By the end of 1980, Kiss knew that their next album had to be a strong one, a glorious return to hard rock à la their classic Destroyer.
New drummer Eric Carr had refueled the band's desire to rock, and the quartet began working on a straight-ahead rock album in early 1981.
Midway through, the band felt that they were rewriting past songs, and the sessions were aborted.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley then came up with the idea of recording a concept album, based on a mythical original story by Simmons.
Destroyer producer Bob Ezrin was back and encouraged the band's concept album idea (against both Ace Frehley's and Carr's wishes).
Simmons and Stanley had high hopes for Music from "The Elder" (such as a movie, an elaborate tour, a follow-up record, etc.), but it completely bombed upon release.
The reason? The music is totally uncharacteristic of Kiss -- it resembles heavy prog rock for the most part.
Some of the songs could have been classics if the pompous and/or hard-to-decipher lyrics were replaced, such as "The Oath," "Only You," "I," and "Just a Boy." Only two tracks resemble the Kiss of old (Frehley's "Dark Light" and the instrumental "Escape from the Island"), while the rest is downright embarrassing ("Odyssey," "A World Without Heroes," "Under the Rose").
Music from "The Elder" was the final straw for Frehley, who would leave the band in 1982.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FanfareBob Ezrin, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 01:21 | 0 MB | 6 MB |
| 2 | Just a BoyBob Ezrin, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 02:25 | 0 MB | 15 MB |
| 3 | Only YouGene Simmons | Kiss | Play | 04:17 | 0 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | Under the RoseEric Carr | Kiss | Play | 04:51 | 0 MB | 31 MB |
| 5 | Dark LightAnton Fig, Ace Frehley, Lewis Reed, Lou Reed | Kiss | Play | 04:18 | 0 MB | 29 MB |
| 6 | A World Without HeroesBob Ezrin, Lewis Reed, Lou Reed, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 02:40 | 0 MB | 15 MB |
| 7 | The OathBob Ezrin, Tony Powers, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 04:31 | 0 MB | 32 MB |
| 8 | Mr. BlackwellLewis Reed, Lou Reed | Kiss | Play | 04:52 | 0 MB | 29 MB |
| 9 | Escape from the IslandEric Carr, Bob Ezrin, Ace Frehley | Kiss | Play | 02:52 | 0 MB | 20 MB |
| 10 | IBob Ezrin | Kiss | Play | 05:03 | 0 MB | 31 MB |
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| 37 mins | 240 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Symphony Orchestra | Ensemble |
| 2 | David Brown | Engineer |
| 3 | Eric Carr | Composer, Drums, Group Member, Vocals |
| 4 | Brian Christian | Associate Producer, Engineer |
| 5 | Kevin Doyle | Engineer |
| 6 | Bob Ezrin | Composer, Orchestral Arrangements, Producer |
| 7 | Anton Fig | Composer |
| 8 | Rob Freeman | Engineer |
| 9 | Ace Frehley | Composer, Group Member, Guitar, Vocals |
| 10 | Jayne Grodd | Production Assistant |
| 11 | John Harte | Production Assistant |
| 12 | Ted Jensen | Mastering |
| 13 | Michael Kamen | Orchestral Arrangements |
| 14 | Mitchell Kanner | Redesign |
| 15 | Kiss | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 16 | Yasuhito Kitai | Liner Notes |
| 17 | Bill Levenson | Remastering Supervisor |
| 18 | Joseph M. Palmaccio | Remastering |
| 19 | Tony Powers | Composer |
| 20 | Lewis Reed | Composer |
| 21 | Lou Reed | Composer |
| 22 | Gene Simmons | Bass, Composer, Vocals |
| 23 | David Spindel | Photography |
| 24 | Paul Stanley | Composer, Group Member, Guitar, Vocals |
| 25 | Corky Stasiak | Engineer |
| 26 | Tim Trombley | Production Coordination |
| 27 | Stephanie Tudor | Production Assistant |
| 28 | Dennis Woloch | Art Direction |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |