Kiss - Dynasty
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CD Details
Artist: KissEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1997-10-07
Music Label: Island / Mercury
Soundtracks:
- I Was Made For Lovin' You
- 2,000 Man
- Sure Know Something
- Dirty Livin'
- Charisma
- Magic Touch
- Hard Times
- X-Ray Eyes
- Save Your Love
Music reviews of Dynasty
Music Review: Forget What You May Have Heard!
Rating: 4 Stars
In the late 1970's, I was a young, starry-eyed, album buying, music fanatic. Almost as a matter of course, I owned no fewer than five Kiss albums. When Dynasty was released in 1979, I believed the bad press that this album received by almost everyone who wrote about it: "Kiss goes disco" and/or "Kiss sell out" and so on. As a result, I skipped buying this offering till just a few months ago. Pity me. Let me take a tiny space here to dispel a common myth. One disco track and bits and pieces of a few others is not a Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack make. Dynasty is NOT a disco album.
So what were Kiss purists hearing in Dynasty that they were weary of? Well, I will admit that Dynasty's sound is like no other `70's Kiss effort. This is probably due to the heavier-handed album production done by Vini Poncia. Poncia successfully smoothes over the usual Kiss' rough edges here and the results work. Pervious Kiss' `70's output was quite raw. Usually I would never criticize a rock album for being raw, but in Kiss' case the rawness caused the music to come off as anything from a little unfinished (as on their 1974 self-titled debut) to downright messy (as on that year's follow up "Hotter Than Hell"). A super job by not only Poncia, but also by our heroes Gene, Paul, Peter & Ace to be music biz savvy enough to allow Poncia to do his work.
Back in 1979 (and now for that matter), Gene Simmons was my favorite member of Kiss. I thought his was the coolest character (the Demon Man), and he was the best showman (spitting up blood and breathing out fire in concert). With Dynasty, however, Paul Stanley proves what I think I've always known: that he has (by far) the best voice and writes the best songs of any band member. Paul is this band's true star.
So what better place to start than with the leadoff track, Paul's "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Though a top-ten single at the time, this was THE song that gave the album such a bad name. Is it a disco song? Well, yes. In Kiss' defense, however, just what were they doing with this track that Rod Stewart, Elton John, and even Santana and the Grateful Dead were not doing with rock/disco fusion in the late 1970's? If I were old enough to go to dance clubs back in 1979, I would dance to this number WAY before something like "We Are Family". Besides, this song does its share of rocking and it has aged (surprisingly) well.
Paul then gives us a sneak preview of the type of pop-metal that he used so often during the 1980's with "Sure Know Something". However, unlike Paul's 1980's pop-metal which was hit or (mostly) miss, this song is definitely a hit. Ironically, it failed as this albums' second single, but the infectious melody is just hard to ignore! Paul saves his best for last with "Magic Touch". Armed with a completely rocking refrain, this song packs quite a wallop!
Hot on the heels of his lead vocal debut (Love Gun's super "Shock Me") and solo single success ("Back In The New York Grove"), Ace Frehley contributes a whopping three songs to Dynasty. The first of which is his cover of the Stones' "2000 Man". Now usually I get a bit nervous when a band attempts to cover a song by `60's icons such as the Stones, Beatles or Doors. For starters, who could actually sing that song better than Jagger, Lennon/McCartney or Morrison? Well, Ace is no Mick Jagger here, but his guitar-heavy take on this number updates the 1967 song beautifully! It ranks up there with Frehley's previously mentioned best work. Unfortunately, Ace does not keep up the good work. "Hard Times" with its juvenile, simpleton lyric (yes, simple even for Kiss' standards!) is Dynasty's only read dud. The album closer, "Save Your Love" is not as bad as "Hard Times", but again weak songwriting might force you to use that forward button.
I know that I have leaped upon the Paul Stanley bandwagon. However, I am not over-looking Gene Simmons' contributions for two major reasons. As mentioned before, Simmons was then and is now the group's best showman, and when your band is Kiss, that's no small thing! Secondly, Simmons' "X-Ray Eyes" and (moreover) "Charisma" are beastly! "Charisma" is Dynasty's strongest track. No disco here, just a ballsy lead vocal from Gene, hot lead guitar by Ace and a pounding drum and bass line that makes for some pretty great head banging! Rock on Gene!
Finally, with "Dirty Living", drummer Peter Criss offers his best effort since inventing the power ballad a few years earlier with "Beth" from Destroyer. Again, Poncia's clean production does Peter quite well. His past few efforts (i.e. "Baby Driver" from Rock And Roll Over) were just plain noisy. The liner notes on the CD mention that besides this track, Peter contributes little to Dynasty. Gene Simmons (in his book "Kiss and Make-Up") claims that this did not happen till the next record. Whatever the case, this would be the last Peter Criss lead vocal we would hear on a Kiss record for almost 20 years.
So forget what you may have heard about Dynasty Kiss fans! If you do not own this CD, buy it now and thank me later!
Description of Dynasty
Japanese pressing packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. Mercury. 2006.Classic Rock CDs
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