Often referred to as the ‘Return of Kiss’, their 1979 album Dynasty contains some more time appropriate songs, as well as some undeniably heavy hits such as “Save Your Love” and “Magic Touch”.
Around this time, Kiss had become a commercial powerhouse and practically a family name- although moneywise this was highly beneficial for the band, their shows became geared more towards a family environment which ultimately led to some soldiers leaving the Kiss Army. Another dissent causing factor about this album is that it is highly regarded as the bands “disco” record due to their opening track and hit single “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”.
Aside from those two factors, the album was very commercially successful, having “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” hit #11 on the American Singles Chart- one of their highest charting singles to date. Although Peter Criss only appears on one song (“Dirty Livin‘”), Dynasty was the last album to feature the entire original lineup until the 1996 reunion. Anton Fig, who played on Ace Frehley’s 1978 solo album, stepped in for Criss during the recording of the album, and shortly after Eric Carr was announced as his official replacement.
The tour for this album was not nearly as successful as the album sales were, as many shows had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales. Although the tour struggled to sell tickets, the Return of Kiss tour had some very unique elements to it, some of which are still a huge part of today’s live show. The band implemented Ace’s smoking guitar and rocket shooting stunt and Gene being lifted up into the air. This was also the only tour to feature a song from every member’s solo album- the band performed “Move On” from Paul’s album, “Tossin’ and Turnin'” from Peter’s album, “New York Groove” from Ace’s album as well as “Radioactive” from Gene’s.
Track Listing:
- “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”
- “2,000 Man”
- “Sure Know Something”
- “Dirty Livin'”
- “Charisma”
- “Magic Touch”
- “Hard Times”
- “X-Ray Eyes”
- “Save Your Love”