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KISS - Kiss
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8.3 | 248 votes |
Release date: 18 February 1974
Style: Hard rock

Owners:
285 have it
23 want it


01. Strutter
02. Nothin' To Lose
03. Firehouse
04. Cold Gin
05. Let Me Know
06. Kissin' Time
07. Deuce
08. Love Theme From KISS
09. 100,000 Years
10. Black Diamond

Top 20 albums of 1974: 5
Guest review Lyrics (10)

Additional info
Produced by Richie Wise and Kenny Kerner.
Engineered by Darren Dewey.
Engineered and recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, October 1973.
Mastered by Joe Brescio.

Guest review by
Ace Frawley
Rating:
6.8
Released in early 1974 (40 years ago this month!), the self-titled debut album by New York band KISS didn't make much of an impact at the time. Instead, the band was forging an impressive reputation as a live act, with their outlandish make-up, wild costumes, and onstage gimmicks such as fire-breathing, blood and pyro. But the music on this album showcased a raw rock and roll sound that, in hindsight, turns out to be quite a solid effort. For many, this album would be discovered a few years after its initial release. KISS only broke through with mainstream success following the release of their live album Alive! and the hit single "Rock and Roll All Night", so it was then that a lot of people explored their earlier studio albums.

Read more ››
published 30.01.2014 | Comments (2)

Found in 11 lists
Top lists

Andy's top heavy metal/hard rock albums  | #103
AndyMetalFreak
The Art of Early Hard Music  | #41
Vasil de Shumen
My Best Album By Year (1967-2009)  | #36
cobrapel
Greatest Metal Drumming Plus's The Most Influential  | #32
Blackcrowe
Favorite KISS Songs  | #2
Ansercanagicus
1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die  | #25
pandrstudios
That 70’s Show, The Best 70’s Songs  | #11
Blackcrowe
Ranking The KISS Studio Albums  | #3
Strongcheat79
More lists with this album (11) | Create a list! ››


Comments

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Comments: 12   Visited by: 613 users
02.10.2010 - 13:51
Reza
Account deleted
"Black Diamond" is a nice song !
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02.11.2010 - 23:07
JohnDoe
Account deleted
Pretty good album, but rather uneven (a few good songs - like the first 3, Deuce, last song, the rest are pretty weak IMO).
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22.01.2014 - 23:41
Rating: 7
Ace Frawley
The Spaceman
"KIssin' Time" wasn't even on the original album. It was only recorded later, at the urging of the record label (Casablanca) to try and have a radio hit. It's not even their song, it's a cover of a song originally released by Bobby Rydell in 1959, which was a top 20 hit. It's a shocker of a song.
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The sun shines over The Fool...
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23.01.2014 - 01:49
Lit.
Account deleted
Written by [user id=17278] on 02.11.2010 at 23:07

Pretty good album, but rather uneven (a few good songs - like the first 3, Deuce, last song, the rest are pretty weak IMO).

Cold Gin is weak? It's a classic.
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23.01.2014 - 09:57
JohnDoe
Account deleted
Written by [user id=101272] on 23.01.2014 at 01:49

Written by [user id=17278] on 02.11.2010 at 23:07

Pretty good album, but rather uneven (a few good songs - like the first 3, Deuce, last song, the rest are pretty weak IMO).

Cold Gin is weak? It's a classic.

It's an ok song.
A rating of 7 is still a good rating. At least I can listen to this album without skipping songs.
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23.01.2014 - 12:27
Rating: 7
Ace Frawley
The Spaceman
Written by [user id=17278] on 23.01.2014 at 09:57

It's an ok song.
A rating of 7 is still a good rating. At least I can listen to this album without skipping songs.

So you don't skip the song "Kissin' Time"?
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The sun shines over The Fool...
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23.01.2014 - 12:57
JohnDoe
Account deleted
Written by Ace Frawley on 23.01.2014 at 12:27

Written by [user id=17278] on 23.01.2014 at 09:57

It's an ok song.
A rating of 7 is still a good rating. At least I can listen to this album without skipping songs.

So you don't skip the song "Kissin' Time"?

The last couple of times I listened to this, I listened to the whole thing. I need a special mood for this band anyway and I'm definitely in a good mood when I listen to this kind of band/music.
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27.01.2014 - 04:41
Rating: 7
Ace Frawley
The Spaceman
Written by [user id=17278] on 23.01.2014 at 12:57

The last couple of times I listened to this, I listened to the whole thing. I need a special mood for this band anyway and I'm definitely in a good mood when I listen to this kind of band/music.

No doubt this is good time rock and roll. KISS was always all about just entertaining people. Nothing too serious about their lyrics. Some of these riffs are very catchy.
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The sun shines over The Fool...
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19.02.2018 - 18:19
Rating: 7
Paz
777
Elite
"Kissin' Time" sucks The rest is okay, I guess.
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07.10.2018 - 17:00
Rating: 6
AndreMarcos
The definition of average hard rock
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16.09.2021 - 18:20
Rating: 8
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
Kiss's best album imo, "Black Diamond", "Strutter" and "Deuce" are the most enjoyable song's for me, "Kissin Time" is a very bad song though, and the rest of the album is average.
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Andy's 2025 album ranking
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17.07.2022 - 22:07
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Good debut album, but to make a some super starts and money, I think live outfit and mask worked, music just rock n roll, rock hard rock, but Strutter is one of my and I think one of best masked era songs and also 100,000 Years are ok.
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I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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