Just when you thought
Kiss couldn't be further removed from their raw rock/metal roots with 1985's lackluster
Asylum, the band sinks even further with 1987's popfest
Crazy Nights.
Kiss were the most unfocused they had ever been by 1987 (the absence of original members
Peter Criss and
Ace Frehley obviously had something to do with it). They hooked up with producer
Ron Nevison, who had recently produced chart-topping records for
Heart and
Ozzy Osbourne. Keyboards had no business being on a
Kiss record, yet they rear their ugly head throughout
Crazy Nights.
"Turn on the Night," "Reason to Live," the anthemic
"Crazy Crazy Nights" (a British Top Ten hit), and perhaps the worst
Kiss song ever recorded,
"My Way," are all bogged down with keyboards. Still, a song or two does contain music that would be reminiscent of the
Kiss of old if it weren't for
Nevison's glossy production (
"No, No, No," etc.). Rather than being a true hard rock force, a status they had begun to reclaim on 1982's
Creatures of the Night and 1983's
Lick It Up,
Kiss were merely trying to replicate the hit formula of other bands of the day (
Def Leppard,
Bon Jovi, etc.). As
Crazy Nights displays, their lack of success in that area was dire. ~ Greg Prato
