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Produced by
Michael James Jackson, Paul Stanley & Gene Simmons. Recorded at The Record
Plant Studios, LA, CA July - September 1982 by Dave Wittman. Drums recorded
at Record One Studios, LA, CA, July 1982 by Niko Bolas and Rich Bosworth.
Additional engineering by Ricky Delano, Kevin Eddy and David Blanco.Mixed
at The Power Station Studios, NYC, NY by Bob Clearmountain and Gene Simmons.
Gene apparently tried
really hard to convince Ace to return for this album but was unsuccessful.
Ace's playing is nowhere to be found on Creatures. Steve Ferris played
lead guitar on the title track, Paul Stanley on I Love It Loud,
Robben Ford on I Still Love You and Vinnie on the remainder of
the tracks.
The record company didn't want the fans to know that Ace Frehley was no
longer in KISS so they decided on having him on the original cover, having
him perform in the video for I Love It Loud, and do some promotional appearances.
It wasn't until December 1982 that Polygram released a press notice saying
that Vinnie would "temporarily" replace Ace on the tour due to his car
accident. It wouldn't be until August 1983 that an official announcement
was made that Ace was no longer a member of KISS.
Bryan Adams co-wrote 2 more songs on this album: Rock and Roll Hell
and War Machine.
'Rock and Roll Hell' was recorded earlier by Bachman Turner Overdrive
with different verses but the same chorus.
Creatures of The Night was re-released and remixed in 1985 with
a different, non-make-up front cover, someone's butt in leather pants
on the back cover, and the tracks 'Killer' and 'Saint and Sinner'
reversed. The cover was changed in hopes that it would boost sales
as Kiss' popularity had taken off again in the mid-80's. Bruce Kulick,
who like Ace, did not play on the album was featured on the cover. The
1997 Mercury remastered series returned Creatures of The Night to its
original cover (YAAA!), original mix and track order. The remaster does
has a slight variation in the logo and lettering from the original vinyl
version.
A special edition vinyl reissue with a gatefold cover and glow-in-the-dark
vinyl was released in 1995 (see image below).
Creatures of the Night glow-in-the-dark
vinyl
Mercury/PolyGram 528 674-1 (US Reissue, 10/95 - Glow Gatefold Cover)
There is a rare promo Brazilian pressing with Vinnie Vincent on
cover. The LP is stamped "Edicao Limitada Brasil Tour 1983" on
the front cover (see image below).
Guitarists who tried out for KISS as Ace's replacement were Richie Sambora
(Bon Jovi) and Juan Croucier (RATT).
Since Vincent Cusano was already writing songs with the band anyway, he
was their final choice to replace Ace, and would become known as Vinnie
Vincent. It is also rumored that well known guitarists such as Punky Meadows
from Angel also wanted to audition
for the group.
Vinnie's 'ANKH' or "Egyptian" make-up was designed by Paul Stanley, and
echoed the mystic theme of Ace's costume. It was a golden ankh (an ancient
Egyptian cross) across Vinnie's forehead, and down the bridge of his nose.
Black make-up around the eyes, and black lipstick completed the most short-lived
make-up in the history of KISS (aside from Eric's Hawk and Paul's Bandit
make-up, that is). In Kiss the last time he wore the make-up was at the
Brazilian shows in 1983. He did put back on the make-up for 2 unofficial
Kiss-Expos in March 1996 in Atlanta, GA (USA) and Stockholm, Sweden. As
soon as Kiss found out, their lawyers stopped him to appear in make-up
immediately.
Many guitarists contributed to the album, including Bob Kulick, Vinnie
Vincent, and several session players. To this day, it remains unclear
whose guitar work is on the final album. Most seem to think that Paul
Stanley recorded much of the rhythm work, while Vinnie performed a majority
of the lead guitar work.
Eric Carr plays bass on I Still Love You and Paul Stanley plays
bass on Creatures of The Night, apparently because Gene didn't
like these two songs. According to the book 'Black Diamond' once Gene
found out that Paul hated I Love It Loud, the two compromised and
put both tracks on the album. Oddly enough, both are excellent tracks
and continued to be played well into the band's non-makeup years.
Thrills In The
Night was written at this time but would not show up on an album until
1984's 'Animalize.'
It's My Life and
When The Legend Dies, two tracks written for Creatures, would appear
on the Gene Simmons-produced, Wendy O. Williams album, W.O.W..
In his down-time, Ace Frehley produced the demo record for shock-rockers
W.A.S.P. in the fall of 1982. After
this, he would virtually disappear from the music scene with the exception
of some club appearances, until the release of his solo project, Frehley's
Comet, in 1987. Bootleg tapes of these club performances were being
passed around to fans long before the album became available.
To the dismay of fans, The Creatures tour saw the last time Gene would
perform God of Thunder until 1992's 'Revenge' tour.
Howard Marks, KISS' business manager from 1976 to 1988, stars as the father
in the I Love It Loud video.
Eric first sang with KISS on the tour lending his vocals to Black Diamond.
' Creatures of The Night' was KISS' worst-selling album up to that point.
In fact, the album wouldn't reach Gold status until 1991. Most agree that
it wasn't because of the music, which was a return to heavy metal, but
because people had given up on the band long before the release and had
just grown tired of the bands constant experimenting.
Creatures of The Night only reached # 45 on Billboard's album charts.
It was during the Creatures tour that KISS decided that they would permanently
remove their makeup for the next album.
After a disappointing tour of North America, KISS traveled to South America
for the first time.
The response that they got in Brazil was enormous. KISS played to the
largest audiences in the band's history with crowds averaging over 200,000
people per show!
The band's tank drum riser for this tour would be used again for the 'Lick
It Up' tour.
Creatures of the Night was dedicated to Casablanca Records visionary Neil
Bogart who had died of cancer before the recording of "Creatures".
Neil Bogart was one of the two men who helped propell Kiss in their formative
years.
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