Kiss – Destroyer – 1975
After the success of Alive! Kiss went into the studio with Bob Ezrin, formerly Alice Cooper’s producer, and what came out was easily the weirdest album of theirs so far. Their “Night at the Opera”, for lack of a better description.
Destroyer starts off with the sounds of someone watching the news, turning off the set, fishing out keys, getting into a truck, singing along to “Rock and Roll All Night” which is replaced by “Detroit Rock City” full bore and ends with the truck swerving off the road and crashing.
Weird.
Its followed by the energetic, pile driving, “King of the Night Time World”.
Then a little kid asks, “Okay?” and amidst his screaming out pours “God of Thunder”.
This is a different Kiss. A muscular Kiss.
Only, then it’s not. Because, “Great Expectations” is easily the most melodic and frilly track the band has produced. Way more Spinal Tap ballady than “Rock Bottom”. The big chorale, the giant chorus, the bells, this is Kiss on Broadway. Only with Gene Simmons on lead vocals so it’s kind of bad, but that makes it even better. Sometimes I think it’s my favorite track on the album.
And that’s saying something.
Being Kiss there has to be crap like “Sweet Pain”, which is really just about Gene’s gigantic cock and how much it will drive girls insane. But, it’s also so weirdly arranged that I kind of love it.
The biggest hits are here, too. “Shout it Out Loud” sounds like it was created to sound better live and it does. “Beth” is the curio hit, the one the band never wanted to put on the album. Written by Peter Criss years before their manager cajoled Simmons and Stanley to get it on the album. The only member of Kiss who appears on it is Criss. The strings and orchestration ooze schmaltz but it works because this whole record is a kitchen sink affair. The kind of record made by people who have too much money and love The Beatles so goddamn much but are nowhere near the talent that inspired them.
That said, is Beth not the singularly representative rock song of the 70s? If it isn’t, then isn’t it the template for every hair metal ballad that followed 10 years later?
I think so.
Who knew Kiss was so ahead of their time?
Grade A+
ASide: Detroit Rock City, Flaming Youth, Shout it Out Loud, Beth
BlindSide: King of the Night Time World, God of Thunder, Great Expectations
Downside: —-
