Kiss – Dynasty – 1979

Dynasty is an album that has been in my consciousness for virtually my entire music-interested life. It was the first album I had ever heard by Kiss; it was simply at home! My sister owned it, but I can’t for my life remember why. She wasn’t into hardrock at all as I remember it. I thought it was really good then though. I thought it had a really cool album cover, even though that might be a subjective judgment compared to many of the other Kiss album covers.

Listening to Dynasty today, many years later, it’s still a very good album. Of course, it has some lesser songs that you often neglect and forget about, and not just mega-hits like I Was Made for Loving You, which might be the most-played Kiss song ever. Hard Times, is perhaps my absolute favorite with Kiss of All Time, Charisma, which is also really good. I didn’t know it then but later I’ve come to realize that this is actually another take at the same lyrical theme as the Alice Cooper song Is it My Body? They both deal with sexuality and how an attraction really works. I do think that the Alice Cooper conclusion is a tad better though. The concept that kiss presents is a little more directly sexual. It could do with a little more innuendos instead.

However, the less good songs, despite being slightly above average in a larger context, don’t actually bring down the rating that much. A little, of course, otherwise it would be strange, but overall, the album maintains an impressive level with minor pitfalls.