KISS & The Order Of The Rose: 1981-82

“Now before you lies the quest at hand”
KISS & The Order Of The Rose: 1981-82

“BUZZ” Newspaper Article (#54-kE) Sep- Oct 2015
By: RLSchwinden aka MrZer0

> Who steers the ship through the stormy sea <
KISS had great sales with the ‘Dynasty’ LP (platinum), but the ‘Unmasked’ LP sold half as much. I personally think, KISS were wondering how to regain some ground, & since, at the time ‘The Wall’ was doing so well I think KISS decided to change their look & get more with the times of the “New Wave” image, that was currently popular & bring back the ‘Destroyer’ producer Bob Ezrin (who produced Pink Floyd), & record their own “Concept” album, based on a story Gene Simmons had written.

I can still remember in fall ’81 my buddy Russ S. (the Gene in my 1st KISS cover band) picked me up @ my Mom’s house, in his white Impala & plugged in the new KISS 8Track, ‘(Music from) The Elder’ I shouted “So, how is it?” Russ replied “Get ready, it is really different for a KISS album” then “The Oath” came on & I said “This sounds great to me” & Russ replied “Oh, just you wait” then came “Fanfare” & “Just A Boy” & I responded “what is THIS!” he said “See, I told ya”

So I went to ‘Uncle John Records’ & bought my vinyl copy (I did not have a car or an 8Track player) of ‘(music from) The Elder’ which was released in on 10 Nov 1981, & here’s where the story unfolds; the very 1st pressings had the songs on the back listed in a different running order than the LP (not unusual for KISS) & a poly-bag sleeve & No lyrics, also for the 1st time, NO Photos of KISS, you had to go check the current magazines to see the “New” KISS costumes, shockingly they had all cut their hair short (for them anyway) & were back to black leather & silver accents. I wasn’t sure what to think, I was thankful the “Vegas Look” was gone, but I was not sure about the “New Wave” look, once I thought about the new look, it really did reflect the new direction in music, so I was ok with the changes. I was right out of High School & not really knowing what to do with my life, I listened to this “New” KISS album over & over because it really spoke to me, it was the story of a boy & his journey in life & most importantly “To believe in yourself” I used this LP as a mantra over the next couple years.

> I never said I was more than I am <
The P.R. for the LP at the time was; the band released the 1st part of the soundtrack, in Nov 1981, to be followed by the film in early 1982, starring Christopher Makepeace: (22 Apr 1964; Montreal) as: “The Boy” & Anthony Parr (RIP:2002 Ontario) as “Mr. Blackwell” (both were on TV Series ‘Littlest Hobo’) Robert Christie: (20 Sep 1913- 1996; Toronto) as “Morpheus”. It is a documented fact Makepeace recorded dialogue for the LP, but it was left off of the released version, it is disputed whether “Morpheus” on the last track “finale” of the LP is Simmons or Robert Christie. Additional rumors were the band members themselves would appear in the film as their ‘KISS’ personas as characters in the story, & this would be the theatrical “Unmasking” of KISS as they would play other characters in the film “Sans Makeup” therefore the fans would flock to the film to “See What KISS Really Looks like without makeup”
Here’s the track listing for;
The US Version:
The Oath
*fanfare
Just A Boy
Dark Light
Only You
Under The Rose (Carr plays acoustic guitar)
A World Without Heroes
Mr. Blackwell
Escape From The Island
Odyssey
I
*Morpheus

Then after telling my friend Paula how much I loved the album, she bought a copy much later than I did, her’s, the 2nd pressing came with the songs printed in the correct running order on the back, but with a paper inner sleeve with the printed lyrics. This is decades before the “IntroNetts” so I came to find out there was a different version released elsewhere.

Japanese Version: (when part 2 was still planned to be released)
*fanfare (almost 1 min longer on this version)
Just A Boy
Odyssey
Only You
Under The Rose
Dark Light
A World Without Heroes
The Oath
Mr. Blackwell
I
*Morpheus
“Escape From The Island” was left off of the Japan version

> I just need a will of my own <
One 45 Single was released in the USA “A World Without Heroes b/w Dark Light” & hit #58 on the charts in Nov ’81 in Europe a single of “I b/w The Oath” was released in Jan ’82. There are 3 different Vinyl LP versions: 2 for USA & 1 Japanese, there is an 8Track (remarkably in the same running order as the LP), & 2 different cassette versions: 1981 & 1989 & 3 different CD versions 1986 Japanese, 1989 USA & 1997 USA. Songs for 2 videos were filmed “A World Without Heroes” & “I” supposedly taken from the film & used as “Promo Videos”

The origin of “Only You” from an interview I conducted with Simmons in Jun ’90 “The song was originally written about Diana Ross in ’80 or so, for the album @ the time with totally different lyrics, it was a love song “Only you can complete me” Doro (in 1990) sang the original lyrics for her version, along with some other songs (4 in total: “Something Wicked This Way Comes” “Rock On” & “Mirage”) I wrote. Lou (Reed), yes he did contribute to a couple songs, but not as much as some would like to think” 2 other songs
“Every Little Bit Of Your Heart” (Just A Boy) Stanley wrote this love song, perhaps about “Donna Dixon” about the same time as Simmons “Only You” Anton Fig & Frehley wrote “Don’t Run” (Dark Light) at roughly the same time as these other 2 songs. From an interview I conducted with Anton Fig in Fall 1987, Fig: “I do not play on “The Elder”, but a song I wrote is on that one, I did play on the 2 LPs before that, “Unmasked” & “Dynasty” you can tell because I play a double bass & Peter (Criss) doesn’t” Tony Powers (1938 Bronx) released his own version of “Midnight Trampoline/Odyssey” in 1982 a reworking of “Odyssey” & Cher released “A World Without Heroes” in 1991.

Then later in ’82 the 2nd part of the film soundtrack would be released with the other songs used in the film, many just being score or incidental music used in the film. The songs from the 2nd LP are:
Council of the Elder: (Stanley)
Unknown Force: (Simmons- Stanley)
Heaven: (Carr- Frehley) eventually released as “Breakout” by :Frehley in ’87
& “Carr Jam” by: KISS in ’92
Kicks Are For Kids: (Frehley)
Difference Between Men & Boys (is the size of their toys): (Simmons)
Nowhere To Run: (Stanley)
I’m A Legend Tonight: (Stanley & Adam Mitchell)
& 3 different untitled instrumentals (Ezrin, Stanley, Simmons)

>Your glory, I swear I’ll ride for thee <
Since “The Elder” performed below expectations, the band scraped the “2nd LP” altogether. To promote the LP the band made several TV appearances; on 15 Jan 82 the band appeared on the the TV show “Fridays” performing the songs “The Oath” “A World Without Heroes” & “I” live, this same month the show “Solid Gold” ran the 2 promo videos mentioned, they did band interviews on “American Top 10” & “Entertainment Tonight” & Gene & Paul made appearances on the “Flo & Eddie Show” “Strom Field Show” & a “Cerebral Palsy Telethon” & finally on 28 Jan 82 the trio, sans Frehley, who was rumored to be home with the flu, performed an alternate version of “I” as they substituted the word “Guts” in place of the word “Balls” from ‘Studio 54’ in NYC.

One thing I have come to learn about KISS is; when they 1st roll out a “New Look” the 1st set of costumes are usually “Prototypes” for the initial photo session, followed by a 2nd more functional or updated version of the costumes, this set is no different, for the “Live” costumes; Simmons has dropped the chain-mail pants for leather pants & changed shoulder-pads, Stanley essentially dropped his satin shirt & pants for a leather shirt & tights & swapped out his boots a shorter pair for a thigh high pair, Paul did keep his purple bandanna, so he could hid his Microtia (missing right ear), not surprisingly Ace’s & Eric’s costumes remained the same. For the 1st time since 1974, there was no KISS Tour for a new LP; in fact they would not tour again until Dec ’82. See you on the “Flip-side” next month.

The “KISS ’74 Tour; Tribute Band: ROCK and ROLL all NITE” will be performing @ this year’s “Crypticon: MPLS” on Fri 23 Oct 2015 @ the Ramada Ballroom in Bloominton, MN @ 10pm also on the bill “Metal Ships” & “Devil’s Rejects” & “Maiden MPLS”
So kidz lets Rock and Roll Over right into Halloween!
MrZer0

Mr. Zero’s Inc. *Est. 2009
1744 Lexington Ave. N.
Roseville, MN. 55113
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