The Year Of KISS: Dynasty (1979)

“I’ve Been A Gambler But I’m Nobody’s Fool….”

1977 saw KISS on top of the world. A trio of massively popular albums were followed up by a second live album, Alive II, which actually sold better than the much beloved Alive. In April of 1978 the band released their first greatest hits collection, Double Platinum. On the surface, things looked great for the band. Behind the scenes, however, things were becoming toxic. The band’s members released four solo albums in September of 1978. All four albums shipped platinum, but failed to meet fan expectations for the most part. Many fans look at the solo releases as the beginning of the end for the original lineup. Things wouldn’t get much better for the group with the release of their first studio album in two years, 1979’s Dynasty.

With friction between the band’s members, Dynasty would become the first album to not feature all of the band members on all of the songs. This may or may not be why the album was a huge departure from KISS’ hard rock sound that had developed over all of their other albums. Dynasty is considered by many to be the band’s “disco” album and an attempt at winning over more pop music fans.

The album had nine tracks on it. Two singles were released. Despite straying from KISS’ signature sound, the album’s first single, I Was Made For Lovin’ You, was a huge success. It reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has become a concert mainstay over the years. The second single, Sure Know Something, peaked at #47 and experienced a mild resurgence in popularity in the mid 90’s thanks to the band’s MTV Unplugged live album.

Track Listing:

1. I Was Made For Lovin’ You (Single)
2. 2,000 Man
3. Sure Know Something (Single)
4. Dirty Livin’
5. Charisma
6. Magic Touch
7. Hard Times
8. X-Ray Eyes
9. Save Your Love

Personnel: Peter Criss (lead vocals and drums on Dirty Livin’), Ace Frehley (lead and backing vocals, lead guitar and all guitars and bass on 2,000 Man, Hard Times, and Save Your Love), Paul Stanley (lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitars, lead guitar on Sure Know Something, bass on I Was Made For Lovin’ You and Magic Touch), Gene Simmons (lead and backing vocals, bass, rhythm guitar on X-Ray Eyes)

In addition to the four original members, there were two other primary musicians on the album. Anton Fig played all drums on the album except for Dirty Livin’. Vini Poncia played keyboards, percussion, and provided backing vocals.

The album is a bit all over the place in my opinion. Despite this I enjoy it quite a bit. The two singles strayed from KISS’ original sound the most with Dirty Livin’ not too far behind. While everyone talks about I Was Made For Lovin’ You, Sure Know Something is my favorite of the album’s two singles. It’s also my favorite track on the album overall. Charisma is actually a very solid track but it’s a bit left of center for KISS. X-Ray Eyes is a decent rocker that reminds me of Radioactive from Gene’s solo album. Magic Touch is an okay track but it’s probably my least favorite song on the album. All three of the Ace Frehley fronted tracks, Hard Times, Save Your Love, and 2,000 Man (a Rolling Stones cover), have a real rock and roll sound to them and are definitely the closest tracks to KISS’ original sound.

Paul Stanley sings lead vocals on three tracks. Ace Frehley does the same, perhaps due to the fact that he really got to test out his voice on his solo album. Surprisingly, Gene Simmons only contributes two lead vocal performances. Peter Criss only sang on Dirty Livin’.

Always conscious of their image, KISS went to extremes with their look for the Dynasty tour. Peter Criss wore a green fur coat full of what looks like tails. His boots, also green, featured poofy fur embellishments. Gene’s costume appears to have been heavily influenced by kaiju, especially Godzilla, and featured a red cape. Paul’s look featured a lot of puffy pink embellishments and stars. Ace won the costume contest with one of my favorite looks of his, a shimmering cape and a light blue chest piece that featured broken glass.

Dynasty was KISS’ seventh studio album. It did gain the band newer, younger fans, but fans of the band’s original sound felt forgotten and ignored by a band that at least appeared to be “selling out” in order to make more money. Merchandise sales were still high but album sales were leveling off and not meeting the expectations of the band or of the record label. Big changes were coming for KISS and they weren’t necessarily good ones.

Thanks for checking out my review of Dynasty. Despite all of the challenges faced by the band, it’s not that bad of an album. Come back next week to see my thoughts on Unmasked!