Sunday, 9 February 2020

Kiss - Unmasked (1980) (Vinyl)

Year: 1980 (LP 1980)
Label: Mercury Records (UK), 6302 032
Style: Rock, Glam Rock
Country: New York City, New York, U.S.
Time: 39:58
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 281 Mb

Unmasked is the eighth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released in 1980. Despite being credited, Peter Criss had no involvement with the recording of the album; Anton Fig played all the drums uncredited.
The album features substantial songwriting contributions from Vini Poncia, who had previously been Ringo Starr's post-Beatles songwriting partner. The album marked the first time Kiss had used the contributions of outside songwriters to such a large extent, as all tracks except two of the Frehley contributions, "Talk to Me" and "Two Sides of the Coin", were written or co-written by someone outside the band.
The band filmed a promotional video for "Shandi" with Criss. It was the last time he appeared with Kiss until he performed with them at a Kiss Convention on June 17, 1995. In the band's authorized biography, the drummer revealed that he was the last one left in the band's dressing room after filming and broke down crying. The album cover and poster insert, designed by artist Victor Stabin, featured a winking Criss. "Unmasked was like the tail end of a comet," reflected Stanley, "and I don't mean Frehley's."
Unmasked went on sale on May 20, 1980 through Casablanca Records and reached number 35 on the Billboard 200, the worst position for the group since Hotter Than Hell (1974). The album got a gold certification from the RIAA two months after its launch, although it was the first Kiss album not to obtain the certification of platinum since Destroyer (1976). Meanwhile, in Europe and Oceania, Kiss maintained its popularity; Unmasked topped the charts in Norway and New Zealand, and reached the top 5 in Australia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.
"Shandi", published on June 1, 1980, was the first single from the album. Although in the United States it only reached No. 47, in Argentina it reached number one, while in Australia, New Zealand and Norway it reached the top 10. "Talk to Me" was the next single outside the United States. It went on sale on August 24 and its highest position was the tenth, reached on the Swiss charts. "Tomorrow" was the third and last single by Unmasked – the second in the United States – and reached No. 70 in Germany.
Although Unmasked marked a major musical departure for the band, it still reached #35 on the US Billboard chart and was certified gold by the RIAA on July 30, 1980.
One year after their last tour, which was somewhat a disaster, Criss was fired from the band due to his erratic behavior. Unmasked was the first album that failed to reach platinum status since 1976's Destroyer. Kiss played only one show in the US, at the Palladium with Carr. The band decided to take a break from the U.S. because the album was more successful in other countries, and Kiss played in Australia, England, New Zealand, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy.

01. A1 Is That You (03:57)
02. A2 Shandi (03:36)
03. A3 Talk To Me (04:03)
04. A4 Naked City (03:52)
05. A5 What Makes The World Go Round (04:09)
06. B1 Tomorrow (03:17)
07. B2 Two Sides Of The Coin (03:15)
08. B3 She's So European (03:32)
09. B4 Easy As It Seems (03:24)
10. B5 Torpedo Girl (03:46)
11. B6 You're All That I Want (03:02)

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1 comment:

  1. Good stuff! Thanks so much! Rock on!

    ReplyDelete