Maps of Music

Unmasked (1980)

Where the lyrics of Unmasked take you, and where it was really made.

Drummer Peter Criss is credited and pictured on this album, but he played on none of its tracks.

Key places

Record Plant, New York (1980)

Recording site The Record Plant — Discogs lists the album as recorded and mixed at The Record Plant in New York. The point marks the studio's building-level location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Unmasked: eighth studio album by American rock band Kiss
• Released May 20, 1980 by Casablanca Records
• Continues the band's move away from hard rock toward a more pop-friendly sound, with less disco influence
• First Kiss album without all four original members
• Peter Criss is absent from every track but appears in the artwork, the "Shandi" video and the credits

Background

• Follows Dynasty (1979), made when the band aimed to widen its audience with pop and disco elements
• Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley pushed a pop rock and power pop direction; Ace Frehley wanted a return to hard rock
• Compromise: a slick, contemporary sound with new wave elements, while Frehley's three songs are heavier
• Criss, whom the band considered firing, had no input into the musical direction
• Belongs to the band's "makeup era"; the true unmasking came three years later on Lick It Up

Recording

• Produced by Vini Poncia, former Ringo Starr post-Beatles songwriting partner
• Anton Fig played drums on all songs
• Six of the eleven songs feature only one band member
• Holly Knight plays keyboards on most songs but is uncredited

Cover

• Cover and poster insert designed by artist Victor Stabin, featuring a winking Criss

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Kiss was formed in New York City in 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
• The band traces its roots to Wicked Lester, a New York rock band led by Simmons and Stanley.
• Their first performance took place on January 30, 1973, at the Popcorn Club (later Coventry) in Queens.
• Casablanca Records signed the band on November 1, 1973, as the label's first act.

Members

• The four original members were Stanley (Starchild), Simmons (Demon), Frehley (Spaceman) and Criss (Catman).
• Eric Carr replaced Criss in 1980; Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John and Bruce Kulick later held lead guitar.
• Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer formed the final lineup.

Career

• Kiss became one of America's most successful rock bands in the late 1970s, with a 1977 Gallup poll naming them the most popular band in America.
• The band unmasked in 1983 and reunited the original lineup for the 1996 reunion tour.
• The band announced its retirement after its final show at Madison Square Garden on December 2, 2023.
• Kiss was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2014.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's David Fricke: the album lacks the madness and amplified delusions of Love Gun and Alive!
• Rolling Stone's Fricke: the songs She's So European, Easy as It Seems and You're All That I Want are disappointingly boring
• Pitchfork's Jason Josephes: could not tell how bad the album was until he heard it
• Examiner.com's Rustyn Rose: an adaptation to the new wave movement, far from the classic Kiss sound
• Martin Popoff: a contrived mess of the most gutless and badly written tracks from the members' solo albums
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine: the songs are unmemorable and the group uninspired
• Gene Simmons called it a shitty album in 1993

Reappraisal

• Ultimate Classic Rock's Matthew Wilkening: an underrated gem of power pop
• Recent years brought some positive reappraisal
• Still unpopular with Kiss fans, and blamed for the band's early 1980s slump after alienating its hard rock audience

Records

• Peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200, the band's worst position since Hotter Than Hell (1974)
• First non-platinum Kiss album since Dressed to Kill (1975)
• RIAA gold certification on July 30, 1980
• Topped the charts in Norway and New Zealand; reached the top five in several countries
• Five singles released, the most of any Kiss album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Five singles came from the album, more than on any other Kiss album.
• The cover and poster insert, designed by Victor Stabin, show a winking Criss.
• Stanley described the album as the tail end of a comet, and said he did not mean Frehley's.
• Criss is credited on the album although he took no part in production.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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