CHAPTER 29 - Unmasked
(1980)
“Unmasked” Album Notes:
Produced
by Vini Poncia. Recorded and mixed by Jay Messina and Gary
Russell at The Record Plant,
29.01. Is That You?
Originally
written by Gerard McMahon in 1979. Gerard’s musical history
stretched back into the 1970s. He had been the keyboard player on Jimmy
Ibbotson’s “Nitty Gritty Ibbotson” solo album in 1977. Also playing on the
album would be guitarist Steve Sykes with whom Gerard would do several
projects, including the 1980 album “Blue Rue” credited to Gerard McMahon &
Kid Lightning and one of his two “Gerard” solo albums. Gerard would later
contribute material to the classic “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” soundtrack
(1982).
Gerard’s manager was
looking for a producer and considered Vini Poncia a possibility. As a result,
Vini heard several McMahon demos, and liked “Is That You?” enough to take it to
KISS for consideration. The band, particularly Paul, loved the song and decided
to use it on the album. “Is That You?” would be released as a single in several
markets, notably
There would be minor
changes between Paul’s and Gerard’s versions of this song. Lyrically, “act your
age, get back in your cage” would become “act your age, get
off your stage.” A third verse of the original would be totally deleted: “Don’t
like drivin’ to the high school / Just for kicks, you crazy chick / I oughta
cross you out of my black book / You’re out of line, in your own case.” Due to
the changes, KISS’ version would run
29.02. Shandi
“Shandi” has the dubious
distinction of being a recording that features only Paul Stanley from KISS’
then-lineup on the track. Bass would be provided by Tom Harper, who had been
Paul’s guitar tech on the “Dynasty” tour. According to Tom, “Gene was out of
the studio one day and the producer (Vini Poncia) gave me a tape of ‘Shandi’
and said, ‘Go home and learn this, you’re playing tomorrow.’ Gene heard the
track the following day and agreed to let it stay” (Otaku). Keyboards were
played by Holly Knight, while, like the rest of the “Unmasked” album, the drums
were performed by Anton Fig. Paul, naturally, would sing the song and play all
of the guitars. With the song’s title provided by Vini Poncia, Paul wrote the
song on a 12-string acoustic guitar looking to write something similar to Bruce
Springsteen’s “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” though no doubt with memories
of “Hard Luck Woman”! The song’s character would change during the sanitization
of Poncia’s production. As a result, according to Paul, the production changed
the character of the song and it “Seemed to get polished and neutered to a
point that I believe took away the heart of the song” (KISS Box Set).
“Shandi” would be the first
single off “Unmasked,” promoted as “it is unlike any KISS music you’ve heard
yet. This is the tune you’ll hear on the beach all summer. It’s the kind of
song you just can’t help singing along with”! Unfortunately, the single would
only manage to go top 10 in
29.03. Talk To Me
While Ace’s “Talk To Me” would not be released as a single in the
29.04. Naked City
Written
by Gene Simmons, Robert Kulick, Vini Poncia, and Emil Thielhelm (better known
as Peppy Castro). The song would be originally
demoed by Gene, Paul, Bob Kulick, Karla DeVito, and Peppy at Studio 54 Studios.
For all of his years working with KISS, and his history with the band dating
back to 1973, this would be Bob’s first credited co-write with the band. Karla,
however, was the touring vocalist with Meat Loaf during the “Bat Out Of Hell” tour, which included Bruce and Bob Kulick.
29.05. What Makes The World Go ‘Round
Written by Paul Stanley and
Vini Poncia, this song would be released as a single, backed with “
29.06. Tomorrow
As a single “Tomorrow”
would be a universal dud, only managing to chart in one country:
29.07. Two Sides Of The Coin
Written
by Ace Frehley. Ace would also play bass on the recording.
Ace’s contributions to “Unmasked” marked his greatest creative contribution of
a KISS album. With three songs, he’d exceed the two (and a cover) he’d brought
to the previous album’s sessions. It is clear from this growing amount of
material that Ace had benefited from the solo album “diversion” of 1978, both
in terms of creativity and confidence. This song would be the album’s sole
representative on the American compilation, “Greatest KISS,” released in 1997.
29.08. She’s So European
The band would video a
lip-synched performance video for West German television, which has become
accepted as something of an unofficial promo for the album. The verses of the
original version of the song would be drastically different than the recorded
version, the first of which went: “She speaks French to the waiters / In
between sips of pink champagne / Hors d’Oeuvres are nothing special / She says
29.09. Easy As It Seems
Written
by Paul Stanley and Vini Poncia. Paul Stanley played bass
and the guitar solo on the recording.
29.10. Torpedo Girl
The
only one of the three Ace recordings on “Unmasked” to be co-written, in this
case with Vini Poncia. Vini would get co-writes on 8 of
the album’s 11 tracks. Ace would play bass on the recording, which stands as
KISS’ only “comic” recording to date.
Gene has commented: “Ace
sometimes played bass, too. He played bass on ‘2,000 Man’ and ‘Torpedo Girl.’
And I didn’t always play bass. I played guitar on ‘Almost Human’ and a few
other songs. The idea here is that, even though it says Gene Simmons, bass;
Paul Stanley, guitar; Ace Frehley, guitar and Peter Criss, drums, everybody
does whatever has to be done because it’s still called KISS. We don’t play the
game of giving credit to every tambourine player and background vocalist. That’s nonsense” (Jeff Kitts - Guitar World Magazine, 1997).
29.11. You’re All That I Want
According to Gene, this
song had originally been written around 1977. Please refer to the “Box Set”
section for more details on the original demo.
“Live at the Sydney Showground, 1980” Video
Notes:
Like “KISS: The Lost
Concert, 1976,” this DVD release was rapidly pulled from distribution, and even
fewer copies than the aforementioned release got into circulation. This release
features the Australian exclusive KISS concert which was filmed in November
1980 live on Eric Carr’s debut tour with the band.
29.12.
29.13. Cold Gin
29.14. Strutter
29.15. Shandi
29.17. Firehouse
29.18. Talk To Me
29.19. Is That You?
29.20. 2,000 Man
29.21. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
29.22.
29.23. Love Gun
29.24. God Of Thunder
29.25. Rock And Roll All Nite
29.26. Shout It Out Loud
29.27. King Of The Night Time World
29.28. Black Diamond
Tangent: Egos At
Stake...
“Egos At
Stake” was one of the first vinyl bootlegs released in the 1980s.
Professionally packaged in