The Kiss LP That Put Paul Stanley in a ‘Very Difficult Position’

Bob Ezrin says he regrets putting Paul Stanley in a bad spot during the creation of one of the three albums he produced for Kiss.

During a Q&A session at the Kiss Kruise: Land-Locked in Las Vegas event last month, the legendary producer was asked about his work on Kiss’ much-maligned 1981 concept album Music From ‘The Elder.’ Intended as a bold, music critic-pleasing masterpiece that would revitalize Kiss’ sagging commercial fortunes, the album instead nearly ended their career.

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Ezrin revealed that while he was being interviewed for an (excellent) 2016 book about the album, he listened to The Elder in full for the first time in decades, with fresh ears.

“I was sitting there just as a punter listening and thinking, ‘Wow, listen to that that’s really great!’ There are some amazing moments on the record. But I have to say honestly that we put Paul in a very difficult position. Because he was basically playing in an almost operatic role.”

Several of the songs on Music From ‘The Elder’, particularly “Just a Boy” and “Odyssey,” find Stanley singing in a style more suited to an opera or a Broadway show, and also bogged down by the need to explain the album’s complex story via lyrics.

Hear Kiss Perform ‘Just a Boy’

Ezrin notes that Stanley might have been better prepared for this role if The Elder was made after his 1999 appearance in the lead role of a Toronto production of The Phantom of the Opera. “Before The Phantom that was completely foreign to him, he was playing this musical theater role which was not comfortable for him. He did a fantastic job at it, but at the end of the end of the day he didn’t feel fulfilled like he would have if we had done a regular rock record.”

Ezrin, who also produced two classic Kiss albums – 1976’s Destroyer and 1992’s Revenge – insisted he had no regrets about The Elder: “Everything you do along the way is valuable in some way or another, even if it’s just to teach you a lesson. There are some really great performances by some amazing people, several of whom are no longer with us. so to me, It’s a monument to that time and to those people at that time.”

Bob Ezrin Shares His Memories of Ace Frehley

During the same interview, Ezrin was also asked about Kiss’ recently departed founding lead guitarist Ace Frehley. “Ace was a party all the time, but also just an amazing guitar player. …Ace had the greatest sense of humor and the best laugh in history. If you were in a room with him and he started talking and telling jokes and laughing, you would be on the floor, guaranteed there was no way to avoid it.

“So there was a lot of laughter. There were some times where we butted heads, as has been memorialized often. He wasn’t really a fan of The Elder, he didn’t really want to do that record. The rest of us did. To his credit, he pulled up his big boy pants and gave some great performances on the album. And in hindsight I’d have to say he was probably right and we were wrong. But you know, you just have to do your best with the ideas that you have and the time you are in.”