Kiss Crazy Nights CD

Kiss: Paul Stanley (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Bruce Kulick (guitar); Gene Simmons (bass); Eric Carr (drums).
Additional personnel: Phil Ashley (keyboards); Tom Kelly (background vocals).
Recorded at One On One Recording, North Hollywood, California; Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, California; Can-Am Recorders, Tarzana, California. Includes liner notes by Robert V. Conte.
Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Sterling Sound, New York, New York).
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Paul Stanley (guitar, keyboards); Bruce Kulick (guitar); Phillip Ashley (keyboards); Eric Carr (drums); Tom Kelly (background vocals).
Audio Remasterer: Joseph M. Palmaccio.
Liner Note Authors: Yasuhito Kitai; Robert V. Conte.
Recording information: Can-AM Recorders, Tarzana, CA; One On One Recording, North Hollywood, CA; One On One, North Hollywood, CA; Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, CA.
Photographers: Walter Wick; Glen LaFerman.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Eric Carr; Bruce Kulick.
Since Kiss' 1987 album, Crazy Nights, was their most pop-accessible album to date, a total of 3 video clips were issued, which are all featured on the home video of the same name from one year later. While the videos aren't exactly the best the band has ever produced, they were very popular with MTV viewers - all appeared regularly on the network's viewer request program at the time. The first video, "Crazy, Crazy Nights," is a no-frills clip of the quartet lip-synching the anthemic song to an auditorium full of excited fans, while the 2nd one, "Reason To Live," is a ballad that features clips of an attractive blond seeking revenge on her unfaithful lover, Mr. Paul Stanley (!), while the band plays the song. The final clip, "Turn On the Night," is one of the album's most keyboard-heavy tracks, and follows the set-up of the previous video for the most part - a female fan is shown enjoying a concert by the band, while Kiss plays away. Besides the 3 clips, no other footage is featured, which makes the Crazy Nights video of interest to Kiss completists only. ~ Greg Prato
Like most of Kiss' '80s album Crazy Nights was an inconsistent set of power ballads and streamlined, polished hard rockers, but the hooks on the album were the strongest the band had written since Lick It Up. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Just when you thought Kiss couldn't be further removed from their raw rock/metal roots with 1985's lackluster Asylum, the band sinks even further with 1987's popfest Crazy Nights. Kiss were the most unfocused they had ever been by 1987 (the absence of original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley obviously had something to do with it). They hooked up with producer Ron Nevison, who had recently produced chart-topping records for Heart and Ozzy Osbourne. Keyboards had no business being on a Kiss record, yet they rear their ugly head throughout Crazy Nights. "Turn on the Night," "Reason to Live," the anthemic "Crazy Crazy Nights" (a British Top Ten hit), and perhaps the worst Kiss song ever recorded, "My Way," are all bogged down with keyboards. Still, a song or two does contain music that would be reminiscent of the Kiss of old if it weren't for Nevison's glossy production ("No, No, No," etc.). Rather than being a true hard rock force, a status they had begun to reclaim on 1982's Creatures of the Night and 1983's Lick It Up, Kiss were merely trying to replicate the hit formula of other bands of the day (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, etc.). As Crazy Nights displays, their lack of success in that area was dire. ~ Greg Prato
Reaching a pop apex not seen since 1980's UNMASKED, Kiss enlisted the production and engineering talents of Ron Nevison (Ozzy Osbourne, Heart) to help the band compete with the light metal faire that existed in 1987. The results are impressive, as the melodic crunch of CRAZY NIGHTS holds up to the band's previous classics.
"Crazy Crazy Nights" is an ant