On 20. May 1980, Kiss released their eighth studio album “Unmasked”. It was their first not to feature drummer Peter Criss (although largely absent from the preceding “Dynasty”, Criss only performed on that album’s song “Dirty Livin'”). Despite having no involvement in its production, Criss features in the album’s artwork and appears in the video for “Shandi”.
The album features substantial contributions from producer Vini Poncia, who had been Ringo Starr’s post-Beatles songwriting partner. All tracks bar Ace Frehley’s “Talk to Me” and “Two Sides of the Coin” were written or co-written by someone outside the band. Anton Fig is the drummer on all songs, and six out of 11 songs feature only one member of the band Kiss: Ace Frehley performs all guitars, bass and vocals on his three songs, Paul Stanley does the same on “Tomorrow” and “Easy as it Seems”, and on “Shandi”, Stanley and Fig are joined by Tom Harper on bass.
Paul Stanley:
“Unmasked? I would give that one star. A song like “Tomorrow” is really a great song, but I think ‘Unmasked’ is a pretty crappy album. It’s wimpy. A lot of those songs started out much ballsier, and much more rock’n’ rolly. Somehow they lost something on their way to vinyl.”
– “Kiss-Behind the Mask” p331.
Ace Frehley:
“Technically, ‘Unmasked’ was the last studio album to feature the original lineup… I don’t believe Peter really wanted to leave the band, but Paul and Gene were dead set on replacing him. I wanted to give him another chance, but my hands were tied. I was outvoted and the decision was made to move forward without him, so I accepted that decision reluctantly. Even though ‘Unmasked’ wasn’t as big a commercial success as it predecessor, it still had some memorable tracks. I again aced three songs on the record, “Two Sides of the Coin,” “Torpedo Girl,” and “Talk to Me”. The later became a big hit in Australia, and I performed it live in concert around the globe”
– “No Regrets” by Ace Frehley, p211
The song “Is That You?” was written by Gerard McMahon in 1979. Gerard’s musical history stretched back into the 1970s where he had been the keyboard player on Jimmy Ibbotson’s “Nitty Gritty Ibbotson” solo album in 1977. Gerard’s manager was looking for a producer and considered Vini Poncia a possibility. As a result, Vini heard several McMahon demos, and liked “Is That You?” enough to take it to Kiss for consideration. The band, particularly Paul, loved the song and decided to use it on the album. “Is That You?” was released as a single in several markets, notably Australia and Holland, but it didn’t make any impact on the charts. In Australia the single was only on sale for a few short weeks in October 1980, before being deleted, making it one of the rarest singles, along with Gene’s “Radioactive,” in the Australian Kiss catalog.
There were minor changes between Paul and Gerard’s versions of this song. Lyrically, “act your age, get back in your cage” became “act your age, get off your stage.” A third verse of the original was totally omitted: “Don’t like drivin’ to the high school / Just for kicks, you crazy chick / I oughta cross you out of my black book / You’re out of line, in your own case.” Due to the changes, Kiss’ version ran 3:55 while Gerard’s original demo had clocked in at 4:23.
The original “Unmasked” cover idea was made by Vincent DiGerlando, of Howard Marks Advertising, who started working with Kiss in 1974. He would go on to design the iconic Kiss Army logo, and had a major hand in several landmark Kiss albums and products including the album covers for “Double Platinum”, the 78 solo albums, and “Creatures of the Night”. The sketch for the cover which was given to artist Victor Stabin who developed the final cover.
