#love gun

[metal-sludge]

KISS (1973 - present) | Love Gun promotional ad in CIRCUS, July 1977.

[pixelpunk98]

[kissarmyfans]

Love Gun

[myimaginaryradio]

Love Gun - Kiss

[coldgins]

Ace looking particularly beautiful (HOT AND SEXY), around ‘76.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Kiss - Love Gun

[rock-and-roll-hell]

July 24, 1977

Love Gun Tour

Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, British Columbia

According to the promoter: “The cops heard of KIϟϟ’ so-called reputation and they ordered four squads to the show. They played poker all night and billed us $8,000 for overtime” (Montreal Gazette, 8/2/77).

From a local review: “Hype? Not really. KIϟϟ promise nothing less than the greatest spectacle in rock and nothing less is exactly what they provide. From that it is easy for the unaware parent or pundit to mistake KIϟϟ for a threat to our civilized way of life. But understand this, KIϟϟ are not self-pitying, humorless nihilists like the punk rockers. If anything, they are a fantasy for an age that has seen just about everything. Of course they appeal to the escapist stripe. It would be fun to stand seven feet tall, spit fire, deafen everyone within a 1,000 yard radius and make a million bucks doing it” (Vancouver Sun, 7/25/77).

From another local review: “The KIϟϟ concert Sunday night was better than the fireworks display the Sea Festival holds annually. The Coliseum took on all the aspects of kid’s day at the PNE’s Playland with harried parents leading offspring by the hand up into the stands, plopping their plump selves down into the same seats they had at The Ice Capades or The Shriner Circus, and stopping up their ears with cotton… KIϟϟ was perfunctory as you please, well rehearsed, but musically deadening and the sound from the press box was, as usual, muddy except when Ace Frehley took off into one of his solos. Frehley appeared to be bored, or tired, or sick, or drunk, or all four, while batman, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley did their best to whip up a surprisingly complacent audience which eventually succumbed and went nuts when the hits and the gimmickry got into gear” (Georgia Straight, 7/28/77)

[rolandrockover]

From Demon to Drama

There are certain continuous common themes that connect increasingly disparate Kiss albums such as Love Gun (1977), Dynasty (1979) and Unmasked (1980). One of these is certainly Gene's trademark demon song, albeit in this case in the form of an ever-expanding piece of chewing gum.

In order to try to clarify this argument, let's have a look at all the Gene compositions that come into question for such a measure.

Almost Human:

You couldn't get any more Gene in demon mode than this, not necessarily in terms of heaviness but in terms of sheer attitude. Imagine the horniest werewolf ever in the midst of psychedelically inflamed walls of guitars and opiatically relaxed rhythms surrounded by a languishing harem.

I think even as a child I always had the ladies from the Love Gun (1977) album cover in my mind's eye for this song. And the high-noise collage created by Eddie Kramer, which is also known as Ace's Solo, would even have had Adrian Belew nodding with a beaming smile on his face. Most definitely Gene at his most over the top.

X-Ray Eyes:

In terms of attitude, things are a little more dignified here, even if Vini Poncia knew how to transfer the Ace-esque noise aspect to the Dynasty era, with which X-Ray Eyes can clearly score points, and a small but all the more effective psychedelic background chorus is also reminiscent of Almost Human.

The main riff is dark and heavy, but the production is not necessarily so, and then there are still the much more relaxed verses, which are only too happy to get rid of all that silly heaviness with the help of the Christine Sixteen piano, and emphasize more the human aspect and the unbearable lightness of being this poor creature punished with its unbearable abilities, and make it seem more humanly comprehensible (1). The Demon is no longer program, but merely a point of reference.

Naked City:

Let me put it this way, I've always loved this song for a variety of reasons, especially because of Gene's goosebump-inducing head voice in the verses, but Raggae Kiss should nevertheless not have had too much trouble adapting this song to their repertoire stylistically.

The Demon is barely noticeable here, and in the highest case only recognizable by a dark and heavy, but thanks to the softener-pop production still far too light main riff, which also does not come from Gene but from the great and always reliable bench player Bob Kulick. But here, too, it is no longer Monster-Gene, but all the more the reflective city and night guy who forms the central aspect with his isolated soul, probably best unleashed in the minimalistically screeching, howling feedback aftermath of the guitar solo, which for me is the undisputed highlight of this song (2).­

What can be drawn from this? Hard to say, perhaps a step-by-step approach to Gene's own true inner self, which possibly only carries the claim to be better recognized by the surrounding world, and accordingly tries to present itself more and more in this perspective?

Gene's '78 solo album should speak volumes in this context and in all likelihood have opened the door for this direction, softening his otherwise impenetrable battle armor and maybe revealing his vulnerable heart a little.

But it could also just be that it's all total bullshit and Gene became less attracted to music and more interested in Hollywood, and jumped on the opportunity to get his money faster with a few softer, and poppier and even schmaltzier compositions.

You decide.

Side Note:

(1) Something comparable also happened with Ace on New York Groove.

(2) Maybe even of the whole Unmasked (1980) album. But I guess Paul challenges it for this place with his magnificent Tomorrow.

Almost Human (1977)

X-Ray Eyes (1979)

Naked City (1980)

[animalb0y]

Kiss, 1983.

[sluttery-withoutshame]

Happy new year to my US EST friends!

[lybite]

Paul Stanley Solo Album 1978

Acrílico sobre madera

Medidas: 20 x 20 cm

2022

[loveherallican-blog]

KISS - Love Gun

[not-shandi]

I need to feel this man’s love gun

[kriselicate]

Release KISS Nendo

[rockinshots]

KISS definitely blew the roof off Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs. Over the top pyrotechnics and overall production. We/The KISS ARMY loved every second!!

📷 @rockinshots @kissonline @genesimmons @paulstanleylive @tommy_thayer_official @eric_singer_official @kissarmy.us @mnprmagazine @soundcheck_sf @acrisurearena