KISS - AN ALTERNATIVE DYNASTY CD

Formed in New York City in 1973 by  Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, Kiss rose to prominence in the mid-1970s with shock rock-style live performances which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band have gone through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons now remaining the only consistent members. Kiss became one of America's most successful rock bands and a pop culture phenomenon during the second half of the 1970s. The band's commercial success declined during the early 1980s before experiencing a resurgence in 1983, when they began performing without makeup and costumes, marking the beginning of the band's "unmasked" era that would last until 1996. The band’s 1979 release Dynasty was Kiss’s fiRst album of new material in two years, following an era when all four-members released solo albums. Dynasty continued the band's Platinum streak. The disco-flavoured "I Was Made for Lovin' You" became one of their biggest hit singles. The album is notable due to Frehley singing three lead vocals versus Simmons’ two, which he put down to increased confidence following the success of his solo effort. Billed as The Return Of Kiss, before recording the album the Kiss members were working separately on various demos. Peter Criss submitted four cuts, including the previously unreleased “Rumble”. Ace Frehley recorded and submitted a five-track demo with "Hard Times", "Save Your Love", a cover of "2000 Man", "Backstage Pass" and "Insufficient Data". Three of the songs are on Dynasty, while the last two remain unreleased. Gene Simmons wrote and recorded a large number of demos, including five songs with members of the band Virgin. Billings has identified the songs "I Have Just Begun to Fight", "Reputation" and "Bad Bad Lovin" as from the demo he played on, in addition to the two songs credited to Simmons on Dynasty.Paul Stanley wrote songs with Desmond Child: one called "The Fight" was released on a Desmond Child & Rouge album; and one called "Tonight" formed the verses of "I Was Made for Lovin' You", combined with a chorus written by Stanley and Vini Poncia. Criss' disco influenced demo of his song "Dirty Livin'" (written in 1971) set the direction for the album project and Simmons and Stanley were briefly in contact with disco producer Giorgio Moroder, a friend of the band's manager Bill Aucoin, before deciding on Vini Poncia as producer.