Gene Simmons (album)
| Gene Simmons | ||||
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| Gene Simmons' studio album | ||||
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Publication |
September 18, 1978 |
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admission |
June and July 1978 |
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| Label (s) | Casablanca Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
38:58 |
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Sean Delaney , Gene Simmons |
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Studio (s) |
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Gene Simmons is the 1978 recorded and released a solo album of Kiss - bassist Gene Simmons .
History of origin
Kiss had released a new album on average every six months from 1974 to 1977, and with Love Gun and Alive II they had reached the peak of their work to date. In 1976, the group had renewed their contract with Casablanca Records , and this provided that the record company could require each member of the group to release a solo album, with the release of two solo albums equal to the release of one Kiss album. So four solo albums meant that the group would have fulfilled two more studio commitments from their contract. The idea of recording solo albums at all came from manager Bill Aucoin and Casablanca boss Neil Bogart and was included in the contract at their request.
In June 1978 the four members of the group went to different studios to record their respective solo albums.
Gene Simmons recorded his album, which he had Sean Delaney produce (Simmons co-produced) in three different studios. The first recordings took place in April 1978 in the recording studio "The Manor" in Oxford ( Great Britain ), then the artist and producer moved to Los Angeles and continued work in the Cherokee Studios in June and July. The last recordings were made in the Blue Rock Studio in New York .
Simmons had wanted to hire many different artists as guest musicians and gathered many celebrities of their time during the recordings. However, some of his wishes did not come true: Sammy Davis, Jr. , Dinah Shore and Chaka Khan did not attend , Paul McCartney was scheduled for "See You Tonight" and, when he was unable to attend, Mitch Weisman and Joe Pecorino left the " Beatlemania " production replaced. The lead guitar for "Tunnel of Love" was originally intended to be played by Ace Frehley , who was, however, fully occupied with the work on his own solo album - Joe Perry of Aerosmith took on the task. Other musicians who have expressed interest or even agreed to participate were John Lennon , David Bowie and Jerry Lee Lewis . Many of the artists who ultimately did not take part had to do without due to a lack of time, as Simmons only had a time window of ten days for the contributions of the guest musicians.
Lassie also made sound recordings; the long-haired collie was used at the time for the recordings for the film Our Lassie ("The Magic of Lassie").
Producer Sean Delaney was originally scheduled to record Peter Criss' solo album, but Criss had assigned the job to Vini Poncia . However, Simmons had heard and loved the work Delaney had done for Billy Squier's then-band Piper and Toby Beau . He asked Delaney if he wanted to produce his solo album, and Delaney said yes. He later stated that he had almost succeeded in bringing the Beatles back together for the album, as all group members except Ringo Starr had agreed to sing backing vocals on the album - in the end these recordings never came about.
The title "Radioactive" was written by Simmons for and about Cher , his girlfriend at the time. Cher and her daughter Chastity also recorded the giggling girl / woman voices on the song "Living in Sin".
Simmons was a child of the title " When You Wish upon a Star " from the Disney - Cartoons Pinocchio impressed and had the feeling that Jiminy Cricket addressed him directly with the song. Simmons took the title on for his solo album as a homage because he felt that he had now realized his dream himself.
Participating musicians
- Gene Simmons : electric and acoustic guitars, vocals
- Neil Jason: Bass
- Elliot Randall : guitar
- Allen Schwartzberg: drums
- Sean Delaney: Percussion
- Ron Frangipane: Symphonic arrangements & conductor for members of the Philharmonic Orchestras of New York and Los Angeles
- Gordon Grody, Diva Gray, Kate Sagal , Franny Eisenberg, Carolyn Ray, Sean Delaney: Backing Vocals
- Eric Troyer : Piano and vocals ("Radioactive" & "Living in Sin")
- Steve Lacey: Guitar ("Radioactive")
- John Shane Howell: classical guitar (in the transition between "Radioactive" & "Burning Up With Fever")
- Richard Gerstein: Piano ("True Confessions" & "Always Near You / Nowhere to Hide")
- Joe Perry : Guitar ("Radioactive" & "Tunnel of Love")
- Bob Seger : Backing Vocal ("Radioactive" & "Living in Sin")
- Rick Nielsen : Guitar ("See You In Your Dreams")
- Helen Reddy : Backing Vocal ("True Confessions")
- Katey Sagal : Backing Vocal (as Kate Sagal)
- Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter : Guitar ("Burning Up With Fever", "See You Tonite", "Tunnel of Love" & "Mr. Make Believe")
- Donna Summer : Backing Vocal ("Burning Up With Fever")
- Janis Ian : Backing Vocal ("Prelude to Radioactive")
- Cher : Caller ("Living In Sin")
- Mitch Weissman & Joe Pecorino (Beatlemania): Backing Vocal ("Mr. Make Believe", "See You Tonite" & "Always Near You / Nowhere to Hide")
- Michael Des Barres : Backing Vocal ("See You in Your Dreams")
- Ritchie Ranno: Guitar ("Tunnel of Love")
- The Atrusa Citrus College Choir: "True Confessions" & "Always Near You / Nowhere to Hide"
Cover
All of the Kiss members' solo albums had a cover showing the masked face of the respective artist. The portraits had been drawn by Eraldo Carugati . Each portrait had its own background color: Peter Criss was highlighted in green, Gene Simmons in red, Ace Frehley in blue, and Paul Stanley in purple. Each album was accompanied by a poster that was shaped to match one of the other three posters, so that when all four albums were purchased, a large poster was created that showed all four members. In addition, each album was accompanied by an order form for merchandise items.
publication
The solo albums of all four Kiss members were released on September 18, 1978 in the United States , the circulation was 4 million albums, one million albums per member of the group. All four albums went gold and platinum on October 2, 1978, with Simmons' album reaching number 22 on the Billboard 200 .
The release of the albums was a financial fiasco for Casablanca Records , as most fans simply couldn't afford to buy all four albums at once. Since Casablanca had offered retailers a “100% Return Policy”, what had happened to the label in 1975 was repeated: the number of returns was enormous.
Casablanca Records released the solo albums as Kiss albums, so members of the group are happy to use them for the total number of awards the band has won. In addition, the albums were all provided with the band's logo. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on the other hand, does not recognize them as band albums, but lists them under the names of the respective artists, so that they are actually not counted towards the awards for Kiss.
Track list
- 3:50 Radioactive (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 4:19 Burning Up with Fever (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 2:30 See You Tonite (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 3:49 Tunnel of Love (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 3:30 True Confessions (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 3:50 Living in Sin (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons, Sean Delaney, Howard Marks)
- 4:12 Always Near You / Nowhere to Hide (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 3:16 Man of 1,000 Faces (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 4:00 Mr. Make Believe (vocals: Gene Simmons; lyrics and music: Gene Simmons)
- 2:48 See You in Your Dreams (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Gene Simmons)
- 2:44 When You Wish Upon A Star (vocals: Gene Simmons; text and music: Ned Washington , Leigh Harline )
literature
- Julian Gill: The Kiss Album Focus - Kings of the Night Time World, 1972-1982 ; 3rd edition, KissFaq.com 2008, ISBN 978-0-9722253-7-3
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Dale Sherman: Black Diamond - The Unauthorized Biography of Kiss ; Collectors Guide Publishing Inc., 1997, ISBN 1-896522-35-1
- ↑ Curt Gooch, Jeff Suh: Kiss Alive Forever - A Complete Touring History ; Billboard Books 2002, first edition; ISBN 0-8230-8322-5
- ↑ a b c d Dale Sherman: Black Diamond 2 - The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Kiss ; Collectors Guide Publishing Inc., 1997, ISBN 1-896522-36-X
- ↑ a b c d e David Leaf, Ken Sharp: Kiss: Behind the Mask ; Warner Books, New York, 2003. ISBN 0-446-53073-5
- ↑ Database of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)