frehley did than Vincent was.  Shame this was his only album.

Tears are Falling (from 1985’s “Asylum”) – As we moved into the 80’s Kiss greatness became harder to come by, but this song banged it out.  I thought this made good use of Paul Stanley’s voice.  I mean he’s the primary singer in the band, so on this the 13th overall studio album, it’s well known what he can do, but I love the way his vocals are presented in the “Oh no – Tears are Falling” part of the chorus.  I thought it worked quite well.

This is one of those songs where the chorus carries the song.  It’s better than the verses – but not the first song in creation to be that way.  It’s the first (full) album with Bruce Kulick as the primary Kiss lead guitarist – something he’d hold until they got back together with Mk I for the mid 90’s reunion.  Kulick was MY Kiss guitarist – still wish they kept him after the reunion fell apart.  He’s got a great solo here.  Not complex, but works well for me.

The video for this was really geared at MTV.  The outfits they were super colourful, and really felt like not Kiss.  I still really dig the song, the video is VERY MTV and didnt’ feel quite like the roots the band started with in 73.

Unholy (from 1992’s “Revenge”) – The opening salvo from what is my favorite overall Kiss album (1992’s Revenge) knocks it out of the park.  Kiss was obviously playing for the grunge market in the early 90’s with this song.  It shouldn’t be a surprise at all, as they went for the disco market in 1979, so it’s on brand for them to go with what’s popular at that time.

But this one WORKED.  Unholy is a spectacular track, and probably my all time favorite Simmons led track in the entire Kiss catalog.   In my headphones I could easily hear Gene’s bass lines all over this track as he sang.   It’s absolutely top notch Simmons Kiss.  It’s got an absolutely fat lower end which works well with the delivery style of the vocals.

Great guitar solo by Kulick as well.  It works well with the rest of what the song is doing.  I wish I got to see them do this live, but alas, no.

When people ask me what my favorite era of Kiss is – it’s this.  By far – over anything with the makeup.  This song is Exhibit A in that defense.  It’s a killer song, not just a killer Kiss song.  Fun fact, it was co-written by Vinnie Vincent who Kiss threw a bone to and let him co-write some songs on this album for – years after he’d been booted from Kiss.

Hard Luck Woman (from 1976’s “Rock & Roll Over”) – This was an attempt to follow Beth.  Beth was stupid popular for Kiss.  That one was sung by OG drummer Peter Criss.  So was this one.  It’s atypical for the kind of song Kiss does.  Beth was a straight up ballad.  This had a little more oomph than that but definitely is more quiet than say the songs on either side of this one on the list.

Thing is this has never been my favorite Kiss song.  There’s nothing explicitly wrong with it, but this song appears on one of my playlists – which is “Cover songs better than the original”.  In 1994, there was a covers album called “Kiss my Ass“, and on it was “Hard Luck Woman”.  On that album the song was sung by Garth Brooks – the country guy.  His voice is perfect for this song, even moreso than the Criss original.  Calling that version a “cover” is odd, as the music on the Brooks version was performed by Kiss themselves (at that point, Simmons, Stanley, Kulick, & Singer).  I far prefer that version to the Criss sung original.

Back around the time the Kiss My Ass album came out, Garth Brooks and Kiss appeared on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and did the song live.  You can see that performance here.

I kind of wish they used the Garth Brooks version on this album.  :)

Psycho Circus (from 1996’s “Psycho Circus”) – The title track from the “Mk I Reunion album” of 1996.  I put that in quotes, because while it was billed as an original Kiss reunion.  But that’s not who actually played on most of the album.  While Criss & Frehley are on the album, there’s only one song on the entire album that the four of them appear.  This isn’t it.  In fact, the title track is effectively a Paul Stanley solo track, as he’s the only full time Kiss member that appears.  While Ace Frehley was the listed incumbent, Tommy Thayer & Bruck Kulick both play on this (with Kulick on bass), and Kevin Valentine on drums.

As a piece of music I quite like it.  The album’s art had a circus motif, and I always felt this song worked towards that.  It’s not going to be on anyone’s top list of Kiss tracks, but there’s a lot of parts of it that work for me.  The intro reminds me structurally (not musically) of the opening of “Heaven’s on Fire”.  I’m also quite fond of Stanley’s delivery of “you’re in the psy…  You’re in the psycho Circus”.  It’s one of those songs that if I have it on, I’m into it, but not usually one you go “Let’s break out that album and check out Psycho Circus”.

The song was actually nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999 for “Best Hard Rock Performance”, but lost to Page/Plant’s “Most High”.  They played it live on the “End of the Road” tour when I saw it in Feb 2019.

Shout It Out Loud (from 1976’s “Destroyer”) – Another track from the Mk I Kiss masterpiece Destroyer (which bloody turns FIFTY in a couple of weeks from me writing this).  I always thought this was one of the better songs that had Stanley & Simmons trading vocals.  Their vocal styles complement each other well here.

It’s a short track  at 2:49 – gets in, gets the job done and is over before it overstays its welcome.  I will say that it always felt a bit like it was designed to be an audience participation song.  The lyrics are basically “shout it shout it shout it out loud” over and over again quite a few times.  There’s not much going on lyrically here, but I do like some of the weaved in orchestration, and Simmons bass lines.  Which brings me to another point.

The original mix has the bass a bit flat – more recent remasters improve that a bit, and the 2012 “Destroyer Resurrected” remix helps that even more.  I’m not a huge fan of remixes in general – but I quite like what was done with this song in the “Resurrected” version – I think I prefer that to the original.

Calling Dr. Love (from 1976’s “Rock & Roll Over”) – One of those songs that I tend to overlook, and when I hear it, I go “well, crap I should listen to this more”.  I always loved the opening riff to this track.   It has a similar issue that Shout It Out Loud does – where the same lyric repeats over and over again.

Ace Frehley’s solo in this track works for me and mixes with the underlying opening riff as well (as it keeps going thru the whole song).

Once again, not a super complicated track, and the lyrics that aren’t repeated are somewhat purile, but that’s kind of Kiss anyway, innit?  :)

Christine Sixteen (from 1977’s “Love Gun”) – Three songs in a row with a section of lyric being repeated the covers over 50% of the song.  They bunched ’em all together in this compilation.  This song always weirded me out – even when I was younger.  I mean the lyrics at the start are well..

“I don’t usually say this to girls your age
But when I saw you comin’ out of the school that day
That day I knew I new (Christine Sixteen)
I’ve got to have you, I’ve got to have you
She’s been around
but she’s young and clean…”

This song is solely credited to Gene Simmons – yeah, well..  He was 28 when he wrote this, so not obscenely out of bounds for a 16 year old girl, but even still.  This song always had a bit of an “ick” factor to me, even when I was of that age.  Never cared for it.  Confess not even listening to the song fully for this writeup.  Started it, had my same reaction, then moved the needle to the next one….

Love Gun (from 1977’s “Love Gun”) – Love Gun is one of my favorite Kiss tracks.  I mean it’s basically a euphemism for “penis”, but hey.  It’s Kiss.  It’s one of those songs that I like, but when I try to break it down, the worlds elude me.  Like the drum sequences driving the song – Ace’s later solo track “Rock Soldiers” has a more in your face use of drums similar to what intros this song.  Love Ace’s guitar work – Paul’s vocals, – the whole thing just works well together.  It’s kind of the same way I feel about Cold Gin, tell you the truth.   One of their more played classic tracks that still works these days despite the many many MANY plays over the decades.  Solid track.  Simmons’ bass lines seem far more noticeable on the studio track than the live versions.

I never saw Kiss with Ace Frehley, but I did get to see him live one time in 2016 in Dallas.  During that show he did Love Gun.  I recorded that, if you want to check out that video, it’s over here.

Shandi (from 1980’s “Unmasked”) – This song is from the Unmasked album, but it’s such an oddity it feels like it belongs on the “Music From the Elder” Kiss album – that one is quite the oddball.  We’re moving past KIss’ dalliance with Disco sounds  – but not fully.  I can still hear some of that here.   This isn’t a particularly god song.  In fact the album this came from isn’t much better.  This was the lead single from that album, and well..  It doesn’t sound like Kiss at all.  It sounds like them trying to be radio friendly with none of the hooks that gave Kiss its usual “thunderous” sound.   It’s basically Kiss without any balls.

If they really wanted to use something from Unmasked on this compilation they  could have used Torpedo Girl – that one at least has some decent guitar work from Ace Frehley.  Frehley even plays bass on that track.

I’m a Legend Tonight (from 1982’s “Killers”) – This song came from the non US released “Killers”.  It was a compilation, but had four new songs on it – this was one of them.  Produced immediately after the Elder album, you can see them trying to 180 from that musical disaster and head in the direction of what we’d get in the next few full albums (Creatures of the Night, Lick It Up, etc).  It was recorded in a massive transition era for Kiss.  Peter Criss was already out, and Ace wasn’t far behind.  They still had the illusion that Ace was on this, but he wasn’t.  This had Eric Carr on drums & Bob (not Bruce) Kulick on lead guitar.  It’s got an odd mix though – it feels like it could be cleaned up with a new remix.  It’s got kind of a flat mix to me – meaning all the instruments seem meshed together, no one part stands out over another.   It’s not a bad song at all, but sounds like some of the filler that came in the albums like Animalize & Crazy Nights.  Just “Ok”.

Modern Day Delilah (from 2009’s “Sonic Boom”) – Now this is a return to form.  This was the first album produced after the reunion of the mid 90’s – it took eleven years, but we finally got Sonic Boom.  This was the first album (in quite awhile actually) that has the four guys who the band say are on the album ACTUALLY ON THE ALBUM.  The first album when Tommy Thayer is officially recognized as the primary lead guitarist for Kiss (wearing Ace’s Spaceman outfit).  They retained Eric Singer (who was there before the reunion) – and he wears Criss’ Catman outfit.  That issue aside, the album they produced I quite loved at the time.

Delilah is the lead single off the album, and it felt like a return to form.  Good solid return to form to what made a great solid Kiss album like the classics in the mid 70’s before they went off the rails into their slump.  It’s my favorite kind of song too.  At 3:36, a relatively fast paced hard rocker.  Kiss will never be confused for thrash rock – but for them it’s a faster paced track.

As I listen to this today, it just screams mid 70’s Kiss – something that would have gone on 1976’s Destroyer or something along those lines.  I wish they had done more of THIS over the years.  They wouldn’t need a “return to form” if they were doing this all along.

The guitar solo is good, but doesn’t have that special touch that a good Ace Frehley solo had.  Still, it’s not like it’s bad – that’s the only real negative I have here, it’s not Ace (RIP).

Hell or Hallelujah (from 2012’s “Monster”) – The compilation closes out with the lead single from the final Kiss album.  An album that as I sit here in Feb 2026 I wish I got on vinyl.   Love the opening riff.  Love the vocal delivery – it’s a real banger for me.  At this point, most people weren’t buying new Kiss albums, which is why there weren’t any more of them after this.   Shame as it’s a killer track.  One of my favorite guitar solos by Thayer. Great chorus, doesn’t let up – no saggy middle bit. Great fast track – love the background vocals – I can’t find anything wrong with this song – except bloody most people don’t know about it.  If you don’t know this song, go listen to it.  It’s a killer track – it’s Kiss from start to finish.

They also did this live on the David Letterman show back in 2012 to promote the album.  That was amusing seeing Kiss jammed onto that little stage with all the fire and smoke and all that.  :)

With a band a long reaching stretch as Kiss has (their first album is 52 years old now), it’s hard to produce a compilation that everyone will agree with.  My words above reveal my thoughts on that matter.  But this isn’t a thing with Kiss alone – any band that has a fair amount of studio albums will run into this same issue.

But overall, it’s a fair cross section of tracks.  I really wanted to get a copy of Double Platinum, but couldn’t, so that’s why I have Kissworld.  Not a bad selection of tracks.   Although knowing Simmons and Stanley, it wouldn’t surprise me if in another 5-10 years we get some other “new” compilation of Kiss tracks.

Them selling you the same songs you already know – it’s so on brand for them.