CoronaVinyl Day 409 (K): Dressed to Kill by KISS

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "K," and I listened to KISS's third studio album, their 1975 breakthrough album Dressed to Kill.

With their first two albums, 1974's self-titled album and Hotter Than Hell, KISS hadn't experienced much commercial success.  The former reached #87 on the Billboard album chart, while the latter topped out at #100.  They only had one charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, their cover of Bobby Rydell's "Kissin' Time" from their debut, which only reached #83.

The band's label, Casablanca Records, was not doing well, so much so that label president Neil Bogart had to produce Dressed to Kill because he couldn't afford a real producer.  Miraculously, Dressed to Kill did pretty well, reaching #32 on the Billboard album chart.  The album continued the band's stadium-friendly hard rock with a pop tinge, and it featured their all-time great rock anthem, "Rock and Roll All Nite," which only reached #68 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- though the live version from Alive! (released later in 1975) would reach #12.  In addition, it featured several songs that would become live staples for the band, like "Rock Bottom" and "She."  Live versions of those three songs and "C'mon and Love Me" would end up on Alive!  There are also more hidden gems like "Room Service," "Getaway," and "Love Her All I Can."

The album cover features the band standing on a New York street corner (23rd and 8th, to be exact), dressed in suits.  Drummer Peter Criss was actually the only band member who owned a suit, while the other three had to borrow suits from their manager, Bill Aucoin.  My copy of the album cover is framed and hanging on the wall in the office I've been to twice in the last 25 months.

This album set the stage for the band's success in the latter half of the '70s, as KISS soon became one of the biggest bands in the world, thanks in large part to the success of Alive!, which is one of the best live albums ever and helped capture the energy of the band's legendary live shows on vinyl.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Room Service"
The first song on the album is a Paul song, and it's a catchy rock song about getting serviced in a hotel room.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "She"
This one was originally conceived during the days of the band's precursor, Wicked Lester.  It's a Gene song, co-written by Stephen Coronel, and it has a snarling guitar riff.  The song is heavy, and Ace Frehley's descending chord guitar solo was both inspired by Robby Krieger's solo on The Doors' "Five to One" and was replicated by Pearl Jam's Mike McCready for the solo on "Alive."