Sunday, June 1, 2025

KISS : Rock and Roll Over / Love Gun

Another 

DOUBLE SHOT

of

KISS


 Rock and Roll Over

 is the fifth

 studio album

 by

 American

 Rock band

 Kiss

 released on

November 11, 1976, 

by Casablanca Records

It was recorded at

 the Star Theatre in

 Nanuet, New York

The album contains

 the songs

 "Hard Luck Woman"

 and 

"Calling Dr. Love", 

which became

 hit singles in

 the United States.

Album Information

To get the

 proper drum sound, 

Peter Criss 

recorded his tracks

 in a bathroom, 

communicating via 

video-link with the

 rest of the band. 

This is the first

 Kiss album to not

 feature a 

writing credit

 from 

Ace Frehley.

Many of the songs 

that appear on the album

 were developed before 

or during 

Destroyer

Three of 

Gene Simmons' songs

 are clear 

re-workings of demos 

from the 

1975 Magna 

Graphics Studios demo:

 "Calling Dr. Love"

 is a re-working of 

"Bad, Bad Lovin'"; 

"Ladies Room" 

is based on 

"Don't Want Your Romance"; 

and

 "Love' Em and Leave' Em"

 is based on

 "Rock and Rolls-Royce" 

Criss's

 "Baby Driver"

 is a rewrite of a 

Peter Criss/Stan Penridge 

demo from 

Criss's pre-Kiss band

 Lips; 

and

 "Hard Luck Woman", 

a song 

Paul Stanley 

originally planned 

to pitch to

 Rod Stewart, 

was held over

 to provide 

Criss a ballad

 to sing following

 the success of 

"Beth".

Recording

Using the 

Record Plant recording truck,

 Kiss began recording

 in the Star Theater,  

an abandoned 

theater-in-the-round,

 in Nanuet, New York

 on

 September 30th, 1976 

and completed

 basic tracks on

 October 11th, 

with overdubs 

being done at 

the Record Plant

 from 

October 12th-17th. 

 Working 16-17 hours a day, 

Eddie Kramer attempted to

 capture the live sound 

of the band by

 utilizing the entire building. 

Ace, Paul and Gene's 

amplifiers were placed 

under the stage

 in separate

 dressing rooms 

to prevent bleed 

into the drum mikes. 

Peter's drums 

were recorded both 

on the middle of the stage 

and in a bathroom.

 Vocals were 

sometimes 

done in hallways.

 Kramer recorded with

 the same

 special tube microphones 

that he had used with 

Jimi Hendrix 

and

 Led Zeppelin.

 Engineer Corky Stasiak 

has amusingly recounted

 a story of his 

skateboarding down

 the steep aisle

 of the theater 

and attempting to

 jump onto the stage, 

only to pinball into 

the drums and microphones. 

He hurriedly reset everything, 

without the band's nor

 Kramer's knowledge. 

Shortly thereafter,

 while listening to

 a playback, 

Paul Stanley 

commented, 

“it sounds better today 

than it did yesterday.

Love Gun

 is the sixth 

studio album

 by American

 Hard Rock band 

Kiss 

released on

 June 30, 1977.

 Casablanca Records

 and 

FilmWorks 

shipped 

one million copies

 of the album

 on this date.

 It was 

certified platinum 

and became the

 band's first

 top 5 album 

on the 

Billboard 200. 

The album was

 remastered in 1997

 and again in 2014.

Overview

Love Gun 

is the first

 Kiss

 studio album

 to feature a 

lead vocal 

performance from 

Ace Frehley, 

making it the first 

to feature

 lead vocal 

performances

 from all 

four band members. 

Before

 Love Gun 

was completed, 

a Gallup poll indicated

 that Kiss

 was the 

most popular band

 in 

the United States, 

beating Aerosmith,

 Led Zeppelin 

and 

the Eagles. 

On August 

26, 27 and 28, 1977,

 Kiss 

recorded three shows

 at 

the LA Forum

 for their 

next release,

 their second

 live album

 Alive II.

The album cover 

was painted by 

fantasy artist

 Ken Kelly, 

who had 

previously contributed

 the cover

 for 1976's

 Destroyer.

 A cardboard

 "Love Gun" 

(assembly required) 

was included

 inside the album,

along with a

 Kiss merchandise 

order form.

Recording

According to the 

diary of album

 engineer 

Corky Stasiak, 

Kiss entered the 

Record Plant to 

begin recording 

Love Gun on

 May 3, 1977

 and completed it on

 May 28th, 

with their cover of

 “Then She Kissed Me” 

being the 

last song cut. 

He also notes tha

t Ace didn’t join

 the others until 

May 9th

and that many 

of the basic tracks

 were completed by

 Paul, 

Gene 

and Peter.

 Producer

 Eddie Kramer 

notes that, 

in addition to 

Ace

 lying on his back 

to sing

 “Shock Me,”

 he recalls recording 

Peter’s drums 

in a hallway

 and that while

 Gene

 is often quoted

 as playing the piano

 on 

“Christine Sixteen”

 himself, 

Kramer claims

 HE played the piano

 on the song, 

with Gene

 standing over him, 

coaching him to

 “play like a neanderthal.” 

Eddie and Alex Van Halen

 played on the demo

 of

 “Christine Sixteen” 

and Simmons 

insisted the

 band replicate

 the song 

note for note, 

including the

 lead solo

TRACKLIST


I Want You

Take Me

Calling Dr. Love

Ladies Room

Baby Driver

Love'em and Leave'em

Mr. Speed

See You in My Dreams

Hard Luck Woman

Makin' Love

I Stole Your Love

Christine Sixteen

Got Love For Sale

Shock Me

Tomorrow and Tonight

Love Gun

Hooligan

Almost Human

Plaster Caster

Than She Kissed Me

Bad,Bad Lovin 

(Demo)

I Want You

 (Demo)

Love Gun

 (Demo)

Love is Blind 

(Demo)

LINK


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