After the solo albums, Kiss jumped back in to the studio in January/February 1979 and began work on their seventh studio album (the solo albums aren’t really considered Kiss Studio albums) to be called ‘Dynasty’. It was set up to be the return of Kiss as it was the band’s first “band” album since 1977’s Love Gun. I say “band” because by this point, “band” is a very loose term.
The band was having serious problems with Peter Criss at this point. Peter had hurt his hand in a car accident, he was heavy in to drugs and alcohol and he was basically difficult to work with. To help try and ease things with Peter, the band hired Vini Poncia as the producer as he produced Peter’s solo album so they thought it would make things easier…it didn’t! In fact, Vini did not feel’s Peter’s playing on the recordings was sub par…basically, it sucked. So, they brought in a drummer to do all the drum parts. His name was Anton Fig and he played drums on Ace’s solo album. Anton played on every song, but one. The one song Peter played on was the one he sang, “Dirty Livin'”. It would also be the last Kiss song he played on any album until 1998’s Pyscho Circus (which is a whole other story to be discussed much later in the series).
New Release – Dokken – ‘The Lost Songs: 1978-1981′
Never Heard Before – The 13th Floor Elevators – ‘The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators‘
Not My Normal Genre – Miles Davis – ‘Kind of Blue’
From My Collection – Led Zeppelin – ‘Led Zeppelin IV’
From My Collection – Queen – ‘Innuendo’
The Sony Walkman: I wrote about the advent of the Sony Walkman in the 1979 post as that was when it went on sale in Japan. In the U.S., it went on sale on June 25, 1980 almost a year later. The way you listen to music was changed forever!! (at least until the CD and then the MP3 and now streaming). Who didn’t have one of these if you were a kid in the 80’s. I definitely did. It helped spur my love for music as it now was more portable and more personal. It was better than just the radio, I could listen to what I wanted to wherever and whenever I wanted. I used mine while I mowed the lawn (and every now and again I would snag the cord on the mower and pull my headphones off). I had a boombox, but that wasn’t the same as the Walkman. There was nothing better (until my iPod). 
Marilyn Manson – We Are Chaos – (Loma Vista Recordings / Concord): Marilyn Manson is back with his 11th Studio album…crazy to think he has that many. It has been three years since his prior release and I am sure the fans are eager to hear more of his industrial, shock rock brand of metal.
Mastodon – Medium Rarities – (Reprise Records) – Vinyl out 10/16: I love it when a home town band makes it big and these Atlanta boys have done that and then some. This is a cool release and I might dive in to it as it is a compilation of rare tracks from the band. Rare tracks are always fun.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 