20,000 Vinyl LPs 148: Kiss X Four

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Forty years ago today, September 18, 1978, the four members of the American hard rock band, Kiss, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley, each released a solo album on Casablanca Records.       

Kiss ~ Gene Simmons

vinyl LP front cover  
Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

 photo of album cover by Styrous®

This album by Gene Simmons, bassist and co-vocalist of Kiss, was a surprise to me. It's a very strange one, to say the least. It features choirs and string arrangements as well as incorporating various musical genres including Beatles-inspired pop, 1970s funk, disco, rock and roll and hard rock.

Radioactive is a fast and syncopated dance song that moves right along! It is the only single released from the album. The song was written by Simmons and produced by him and Sean Delaney. It features Bob Seger and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. Radioactive reached #47 on the Billboard charts.        

Simmons sings a version of When You Wish upon a Star, with lyrics by Ned Washington and music by Leigh Harline). It betrays the weakness of his voice but it's fun to listen to him doing something unusual (links below).     
     

Kiss ~ Ace Frehley

vinyl LP front cover 

Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

photo of album cover by Styrous®

The solo album from Ace Frehley, the lead guitarist of Kiss, was produced by Frehley and Eddie Kramer. It featured Anton Fig on drums. AllMusic rated the album 4 stars out of 5 and said, "Of the four Kiss solo albums, the best of the bunch is Frehley's". Jason Josephes of Pitchfork concurred that it was the standout of the Kiss solo efforts, describing it as "a melange of riff rock, power pop, and just a little bit of soul". I agree with them, of the four, Frehley's is my favorite and my favorite song from the album is, New York Groove, written by Russ Ballard. 

The song made it to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 late that year, by far the highest charting single from any of the four solo albums. Frehley once told Rolling Stone magazine that his unique take on the song was inspired by his experience with hookers in Times Square (New York City) in the 1970s.
        
My other favorite songs from the album are Ozone, with its moderate-speed syncopated beat and brilliant guitar work by Frehley, and the instumental,  Fractured Mirror (links below).     
   

Kiss ~ Peter Criss

vinyl LP front cover 

Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

photo of album cover by Styrous®

The solo album by Peter Criss, the drummer of Kiss, includes material originally written in 1971 for his pre-Kiss band Lips. These include I'm Gonna Love You, Don't You Let Me Down, That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes, and Hooked on Rock 'n' Roll. The album also includes a cover of the song Tossin' and Turnin by Bobby Lewis. Reviews for Peter Criss were mostly negative. The album was the lowest charting of all the Kiss solo albums.      

I'm Gonna Love You is good, 'ol time rock 'n roll with a great dance beat that gets your feet moving in spite of yourself (links below).     

I'm a sucker for rock ballads, I Can't Stop the Rain is one in particular (link below) and it is my favorite song on the album. It has a quiet piano intro that goes into a killer rock ballad. It has the same emotional intensity and modulations as Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill which is one of my all time favorite songs.     

 Kiss ~ Paul Stanley 

vinyl LP front cover 

Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

photo of album cover by Styrous®

            

The solo album from Paul Stanley, the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of Kiss, is the only album of the four Kiss solo albums to feature all original songs, as Simmons, Criss and Frehley each recorded one cover song on their albums. AllMusic gave the album 3 stars out of 5 and said that it is the most "Kiss-like" out of all the Kiss solo albums.

My favorite cut from this album is, Tonight You Belong To Me, not to be confused with the 1956 song with the same title by Patience and Prudence. It has a quiet, serene 1-1/2 minute intro, but once the intro is over it moves on quite nicely (links below).    
     

For over four decades Kiss has dominated the rock n’ roll scene with their over-the-top theatrics, captivating live shows, and fist-pumping anthems. The Starchild, Demon, Spaceman, and Catman are proud to round out their 45th year as a band and bring you The KISS Kruise VIII, Decades at Sea!

The Kiss Navy will set sail from Miami on October 31 aboard the Norwegian Jade with stops in Key West, Florida and Nassau, Bahamas. The cruise with run until November 5, 2018 (link below).   

        

           

          

Viewfinder links:
  
Aerosmith       

Sean Delaney          
Kiss articles/mentions          
     
Net links:
     
Kiss website
Mikeladano ~ Ace Frehley (1978 solo album) review     
Ultimate Classic Rock ~      
      30 Years Later Ace Frehley looks back @ his solo album   
Noise 11 ~ Ace Frehley, Melbourne, 20 October 2017 review    
Ultimate Classic Rock ~ Paul Stanley Year by Year: 1974-2017 Photographs     
Kiss Kruise VIII    
Deviant Art ~ Tribute to Eraldo Carugati: A Forgotten Master 
       
YouTube links:
     
Ace Frehley ~   
                Fractured Mirror        
                New York groove  
                Ozone            
Gene Simmons ~           
                Radioactive         
                When You Wish upon a Star      
Peter Criss ~    
                I'm Gonna Love You 
                I Can't Stop the Rain     
Paul Stanley - Tonight You Belong To Me          
Patience and Prudence - Tonight You Belong To Me          
    

 

    

      

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, September 18, 2018

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20,000 vinyl LPs 4: The Skatt Brothers - Disco Daze

I started the Vinyl LP series because I have over 20,000 albums I am selling; each blog entry of the series is about an album from my collection. Inquire for more info.

At the apex of the Disco rage, late in 1979, The Skatt Brothers issued an album entitled, "Strange Spirits". The title song was my favorite but it was "Walk the Night" and "Life at the Outpost" that were their big hits. "Walk the Night" reached #9 on the Billboard chart.

 (click on any image to see larger size)

front cover photographer: Dean Tokuno
photo of album cover by Styrous®

back cover photographer: Dean Tokuno
photo of album back cover by Styrous®

The Skatt Brothers was formed in Los Angeles by Sean Delaney. The group was similar to the Village People (remember them?) but never reached the same exposure (notoriety?). It was, however, extremely popular in Australia for some reason. The album was recorded in Toronto, Canada.

back cover detail

photo of album back cover detail by Styrous®

The line-up was:
Sean Delaney (keyboards)
Pieter Sweval (bass)
Richard Martin-Ross (guitar)
Richie Fontana (drums, guitar)
David Andez (guitar)
Craig Krampf (drums)

There is an animated interpretation of the song "Walk the Night" on uTube.

The original 1980 Australian music video for "Life at the Outpost" can also be seen on YouTube. The men dancing in the video are not the real Skatt Brothers but Australian male models (for some reason they did not want to appear in the video). It's fun watching it, however, from this vantage in time (30 years later) it is a bit dated.

The album was released by Casablanca Records; Casablanca was a major label for disco music in the late 70's. 

Standard record sleeve

used by Casablanca records.

photo of record sleeve by Styrous®

 

Casablanca launched the careers of KISS*, Donna Summer*†, Parliament, The Funkadelics*†, Angel and the Village People but also recorded Cher, The Sylvers, Buddy Miles, Giorgio Moroder*†, Santa Esmeralda*† and many others. The Casablanca film division produced the films, "The Deep", "Midnight Express"*†, "Foxes" and "The Hollywood Knights". Casablanca Records was purchased by PolyGram after which the label went into decline. Visit the Casablanca website to see more Casablanca Records videos. Be warned, however, it takes forever to get the pages to open.

The Skatt Brothers vinyl LP label detail, side 1 

photo by Styrous®

Sean Delaney would go on to work with members of the hard rock band, Kiss, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss. David Andez would work with The Village People.   

When I recently found the videos on YouTube, I wrote to a friend, "I just came across this song [Walk the Night] on YouTube. Although it was played in every gay bar in existence, it was the anthem of the leather crowd in 1979/80. I remember being totally ripped out of my mind with a friend in a bar somewhere and fiercely dancing to it like there was no tomorrow. It [the video] brings back wonderful memories of a new, free and exotic world that seemed to have no end; or so we thought at the time."   

*† Another blog entry for this album may come in the future.   

The Skatt Brothers vinyl LP label detail, side 1 

photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:      

Side 1:

A1 - Dancin' For The Man, written by Sean Delaney* - 3:46
A2 - Fear Of Flying, written by W. Morrison* - 3:44
A3 - Midnight Companion, written by Pieter Sweval, Sean Delaney - 3:25
A4 - Walk The Night, written by D. Andez*, Richie Fontana - 3:53

Side 2:

B1 - Strange Spirits, written by Pieter Sweval - 4:21
B2 - Someone's Taken My Baby, written by Pieter Sweval, R. Martin-Ross*, Sean Delaney - 4:29
B3 - Life At The Outpost, written by Pieter Sweval, Sean Delaney - 4:56
B4 - Old Enough, written by Pieter Sweval, Sean Delaney - 5:43

Companies, etc.

    Recorded At – Phase One Studios
    Mastered At – Sterling Sound
    Manufactured By – Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc.
    Distributed By – Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc.
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc.
    Copyright (c) – Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc.
    Published By – Skattsongs
    Published By – Ample Parking Publications
    Produced For – Three Hats Productions

Credits:

    Arranged By [All Arrangements, Vocals Arrangements] – Pete Pedersen, The Skatt Bros.*
    Art Direction – Phyllis Chotin
    Bass – Pieter Sweval
    Design – Gribbitt!
    Drums – Craig Krampf, Richie Fontana
    Engineer [First] – George Semkiw
    Guitar – Richard Martin-Ross
    Guitar [Lead] – David Andez
    Keyboards – Sean Delaney
    Mastered By – George Marino
    Performer [Auxialiary Musicians] – Barry Keane, Brian Russell, Carl Marsh (2), Errol Thomas, Michael Toles
    Photography By – Dean Tokuno
    Producer – Ian Guenther - Willi Morrison*
    Producer [Produced With] – The Skatt Bros.*

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Other (Pressing Plant ID): 26
    Rights Society (A1, A3 to B4): ASCAP
    Rights Society (A2): CAPAC
    Matrix / Runout (A-Side Label): NBLP 7192 AS
    Matrix / Runout (B-Side Label): NBLP 7192 BS
    Matrix / Runout (A-Side Runout Etching): NBLP-7192-A3-PRC-C-3RE 1-11 MUSIC FOR MISS THING STERLING
    Matrix / Runout (B-Side Runout Etching): NBLP-7192-BS-PRC-C-3RE 1-1 I LOVE PAUL STERLING

Skatt Bros. ‎– Strange Spirits
Label: Casablanca ‎– NBLP 7192
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1979
Genre: Rock, Funk / Soul
Style: Pop Rock, Disco

The entire collection is for sale. Interested? Contact Styrous®

Enjoy, Styrous® July 20, 2012

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