CHAPTER 24 - Gene Simmons (1978)

“Gene Simmons” Album Notes:

Produced by Sean Delaney and Gene Simmons. Recorded at The Manor, Oxford, England; Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California; Blue Rock Studio, New York City, New York, Spring 1978. Mixed at Trident Studios, London, England, by Mike Stone, John Brand, Allen Douglass and Frank D’Amico. The album was intended to the titled “Man Of 1,000 Faces,” but the marketing plan for the four solo albums changed that.

24.01. Radioactive

“Radioactive” originally started out as a song called “Penny Arcade” that Gene had written at The Record Plant studios (Sharp, Ken - Goldmine). His initial idea was revamped and developed into a pulsating rocker. “Radioactive” was a song, like Paul’s “Hard Luck Woman,” originally considered to be offered to another artist. In this case Gene had the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis in mind, since he’d been offered the chance to produce him, though Bill Aucoin would nix the idea.

The introduction to “Radioactive” was written by composer/arranger Ron Frangipane. According to Gene it was, “Based on some things that he’s heard on the album, mainly ‘Radioactive,’ and the piece sounds kind of like the themes from Jaws, the Exorcist. It’s basically strings, lots of brass, and uh, Janis Ian... singing in Latin... The latin says something like, ‘I see no evil, I hear no evil, it’s not around me at all,’ but underneath her is Sean (Delaney) doing a kind of deep voice growl” (Rock Magazine).

Released as the single from Gene’s solo album, “Radioactive” only managed to reach #47 on the singles charts during early 1979 with a short 8-week run on the charts. According to Gene, Joe Perry, from Aerosmith, only plays guitar on the choruses with Steve Lacey playing the solo. Other guests on the piece included Eric Troyer (Piano) and Bob Seger.

24.02. Burning Up With Fever

Originally demoed in 1976 with “The Group With No Name” on backing vocals. The “Group With No Name” were discovered by Gene, who introduced them to Neil Bogart in 1975/6 - they released their “Moon Over Brooklyn” album in July 1976. The band featured Jimmy Lott, Alan Miles, Carolyn Ray, Franny Eisenberg, and Katie Sagal, the latter two who would later become Bette Midler "Harlettes." Gene actually had gone to school with one of the band members, and thanked Jimmy on his solo album.

Donna Summer provided the backing vocals on the studio recording. According to Gene, “She blew the roof right off” (KISS & Make-up). Sean recalled the session: “A funny thing that happened with Donna Summer (because I had used her on ‘Tunnel Of Love’) when I first walked in, she tried to fool me by suddenly speaking to her manager in German. Well, I had just been living in Germany for about a year and a half, so as she was sitting there thinking she was speaking behind my back, I just jumped in with German and said, ‘Excuse me, but if you’re going to have to speak German then it’s cool, but a lot of people here don’t really understand what you’re saying so you might as well just speak English.’ I thought she was going to die. Because she was saying rude things” (Special Delivery #13).

24.03. See You Tonite

Of all of the songs released during the original era of KISS, this piece would be the most representative of the sort of material Gene wrote when he first started writing songs. In fact, this song was originally written around 1968/9 and used on the album to show a different side of the “Demon.” Of the many tracks Gene has written, this one most clearly demonstrates his Lennon/McCartney roots.

24.04. Tunnel Of Love

Gene had recycled parts of the original lyrics for “Man of 1,000 Faces” on “Got Love For Sale,” which was recorded for the “Love Gun” album the previous year, and he’d use additional remnants of that song on “Tunnel Of Love.” This song had been mentioned in the KISS Army Newsletter in early 1977 as a song that was a then prospective candidate for release on the “Love Gun” album. Gene had initially written it and “Got Love For Sale,” while the band was in Japan in March/April 1977.

Interestingly, this song had been included in the batch of song that had originally been demoed by Gene with the Van Halen brothers in 1977. “You’re a victimless crime / It happens all the time / You’ll jump off the roof if I say / I’m gonna take your love away, gonna force you to stay / You wouldn’t have it any other way” were the lyrics for the original bridge in “Man Of 1,000 Faces.” Parts of this bridge would be used in the second and third verses, respectively. Interestingly, for the tracks recording, Joe Perry, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, and Richie Ranno are all credited as playing guitar on the track. However, only Richie, who was a friend of Sean Delaney’s and a member of the band Starz, would have his guitar work used on the final track.

24.05. True Confessions

Ironically, this song featured the feminist icon Helen Reddy on backing vocals. According to Gene, “Helen Reddy was incredibly straight. She was like, ‘I am woman, glorified.’ She had a song called ‘I Am Woman’ and that was her big hit and I think she was offended by all this male ‘cock rock’ type of music, but she was willing to do it” (Special Delivery #13). She and Gene would play ping-pong while in the studio working on the recording.

24.06. Living In Sin

Originally fully titled “Living In Sin At The Holiday Inn,” the song’s title would be shortened rather than possibly offend one of America’s largest hotel chains. This song would feature an offbeat appearance of Cher, Gene’s then girlfriend, as the hysterical female telephone voice with some assistance from her daughter Chastity. Gene recalled, “He [Neil] was having a party at his house, and I was there and Cher was there, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, and people like that were there. So it was kind of a special affair. I didn’t care so much for Cher, she just happened to be there. And Neil went over and asked her to sing on my album because she had just signed with Casablanca Records. And I walked over and I apologized. You know, he shouldn’t have done that. ‘If anybody’s going to ask you to sing on the album it’s going to be me,’ I said. And then the next day I played her the stuff, from the material and then within a week or so we were friendlier” (Grooves, 1978).

Most of Cher and Chastity’s contribution is unintelligible, though Gene does answer the phone with a “Hello.... Baby” very similar to the Big Bopper’s classic telephone conversation start of “Chantilly Lace,” which had been released in 1958, prior to his death in an air crash with Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. Parts of what Cher says goes something to the effect: “Hello, I, I / Is this Gene Simmons? / Oh, can I, aw, oh my God, oh, uh, is it, uh, uh, what rumors do I got.... / Is it true what they say about.... / That you get to show your friends personally? / I’ve been really rude / I mean we were the first, but they kept trying / Gene, uh, oh my God!” However, a couple of the lines are pretty unintelligible, so it’s something of a guess. More amusingly, perhaps, Cher would later perform KISS’ “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” on her television show.

24.07. Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter would guest on guitar while Mitch Weissman and Joe Pecorino (both of Beatlemania fame) would also appear on the track. Richard T. Bear would play piano. This “song” had originally been two separate pieces, one of which probably dated back to 1975, since it was a song-title which appeared in one of Gene’s song lists, which were combined to create a finished piece. “Always Near You” runs some 2:33 before transitioning into the vastly different “Nowhere To Hide.” The introduction of Mitch Weissman into the KISS camp would not have an immediate impact, though during the 1980s he would co-write material with Gene, Paul, and Eric. Beatlemania was a tribute stage-show, and later movie, to the Beatles, and it is perhaps because of Gene’s inability to get any of the real “Beatles” to appear on his album that he recruited the cast members representing Paul McCartney and John Lennon, respectively, who were enjoying popularity at the time.

24.08. Man Of 1,000 Faces

This song was written as a tribute to one of Gene’s Hollywood horror film heroes, Lon Chaney, though by the time it was recorded, it had already been put through the recycling machine and had parts of its original lyrics used on “Got Love For Sale” and “Tunnel Of Love.” The remaining parts, with lyrics which went: “I’ve got to tear your heart apart / I’ve got to finish anything I start / Because I haven’t got a heart” and “I’m gonna take your love away / Gonna force you to stay / You wouldn’t have it any other way” were essentially discarded. The only part of the original version to remain was a chorus that went: “I’m the man of 1,000 faces / Man of 1,000 faces / Man of 1,000 faces / Man of 1,000 faces.” The 1978 form of the song became almost autobiographical in nature. When asked about whether this was the case by Kris DeLorenzo, Gene responded, “I think so. I think for the first time.... although nobody’s going to see behind the mask, what I’m trying to tell everybody is that it really isn’t a mask. It’s just one of the different faces, and everybody’s got many, many different faces. And people are not the same with any two people. You always change the way you are with your parents which is not the way you are with your friends, which is not the way you are with your enemies.... Everybody’s got problems with different faces. With the face on stage everybody knows me, and it’s just one of the faces. I think this album will be another” (Grooves, 1978).

24.09. Mr. Make Believe

Written while KISS were on tour in Detroit, Gene would head into a local studio to record the demo of this song. Like other songs on his solo album, this piece follows something of a theme in exploring his character.

24.10. See You In Your Dreams

Technically speaking, Gene covered his own song when he re-recorded “See You In Your Dreams” for his solo album. He was apparently not happy with the KISS version that had appeared on the “Rock And Roll Over” album in 1976. According to Gene, “I didn’t like the way KISS did it” (Firehouse #58). Unfortunately, Gene wasn’t particularly happy with this version either: “In my head I heard much more a Humble Pie thing, but it came off sounding much poppier than that” (Firehouse #58).

Michael Des Barres sang backing vocals on the new version with Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick making a guest appearance on lead guitar. KISS had already taken Cheap Trick out on the road with them during the “Love Gun” tour of 1977. Cheap Trick had also by then mentioned KISS in their classic song “Surrender” which had been released on their “Heaven Tonight” album in 1978.

24.11. When You Wish Upon A Star

This song was a sentimental tip of the hat to the Disney cartoons that helped Gene learn English soon after moving to America in 1958. According to Gene, “When I first heard that song I could barely speak English but I knew the words were true. Anybody can have what they want, the world and life can give its rewards to anyone” (Kerrang #160). Additionally, Gene’s belief in the subject matter of the song, that all things are possible, embody the American dream, something he has certainly attained: “The reason I put that on the album, the reason that’s my favorite song is because the lyrics are the heaviest lyrics that have ever been written because they can apply to anybody. Anybody who’s got a dream can relate to them.... But I think it’s universal at the same time. It can be personal to everybody. It doesn’t have anything to do with age or sex or anything” (Grooves, 1978). It may sound somewhat corny in the cynical 21^st Century, but it does relate to Gene’s general philosophy.

The song was written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline and was performed in the movie “Pinocchio” (first released in 1940) by Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket. This song has also been covered by Louis Armstrong and Linda Rondstadt. When recording the song Gene would be overcome with the emotion of the piece. According to producer Sean Delaney, “If you listen (to Gene’s version), you’ll hear his voice crack, because at that point he was crying. I wouldn’t let him re-record the vocal” (KISSaholics #16). Gene felt that he had little choice in recording the song: “I HAD to sing it. I had to ‘give back.’ When I heard Jiminy Cricket sing that song, it touched me and inspired me. The lyrics are true. Listen to them” (GeneSimmons.com).

24.12. Bad, Bad Lovin’ (Version #2)

While the original 1975/6 version of “Bad, Bad Lovin’” would split into two distinctive songs, one becoming “Calling Dr. Love,” the remaining part would become a full song in its own right. This 3:27 demo features Gene almost speaking the lyrics with female vocalists singing the chorus, which is essentially all that remains from the 1975 version. With a sax solo and wolf-whistle, it’s clear what’s on Gene’s mind: “Bad girl, always treat me so mean / The baddest girl I’ve ever seen / But I love her what else could it mean / Black nails and she’s looking so bad / The baddest girl I’ve ever had / And she knows how to give it to me so bad / So bad, yeah.”

24.13. Reputation

This song has been dated by Gene as being from around 1982 rather than the expected 1978. However, it is possible the the recycling machine was in action in 1982 with Gene using an older idea for a new recording.

24.14. Radioactive (Single Edit)

At 2:54 this radio edit simply cuts the extended “demonic” introduction from the song.