The Kiss song Paul Stanley thought he butchered: “It’s hammy”
New York hard rock monster-turned-corporate giant Kiss had a pretty respectable 1970s heyday. Burnished in America’s glam scene with a glitter crown worn by the UK but boasting some essential acts Stateside, with Zolar X and New York Dolls, the greasepaint quartet destined themselves to the bedroom walls of scores of suburban teens long after glam’s sparkle had dimmed with punk’s seismic arrival.
Six albums in up to 1977’s Love Gun, frontman Paul Stanley’s starry-eyed strut and Gene Simmons’ tongue-flicking bass attack proved to be a perennial Billboard chart winner.
However, the next few years saw less of a winning streak. While still selling records by the megaload and sitting on mountainous profits raked in from their ruthless merchandising deals, Kiss had waded into a new age of creative dearth, spelling the end of the ‘classic’ era beloved by the Kiss Army fanbase. Dynasty‘s dabble in disco bewildered the loyalists still pining for the days of Destoyer, 1978’s quadruple solo efforts didn’t seem worth the bother, and the 13-year unmasking following 1983’s Lick It Up abandoned a major feature of their superhero appeal.
Stodgily sat at the centre of Kiss’ creative blunder era was 1981’s Music from “The Elder”. The first album following original cat drummer Peter Criss’ departure, the band’s ninth LP regaled the ponderous story of a nameless boy who is recruited by the mysterious Order of the Rose’s council in resisting evil under the sage tutelage of a caretaker called Morpheus.
The rock opera narrates ‘The Boy’ and his trials and tribulations via his shadowy training to embark on a mission to restore the world’s imbalance of light and dark, good and evil. Recruiting Destroyer producer Bob Ezrin, fresh off his work with Pink Floyd’s arch-narrative The Wall, Kiss thought they could grab a slice of the conceptual pie seemingly in vogue.
The problem is, it’s a dull story featuring a songbook that’s even duller. Kiss know how to rock, but were out of their depths when composing with a symphonic orchestra and full-blown choir. All pushed to their limits with a convoluted project even Ezrin couldn’t shape into anything remotely cohesive, Stanley found his vocal performances demanded a greater bellow than he was used to. “What came out was, I don’t particularly think, very good—at times, it’s hammy, most of my vocals on there,” he confessed to Yahoo. “If you’ve ever seen The Little Rascals, [it’s like] how Alfalfa would sing in a pseudo-operatic voice or try to”.
Stanley doesn’t sound comfortable on Music from “The Elder”. While at ease on rockers like ‘Only You’, cuts like ‘Odyssey’ struggle under the weight of its bloated production and Stanley’s inauthentic dramatic croon. Written by Tony Powers of We’re The Banana Splits fame, Stanley thought highly of its demo before adding his paltry vocals. “It was a good song when I heard Tony Powers… sing it because it was unique,” Stanley admitted in Kiss: Behind the Mask. “Me singing it was just tragic”.
A major misfire in their ‘Kissography’, but also the mark of a band unafraid to try new things, even if those choices were driven more by commercial ambition than artistic intent. It’s no surprise, then, that Music from “The Elder” didn’t feature on 2023’s farewell End of the Road World Tour.
