Sunday, May 25, 2025

Kiss : Destroyer (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box Set) / Destroyer: Resurrected (2012 remix)


YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING 

ABOUT YOU

YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING

 I NEED

 Destroyer 

is the fourth 

studio album

 by American

 Hard Rock band 

Kiss 

released on

 March 15, 1976, 

by Casablanca Records

 in the US.

 It was the third 

successive 

Kiss album

 to reach 

the top 40

 in the US, 

as well as the first

 to chart in 

Germany

 and 

New Zealand.

 The album was 

certified gold

 by the RIAA 

on April 22, 1976, 

and platinum on

 November 11

 of the same year, 

the first Kiss album

 to achieve platinum.

 The album marked a

 departure from the 

raw sound of

 the band's

 first three albums.

Background

After attaining modest 

commercial success

 with their 

first three

 studio albums, 

Kiss achieved a 

commercial breakthrough

 with the 

1975 concert album 

Alive! 

It was the first album

 by the band 

to be certified gold.

The success of Alive!

which spent 110 weeks 

on the charts, 

benefited not only

 the struggling band

 but also their 

cash-strapped label

 Casablanca Records. 

Kiss signed a new contract 

with Casablanca

 in late 1975, 

partly because the label 

had been very supportive

 from the start of

 the band's career. 

The contract was for

 two albums,

 an indication that 

Casablanca was unsure

 if the group could 

duplicate the 

accomplishments

 of Alive!

Songwriting and Recording

Rehearsals for 

Destroyer began

 in August 1975, 

while the group was 

embarking on their 

supporting tour for

 Alive! 

Bob Ezrin,

 who had previously worked

 with Alice Cooper, 

was brought in to

 produce the album.

 The band felt that 

Ezrin was the right person

 to help them take their 

sound to the next level 

and to maintain the 

commercial success 

they had achieved with

 Alive! 

Before meeting with Ezrin,

 the band had written 

and recorded a 

15-song demo

 in the 

Magna Graphics Studio

 in August 1975. 

The first demo recorded

 during the 

Destroyer sessions was

 "Ain't None of Your Business"

 featuring 

Peter Criss on vocals. 

The plodding, 

heavy song, 

written by 

country songwriters 

Becky Hobbs 

and

 Lew Anderson, 

was rejected by the band

 and later appeared on

 the 1977 debut album

 by 

Michael Des Barres' band

 Detective. 

Although this song

 was rejected, 

other outside songs 

and suggestions were 

accepted by the band. 

In particular, 

Kim Fowley and Mark Anthony

 became important contributors 

during the songwriting process, 

bringing in the title 

and basic structure 

of the song

 "King of the Night Time World" 

from their previous band

 The Hollywood Stars' 

then-unreleased 1974 album

 Shine Like a Radio

 Ezrin flat out rejected most

 of the material, 

as only 

heavily re-worked versions of

 "God of Thunder" 

and 

"Detroit Rock City" 

made it to the album, 

and another song 

"Mad Dog" 

was pilfered

 for lyrics to

 "Sweet Pain" 

and a riff for

 "Flaming Youth". 

Other songs from this demo

 were re-worked

 for the following album 

Rock and Roll Over 

and 

Gene Simmons'

 1978 solo album 

while others remained 

unreleased until the

 2021 release of 

Destroyer 

as a

 2CD set 

and 

Super Deluxe box set.

The first recording sessions

 for the album took place

 on 

September 3–6, 1975

 at

 Electric Lady Studios

 in New York City, 

during a brief break 

between the

 Dressed to Kill 

and Alive! tours. 

The basic album tracks 

were recorded 

during this time.

The majority of the 

recording sessions for 

Destroyer 

took place in 

January 1976,

 after the conclusion of

 the Alive! tour.

 Ezrin introduced to Kiss 

sound effects,

 strings, 

screaming children, 

reversed drums

 (on "God of Thunder") 

and a children's choir. 

The song 

"Great Expectations" 

uses the first phrase 

of the main theme

 from the second movement of

 Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 

in C minor, Op. 13

 (known as Sonata Pathétique), 

but the songwriting is credited to

 Simmons and Ezrin.

The lyrics of the opening song

 "Detroit Rock City" 

tells the story of a fan 

who died in a car crash

 on the way to

 a Kiss show. 

Various dates and events

 have been mentioned but

 journalist 

James Campion

 managed with the help 

of a Kiss roadie 

from the era 

to link the event

 that inspired the song 

and a handful of candidates

 to the 

November 30, 1974

 show in

 Fayetteville, NC.

During the recording sessions, 

Ezrin resorted to 

numerous tactics

 designed to increase

 the quality of music

Paul Stanley later 

compared the experience

 of working with Ezrin as

 "musical boot camp" 

but said that the group

 "came out a lot smarter for it."

Simmons echoed the

 sentiment by stating, 

"It was exactly what we

 needed at the time."

Destroyer 

is the first Kiss album

 to prominently feature 

outside musicians,

 such as members of the 

New York Philharmonic. 

One musician

 not credited

 was

 Dick Wagner, 

from Alice Cooper's band, 

replacing

 Ace Frehley

 on the track

 "Sweet Pain". 

Wagner also played

 the acoustic guitar

 found on the song

 "Beth". 

The success of 

Alive! 

and 

Destroyer 

enabled the band to 

embark on their first

 tour of Europe.


Artwork

The cover art for 

Destroyer 

was painted by

 fantasy artist 

Ken Kelly. 

Kelly was invited to 

a show and given

 a backstage pass. 

He said of the performance,

 "It blew me away." 

Kelly was

 later commissioned

 by the band to 

draw the cover for

 1977's 

Love Gun.

Kelly's original version 

of the album cover

 was rejected by

 the record company 

because they felt the scene

 was too violent looking

 with the rubble 

and flames. 

Also, 

the original version

 had the members of

 Kiss wearing 

the Alive! costumes. 

The front cover shows

 the group striding on top 

of a pile of rubble, 

and a desolate background 

spotted with 

destroyed buildings, 

some of which are 

engulfed in flames. 

The back cover shows a

 similar scene, 

but with more

 buildings on fire. 

The front of the inner sleeve

 featured a large 

Kiss logo 

and the lyrics to 

"Detroit Rock City". 

The other side displayed

 the lyric 

"Shout it out loud", 

as well as an

 advertisement for 

the Kiss Army

 fan club.


Destroyer: 
Resurrected

In anticipation of the

 35th anniversary

 of the release of 

Destroyer

producer

 Bob Ezrin 

approached

 Simmons and Stanley 

about doing a remix 

and re-release 

of the original album. 

With their approval, 

Ezrin acquired

 digital copies 

of the original 

16-track analog 

master tapes.

 In addition to 

re-equalizing elements 

of each song, 

Ezrin also added

 in some parts 

of tracks that

 had been omitted 

from the original mix. 

These include some

 additional vocals on 

"Detroit Rock City" 

and 

"Beth", 

and the substitution

 of a guitar solo

 by 

Frehley 

on

 "Sweet Pain" 

for the one from the original 

that had been performed by 

Wagner

 (a version of "Sweet Pain"

 with Frehley's solo 

was included as track 6, 

while the original version

 with Wagner's solo

 is appended as a 

"bonus" track

 at the end of the new CD)

Ezrin also used 

digital manipulation

 to fix an incorrect lyric

 (changing "down 95" to "doin' 95")

 on

 "Detroit Rock City". 

The resulting album,

 titled 

Destroyer: Resurrected

was released on

 August 21, 2012.

 It featured 

Ken Kelly's 

original cover artwork

 before alteration by

 Casablanca

 for the

 1976 release.

Destroyer: Resurrected 

met with mixed critical reception. 

William Clark of 

Guitar International wrote: 

"Each track sounds crisper, 

clearer and louder, 

which are always 

welcome qualities 

when you're listening to a 

classic album of the likes of 

Destroyer". 

However, 

Circus magazine in a 

joint review with 

Aerosmith's contemporary release

 of Rocks 

praised Rocks 

while stating that 

Destroyer "stinks." 

The album returned to

 the Billboard charts, 

debuting at No. 11 

the week after its re-release.

 In 2019,

 the record was released in 

orange translucent vinyl, 

retailed exclusively by 

Walmart in the U.S.

TRACKLIST


CD 1

Detroit Rock City 

 (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

King Of The Night Time World

 (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

God Of Thunder

 (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Great Expectations 

(45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Flaming Youth 

(45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Sweet Pain

 (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Shout It Out Loud

 (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Beth

 (45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Do You Love Me 

(45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Rock And Roll Party 

(45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Remaster)

Detroit Rock City 

(Edited Single Version)

CD 2

Doncha Hesitate

 (Paul Stanley Demo)

God Of Thunder 

(Paul Stanley Demo)

It’s The Fire

 (Paul Stanley Demo)

Detroit Rock City

 (Paul Stanley Demo)

Love Is Alright

 (Paul Stanley Demo)

Bad, Bad Lovin' 

(Gene Simmons Demo)

Man Of A Thousand Faces

 (Gene Simmons Demo)

I Don't Want No Romance 

(Gene Simmons Demo)

Burnin' Up With Fever 

(Gene Simmons Demo)

Rock N' Rolls Royce 

 (Gene Simmons Demo)

Mad Dog 

 (Gene Simmons Demo)

Night Boy

  (Gene Simmons Demo)

Star 

 (Gene Simmons Demo)

Howlin' For Your Love 

 (Gene Simmons Demo)

True Confessions 

 (Gene Simmons Demo)

Detroit Rock City

 (Live)

King of the Night Time World 

 (Live)

God of Thunder  

(Live)

Shout it Out Loud 

 (Live)

Beth 

(Live)

Do You Love Me

 (Unplugged)

CD 3

Beth

 (Acoustic Mix)

Shout It Out Loud

 (Single Edit)

Flaming Youth

 (Single Edit)

Detroit Rock City

 (Single Edit)

Shout It Out Loud

 (Mono Single Edit)

Flaming Youth 

(Mono Single Edit)

Detroit Rock City 

(Mono Single Edit)

Beth

 (Mono)

King Of The Night Time World

 (Live Rehearsal Instrumental)

Do You Love Me? 

 (Mono Instrumental)

God Of Thunder

 (Early Instrumental Mix)

Ain't None Of Your Business

 (Instrumental)

Detroit Rock City 

(Instrumental)

King Of The Night Time World 

(Alternate Mix)

Great Expectations 

 (Early Version)

Flaming Youth

  (Early Version)

Do You Love Me?

  (Early Version)

Shout It Out Loud 

 (Alternate Mix)

Ain't None Of Your Business

 (Outtake)

Beth 

 (Take 6 - Instrumental)

Beth

 (Instrumental)

Do You Love Me?  

(Alternate Mix)

Sweet Pain

 [Original Guitar Solo] [*]

Detroit Rock City Car Intro

Detroit Rock City Car Crash

Beth 

(Unplugged) [*]

CD 4

L`Olympia, Paris, France

05/22/76

Deuce 

Strutter 

Flaming Youth

Hotter Than Hell 

Firehouse 

She / Ace Frehley Guitar Solo 

Nothin' To Lose 

Shout It Out Loud/Gene Simmons Bass Solo 

100,000 Years/Peter Criss Drum Solo

Black Diamond 

Detroit Rock City 

Rock And Roll All Nite 

CD 5

Destroyer 

(Resurrected)

Detroit Rock City

 (2012 Remix)

King Of The Night Time World

 (2012 Remix)

God Of Thunder

 (2012 Remix)

Great Expectations

 (2012 Remix)

Flaming Youth

 (2012 Remix)

Sweet Pain

 (2012 Remix)

Shout It Out Loud

 (2012 Remix)

Beth

 (2012 Remix)

Do You Love Me 

(2012 Remix)

Rock And Roll Party 

(2012 Remix)

Sweet Pain 

[Original Guitar Solo]

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