Dynasty is the seventh studio album by the rock band Kiss, produced by Vini Poncia and released by Casablanca Records on May 23, 1979. It was the first time that the four original members of Kiss did not all perform together for the entire album. The album and the following tour were billed as the “Return of Kiss”, as the band had not released a studio album since Love Gun in 1977. Instead, the band released their second live album, Alive II, that same year, and each member had recorded eponymous solo albums, which were simultaneously released on September 18, 1978.
Before recording the album, the Kiss members were working separately on various demos:
Peter Criss recorded and submitted a four-track demo with the songs “Out of Control”, “Rumble”, “Dirty Livin’ ” and “There’s Nothing Better”. “Dirty Livin’ ” made it to Dynasty, while “Rumble” remains unreleased officially by the band but has surfaced on the internet as a bootleg. The other two songs ended up on his 1980 solo album Out of Control.
Ace Frehley recorded and submitted a five-track demo with “Hard Times”, “Save Your Love”, a cover of “2000 Man”, “Backstage Pass” and “Insufficient Data”. Three of the songs are on Dynasty, while the last two remain unreleased.
Gene Simmons wrote and recorded a large number of demos, including five songs with members of the band Virgin, drummer Chuck Billings and guitarist Tommy Moody. Billings has identified the songs “I Have Just Begun to Fight”, “Reputation” and “Bad Bad Lovin” as from the demo he played on, in addition to the two songs credited to Simmons on “Dynasty”.
Paul Stanley wrote songs with Desmond Child: one called “The Fight” was released on a Desmond Child & Rouge album; and one called “Tonight” formed the verses of “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”, combined with a chorus written by Stanley and Vini Poncia. “Sure Know Something” was written after Poncia had joined the project and a recording shows how the song was developed from a basic homemade demo in the studio with the band (except Frehley) and Poncia contributing.
Criss’s disco influenced demo of his song “Dirty Livin'” (written in 1971) set the direction for the album project and Simmons and Stanley were briefly in contact with disco producer Giorgio Moroder, a friend of the band’s manager Bill Aucoin before deciding on Vini Poncia.
Tracklist:
Side A
- I Was Made for Lovin’ You
- 2,000 Man (The Rolling Stones cover)
- Sure Know Something
- Dirty Livin’
Side B
- Charisma
- Magic Touch
- Hard Times
- X-Ray Eyes
- Save Your Love
Kiss
Paul Stanley: vocals, rhythm guitar; lead guitar on “Sure Know Something” and “Magic Touch”; bass on “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” and “Magic Touch”
Gene Simmons: vocals, bass; rhythm guitar on “X-Ray Eyes”
Ace Frehley: vocals, lead guitar; all guitars and bass on “2,000 Man”, “Hard Times” and “Save Your Love”
Peter Criss: vocals and drums on “Dirty Livin'”
Additional musicians
Anton Fig: drums (except “Dirty Livin'”)
Vini Poncia: keyboards, percussion, backing vocals
Technical
Vini Poncia: producer
Jay Messina: engineer, mixing
Jon Mathias, Jim Galante: assistant engineers
George Marino: mastering
Francesco Scavullo: cover and poster photo
Howard Marks Advertising Inc.: design
