Kiss – Kiss – 1974 – Debut Album
I have written about the debut album of Kiss in some way or form before. In fact, I’m sure that I’ve written about it multiple times before. That means I’ve also rated it before, probably higher than I’m rating it now. But as you know ratings only reflect the time when you’re rating the object. Things happen. Not to the music itself of course, but our experiences and moods change over time. But I’ll try to be as objective as I can about what this album contains. My views are of course mine and are strictly subjective.
The first thing you’ll notice, even if you never heard any of the songs before, is that they sound like 1974. That’s not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing for that matter. It just means that you can hear when Kiss’s debut album was produced. It’s not strange in any way that you can hear traces of time. I personally think that it has aged pretty well. The songs are simple enough and the production itself makes sure that you can hear every instrument you care to follow with ease.
Rock or Hardrock?
Of course, when this came out, it was considered hardrock in some shape or form. If it were to come out today? well, maybe! But if I heard this today and was forced to classify it as a genre I would probably go with rock. Guitar-driven no doubt, but still rock. But that doesn’t really matter. What matters is what you think of the music itself. As I said, the songs are simple and the melodies make it easy to follow along.
There are quite a few songs from the Kiss Debut album that eventually became classics. Strutter, Firehouse, Cold Gin, and Black Diamond for sure. I still like this album. It displays how simplicity can be a successful factor when releasing music. It would probably not be very well received today, but times are different. And the music business works totally differently too. Nevertheless, this is a classic Kiss album and it’s well worth a listen.
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons dominate the songwriting and performances of course. Ace Frehley wrote the best song in my mind though – Cold Gin. And it’s kind of funny that Gene Simmons who probably never got drunk once in his life sings it. Irony at its best. I think Gene sings the most number of songs on this album even though I’ve always considered Paul as the “main singer”. Well, I think they complement each other quite well!
