KISS Solo Albums????

EJP715

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Whats up with these solo albums that has the title as each members name BUT, their named after KISS.....did the entire group get royalties since the KISS name is on each album or did just each individual member get the royalities depending on the album? What was the point of these individual album since they were still KISS at the time??? Tried to find info but couldn't come up with anything.
 

METALPRIEST

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Ace and Peter wanted to quit the band and do solo albums. So Paul & Gene (wanting them to stay at the time) said "Fine we'll all do solo albums and dedicate them to each other"...sort of hoping this would get it out of everyone's systems and a break up would not take place.
 

That 70s Guy

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from wikipedia

Four solo albums (1978)

Kiss was at their commercial peak by 1978. Alive II was the band's fourth platinum album in just under two years, and the ensuing tour had the highest average attendance (13,550) in the group's history. In addition, Kiss' gross income for 1977 was $10.2 million. The group, along with creative manager Bill Aucoin, sought to take the band to the next level of popularity. To that end, an ambitious, two-pronged strategy was devised for 1978.[36]
Paul Stanley

The first part involved the simultaneous release of four solo albums from the members of Kiss. Although Kiss has claimed that the solo albums were intended to ease rising tensions within the band, their 1976 record contract did in fact call for four solo records, with each of them counting as half an album toward the group's five-record commitment.[37] Each album was a solo effort (none of the group appeared on another's album), and were all released and marketed as Kiss albums (with similar cover art and poster inserts). It was the first time that all current members of a rock band had released solo albums on the same day.[38]

For the band members, it was a chance to showcase their individual musical styles and tastes outside of Kiss, and in some cases to collaborate with contemporary artists. Stanley's and Frehley's albums stuck pretty closely to the successful hard rock style that Kiss had utilized, while Criss' album featured an R&B style and was loaded with ballads. Simmons's was the most eclectic of the four. It featured hard rock, ballads, Beatles-influenced pop, and ended with a straight cover of "When You Wish upon a Star" (from the film Pinocchio). Simmons' many collaborators included Aerosmith's Joe Perry, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, the Doobie Brothers' Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, disco diva Donna Summer, Janis Ian, Helen Reddy, Bob Seger, Katey Sagal and then-girlfriend Cher.

The Kiss solo albums were released on September 18, 1978. The marketing blitz behind the albums was unprecedented. Casablanca announced it was shipping five million total copies of the albums (guaranteeing instant platinum status), and they spent $2.5 million marketing them.[39] All four solo albums made it into the Top 50 of the Billboard album chart. All four solo albums sold about as many copies as Love Gun alone. Of the four, Frehley's album was the most successful (although not by a huge margin) and spawned the only radio top 20 hit (Russ Ballard's composition "New York Groove", originally performed by Hello).[40]
 

Hardnecker

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That plan kind of backfired as Ace had a minor hit with New York Groove and was disgruntled with the direction of the music as well. I think Paul's is the best of the four.
 

stepcousin

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they are basically Kiss albums, since some of the songs appear on Anthologies and they played a few of them live as a band here and there.
 

That 70s Guy

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I consider them KISS albums to! :grinthumb I got all 4 at once Christmas 1978,it was a wonderful time.
 

LG

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I have a question for our KISS Army.

Do you consider any of the 4 solo albums equal to the best KISS studio albums, or in the same league?

I have Ace's, and am thinking about getting Paul's and MP is pumping up Gene's as well.
 

Lynch

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3 of the 4 solo albums have plenty of merit on their own. I think that Ace's and Paul's are most like KISS albums where Peter's went off on a really really weird and non-KISS direction. Gene's solo album has a bit of everything on it and is a solid album in it's own right, but most of it is nothing like KISS either.

In order, I'd rank them from best to worst

Ace
Gene
Paul
Peter

(I flip flop Gene's and Paul's based on my moods, but Ace is always #1 and Peter's is always dead last).

bums equal to the best KISS studio albums, or in the same league?



to answer you question about if any of them are equal to the best KISS studio albums, I'd say no. Ace's might rival some of the middle of the road KISS albums and is better than some of the lesser albums.
 

KISSFREAK

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Ace and Peter wanted to quit the band and do solo albums. So Paul & Gene (wanting them to stay at the time) said "Fine we'll all do solo albums and dedicate them to each other"...sort of hoping this would get it out of everyone's systems and a break up would not take place.


You are 100% correct and I liked Ace's solo the best then Paul's then Peter's then Gene's

Do you think they should have put together a solo album (CD) for Eric Carr ???
 

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