CoronaVinyl Day 224 (K): Love Gun by KISS

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "K," and all I have left are KISS albums.  You may think that only the four members of the band -- whoever they might have been at any particular time -- performed on KISS albums, such that I wouldn't be able to find a way to fit a KISS album into my February Black History Month theme.  However, on the band's 1977 Love Gun album, the band had the help of several African-American singers on the song "Tomorrow and Tonight."  Specifically, the signature backing vocals on the song were courtesy of former Broadway singer/actress Tasha Thomas, Ray Simpson of the Village People (he would become "the Cop" in 1979, and his sister is Valerie Simpson, one half of the legendary songwriting team of Ashford and Simpson), and opera singer Hilda Harris.

Love Gun was KISS's sixth studio album, and when it was released, KISS was on top of the rock world.  It's a great album top to bottom (or at least top to the penultimate song, since the last song on the album is a seemingly out-of-place cover of The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me").  Love Gun was the first KISS album to feature lead vocals from all four members of the band, and there really isn't a bad song on the album (even "Then She Kissed Me," which was written by .  "Christine Sixteen" and "Tomorrow and Tonight" show off the band's glam chops, the title track, "I Stole Your Love," and "Shock Me" became concert staples, "Got Love For Sale," "Almost Human," "Plaster Caster," and "Hooligan" are underappreciated gems.  

The album was the band's highest-charting album up to that point, and their first Top 5 album on the Billboard album chart, going to #4.  It produced the band's sixth Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Christine Sixteen," a song whose subject matter (Gene Simmons lusting after a 16-year-old girl) doesn't really hold up, even if the music does.  That reached #25.  The title track also reached #61.

As you can see, I have the original album, complete with a cardboard "Love Gun," a KISS merchandise order form, and little glossy insert of photos called "The Evolution of KISS."  My only quibble is that this is another one of those albums where the track listing on the back of the album doesn't match up with the actual order of songs on the album.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Shock Me"

Ace is my favorite KISS member, and while he had written many songs for the band, he was always too self-conscious to sing.  That all changed with "Shock Me," which is the first song on which Ace sang lead vocals -- although he recorded his vocals lying on the floor because of his vocal insecurities.  It's a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference to a December 1976 concert in Florida where Ace was electrocuted during the band's first song when he touched an ungrounded metal railing.  Luckily, he was only knocked to the ground, and the concert was only delayed for about 30 minutes.  This is kind of Ace's theme song, and it's a great rocker.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Plaster Caster"
"Plaster Caster" is about Cynthia Plaster Caster, a woman who used to make plaster molds of famous musicians' erect dongs, including Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Eric Burdon, among others.  The song is hard, but not too long.  Ah-thank you.