There was even less of a gap between the second and third KISS albums. In about a year, they had released three records that are the foundation of everything the band would achieve. Dressed To Kill is a KISS classic, despite not being widely acclaimed at the time.
DRESSED TO KILL
Produced by Neil Bogart and KISS
Released 19 March 1975
Side 1
Room Service (Stanley)
Two Timer (Simmons)
Ladies In Waiting (Simmons)
Getaway (Frehley)
Rock Bottom (Stanley/Frehley)
Side 2
C’mon And Love Me (Stanley)
Anything For My Baby (Stanley)
She (Simmons/Coronel)
Love Her All I Can (Stanley)
Rock And Roll All Nite (Stanley/Simmons)
In early 1975 KISS were steadily becoming a popular live band, but their two previous records, Kiss (1974) and Hotter Than Hell (1974) had definitely not set the world alight. To remedy this, and possibly to stop the band from thinking about leaving Casablanca Records, company boss Neil Bogart decided to produce KISS’ third album himself. Recorded at New York’s Electric Lady Studios in February 1975, Dressed To Kill sports a cleaner and punchier sound while coming up a little short in the song department.
An unsung hero of Dressed To Kill is studio engineer Dave Wittman, whose name would appear on many future KISS albums of different eras. Assuming the many distractions that Bogart must certainly have suffered as the beleaguered record company mogul he was, it is probably safe to say that the sound of the album is credit to Wittman’s steady hand and the band’s well-oiled gears. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley had taken major steps as performers in the previous couple of years, and it paid off.
Dressed To Kill, recorded under the working title KISS At Midnight, is certainly a more immediate album than its predecessor, and home to some of the very best KISS songs. How about Room Service, C’mon And Love Me, She, Love Her All I Can, and the unbelievably cheesy but effective Rock And Roll All Nite? Add to that a couple of hidden gems, Simmons’ Two Timer and Frehley’s Getaway (featuring a memorable lead vocal track from Criss), and here’s an album that matches its predecessor and gets closer to the debut’s sonic firepower.
On the minus side, the fillers Anything For My Baby and Ladies In Waiting are not up to standard, while Rock Bottom barely gets by, and it’s clear that the band are feeling the strain of constantly having to come up with new material while being permanently on the road. In fact, both She and Love Her All I Can are rearranged leftovers from the aborted Wicked Lester album that Stanley and Simmons took part in a few years earlier.
KISS’ third studio output in just over one year would lead into their breakthrough record, the concert album KISS Alive! (1975). In retrospect Dressed To Kill comes into focus as the third of KISS’ opening trilogy of records, and one that sounds lively and fresh in any edition since. Apart from the best of the vintage 1975 vinyl pressings, mention should be made of the first CD edition from Japan in 1986 and the first American CD mastered by George Marino in 1987, as well as the very pleasant 2014 heavyweight vinyl edition. It must also be noted that all KISS records sound good when streamed from a high quality service like Tidal through high quality headphones or speaker systems.
Somewhat surprisingly, Dressed To Kill was granted a massive super deluxe edition for its 50th anniversary in 2025. The package includes several concerts taped for the creation of KISS Alive! and remixed by Eddie Kramer, and also a very good vinyl remastering done by Bernie Grundman. This new mastering now vies with the best of the 1970s pressings as the ultimate presentation of Dressed To Kill.
As it stands, Dressed To Kill is the sound of a band with plenty of energy but lacking the proper vehicle or production expertise to reach the next level. All the same, one should note that at this point KISS have produced enough strong material to carry a successful headlining live show, utterly demolishing the notion that it was never about the music.
Place in KISStory:
6/6 Masterpiece
5/6 Great
4/6 GOOD
3/6 OK
2/6 Disappointing
1/6 Crap
STRANGE WAYS 