This album changed my life entirely. Really. I was 14 when KISS came to play sold out football stadiums in Brazil, and heard I Love It Loud for the first time on my local radio station. That was a kind of music I didn't know existed at all, and it blew my mind. There was a midia craze on everything KISS, and the latino religious conservative culture didn't know how to deal with them. My catholic family thought they were sent from Hell, I just thought they had come to save me from a boring teenage life. Which they did. My whole life took a diferent turn after that, I became a hard rock/metal fan and most of the decisions I took thereafter had to do with my new passion. I wanted to learn English to understand the lyrics on my KISS, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath albuns, I became infatuated with the whole heavy metal pathos, grew my hair, tattooed my arm. The friends I made, the career I chose, the places I moved to, my girlfriends, my dress code, my political view, the way I thought and acted... everything was influenced by my taste in music, and it all began with Creatures Of The Night. Which by the way is a kick ass record and one of KISS' best ever.
Awesome. KISS got me through some pretty rough times as a kid, with no dad around. They really did and I have always wanted to tell them thanks for doing that for me. Take care!!!
@@mikeglazier5993 They sure boomed all over that album. Kind of a unique drum sound in the way John Bonhams' drum sound was slick back when Zep were in business. Keep it Comin' really kicks with that bass drum sound and the music. Hell, all of them boom!!!!!! Amazing
@@mikeglazier5993 I don't know why Mike but I am just now seeing your comment, so olease forgive me for the delay. Yes Lick It Up was recorded drumwise pretty kicks ass. 'Young And Wasted' and 'Fits Like A Glove' especially, in my honest opinion. But the entire 'Creatures of the Night' album is just BoOmInG and I love that recording. Be safe out there in this crazy assed world Mike. And thanks for replying, bud.
@ENOCH WAS RIGHT - Vinnie wasn't a part of the album from the beginning so he didn't save jack crap. Paul and Gene had this vision before Vinnie was brought in to play some leads
Absolutely fantastic album! KISS’ heaviest album & my personal favorite 💙 I love every single track on here, and I don’t know if it’s just me, but I notice a very similar chord progression, with I Still Love You, and Metallic’s Nothing Else Matters. Great video, you did this album the justice it deserves 🤘🏻
There are more hits on other albums, but also many throwaways. As a whole album, I think this might be their best. Certainly one of them. And of course, Carr's drums sound amazing. Great reviews Sean, they're super insightful and spot on in my opinion. Thank you, I'm really enjoying them.
I'm in total agreement with the analysis of this record. Its great album ! War Machine and I Love it Loud are to this day - key KISS songs at any concerts.
0:25 and for the record, when u say u don’t get why Bob Kulick didn’t replace Ace, it’s the same reason they didn’t hire Anton Fig to replace Peter, they wanted someone unknown & fit the KISS look, big hair & clean face
@@marksantucci4230 Ace and Vinnie are different. No doubt Ace is the coolest MFer ever to play in Kiss. Great Bluesy rock player, who’s great at what he does. Vinnie was fire. His solos screamed. He had a way of getting his guitar to sing like very few players could at the time.His sound and style really kicked Kiss in the a$$. Most Kiss fans I know took notice of his addition to Kiss and held our interest the most along with Carr. That’s why some fans say he saved Kiss. VV was in some ways the center of attention for a short time when guitarists were still “heroes”. And there’s no denying that if you like heavy Kiss then you noticed that VV happened to always be around every time they got “heavy”.
@@TheSteveSteele I like Heavy Kiss Destroyer, self titled, Hotter than hell , Love Gun i'm just not a fan of the new artist to me kiss is Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons Not Vinnie Vincent, Not Eric Car , Not Mark St John that's not Kiss Just like Black Sabbath is Ozzie Osbourne, Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler and Bill Ward not Ian Gillen and whoever else was there..
This is my all time favorite KISS album! My other two favorite albums are "Destroyer" and "Rock And Roll Over", but I love them all. Every song is a massively awesome killer track to me. I love every song very much!!! The musicianship and vocals are all awesome. The drumming is explosive too. I love the song "Killer" . My favorites are the title track "Creatures Of The Night", "War Machine", "I Love It Loud", "Killer", and "Rock And Roll Hell", but I love "Keep Me Coming" and "Danger" too..
I absolutely love this reaction I've watched it several times. Your take on Vinnie getting too much credit is not only spot on but it was hilarious as well.
The album and tour were a commercial failure. While LICK IT UP , A clearly sub-par album comparatively, was a commercial success. As Paul said " People tend to listen with their eyes. Not ears. "
I'm tired of people saying The Elder is a disaster. The way I see it Kiss released two of their greatest albums next to each other. The Elder and Creatures Of The Night. What Kiss fans wanted was another live album. Imagine Dynasty, Unmasked, The Elder & Creatures done as a live concert mix. It would have been a killer combo, but it required Ace in the band to pull it off.
@Zero Problem with Alive 3 is there's a missing Alive album in that era. A lot of Ace songs that could have featured. But it's all Kisstory now and can't be undone or rewritten
Some of the “facts” concerning this time period are flat out wrong. For one, I Love it Loud got heavy rotation on MTV. They showed it every night for weeks. I remember seeing it. I also saw the tour in Dallas and it was packed! It was loud as hell too. The album may not have sold well but it’s who the album sold to and who took notice. Fans that had given up after Alive II were paying attention again. Creatures brought enough hard core fans back to secure the future. That alone made it a success because anything else would have buried the band. That momentum carried over to Lick it Up. And the Friday’s appearance from The Elder actually caught some fans attention. Several of my old Kiss fans from 1976 happen to catch that episode of Friday’s (which was totally lucky because no one ever watched that show that I remember. In fact I think it was the only time I saw Friday’s and it was just strange luck that it even happened). We couldn’t believe we were seeing Kiss on TV. It had been almost 5 years since the disaster that was the TV movie. So the Friday’s appearance, Creatures being awesome which got people taking again, and I Love it Loud on MTV every night made the 80s possible. Actually when they took the makeup off I bailed for good although I dug Young and Wasted, All Hell’s Breaking Loose, Heavens On Fire and Tears are Falling.
They played the convention center in Dallas instead of the Arena. They were playing to 8-10,000 people, half filling arenas. KISS fortunes had hit their ebb in 1982. But recording Creatures Of The Night was going in the right direction. It would take a while to have the momentum swing back in their favor.
For those who don’t know, guitarist Robben Ford and bassist Jimmy Haslip, who played on the Creatures record, are two of the most respected jazz fusion players in the world. Go figure!
war machine was cowritten by bryan adams. yeah that dude who wrote 90 love ballads like everything i do i do for you. he co wrote this bad ass song, war machine.
Bought this on cassette while vacationing on Cape Cod. It’s epic. Great heavy metal. My most listened to KISS LP. My favorite KISS LP. Not a filler track on the LP. Eric Carr is a monster on this.
Hey Sean. Hope you're doing great. Is there any chance you'd do a Video about your favorite 10 or 20 favorite KISS songs ? And also a brief talk about why they're your favorites ? I've been wanting to ask you this for several months but I realized recently how busy you are creating other Videos in addition to the KISS videos. Ok , that's all. Again , thanks so much for creating all of your amazing videos. Stay safe , dude. 🎸🎸🎸
Ace's face was put on the cover because KISS was under contract with Polygram to maintain three original members. With one underperforming record from Unmasked and a disastrous commercial flop with the Elder, the label was on edge since they were paying the band a lucrative contract to produce hit albums. If Ace left the group, the band would be in default of that contract and the label could sue to change the terms. Ace left, they found out, the label sued and they won. Ever wondered why the Lick it Up record had a WHITE background? Because it was cheap to make. KISS had very little money to make records after the lawsuit. With Animalize they actually had that record funded by a law firm in Louisville who were big fans in exchange to use their offices for a music video.
I like The Elder very much. Creatures is a great album, too. It’s one of my favorites from Kiss. Top three for sure. Right up there with Destroyer and Love Gun.
Damn, Gene was fit as a tiger in the 80's :) You try doing those gymnastic moves in that costume... Great review. I agree - it's a kickass album. One of KISS' most solid albums, I think. Not one filler.
The drum sound kills me, because I have such mixed emotions about it. The toms sound like thunder! They are great. Bass drums are excellent too, full bodied and a mix of classic and modern sound. The snare is good, a real nice gated reverb snare sound from the early 80s - one of the first records to really show this technique. The cymbals are awful though. There's a gate reverb running on the overheads which really chokes the cymbals off. There's probably a heavy gate running on the buss instead of on individual channels (or possibly on both) that really cuts off the cymbals. I'd love to have the stems and hear what the dry recording sounds like and see if those cymbals can open up.
Lick it up is just as heavy in my opinion. Creatures is a better album but the two albums back to back are killer. The rest of the 80s era is a wash. To bad Vinnie didn't workout he would have been the perfect replacement to take Kiss to the next level.
If they had brought out Creatures now I think that they could figure out how to make the record glow in the dark or Blacklight it. Cool Record and all. I love the song Saint and Sinner as it has a bit of Heavy Metal Swing beat to it. You did miss the best part of Saint and Sinner as the outro of the song has a cool Broadway feel to it sorta like a Bronx Rumble where Gene sings and then echos his parts like he is singing in an empty alleyway late at night. Also you might not know this but the song Danger was supposed to be used for a James Bond movie but never happened If you read the lyrics it has a James Bond feel to it. *"Danger, Danger Never Dies, Yes Mr Bond"*
Creatures of The Night should’ve been a chart topping hit. Both the song and album. It’s bullshit that it wasn’t. The title track is one of the greatest songs KISS ever did and my all time favorite of theirs. It’s so primal, so animalistic and visual. It’s never been done justice live because, and I’ll debate anyone on this, KISS sounded better when they were in makeup. Something inside of them took over. They were larger than life. And it’s a damn shame they couldn’t play this during the reunion and rock the nation era when Paul’s voice was at its peak.
@@SeanBlumenshine Interesting. I’ll have to look for good quality video on here. I also will go on record saying that COTN the album and the song should’ve been at the very least, nominated for a Grammy award.
I agree with most of this review except for KILLER. Good song and a lot better than most of the crap they would put out after this album. Would really like to know how many people in this comments section saw this tour. It's to bad that the people who now say they are "life long" KISS fans turned their backs on the band on this tour. Your loss. The only chance to see Eric and Vinnie in make up. It was my 3rd make up show. Feb.1977 Rock n Roll Over....Sept.1979 Dynasty/with Judas Priest....and Jan. 1983 Creatures
I went to two shows on this tour. And got to see both Night Ranger and the Plasmatics open. A lot of people missed out by not showing up. Was pretty bad ass.
Grab a copy of KISS AND SELL! It was written by their business manager. Ace was featured on the cover of CREATURES because they had to fool their record company that he was still in the band to maintain the deal.
Not sure why the drums were emphasized on this album but it was a good smart move. Saint and sinner is a boring song but for most part it's a great album.
History has taught us a KISS album is rarely played by all four original members. Sometimes, it is studio musicians--never to be credited. This creates an unforgivable lie.
Good album and I can't really make fun of it like some of their other albums. LOL. Good straight up rock n roll. Great review and you really know your Kiss facts! Sean, I'm curious, what is your least favorite Kiss album?
I always thought that Creatures and The Elder should have been combined into one album. It would have made an excellent LOTR's rock soundtrack. I was more impressed with Adam Mitchell and Bryan Adams (2 canucks) involvement considering that they were known more for pop and soft rock as opposed to hard rock. Jim Valance, another Canuck, was the drummer & principle songw writer for Prism.
I'm curious what you think about the 40th anniversary Kiss just announced last week. COTN is a great album for so many reasons and it is too bad fantastic video footage/audio quality concerts are not available from this touring cycle.
I’m excited to hear the material of course. But I do wish it was the same price as the Destroyer set; I think $300 is a bit much especially with no vinyl included in the main set. You have to buy a vinyl copy separately.
Love your reviews...one suggestion...keep the name of the song you are covering up on the screen...us short term memory folks forget what song you're talking about
Until Psycho Circus came out, this record had the best sound quality of any KISS album. Eric's drums are amazing and the crispness and volume of the recordings are perfect. Also the best Gene's voice has ever been. With 4 songs that are regulars in concert, you know this is their best 80s album.
Great review and it is a great album. For me it's a little overproduced I prefer the predecessor lick it up because it has more of that raw edge to it. Even though the tracks are not as good as Creatures. The guitars even though they are brilliant. But that polish sound isn't something you expect on a Kiss album. When any song from Creatures is performed live it sounds better.
I have just bought said album! In High School I was in Team Iron Maiden in rivalry with the KISS faction, but I have now come to really appreciate KISS (helped by your fine reviews). However, I do find it a bit odd that other musicians play rather than key members (bass, for example). If I bought an Iron Maiden album and discovered that Steve Harris didn't play on every song I would find it strange.
The reason Ace appears on the cover is a contractual obligation. The deal done with their new record company had a clause that 3 of the original members of the band had to still be present. They sat on the fact Ace had left to get their huge advance, that was reason behind the deception. .
Okay you redeemed yourself with the review, although you are wrong about Ace quitting. Ace was actually fired from the band. Paul and Gene were trying to find a way to make it work, but just couldn't. Bruce didn't actually audition, one person who did audition during that time period was a 17-year-old Slash.
Ace did quit!! Paul has even made references to trying to talk Ace out of quitting. Also Slash never came in for an audition Paul talked to him on the phone and found out he was only 17.
The reason Ace appears on the cover is a contractual obligation. The deal done with their new record company had a clause that 3 of the original members of the band had to still be present. They sat on the fact Ace had left to get their huge advance, that was reason behind the deception.
I was shopping with my Parents in a store in Texas at that time, when suddenly I heard Gene's voice singing somewhere, I ran to the electronics area and watched on a very small portable TV set to KISS performing a new song! without Ace , they were doing playback and Paul was wearing a purple headband (like Jane Fonda at that time) and a short tank top and it killed my KISS spirit. Few weeks later I got the Creatures of the Night Album. The title song didn't disappointed me at all. Lead guitars sounded odd to me, there are solid guitar players (Robben Ford one of them) on this album don't get me wrong. That uneven solos by Ace just are not there. I was confused I liked the Album but it didn't sound much like KISS. Up to date I consider this Album a Hard Rock Album a good Hard Rock Album. It is a nice come back try out to where KISS belongs without getting there. I'm still confused but I like it.
