Creatures of the Night

Creatures of the Night
Studio album by Kiss
Released	October 28, 1982 (1982-10-28)
Recorded	July–September 1982
Studio	The Record Plant, Los Angeles
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	38:47
Label	Casablanca
Producer	Michael James Jackson, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons
Kiss chronology
Killers (1982) Creatures of the Night (1982) Lick It Up (1983)
Singles from Creatures of the Night
"I Love It Loud" Released: October 13, 1982 "Killer" Released: November 1982 "Creatures of the Night" Released: April 1983
Alternative cover
The 1985 re-release cover pictures then-new lead guitarist Bruce Kulick (bottom right).

Creatures of the Night is the 10th studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1982. It was the band's last for Casablanca Records, the only label for which Kiss had recorded up to that point. The album was dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart,^[1] who had died of cancer during the recording sessions. It is also the band's last album recorded with Ace Frehley credited as an official member and their first album with Vinnie Vincent as the initially-uncredited lead guitarist (Vincent would later be credited but not featured on the cover of the 1985 reissue of the album). It was also Kiss' last album to feature the band with their trademark makeup until the 1998 release, Psycho Circus.

Background[]

The album represented a conscious effort by Kiss to return to the hard rock style that had helped them achieve commercial success with Destroyer and Love Gun. Their pop-oriented albums Dynasty and Unmasked had started a decline in popularity that reached rock bottom with 1981's Music from "The Elder".

The first key ingredient was songwriter/guitarist Vinnie Vincent, who was soon to replace Ace Frehley as the band's new lead guitarist after being introduced to the band by album co-writer Adam Mitchell.^[2] Though Frehley did not play on the album, his face was still featured on the album cover for contractual and commercial reasons. Frehley had been pushing the band to do a heavy rock record since Dynasty, and by the time of Creatures of the Night, he was fully disillusioned with the band; alcoholism and a prescription medicine dependency (begun after a car wreck) led to him leaving the band during the recording sessions. On the tour, Vincent was introduced with his Egyptian Ankh make-up, designed in a hurry by Paul Stanley. In 1985, Kiss re-released the album in their non-make-up state with a cover featuring Gene Simmons, Stanley, Eric Carr and then-current guitarist Bruce Kulick (even though Kulick did not play on the album). Vinnie Vincent had long since departed the band (being fired three times since) by 1985.

By 1982, Kiss's popularity in the US had plummeted due to changing music tastes and their near abandonment of hard rock. 1979's Dynasty, while commercially successful, alienated many fans with the disco-flavored track "I Was Made For Lovin' You". 1980's Unmasked fell further into pop music—and was Kiss's first album not to achieve platinum status since 1975's Dressed to Kill. The band did not even tour the US for Unmasked, and it was also soon faced with its first lineup change: founding member Peter Criss, who had not participated in any of the Unmasked recording sessions, officially left Kiss in 1980. He was replaced by Eric Carr.

Fan hopes were raised in late 1980 when Kiss announced that they were going to record their heaviest record yet. Instead, the band released Music from "The Elder" in late 1981, a concept album originally intended to complement a film called The Elder that was ultimately never filmed. The album was storyline-based and had ballads, a short orchestral piece, and different lyrical themes. The album did not improve the band's status, and on the contrary, further alienated their US fanbase, failed to achieve gold status, and having cancelled their US Unmasked Tour just a short time before, the band then called off the planned tour for Music from "The Elder". Frehley soon left the band.

Kiss's label situation had changed as well. Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart had sold the label to its distributor PolyGram, and went on to briefly form The Boardwalk Recording Company before being diagnosed with and later succumbing to cancer. Using a clause in their Casablanca contract that gave the band an option to leave the label if Bogart did, Kiss became free agents and signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Mercury Records. Mercury, a label also owned by PolyGram, reverted the band to their "old" label, though in name only.

Recording[]

When recording sessions for Creatures of the Night began in July 1982, Kiss was essentially a trio. Frehley still made appearances with the band but had nearly ended his musical involvement with Kiss. Frehley looked completely out of sorts in promotional appearances for the album; in cases where the band was lip syncing to recorded tracks, he did not know the material. It was only after the album was released and a short promotional tour of Europe was completed that Frehley officially left Kiss. The lead guitar replacement for Frehley for the Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour in the US was Vinnie Vincent, who adopted the Ankh make-up.

Musically, the progressive rock of Music from "The Elder" and the pop of Dynasty and Unmasked were completely absent from Creatures of the Night, making it the heaviest album the group had made at that point.^[3] "I Still Love You", the only ballad on Creatures of the Night, was still heavier and darker than any ballad Kiss had released in earlier years. Also contributing to the heavy sound was Carr's drumming style, which was more similar to John Bonham's drumming than to Criss' jazz-influenced style.^[4] Some of the earliest pressings of the album mistakenly contained one full side of John Cougar's American Fool. Both Kiss and Cougar were under the umbrella of Mercury Records at the time.

Creatures of the Night is the first Kiss album to have all lead vocal duties handled by either Simmons or Stanley exclusively. All previous studio releases by the group contained at least one song with lead vocals by another band member. The band released a video for "I Love It Loud", which received moderate airplay on MTV. In it was a stage setup that featured Carr's drum kit as a giant metallic tank with an exploding turret. Flames and explosions were also in abundance, as Kiss attempted to produce a video that reflected the music on Creatures of the Night. Frehley did appear in the video as the rhythm guitarist, with Stanley shown playing the seven-note solo.

Though Kiss had used "ghost players" on previous albums, most notably Bob Kulick (Alive II and Killers) and Dick Wagner (Destroyer), Vinnie Vincent handled most of the lead guitar as a session player and co-writer before being added as the full-time replacement for Frehley, though as an employee and not a full member (like Carr). Blues guitarist Robben Ford, a friend of the album's producer Michael James Jackson, contributed two solos in what he described as one of his weirdest gigs.^[5] Mr. Mister guitarist Steve Farris (who was considered as a replacement for Frehley but was thought to not have "the right look") provided the solo and lead fills to the title track. Co-writer Adam Mitchell also contributed guitar work to the title track. Though often given credit for playing the solos on "Keep Me Comin" and "Danger", Bob Kulick admitted in a 2011 interview that none of the studio work he did on Creatures of the Night made it to the album;^[6] this confirmed the same from an earlier Mitchell interview.^[7] Jimmy Haslip (former member of Blackjack) declared in 2008 that he was invited by James Jackson to record 5 songs (Simmons allegedly refused to play his bass parts due to the end of his relationship with Diana Ross), but Haslip only confirmed that he recorded "Danger".^[8]

Ace Frehley's Origins, Vol. 1 album (2016) included a cover of “Rock and Roll Hell”.

Cover[]

Three official variations on the album artwork exist: the 1982 original issue, the 1985 reissue (featuring Bruce Kulick, who was not a member of the band for Creatures of the Night, and the rest of the band without make-up), and the 1997 remastered version (same photo as the original, but with minor variations in the logo and lettering). On the 1985 non-make-up release, the song "Creatures of the Night" is remixed, and "Saint and Sinner" and "Killer" are interchanged from side to side with each other. The bootlegged Vinnie Vincent cover has not been released on CD, but an extra rare Vincent cover has been called "Hiding from Tomorrow". There is also a bootlegged LP which shows up on eBay from time to time and claims to be a Brazilian promo version with Vincent in make-up airbrushed over Frehley.

Reception[]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Pitchfork Media	(1.5/10)[11]
Vista Records	(4.25/5)[12]

Despite positive reviews, the album did not return the band to the commercial success they had held five years previous, as the musical experimentation of the band's previous three albums had taken its toll on the band's US fanbase, and despite charting higher than The Elder (#45 compared to The Elder's #75), Creatures of the Night would not attain gold status until 1994.^[13] The album would receive critical recognition with both Kerrang! and Guitar World magazines placing the album at #5 on their lists of best hard rock albums in 1982.^[14][15] Carr noted in an interview that Creatures is his favorite Kiss record that he played on.^[16] Simmons and Stanley, who have generally been dismissive of the band's post-1977 albums, considered Creatures to be one of their stronger efforts.

Creatures of the Night was certified gold by the RIAA on May 9, 1994.^[13] It was certified gold in Brazil in 1983 for sales of 100,000 copies.^[17]

Track listing[]

• Note: On the 1985 re-release of the album tracks 2 and 8 were switched. Also, for the 1985 reissue producer Dave Wittman remixed three tracks: "Creatures of the Night", "I Love It Loud" and "War Machine".

Personnel[]

Kiss

• Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Gene Simmons – vocals, bass; rhythm guitar on "Killer" and "War Machine"
• Eric Carr – drums, percussion, bass on "I Still Love You", backing vocals
• Ace Frehley – credited as band member but does not play

Additional personnel

• Vincent Cusano – lead guitar on "Saint and Sinner", "Keep Me Comin'", "Danger", "I Love It Loud", "Killer" and "War Machine"
• Robben Ford – lead guitar on "Rock and Roll Hell" and "I Still Love You"
• Steve Farris – lead guitar on "Creatures of the Night"
• Jimmy Haslip – bass on "Danger"
• Mike Porcaro – bass on "Creatures of the Night"
• Adam Mitchell – additional guitar and end lick on "Creatures of the Night"
• Karat Faye – OD Engineer
• Dave Wittman – backing vocals on "I Love It Loud"

Release history[]

• Casablanca NBLP-7270: LP
• Casablanca NBLS-7270: Cassette
• Casablanca NBL8-7270: 8-track

Charts[]

Album

Singles – Billboard (United States)^[23]

Singles – Austrian charts (Austria)

Singles – UK Albums Chart (United Kingdom)

Certifications[]

References[]

External links[]

• Creatures of the Night at Discogs (list of releases)