Kiss 12: Unmasked

The good news about the Unmasked album is that Kiss mostly abandoned disco. However, they went full fore into catchy pop, using their occasional skill to find hooks to apply them to songs that only rocked on the surface. The misogyny that colored so many of their earlier albums had also been toned down in favor of love songs, with varying results.

They still collaborated with new buddy Vini Poncia, but the opening “Is That You?” is by a songwriter who would go on to contribute countless generic tunes to movie soundtracks, filling in space between people you’ve heard of. The dearth of millennial girls named “Shandi” shows the lack of influence this sensitive not-ballad had on their fan base. There’s nothing wrong with the song, except that it’s completely wrong for Kiss. Speaking of which, “Talk To Me” is the first Ace’s contributions, and it would be great if someone else sang it, because he can’t. Gene finally shows up on “Naked City”, a song that took four people to write. The bass matches the guitar riff note for note, but social commentary about urban desolation isn’t his strong suit. And while it starts with another solid Kiss riff, “What Makes The World Go ‘Round” needs a better chorus, and therefore a better title.

“Tomorrow” has a new wave edginess not to far away from Billy Joel’s “Sometimes A Fantasy”, with even worse lyrics. “Two Sides Of The Coin” is another Stonesy Ace riff with dumb lyrics, but Paul’s harmonies definitely provide a lift. Poncia’s keyboards take the bite out of the otherwise mindless “She’s So European”, and the same applies to “Easy As It Seems”, which is loaded with even more non sequiturs masquerading (sorry) as insight. Ace stumbles with the funky “Torpedo Girl”, though the sound effects at the start are unintentionally hilarious. Gene gets the last word with “You’re All That I Want”, as lyrically insipid as anything else here.

Sure, the songs are competent any mostly catchy, but the comic book cover art is the best thing about Unmasked by far. Note that while Peter is depicted everywhere, he doesn’t appear on any song, as Anton Fig was kept on the kit. Ace also seems to have done all the guitars and basses on his tracks, so we’ve got another quasi-White Album situation here, but with none of the chemistry. They were now less relevant than ever, even to their fans.

Kiss Unmasked (1980)—2