KISS (Lick It Up) 1983

KISS (Lick It Up) 1983

Front Cover

Back Cover

As great as Creatures Of The Night was musically to the band and few fans still around, it was a commercial flop. So, what to do? Drop the make-up and hope for a fresh start with a new identity. What we get is a fantastic follow-up to Creatures with Lick It Up. Overall the album is more polished while keeping that hard edge established with the previous effort,  although the drums do recede to the background here as it's not the focus as it was before.

The lineup here is still the same with Vinnie Vincent now an "official" member of the band. His imprint is all over the album. He definitely was the key to changing the bands sound and sending KISS in a different direction musically so much so that to me they didn't sound like they were from New York anymore, but a band from LA with the growing explosion of the hair metal scene. Was this a good thing or bad thing? Who's to say. But the band regained a lot of fans with this album. It was good to see that their last album wasn't a fluke and that they were on the right path musically. 

The biggest hit here was obviously the title track Lick It Up. Their first video to show them without their make-up was surreal watching it for the first 100 times.  This song is the most popular here, but it's not the best song on the album though. You can't go wrong with the opening track Exciter. It sets the tempo for the entire album that follows. And easily the best song for Gene is Not For The Innocent. I really wish that KISS would perform this song live as well as a handful of other songs from this album. 

Fave Songs: Exciter, Not For The Innocent, Lick It Up, Gimme More and A Million To One, which gets the MVP for the best on the album.

The Cover kicks ass. It's simple in it's design with just the band against a white backdrop.

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Lick It Up Music Videos

KISS - Lick It Up

KISS - All Hell's Breakin' Loose