| Revenge | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Kiss | ||||
| Released | May 19, 1992 | |||
| Recorded | February 1991 – March 1992 in Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, CA; Track Records, North Hollywood, CA; Cornerstone Recorders, Chatsworth, CA; Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, CA; Acme Recording Studios, New York City, NY; The Enterprise Studios, Burbank, CA; A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA[1] | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, hard rock | |||
| Length | 48:51 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||
| Kiss chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Revenge | ||||
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Revenge is the 16th studio album by American heavy metal band Kiss, released on May 19, 1992. It was the band's first album after the death of long-time drummer Eric Carr in November 1991. His replacement, Eric Singer, had played with Black Sabbath, Brian May, Alice Cooper and even Paul Stanley, among others. It was Kiss' first album since the 1979 Dynasty to reach Top-10 in United States, although it would quickly fall off the charts. The album was a success over the world, reaching Top-20 in seven other countries. It was certified gold by the RIAA on July 20, 1992.[2]
The album was dedicated to Carr, and the last track ("Carr Jam 1981") was a demo he had recorded soon after joining the group. One modification to the song, however, was the dubbing of Bruce Kulick's guitar over Ace Frehley's, which originally appeared. The main riff of the song was used as the basis for the Frehley's Comet song "Breakout", found on 1987's Frehley's Comet.
From the album, "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" and "Unholy" have remained regular Kiss live staples. "Domino" was performed during the Revenge Tour and Kiss My Ass Tour. "I Just Wanna" and "Take It Off" were only performed during the Revenge Tour, while "Every Time I Look at You" and "Spit" were, along "Domino", performed during the MTV Unplugged appearance of the band.
Contents |
In February 1991, Kiss were asked by the producers of film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure to record a song God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You by the English rock band Argent, which would be produced by Bob Ezrin. The band agreed, and reunited with Ezrin after 10 years and the failure they had with Music from "The Elder". Gene Simmons was not sure it was the right move "especially after the bad experience of The Elder".[3] Simmons, Ezrin and Paul Stanley rewrote the song which they recorded with both Eric Carr and Eric Singer, with Singer playing the drums while Carr (who was not able to play the drums due to health problems) sang the a cappella line "...to everyone, he gave his song to be sung".
The song was featured in a sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey with a forty second long Steve Vai solo instead of Kiss' intro found on the album. It was a major success, breaking Top-30 in seven countries, including United States (although on Mainstream Rock Tracks), United Kingdom and Australia. It was reason enough for the band to continue with Ezrin on a Hot in the Shade follow-up.
Carr went to the hospital and was diagnosed with heart cancer. He underwent open heart surgery in April 1991 to remove tumors. Shortly after the surgery, Carr joined the band to perform in the "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" music video. According to Simmons, Carr had lost all his hair due to chemotherapy, and had to wear a wig for the shoot.[4] After the shoot, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons persuaded Carr to take care of his health and not worry about the band. Kiss' original plan was for Singer to play drums with the band, until Carr was healthy enough to return. Unfortunately, Carr's health turned for the worse and he died in November 1991, and Kiss tabbed Singer in as their new drummer.
In December 1991, Kiss and Bob Ezrin returned to the studio to work on a new album. In a surprising move, they sought help from former guitarist Vinnie Vincent. According to Simmons: "Vinnie Vincent came up to me and apologized for causing the band all the grief while he was a member. He wanted to patch things up and wondered if I would consider writing some songs with him. Sure, I said. I wanted to let bygones be bygones. I called Paul and told him that Vinnie had apparentley changed. Paul wrote songs with him as well. But before the album was released, Vinnie was up to his old tricks again. He reneged on a signed deal we had made and decided that he wanted to renegotiate. He eventually sued us and lost. As far as I was concerned, he was persona non grata forever."[5]
Stanley wrote a song "Do Ya Wanna Touch Me Now" with Dave "The Snake" Sabo of Skid Row. Stanley said about the exclusion of the song from the album: "It's a great luxury to have an album that's so good that another song is only going to detract from it rather than make it any better. As good as the song is, we didn't need it."[6] The two met when Stanley was on the phone with Nikki Sixx who had Sabo on the other line. They later discussed Stanley's possible appearance for Skid Row's recording of Kiss' song "C'mon and Love Me" for an all covers EP B-Side Ourselves. That was never made, so the two wrote a song in L.A..
Stanley also worked with Jani Lane of Warrant on a song "If You Could See Through My Eyes". The collaboration started before the recording sessions for "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II", and during the recording sessions for Warrant's most successful album Cherry Pie.
Simmons, however, went to work with Bob Dylan. The music was written at Simmons' guesthouse, and while Simmons was to write the lyrics to the song, he thought they weren't completed and asked Dylan to write them. Dylan insisted that Simmons writes the lyrics. Simmons explained the meeting with Dylan: "I wanted to write a song with Dylan. So, like most things I do, I bull headedly picked up the phone, tracked down his manager and said 'Hi, I'm that guy who sticks his tongue out and I wanna write a song with Dylan,' or words to that effect. The results could only be 'yes' and 'no.' Dylan said yes. He came over to my house a few years back and we sat down and started throwing ideas around. Bob came up with a melody/chordal pattern... I chimed in with a melody/chorus idea and voila, we had a song. Lyrics weren't written as yet. I demoed the track with Tommy Thayer. Bob came down to visit and listen. When the demo was done, I asked Bob to write the lyric. He said no, why don't I write it. I have tried to write a meaningful lyric, but it has eluded me. I've bumped into Bob a few times...in Tokyo, while he was on tour and every time I ask him to write the lyric and he always says, 'Mr. KISS, you write it'." The song, originally titled "Laughing When I Want to Cry" was later renamed to "Waiting for the Morning Light" and released on Simmons' second studio album Asshole.
The recording of the album was finished in March 1992. At first, the songs "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" and "Carr Jam 1981" were not planned to be featured on the album, but after the death of Eric Carr, the two were included and the album was dedicated to Carr. During the Kissology Volume Two: 1978-1991 special aired on VH1 Classic, Simmons has stated about the importance of song "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II": "It's not just a cover song for a soundtrack, but a testament to Eric Carr, and I think a lot of people don't realize that."
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [7] |
| Vista Records | [8] |
| Billboard Magazine | (favorable)[9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| Sputnikmusic | [11] |
The album has received mixed reviews. John Franck of Allmusic said: "Some of the cuts are excellent, delivered with conviction and panache, but for all the hype, the album is also tainted with filler. On the up tip, Ezrin's mongo-enormous production galvanizes the Kiss sound, making it fresh again."[7] He gave the album three out of five stars.
Rolling Stone's review was, as usual, harsh, giving the album one out of five stars. Erik Rupp of Vista Records said of the album: "Sonically, Revenge is outstanding as well. The drums are mixed just right - not too big and boomy, but big enough to sound right with these songs. The snare drum has a snap to it to go along with the depth and presence that gives each song a firecracker-like energy. The guitar tones are not super distorted, and they aren't as up front in the mix as on an album like, say, Asylum, but when the complementary rhythm parts are played together they sound big and bold anyway. They cut through. And the bass sounds both fuller and punchier than on any previous KISS album."[8] He gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Revenge debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 and was Kiss' first Top-10 album in the United States since 1979 Dynasty. The album would also reach the Top-10 in Australia (where it reached its second highest position, number 5), United Kingdom and Sweden (where it reached number 10), Switzerland (where it reached number 6), and Norway (where the album reached its highest position, number 4). Despite the high debut, the album quickly fell off the charts, but sold enough for gold certificate in the United States and Canada. As of February 12, 2007, the album has sold around 596,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.[12]
The first single released from the album was "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II", which was a big hit in the UK and Switzerland reaching #4.[13][14] It peaked at #21 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and #18 on the Australian Singles Charts. "Domino" was the next single from the album, peaking at #26 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart.[15] The third was "I Just Wanna", which peaked at #34 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart.[15] The last single was "Every Time I Look at You", which managed to chart only in Sweden, reaching #31.[16] "Unholy" was promotionly released in the USA, but it was released as second single in other countries. It reached Top-30 in five countries: United Kingdom and Germany where it reached #26,[13][17] Netherlands where it charted slightly worse reaching #28,[18] Sweden where the song reached #19[16] and Norway where "Unholy" reached its highest, #2.[19] Music videos were made for each single, with Revenge being Kiss album with most produced music videos.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Unholy" | Gene Simmons, Vinnie Vincent | Simmons | 3:40 |
| 2. | "Take It Off" | Paul Stanley, Bob Ezrin, Kane Roberts | Stanley | 4:50 |
| 3. | "Tough Love" | Stanley, Bruce Kulick, Ezrin | Stanley | 3:44 |
| 4. | "Spit" | Simmons, Scott Van Zen, Stanley | Simmons, Stanley | 3:32 |
| 5. | "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" | Russ Ballard, Stanley, Simmons, Ezrin | Stanley, Simmons | 5:18 |
| 6. | "Domino" | Simmons | Simmons | 4:01 |
| 7. | "Heart of Chrome" | Stanley, Vincent, Ezrin | Stanley | 4:02 |
| 8. | "Thou Shalt Not" | Simmons, Jesse Damon | Simmons | 3:59 |
| 9. | "Every Time I Look at You" | Stanley, Ezrin | Stanley | 4:38 |
| 10. | "Paralyzed" | Simmons, Ezrin | Simmons | 4:14 |
| 11. | "I Just Wanna" | Stanley, Vincent | Stanley | 4:07 |
| 12. | "Carr Jam 1981" | Eric Carr | (instrumental) | 2:46 |
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia ARIA Album Chart[20] | 5 |
| Austrian Albums Chart[21] | 14 |
| Canada RPM100[22] | 11 |
| Germany Top 100 Albums[17] | 16 |
| Netherlands Mega Album Top 100[18] | 46 |
| Norway VG-lista[19] | 4 |
| Sweden Albums Top 60[16] | 10 |
| Switzerland Albums Top 100[14] | 6 |
| UK Albums Chart[13] | 10 |
| US Billboard 200[15] | 6 |
"God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II"
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[15] | 21 |
| Australia ARIA Singles Chart[20] | 18 |
| Switzerland Singles Top 100[14] | 4 |
| UK Singles Chart[13] | 4 |
| Germany Top 100 Singles[17] | 9 |
| Sweden Singles Top 60[16] | 24 |
| Ö3 Austria Top 40[21] | 16 |
"Unholy"
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[13] | 26 |
| Norway Singles[19] | 2 |
| Sweden Singles Top 60[16] | 19 |
| Dutch Top 40[18] | 28 |
| Germany Top 100 Singles[17] | 26 |
"Domino"
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[15] | 26 |
"I Just Wanna"
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[15] | 34 |
"Every Time I Look at You"
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Sweden Singles Top 60[16] | 31 |
| Region | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[23] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[2] | Gold | 500,000^ |
|
^shipments figures based on certification alone |
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