REVIEW: KISS – Dressed To Kill (1975)

Part 3 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Dressed To Kill (1975)

Dressed To Kill is an interesting album. While it contains the best known Kiss song (“Rock N’ Roll All Nite”) it also contains quite a few album classics that a lot of people don’t know (“Getaway”, “Anything For My Baby”, and “Two Timer” being good examples).  This is one I play frequently.  I never tired of it.  It just has “vibe”.  Listen to “Two Timer” for example.  Kiss were obvious more than the sum of their parts, and this album was pretty heavy for 1975.

“Room Service” is an upbeat Paul opener, and I think we all know what kind of service Paul was getting.  “C’Mon and Love Me” has a killer riff, one of the best Paul’s ever written.  “She”, of course, goes back to the Wicked Lester days.  It’s one of Gene’s sludgier moments.  Even standard album tracks like “Love Her All I Can” and “Anything For My Baby” are entertaining enough.  They might not be classics, nor complex, but they sure get the foot tapping.

The first and only album produced by the Casablaca label president Neil Bogart, Dressed To Kill retreats from the weak but more metallic sound of Hotter Than Hell, and goes back to the more rocky feel of their debut. The songs are every bit as good. I particularly like “Two Timer”, “C’Mon and Love Me”, and “Rock Bottom”. “Rock Bottom” features a beautiful acoustic intro by Ace Frehley.

The album cover is also classic — a shot of the band wearing ill-fitting suits, given to them by manager Bill Aucoin.  It’s perfect.

5/5 stars

8 comments

  1. Hi Mike,

    Now, I feel like giving my mustard to this (have been a lurker for quite some while now).

    Would you care to elaborate on your findings of Love Her All I Can.

    Each to his own, of course, but (purely based on your other reviews) I would’ve thought this to be one of your favourite KISS tracks.

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  2. Did you know that Kiss actually recorded an album that would be the follow up to this one before Destroyer, but it got shelved?
    Thing is, it’s more of rough mix, kind of like a demo, but it is a full album of 10 songs. I don’t remember the entire track list, but Man Of 1000 Faces, True Confessions and Tunnel Of Love that ended up on Simmons solo record is on it.
    I wonder why they never released it on one of their Kisstory boxes…

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    1. I’ve heard one of those songs Jon – Doncha Hesitate on the Kiss box set. Great tune. Totally in line with the first three albums.

      Kiss are witholding a lot of music for future use. A buddy of mine was told by Gene Simmons, “It’s coming. Be patient,” in regards to all this unreleased stuff he was asking about. I’m certain they will release deluxe editions, in fact I heard that they are in the works. A deluxe edition of The Edler with all the other songs they wrote at that time would be great. I like a lot of the Elder outtakes and I think they would make a great CD.

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      1. That would be really cool if they were released at some point. But I think it’s really weird that they actually recorded a whole album and they managed to keep it such a secret for all these years. I mean, someone involved should have slipped one time or another. When it’s about a huge name like Kiss, these things often get revealed.

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        1. It’s a pretty big secret to not come out at all. But Kiss are pretty secretive. I’m sure there are others that will come out in due time.

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    2. Jon I’m putting a nice parcel to send to Sweden together for you :) I have acquired two cool items and hopefully I’ll have a few more in a cpuple weeks!

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      1. That’s awesome! I’m really looking forward to that. Lemme know when you’re done listening to the CDs I sent you and I’ll send you some more.

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