Album Details

• Artist: Kiss
• Album: Music From The Elder
• Label: Island / Mercury
• Year of Release: 1981
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2013-01-10

When it was recorded in 1981, this album was to have been a masterwork of epic proportions. A concept album with serious prog leanings, early preview copies of the album received poor reviews. In a last ditch effort to save it, tracks were moved around to accentuate certain songs (in the hopes of producing a hit). Ambient sounds between tracks were, in many cases, removed (in others shortened). The end result was an album that, although far better than the average LP, sold poorly.

Many years later, in the effort to remaster the Kiss catalog, the album was reissued as initially intended. The concept, originally quite muddled due to the shuffling around of songs, is now a well told (although slightly cliched) heroic tale of good versus evil. The competent production gives a CD that sounds great, and the restored ambient bits add character.

The lineup on the album is Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Eric Carr. It’s an album that still manages to divide fans. Some people, like myself, consider it to be among Kiss’ best albums. Without question it’s their most ambitious effort. Others think it’s overdone and terrible. The only real way to tell, though, is give it a spin for yourself. If you are a Kiss purist and don’t like theatricality in terms of the actual music, or concept albums in general, you’ll probably hate this. If you are more adventurous and keep an open mind, though, this is an inspiring and powerful release that shows a whole different side of Kiss and really manages to hold up well.

User Reviews and Comments