20. Animalize (1984): Revenge was the album I should like and don’t, and this is the album I should hate and don’t. I was really digging back into Kiss at this point, being a high school senior when this was released, and having met the band on the Lick It Up tour, and having a couple really cool, and dare I say hip records to build on, so I was ready for this, and while I was as confused as the next guy regarding lead guitars (no Vinnie, but it later turned out that future guitarist Bruce Kulick played on two tracks) I thought the songs were strong. I didn’t care for Mark St. John’s flash style, and this was the first of the Simmons “Hollywood” albums, but those weren’t really trends yet. I have a soft spot for Gene’s throwaway songs and the album finishes strong with two songs co-written with “Paul McCartney” from Beatlemania (Mitch Weissman), “While The City Sleeps” and “Murder In High Heels”. Paul is in aggressive form, kicking as (and dropping a hidden F-bomb) in “Get All You Can Take”. It’s basically all the non-makeup Kiss clichés before they became clichés. The one downside is that the tours became a little rote; shorter sets, more rapping from Paul. This is, though, the best selling of the non-makeup albums.
19. Killers (1982): The four songs from this set – released initially in Europe in 1981, following “The Elder” – presage the band’s first come back record “Creatures of the Night” They are not as strong as the songs that would come later, but after the relative misdirection of The Elder, they were more concise and direct and better reflected the Kiss ethos. In fact, “Nowhere to Run” (my favorite of the four) sounds straight off Paul’s solo album, and was mooted for inclusion on Creatures. Bob Kulick – Bruce’s brother – returns again (he played on the Alive II studio tracks) to play lead on these songs. Paul played bass on at least three of the four.
18. Hot In The Shade (1989): I will probably take a lot of heat for this placement - especially compared to Revenge - but I really like this album, I just do. It’s got flaws: it’s too long, it’s not very diverse, and I could give a shit about “Tito”. But I think the songwriting on this is stellar and the performances are good. I generally prefer Kiss when it’s more insular; yes there are co-writers on this, yes, Desmond Child makes his obligatory appearance, but the album is largely written by the band and long-time “inside” collaborators (Vini Poncia, who produced Dynasty and Unmasked, and Tommy Thayer). The album is rumored to be a collection of demos polished up for release, which explains why so many guests appear on the record: Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer (who would both join Kiss later), Kevin Valentine (frequent “ghost” drummer for the band), but even with that, it sounds more “Kiss” than the glitzy “Crazy Nights”. Even the choir in “Silver Spoon” just sounds right. I am very much a “melody” guy, and the melodies on this album are heavy but stick with you for days. (I’m still singing the chorus from the aforementioned “Silver Spoon”, and Paul gives it 100% on the “whoa-oa-oa-OA-oa” part). This was the tour where they went back to basics, playing smaller venues and playing more of the classic Kiss songs, so it’s as important for what it led to - Revenge - as what it was, but I do come back to this frequently, and I seem to find something new each time I do.
Trivia: “Hide Your Heart” was rejected by the band for “Crazy Nights” in '87, and was later given to Bonnie “Total Eclipse of the Heart” Tyler in '88. Then in ’89, it appeared on FOUR albums, including Hot in The Shade by Kiss and an album by a singer named Robin Beck; can you name the other two artists (bonus for the albums)?