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So we get the sequel to Alive II.5 years later. Baffling when you consider Kiss held the metal crown, and freakin' used Priest and Maiden as openers in '79 and '80., Kiss just handing their fans over on a silver platter, as wave after wave of metal washed in from ashore. Up until then Kiss could do no wrong, executing a perfect career plan for three years. Then it's solo albums, a shameless disco song, the cartoon disco album, the door handle album with the video of Gene crying like the Indian in those public service commercials. Unbelievable, stunningly bad career moves.an 11 year old kid could have managed their career bettr.me.So.I mean 2 years after British Steel, and Back in Black.anyway I loved it then, still do.No one does Kiss like Kiss, what was left of the faithful lapped this thing up like we'd been lost in th desert for at least 3 years.But what a wake up call for Paul and Gene. It was either this, or open a hot dog stand in downtown New York by this point.Ace got in a serious auto accident, and couldn't play on Creatures, so they used phantom guitarists.
There is not ONE crappy song on this album to break the spell of sheer metal/rock pleasure the listener will experience while playing this album. Hot Stuff. That's what was written on the sign next to Creatures when I went to buy it in 1982 at the Wherehouse on "E" Street in San Bernardino, California. The first time I listened to this record, I had to slap myself to make sure I was awake. Creatures of the Night lives up to all the Kiss hype since 1975's Alive. I liked Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun and Alive 2.
If they had done more albums as superbly as this one, they never would have been compelled to remove the make-up in the first place. No S**t. The one slow song on this album, "I Still Love You", is so good that the woman that Paul is singing to should have given him another chance.Now as we all know, Kiss isn't really a "metal" band, but so what. I also think that Music from the Elder is one of their better albums, but Creatures was the one I was waiting for since I heard "Larger than Life", "All American Man" and "Rocket Ride" on Alive 2. I knew they could do it. And just to prove that this album was not a "happy accident", Lick It Up (the first without the make-up) makes an excellent companion piece to Creatures.
Get it now.
The rhythm rocks on about the good and bad things within relationships and is embellished with sounds of love or anger.
The lone ballad, "I Still Love You," holds its own as well.Standout tracks include the title track, the banging "Killer," the anthemic "I Love It Loud," and gritty "War Machine."As many have already stated, "War Machine" gives the listener a taste of the old Demon persona that put Gene Simmons on the map. This particular version of "Creatures" features the band (including Frehley) on the cover in makeup with modified graphics and has been remastered. Even the pop-tinged "Keep Me Comin'" and "Danger" have a brutal tone to them. Considered by many (including myself) to be KISS' heaviest album, "Creatures of the Night" rips open with the title track and surges on through eight more rockers. I think that it will satisfy even the staunchest Frehley/Criss fans and defenders. From the opening track to the end, Carr's superior drumming drives this album.
While he was featured on "Music From The Elder" and the new tracks released on "Killers," Carr shines on "Creatures." It's the first full-length album to showcase Carr's rocking drums.
Paul Stanley works all of his tunes with perfection, proving to listeners that despite the absence of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley and the lackluster reception of a few earlier albums, KISS was alive and well in the early 80's.
As with the original release, it is dedicated to Neil Bogart, the founder of Casablanca records.
While I have personally labeled a few single tracks on other KISS albums as "blistering," "Creatures" features almost nothing but "blistering" tracks.
There are a two other covers available to KISS collectors, the original and an "unmasked" cover featuring Bruce Kulick.
While Frehley might be on the cover, he's nowhere on the album.
Instead, his shoes are filled by a number of players, most notably Vinnie Vincent and Bob Kulick.The most important piece of this particular KISS album, however, is drummer Eric Carr.
The liner notes featured behind the disc on the remastered version are excellent, primarily for the fact that a failed tour, personnel issues, and the removal of the legendary KISS makeup are are bluntly (albeit briefly) addressed.Along with "Revenge," I believe that "Creatures of the Night" is one of the best non-original lineup KISS albums.
It's in my top five KISS list, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a taste of the best KISS from the 80's.
This album was just the shot in the arm that KISS needed at that time, and it proved without a doubt that KISS was not over as a band, not by a longshot. No more Disco songs, no more mushy Pop songs, just straight ahead hard rock/heavy metal.
Just a few short years earlier, KISS was on top of the world. But after 3 back-to-back albums that strayed heavily from the tried and true KISS Rock and Roll formula, well, this just did not sit too well with a lot of their longtime fans.
My how the mighty have fallen. Times change, people change, and KISS changed their style yet once again, but this time it was for the better.
That, on top of the departure of drummer Peter Criss, and the lack of involvement from guitarist Ace Frehley, made things look even more bleak for Kiss's future.Enter, Creatures of the Night, a heavy rockin' album unlike anything that KISS had ever done before. A lot of fans have mixed feelings about this album, but I freely admit that I love it madly.
Even the ballad, I Still Love You, sung with amazing depth by Paul Stanley, had a harder edge to it than other KISS ballads in the past. With the help of drummer Eric Carr, lead guitarist Vinnie Vincent, and Bob Kulick, among others, KISS had triumphantly returned from the dead, loud and proud.Standout tracks are, well, practically all of them, really, from the exciting opener Creatures of the Night, sung by Paul Stanley, to the awesome closer sung by Gene Simmons, War Machine.
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