Although Unmasked was certified gold shortly after its release in the U.S., it quickly fell off the charts.
Deciding factors included the band's failure to mount a stateside tour, the fact that the majority of the compositions on Unmasked were easily forgettable, and longtime fans' weariness with Kiss' attempts to branch out into other musical styles.
Vini Poncia was on board as producer again, and again he replaces the raw, heavy rock of earlier Kiss releases with pop gloss.
Several tracks are indeed strong, and would have benefited greatly by a more direct sound, such as "Is That You?," "Talk to Me," "Two Sides of the Coin," "Naked City," and the single, "Shandi." But there's more filler on Unmasked than the average Kiss release -- "What Makes the World Go 'Round," "Tomorrow," and "She's So European" are tedious and predictable, both compositionally and sonically.
Again, session drummer Anton Fig fills in for Peter Criss, who would officially split from the band soon after the album's release (eventually replaced by Eric Carr).
Although the band's popularity dwindled in their homeland, they embarked on a massively successful European and Australian tour, where Unmasked was a huge hit, until year's end.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ShandiVini Poncia, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 2 | Talk to MeAce Frehley | Kiss | Play | 04:02 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | Naked CityPeppy Castro, Bruce Kulick, Vini Poncia, Gene Simmons | Kiss | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 4 | What Makes the World Go 'RoundVini Poncia, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 04:15 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 5 | TomorrowVini Poncia, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 6 | Two Sides of the CoinAce Frehley | Kiss | Play | 03:16 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 7 | She's So EuropeanVini Poncia, Gene Simmons | Kiss | Play | 03:32 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 8 | Easy as It SeemsVini Poncia, Paul Stanley | Kiss | Play | 03:25 | 7 MB | 24 MB |
| 9 | Torpedo GirlAce Frehley, Vini Poncia | Kiss | Play | 03:45 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 10 | You're All That I WantVini Poncia, Gene Simmons | Kiss | Play | 03:05 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 11 | Is That You | KISS | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 40 mins | 91 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 283 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peppy Castro | Composer |
| 2 | Peter Criss | Group Member |
| 3 | Anton Fig | Drums |
| 4 | Ace Frehley | Composer, Group Member, Guitar, Vocals |
| 5 | Mitchell Kanner | Redesign |
| 6 | Kiss | Primary Artist |
| 7 | Bruce Kulick | Composer |
| 8 | Bill Levenson | Remastering Supervisor |
| 9 | George Marino | Mastering |
| 10 | Gerard McMahon | Composer |
| 11 | Jay Messina | Engineer, Mixing |
| 12 | Joseph M. Palmaccio | Remastering |
| 13 | Vini Poncia | Composer, Producer |
| 14 | José Rivero | Artwork, Cover Illustration, Illustrations |
| 15 | Gray Russell | Assistant Engineer, Mixing |
| 16 | Mark Samuels | Cover Illustration |
| 17 | Gene Simmons | Bass, Composer, Vocals |
| 18 | Victor Stabin | Artwork, Cover Illustration, Illustrations |
| 19 | Paul Stanley | Composer, Group Member, Guitar, Vocals |
| 20 | Anne Streer | Production Coordination |
| 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). |