KISS: Creatures Of The Night (Vinnie Vincent Cover Purple Vinyl)

This is an unofficial release featuring Vinnie Vincent on the cover and pressed on purple vinyl

Creatures of the Night is the 10th studio album from U.S. band KISS. It is the band’s 10th studio album and the last for Casablanca Records, the only label the group had ever recorded for up to that point. The album was also dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions.

The album represented a conscious effort on Kiss’s part to return to the style of hard rock that had helped them achieve commercial success with Destroyer and Love Gun given that their pop oriented albums Dynasty and Unmasked had started a decline in popularity that bottomed out with 1981’s Music from “The Elder”. By 1982 Kiss knew it needed to deliver on their earlier 1980-81 promise of a heavy record, which they had failed to deliver, if they were to continue as a band.

The first key ingredient was songwriter/guitarist Vincent Cusano, with whom the band had recently begun writing and recording, and was soon to replace Ace Frehley as the band’s new lead guitarist. Frehley did not perform on Creatures even though his face (for contractual reasons) was still featured on the album cover (In a matter similar to Peter Criss on Unmasked); thus this was Vinnie Vincent’s first album with the band. On the tour, Vincent was introduced with the Egyptian Ankh makeup. Vincent wasn’t the only session guitarist used on the album though. Blues guitarist (and close friend of album producer Michael James Jackson) Robben Ford, featured on two tracks and Mr Mister guitarist, Steve Farris, provided the solo to the opening track. Farris was considered for the roll as Frehley’s replacement but was thought not to have “the right look” for the band. Co-writer, Adam Mitchell, also contributed guitar work to the title track. Long time “ghost player” on Kiss albums over the years, Bob Kulick, was also thought to have played on “Danger” and “Keep Me Comin” but in a 2011 interview, he admitted none of his studio work made it to the finished album.(The band later re-released the album in their non-makeup era with a cover featuring Gene Simmons, Eric Carr, Paul Stanley, and their then current guitarist Bruce Kulick.)