‘Psycho Circus’: how Kiss ruined their own comeback album
Every band that’s lasted more than 20 years usually has that one album where they get a second wind. No matter if they were considered yesterday’s news just months before, these records are the ones that remind everyone why acts were so good to begin with, either by going in a different direction or delivering more of the tunes that everyone knows and loves. Kiss never had a problem with straying too far away from the formula, but that dramatic return to the makeup was dead in the water before it had even got started on Psycho Circus.
Because, really, what is Kiss without their makeup? Yes, they technically qualify as musicians, but even the most hardened members of the Kiss army will tell outsiders that they are entertainers first and foremost, and the music is almost secondary to the massive stage show. So how the hell did they manage to pull off a makeup-less version of themselves at all?
It wasn’t an easy decision, but Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons eventually decided to clean off their faces after they lost Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. It had been a long time coming for Criss to leave, but Frehley deciding to quit after Music From the Elder was probably down to the fact that he couldn’t stand the idea of doing another album with hard rock mixed with oboes.
So when the group rebranded after Creatures of the Night, it was time for them to enter the MTV generation. Now, instead of the ‘Demon’ persona that could have killed in music video form, Simmons traded his look for a glamorous look that might as well have been the opposite of his strengths.
They still managed to squeak by for a decade with a new lineup, but when Frehley and Criss joined the group for a few tunes at MTV Unplugged, something felt different. Maybe everyone could let bygones be bygones and make a new record; it was all just a matter of getting everyone on the same page.
Listening to the record Psycho Circus, it initially seems promising. The guitars roar, and Stanley’s delivery of the title track’s chorus would have made a great opening for their tour. However, the rest of the album tells a different story. Aside from ‘Into the Void’, contributed by Frehley, the album feels as though the band members were forced to be in the same room together, lacking genuine cohesion and unity.
According to everyone involved, the animosity within the band had not dulled over the years. Simmons and Stanley remained as domineering creatively as ever. When Frehley submitted his song, he was initially shut down and told they would work on something else, only for the final version to be hashed out in half an hour.
That’s before you get to the actual album. Outside of ‘Into the Void’, every other song is not being played by the original members. Yep, Stanley and Simmons were so sceptical about whether their bandmates could play that they Milli Vanilli-ed their parts, with future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer subbing in for Frehley on a lot of the guitar parts and Criss only getting to sing on the song ‘I Finally Found My Way’, which sounds like their trademark hit ‘Beth’ without any charisma.
They couldn’t even manage to hang onto the group for that long once everything got started. There were a few great homecoming shows in New York and an incredible performance in Detroit, but after booking more shows, Criss would be out the door due to money conflicts, and Frehley would follow soon after him, but not before licensing his makeup so that they could use it whenever they wanted to.
While the whole tour was supposed to be a fond farewell to the glam rock legends, the rest of their career has involved drummer Eric Singer and Thayer doing their best impression of the personas of Frehley and Criss’s characters. It’s great if most fans squint their ears, but despite officially retiring from the road a few years back, the last decade of the group had involved two members doing a decent imitation of what the glory days were like.
All great comeback albums should really remind people of what made an artist so special, but when listening to a song like ‘You Wanted the Best’, this is not the Kiss that everyone fell in love with. This is a glorified solo outfit from the two dictators who get to put a picture of their old mates on the cover.
