189. KISS / Crazy Nights. 1987. 4.5/5.

Kiss might have gone through some changes during the 1980’s, but their output didn’t diminish, and their ability to find at least one hit on each album that appealed to the masses and drew in regular listeners on the radio continued unabated. Sure, they lost two of the four original members in Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Yes, they lost the makeup along the way and showed off their actual not-super-handsome facial features. And the change of members from album to album did cause more than the odd person to raise an eyebrow and wonder if the magic had really begun to seep away.
All of that talk of a decline in the power base is also up to the individual. There was no doubt that Gene Simmons had moved away somewhat from Kiss being his number one priority. He was in the process of trying to make it as an actor and had found several roles that had taken up his time. Along with this he was also getting into production and managing of artists, and over the course of recent albums it had been left more to Paul Stanley to be the one to handle the production side of the band.
This left a hole that allowed both guitarist Bruce Kulick and drummer Eric Carr to come in and be more proactive in contributing to the band, especially in the writing department. Kulick eventually contributed writing to four of the songs on the album, as well as playing bass guitar on one, “Hell or High Water”. Even producer Ron Nevison noticed and commented that Gene was rarely involved, and even when he was there he was at the back of the room reading a magazine. As a result it was Paul and Bruce who were the driving force for the “Crazy Nights” album, and Paul’s vocals and Bruce’s great licks and riffs that became the dominating feature of the album.

“Crazy Nights” is a product of the times in music, which meant an increased use of keyboards and synthesisers in the songs producers. Some of the songs have a predominance of those instruments through the main chords of the song, while others still rely on the guitars to be the driving force. Well, it was the 1980’s, and those hair metal bands were making their presence felt on the charts utilising those instruments and techniques. Kiss had utilised them over recent albums but it is increased on this album. But somehow it all fits. It doesn’t sound like they are selling out their principles to accommodate those sounds, in an effort to garner further popularity with fans and radio stations alike. The hard rock songs are still hard rock songs. The album opener “Crazy Crazy Nights” is the peppy kickstart that gets everything moving from the outstart. The party opener, the song you play once guests are starting to arrive. Paul at his best on vocals, the band playing hard alongside him. This was the first single released from the album, and signalled that something special was happening before the album had even hit the shelves. It reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart, top 10 through Europe, #34 in Australia and #65 in the US. It was exactly what was needed to boost the album on its release. This is followed by the brilliantly high energy of “I’ll Fight Hell to Hold You”, a great example of the Stanley/Kulick collaboration. Paul’s vocals here are supreme, and I love Bruce’s guitaring on this song too. It’s still one of my favourite Kiss songs. “Bang Bang You” is written by Stanley and the hit maker, Desmond Child, a partnership that has been successful for years. “No, No, No” is the fastest paced song on the album, and self proclaimed by Kulick as his favourite track “because there is so much of me on it!”. Another Simmons and Kulick song comes next with “Hell or High Water”, which has Gene on vocals, but Bob actually plays bass on it because Gene was off on a movie somewhere at the time those tracks were being laid down. Crazy. The final track of Side 1 is another Stanley/Child classic, the upbeat, high tempo, anthemic “My Way”, which Paul sings at us with gusto, with great lyrics that, as a teenager when it was released, were worth living to.

The second side of the album still has plenty of great moments, making it even more strange that following the tour of this album, none of the tracks featured in the band’s live set ever again. I still can’t really come to terms with that, because it is still such a great album, and so many of these songs would be awesome when played live. “When the Walls Come Down” is a bombastic track led by a great guitar riff and Paul’s harder vocals coming through to create that crowd chant that always helps drive a great track. “Good Girl Gone Bad” is Gene’s tale from college, lyrically what you would expect, and a softer tone to the song than a lot of Gene’s usual songs put out. The album’s closing track is more like typical Gene, with “Thief in the Night” a much more hard rock song with the band contributing throughout.
Two great standout tracks are here on this second side of the album as well. The third single released from the album was “Turn on the Night”, another great party anthem where Paul gets to the top of his range and sings with energy. The keys and synths are dominant here, but the song is top shelf, and a mood lifter more than anything else. If you are feeling a bit low, this song never fails to raise the spirits.

Perhaps the track that is the most surprising here is “Reason to Live”, the power ballad that is the product of Paul and Desmond Child’s armoury. Paul was always okay with having a ballad on each album, which had occurred since the “Creatures of the Night” album, because he believed that it was really a band’s only way to try and receive airplay on radio and music video shows, such was the direction of the programmers of those shows. And regular listeners to this podcast will know of my opinion of power ballads and what should be done to them. But.... this is different. Always has been. I love this song. It’s all synth and keyboards, it’s all in that style of song that appeals to that audience. But it’s all Paul’s vocals that do it. They are magnificent. He finds the right emotion and tones that still get me after all of these years. It should make me sick, most power ballads make me cringe and throw the radio at the wall. Not this. Pure Paul Stanley genius.

You may have guessed by now that I love this album. And I do not dispute that it was because it was released in this magical year of 1987 as I prepared do complete my final year of high school. That it is so special to me because it brings back so many great memories of friends and what we did at that time. And I’m glad it does, because as I mentioned earlier there are a lot of fans who won’t listen to Kiss albums for the 1980’s because they don’t rate them, but I think they’re all great.
I first received this album from my high school metal dealer, with this album on one side of a C90 cassette, and Alice Cooper’s “Constrictor” on the other side. That cassette eventually died a violent death from having been played over and over and over, in my car and at home. It was replaced by my now well-worn vinyl copy, as well as a remastered CD some years later. And it is still an album I pull out more often than most to put on. For me it is a mood changer. I can have had a particularly average day, come home, pull this out and put it on, and by the end of the album I am back to myself again.
It’s interesting that, despite the fact that I love both singers in this band, it is the Paul songs here that are the star attraction – perhaps because Gene was absent for so much of the writing and recording of it. Bruce Kulick again shows what an underrated guitarist he was, and his playing on this album is still just wonderful.
I can’t believe they haven’t played anything off this album live since that tour. I was fortunate enough to take my 14 year old son to see the band on their End of the Road tour just a couple of weeks ago, and he too wondered why they didn’t offer anything from this album in the setlist.
It’s an album that ties itself to the era given the increase output of synth and keyboard, something that was reigned in completely before the next album was recorded. But despite that, “Crazy Nights” remains as one of my favourite 3 or 4 Kiss albums. On the right day, I could easily consider it to be my favourite.