KISS - Creatures Of The Night[1982][FLAC]-FLAWL3SS

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Kiss - Creatures Of The Night

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Artist...............: Kiss

Album................: Creatures Of The Night

Genre................: Hard Rock

Source...............: CD

Year.................: 1982

Ripper...............: Exact Audio Copy (Secure mode) / Level 8 & TSSTcorp CDDVD SE-S204N

Codec................: Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)

Version..............: 1.2.1 20070917

Quality..............: Lossless, (avg. compression: 104 %)

Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 HZ / 16 Bit

Tags.................: VorbisComment

Information..........:



Ripped by............: WH on 8/22/2008

Posted by............: WH on 8/26/2008

News Server..........: None

News Group(s)........: None



Included.............: NFO, M3U, LOG, CUE,

Covers...............: Front Back Leaflet



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Tracklisting

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1. (00:04:02) Kiss - Creatures Of The Night

2. (00:03:19) Kiss - Killer

3. (00:03:56) Kiss - Keep Me Comin'

4. (00:04:13) Kiss - Rock And Roll Hell

5. (00:03:55) Kiss - Danger

6. (00:04:15) Kiss - I Love It Loud

7. (00:06:06) Kiss - I Still Love You

8. (00:04:51) Kiss - Saint And Sinner

9. (00:04:14) Kiss - War Machine



Playing Time.........: 00:49:35

Total Size...........: 254.18 MB



NFO generated on.....: 8/26/2008 4:37:38 PM





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Creatures of the Night is a 1982 album from U.S. hard rock/heavy metal band

Kiss. It is the band's 14th studio album and the last for Casablanca Records,

the only label the group had ever recorded for up to that point. The album

was also dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss

supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions.



The album represented a conscious effort on Kiss's part to return to the style

of hard rock/heavy metal that had helped them achieve commercial success in

the 1970s. That success had been in decline since 1979's album Dynasty and

1980's Unmasked. Kiss knew it needed to deliver on their earlier promise of a

heavy record if they were to continue as a band. The first key ingredient was

songwriter/guitarist Vincent Cusano, with whom the band had recently begun

writing and recording, and was soon to replace Frehley as the band's new

lead guitarist. Frehley didn't perform on this album and this was Vinnie

Vincent's first album with the band. On the tour, Vincent was introduced with

Ankh warrior makeup.



Some early 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. Today, those mistake albums are highly sought

after by Kiss collectors.



Creatures of the Night was certified Gold on May 9, 1994.



Album background



By 1982, Kiss' popularity in the U.S. had plummeted. This was due partly to

the changing landscape of popular music, but also due to the fact that Kiss

had strayed from the hard rock style that had made them popular in the first

place. 1979's Dynasty, while commercially successful, alienated many fans

with the disco-flavored track "I Was Made For Lovin' You". 1980's Unmasked

fell still further into the 'pop' category and was their first not to achieve

platinum status since 1975's Dressed to Kill. The band did not even tour the

US behind the album, and was 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, a drummer much more in the mold of John Bonham than Criss.



Fan hopes were raised in late 1980 when Kiss announced that they were

going to record their heaviest record yet. Instead, however, the band

released Music From "The Elder" in late 1981, a concept album originally

intended to complement a movie called The Elder that was ultimately never

filmed. The album was storyline-based and had ballads, a short orchestral

piece, and lyrical themes more in common with bands like Rush and Yes than

with Kiss. The album failed to achieve gold status and, having cancelled their

United States Unmasked tour just a short time before, the band cancelled

their planned tour for Elder. Furthermore, original member Ace Frehley soon

left the band, expressing his displeasure over the path the band had chosen

and having begun to drift into heavy alcoholism.



Kiss' 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 multi-million-dollar deal with Mercury Records. Ironically,

Mercury - a label also owned by PolyGram - reverted the band back to their

"old" label, though in name only.



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

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 synching to recorded tracks, it is obvious that he did not know the

material. It was only after the album was released and a short tour of Europe

was completed that Frehley officially left Kiss. The lead-guitar replacement

for Frehley for the Creatures tour in the U.S. was Cusano, who by then had

taken the stage name of Vinnie Vincent and adopted "Ankh Warrior" makeup.



Musically, Creatures of the Night was the band's heaviest recording since

Love Gun in 1977, and was matched later only by Revenge in 1992 and

Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions in 1997. The progressive rock stylings of

Music From "The Elder" and the pop of Dynasty and Unmasked were

completely absent from Creatures of the Night � which was, of course, the

point. "I Still Love You", the only ballad on Creatures, was still heavier and

darker than any ballad Kiss had released in earlier years. The production

values contributed to the heaviness - in particular, the drum sound was

louder and heavier than on any previous Kiss album.



Creatures of the Night is the first Kiss album to have all lead vocal duties

handled by either Gene Simmons or Paul Stanley exclusively. All previous

studio releases, solo albums notwithstanding, 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 Eric 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. Although Frehley had not played on the

album, he did appear in the video as the rhythm guitarist, albeit Stanley is

shown playing the seven-note solo.



Despite positive reviews, Creatures of the Night did not return the band to

the commercial standing they had held five years previous. Although the

album charted higher than The Elder (#45 compared to The Elder's #75), it

would not attain 'Gold' status until 1994. Even more dramatically, the US tour

that followed, the band's first since Dynasty, was essentially a flop �

cancelled shows and, at-best, half-full arenas were the rule, not the

exception. In later years, Kiss fans and researchers have come to regard

Creatures of the Night as one of the band's best albums, matched only by

1976's Destroyer. However, it is clear that multiple shifts in the band's lineup,

image and musical styles from 1979 through 1981 had done severe damage.

As a result, though musically rich, Creatures of the Night is still one of the

major commercial disappointments for Kiss. Creatures of the Night was a

huge success in Brazil. It was certified Gold in Brazil in 1983





Album cover

Three different covers of this album exist: the 1982 original issue, the 1985

reissue (featuring Bruce Kulick, and the band without makeup), and the 1997

remastered version (same photo as the original, but with variations in the

logo and lettering).



Song uses in popular culture

Beavis and Butthead have been shown to be humming or singing the rhythm

of the song "War Machine" and has had the video to "I Love It Loud"

featured on an episode with the comment by Butthead, "Pretty cool for a

bunch of mimes."

Professional wrestler Tazz used the song "War Machine" as his entrance

music in ECW before changing to a remixed version of the song.





Personnel

Gene Simmons � bass guitar, lead vocals, rhythm guitar on "War Machine"

Paul Stanley � rhythm guitar, lead vocals, lead guitar on "I Love It Loud"

Ace Frehley � lead guitar (credited, but does not appear)

Eric Carr � drums, bass guitar on "I Still Love You"



Uncredited musicians

Vinnie Vincent � lead guitar on "Saint and Sinner", "Keep Me Comin'", "Killer",

and "War Machine", backing vocals

Bob Kulick � lead guitar on "Danger"

Robben Ford � lead guitar on "Rock and Roll Hell" and "I Still Love You"

Adam Mitchell � rhythm guitar on "Creatures of the Night"

Steve Farris � guitar solo on "Creatures of the Night"

Jimmy Haslip � bass guitar on "Danger"

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