The second bonus edition post for the ‘Crazy Nights’ album is this UK 12″ Picture Disc I have for the song “Reason to Live”. The picture disc has a band snapshot on the front in the box shape with the Kiss logo at the top. I will say that it is quite disappointing as the picture isn’t the whole disc. The back snapshot is much better with the full vinyl being taken in to use with a great live shot of the band with individual shots over the live shot. It is more of what I like in a picture disc.
The song was released as the second single from the album and was released on November 12, 1987. It was a minor hit for the band breaking the Top 40 in the UK hitting at #33 on the charts, but in the US, it only went to #64 despite the massive airplay it had on MTV. It was written by Paul Stanley and Desmond Child who had a knack at making hit songs.
I tried researching this disc and couldn’t find a whole lot about it other than it is UK pressing and they are fairly easy to buy so it isn’t too rare. Like with “Crazy, Crazy Nights” 12″ Single, there are 4 tracks of which 2 are from Crazy Nights and the other two are off older albums so you get a taste of what else by the band is out there. They songs don’t seem to be special mixes and seem to be album tracks, but it being a picture disc makes it all worth it.
On the first side you get the ballad “Reason to Live” like you would expect. It is a power ballad like any power ballad at the time full of synthesizers and way overproduced. Perfect for the time. Paul felt you had to have a ballad if you wanted any kind of airplay at the time and this song fit that niche perfectly. It isn’t a bad song as ballads go and I have to admit that I do like it even though it is as generic as you can get. I do like Bruce’s playing and Eric Carr’s thundering drum sound does help give it the power in power ballad.
The second track is “Thief of the Night” which was also off ‘Crazy Nights’ and was written by Gene Simmons and Mitch Weissman. You know this song because we talked about it a couple weeks ago as it was covered by Wendy O. Williams on her 1984 ‘WOW’ album that Gene produced. It is a menacing sounding song. Very heavy on the deeper notes, darker and edgier which is what Gene should sing. I do like it better than Wendy’s version although hers starts off with more of a bang. At the time of hearing this on ‘Crazy Nights’, I didn’t know this song had been covered by someone else prior to this version.
The B-Side consisted of two songs off the album ‘Asylum from 1985. The first is a ballad called “Who Want to Be Lonely” written by Paul and Desmond (no surprise there) as well as Jean Beauvoir from The Plasmatics. Jean also plays bass on this one as Gene was probably too busy doing other things. Paul’s vocals on this are sensational, some of his best on the album. And what is a power ballad with a great guitar solo and Bruce doesn’t disappoint. For me, the song holds up great today as a fantastic example of a great power ballad. I think it holds up better than “Tears Are Falling” and is better than “Reason to Live”.
The final track is a Gene song and is “Secretly Cruel” which was solely written by him. Shakespeare, Gene is not, heck he ain’t even Dr. Seuss, but Gene can pen together the silliest sexual innuendos you can imagine. Do I like this song? No, I even didn’t like the demo on Disc 3 of ‘The Vault’ where I gave the song a 1. This version might be a 1.5 or 2.0. Not much better.
And there you have it. Thanks for taking another detour with me in the Kiss Review Series. We will get back to the full length albums for a brief spell anyway.
Next Up: Kiss – Chikara (1988)
Check out the rest of the series if you have time!!
The Kiss Review Series:
- Wicked Lester and the Progeny Demo Sessions (Bootleg)
- Kiss – Kiss (1974)
- Kiss – Hotter Than Hell (1974)
- Kiss – Dressed to Kill (1975)
- Kiss – Alive! (1975)
- Kiss – Destroyer (1976)
- Kiss – “Flaming Youth” 45 Promo Single – Bonus Edition (1976)
- Kiss – Special Kiss Album For Their Summer Tour (1976)
- Kiss – The Originals (1976)
- Kiss – Rock & Roll Over (1976)
- Kiss – Love Gun (1977)
- Kiss – Alive II (1977)
- Kiss – Double Platinum (1978)
- Kiss – Paul Stanley (1978)
- Kiss – Gene Simmons (1978)
- Kiss – Peter Criss (1978)
- Kiss – Ace Frehley (1978)
- Kiss – Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park Movie (1978)
- Kiss – Dynasty (1979)
- Kiss – “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” (1979) – 12″ & 7″ Singles (Bonus Edition)
- Kiss – Unmasked (1980)
- Peter Criss – Out of Control (1980)
- Kiss – Music From The Elder (1981)
- Kiss – Killers (1982)
- Kiss – Creatures of the Night (1982)
- Kiss – Lick It Up (1983)
- Kiss – Animalize (1984)
- Wendy O. Williams – WOW (1984) (Bonus Edition)
- Kiss – Animalize Live Uncensored (1985)
- Kiss – Asylum (1985)
- Kiss – “Tears Are Falling” 7″ Single (Bonus Edition) (1985)
- Kiss – Creatures of the Night (1985 Re-Issue)
- Vinnie Vincent Invasion – Vinnie Vincent Invasion (1986)
- Black N’ Blue – Nasty Nasty (1986)
- Ace Frehley – Frehley’s Comet (1987)
- Kiss – Exposed VHS (1987)
- Kiss – Crazy Nights (1987)
- Kiss – “Crazy Crazy Nights” – 12″ Single (Bonus Edition)
- Kiss – “Reason To Live” – 12″ Picture Disc (Bonus Edition)
The Bootleg Series:
- Kiss – ‘Accept No Imitations’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ASYLUM TOUR)
- Kiss – Look Wot You Dun to Me (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (CRAZY NIGHTS TOUR)
- Kiss – The Summer of Satan: The Devils Ride Out! (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DESTROYER TOUR)
- Kiss – Return to Capital Center (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DYNASTY TOUR)
- Kiss – With Fire & Thunder (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (HOTTER THAN HELL TOUR)
- Kiss – Northhampton PA March 19th, 1975 (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DRESSED TO KILL TOUR)
- Kiss – The Hottest Show On Earth (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (THE HOTTEST SHOW ON EARTH TOUR 2010)
- Kiss – All the Way to the Ball Room (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (Australian Tour 1995)
- Kiss – Kiss of Thunder (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (The Rising Sun Tour 2006)
- Kiss – Agora Ballroom 1974: The Cleveland Broadcast plus Bonus Cuts (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (THE KISS TOUR)
- Kiss – Hotter Than Hell: Radio Broadcast 1976 (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ROCK & ROLL OVER TOUR)
- Kiss – The Tickler (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (LICK IT UP TOUR 1983)
- Kiss – Barbarize (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ANIMALIZE WORLD TOUR 1984 – North American Tour)
- Kiss – They Only Come Out At Night (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ANIMALIZE WORLD TOUR 1984 – EUROPEAN TOUR)
- Wicked Lester and the Progeny Demo Sessions (Bootleg)
Kiss – The Box Set:
- The Box Set (Part 1 of 6)
- The Box Set – Disc One 1966-1975 (Part 2 of 6)
- The Box Set – Disc Two 1975-1977 (Part 3 of 6)
- The Box Set – Disc Three 1976-1982 (Part 4 of 6)
- The Box Set – Disc Four 1983-1989 (Part 5 of 6)
- The Box Set – Disc Five 1992-1999 (Part 6 of 6)
Gene Simmons – The Vault:
- Part 1 – The Grand Opening
- Part 2 – Disk 1
- Part 3 – Disk 2
- Part 4 – Disk 3
- Part 5 – Disk 4
- Part 6 – Disk 5
- Part 7 – Disk 6
- Part 8 – Disk 7
- Part 9 – Disk 8
- Part 10 – Disk 9
- Part 11 – Disk 10
- Part 12 – The Bonus Disk
- Part 13 – The Best Songs of the Vault
- Part 14 – The Worst Songs of the Vault
- Part 15 – The Final Verdict
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
That is some Record Company Laziness on that picture disc. Kiss only came to the UK once in support of Crazy Nights and it’s singles and that was on the Monsters Of Rock show under Iron Maiden. It was clear they were using backing tapes at the show too as they had some synching difficulties during the show. So, no gigs, no B-Sides and no effort in the releases like this picture disc damaged the bands fandom in the UK Rock Scene. Many one loyal fans fell away during this era of poor service. They didn’t come back until the Revenge Tour but they did bring the Hot In The Shade Sphinx with them when they finally turned up.
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This was the time a lot of people checked out. I was even becoming hesitant too. I saw this tour, but missed the next one and Revenge brought me back (even though I had to miss that tour too).
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I’m currently reading a book on Kiss and they talk to Gary Corbett who played keys and did the sampling. The review will be posted in a few weeks. How’s that for hype?? Gary is very forthright in what he says about KISS at this time.
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Oohhhh. Sounds good
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Nice, can’t wait to hear about it.
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This song sounds like it belongs in a Folgers Commercial, years before Paul did that unaired commercial.
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It belongs in something sappy. Maybe a cheese commercial since it is nothing but cheesy.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ‘picture disc’ where the picture didn’t cover the entire disc – that’s a misleading product name!
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Yeah, not the best picture disc. Back cover is nice though.
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Sloppy front cover but cool back cover. They could have dug deeper with some live tracks I’m sure.
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Yeah, not much effort put in to this at all.
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Cool to have to the collection though
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Agreed. I’ll still take it.
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It’s pretty disappointing that there’s a hole on Paul’s face on the front of the picture disc, shouldn’t the record company get the band’s approval before putting stuff out?
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I came here to say the same thing!
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I will send them a letter and complain now that we have so many disappointed with this release.
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Well it’s not like Paul needed another hole in his head haha
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I am sure he doesn’t want anymore than were already there.
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One would think, anyway!
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Haha that’s so funny!
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I agree with the first comment about the record label laziness on this picture disc.
And they ruined the track listing with Secretly Cruel.
But I’m still a fan of this era. Lol.
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I like the back picture the best so I was thrilled to find it, but the track listing is boring.
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