Psycho Circus

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This article is about the Kiss album. For other uses, see Psycho Circus (disambiguation).
Psycho Circus
File:Psycho Circus.jpg
Studio album by Kiss
Released September 22, 1998
Recorded January – April 1998 at A&M Studios, Hollywood, California, One on One Studios, New York
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal,[1] power pop
Length 44:24
Label Mercury
Producer Bruce Fairbairn
Kiss chronology
Carnival of Souls
(1997)Carnival of Souls1997		 Psycho Circus
(1998)		 Sonic Boom
(2009)
Singles from Psycho Circus
  1. "Psycho Circus"
    Released: August 1998
  2. "We Are One"
    Released: 1998
  3. "I Finally Found My Way"
    Released: 1998
  4. "You Wanted the Best"
    Released: November 23, 1998

Sonic Boom2009

Psycho Circus is the 18th studio album by American rock band Kiss. The album features the original four members back together and in full make-up. Some pressings featured a lenticular cover that alternates between a black Kiss logo and the album title with pictures of a clown and the band members, while the Japan initial first pressing featured a pop-up cover which had three foam spring-loaded panels of a clown face and two others with band members faces that popped out when the doors were opened. "You Wanted the Best" is the only Kiss song in which lead vocals are shared by the entire lineup.

Production

Following the highly successful 1996-97 reunion tour, Psycho Circus was marketed as the first studio album by the band's original lineup since 1979's Dynasty (as Peter Criss did not participate on 1980s Unmasked, and Peter's drum work is limited on Dynasty). As with Dynasty and Unmasked, however, many of the songs were recorded by uncredited players. Ace Frehley and Criss were used sparingly, with Criss only playing drums on "Into the Void". Frehley played on two songs from the album (not including vocals). In 2011, in Frehley's book No Regrets, he says that he wrote a lot of songs for the album, one of those songs being titled "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Rock 'n' Roll". He mentions that the title and song were deemed very similar to the song "I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock 'n' Roll". "Into the Void" was originally titled "Shakin' Sharp Shooter", but Simmons and Stanley were unhappy with the lyrics and title, so Ace went up to a separate room and rewrote it. The song "Within" was originally written and demoed for Kiss's previous album Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions and contains the original backwards guitar intro from the demo by previous Kiss member Bruce Kulick.

In a radio interview with Eddie Trunk following his departure, Criss stated that only "Into the Void" featured instrumental contributions from all four members. Regarding the lack of cohesion in the group at the time of recording, Paul Stanley stated, "We tried to do a Kiss album, and it was an ill-fated attempt because there was no real band,"[2] and continued by adding, "For a band to make a great album, it has to share a common purpose...and we didn't have it."[2] In 2014, Stanley later revealed that Criss and Frehley were trying to renegotiate deals and get to compose more songs when he and Simmons thought that "Why would they be equal partners? The band had existed [for many years without them]." Although the subsequent Kiss Farewell Tour was meant to "put Kiss out of its misery", Stanley eventually decided to continue playing because "I don't want [Psycho Circus] to be our last album. It's not a good memory."[3]

Bruce Fairbairn was brought to produce the album, and stated that he wanted to stay away from gimmicks and trends such as guest appearances, just "tried to stay true to what Kiss does best and people remember them for". The album was mostly recorded at Los Angeles's A&M Studios and One on One Recording Studios, with the performances being first recorded with analogue equipment, and then digitized for mixing and overdubs. Afterwards it was mixed by Mick Guzauski in his New York studio, and mastered by Fairbarn and Kiss's longtime partner George Marino at Sterling Sound NY. Fairbairn complimented the band for being collaborative, declaring that "it had the potential to be a nightmare because they're all disparate and strong characters, musically and as people."[4]

It is sometimes assumed that Psycho Circus is based on the comic-book series Kiss: Psycho Circus, which debuted the year before the album was released; however, while it is true that the album had not been conceived at the time the comic book was first published, Simmons claims that the "Psycho Circus" concept was originally created as a Kiss tour theme.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2/5 stars[1]
Metal Nightfall 4/5 stars[6]
Sputnikmusic 3.5/5 stars[7]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[8]
Entertainment Weekly A−[9]

Psycho Circus debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200, selling 110,000 copies in its first week of release, and was certified gold by the RIAA on October 22, 1998.[10][11]

Rolling Stone said, "Psycho Circus is an album of platform-stomping rhythms, roller-coaster guitar riffs and sing-along choruses - is far more respectable than any of the awkward flops from the no-makeup years."[8] Entertainment Weekly (9/25/98, p. 106) said, "This is rock with a capital R, captured in all its cheesy glory... This new effort proves that in the circus of hard-rock dinosaurs, Kiss remains its Barnum & Bailey."[9] "Well up to the band's usual standards of corny hoopla," wrote Clark Collis in The Daily Telegraph. "Typical of the beast is 'I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll' – three and a half minutes of hilariously bombastic pomp-rock that simply crushes thoughts of all post-glam musical developments beneath a silver-painted stack-heel boot."[12]

The song "Dreamin'" bears such a resemblance to Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" from 1970 that a month after the release of Psycho Circus Cooper's publisher filed a plagiarism suit, settled out of court in Cooper's favor.[13]

Accolades

The album was voted Album of the Year in the 1998 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards, while the title track won Song of the Year and Best Video Clip.[14]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1. "Psycho Circus"   Paul Stanley, Curtis Cuomo Stanley 5:30
2. "Within"   Gene Simmons Simmons 5:10
3. "I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll"   Stanley, Cuomo, Holly Knight Stanley 3:32
4. "Into the Void"   Ace Frehley, Karl Cochran Frehley 4:22
5. "We Are One"   Simmons Simmons 4:41
6. "You Wanted the Best"   Simmons Simmons, Stanley, Peter Criss, Frehley 4:15
7. "Raise Your Glasses"   Stanley, Knight Stanley 4:14
8. "I Finally Found My Way"   Stanley, Bob Ezrin Criss 3:40
9. "Dreamin'"   Stanley, Bruce Kulick Stanley 4:12
10. "Journey of 1,000 Years"   Simmons Simmons 4:47

Personnel

Additional Musicians

Uncredited Musicians

Charts

Album
Chart (1998) Peak position
Australia ARIA Album Chart[15] 1
Austrian Albums Chart[16] 25
Canada Billboard Top Canadian Albums[17] 2
European Albums Chart[18] 13
Finland Albums Top 50[16] 5
France SNEP[16] 71
German Albums Chart[19] 5
Japanese Albums Chart[20] 20
Netherlands Mega Album Top 100[16] 51
Norway VG-lista[16] 4
Sweden Albums Top 60[16] 1
Switzerland Albums Top 100[16] 30
UK Albums Chart[21] 47
US Billboard 200[22] 3
Singles
Single Chart (1998) Peak position
"Psycho Circus" Netherland Dutch Top 40[23] 98
Sweden Singles Top 60[23] 4
Norway VG-lista[23] 8
US Mainstream Rock Tracks[24] 1
Australia ARIA Singles Chart[25] 22
"We Are One" 40
Norway VG-lista[26] 18
Sweden Albums Top 60[26] 31
"You Wanted the Best" US Mainstream Rock Tracks[24] 22

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[27] Gold 50,000
Sweden (GLF)[28] Gold 40,000
United States (RIAA)[11] Gold 500,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Psycho Circus at AllMusic
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Appleford, Steve. "Kiss “Born Again” With Walmart’s “Sonic Boom”: Band Talks New LP". Rolling Stone. August 17, 2009
  3. ↑ PAUL STANLEY: 'The 'Farewell' Tour Was Us Wanting To Put KISS Out Of Its Misery', Blabbermouth
  4. ↑ Fairbairn Lends Golden Touch to Kiss' 'Psycho Circus', Billboard.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Caulfield, Keith. "Kiss, Buble Battle For No. 1 on Billboard 200". billboard.com. October 8, 2009.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "United_StatesKissPsycho_CircusalbumCertRef" defined multiple times with different content
  12. ↑ The Daily Telegraph, 19 September 1998
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Metal Edge, August 1999
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FQoEAAAAMBAJ&lr=&rview=1
  19. ↑ http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=KISS&titel=Psycho+Circus&cat=a
  20. ↑ http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/57696/ranking/cd_album/
  21. ↑ Chart Stats - Psycho Circus
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Preceded by Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
October 4–10, 1998		 Succeeded by
Songs from Ally McBeal
by Vonda Shepard
Preceded by Swedish Albums Top 60 number-one album
October 1–7, 1998		 Succeeded by
The Singles 86–98
by Depeche Mode
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