"You're in the Psycho Circus!"
Psycho Circus is the 18th studio album by the American hard rock band KISS, released on September 22, 1998. It is the last album to date to feature all four original members of the band, as Ace Frehley and Peter Criss would later retire from the band and be replaced respectively by Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.Tracklist:
- "Psycho Circus" (5:30)
- "Within" (5:10)
- "I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll" (3:32)
- "Into The Void" (4:22)
- "We Are One" (4:41)
- "You Wanted The Best" (4:15)
- "Raise Your Glasses" (4:15)
- "I Finally Found My Way" (3:40)
- "Dreamin'" (4:12)
- "Journey Of 1,000 Years" (4:47)
- "In Your Face" (Japanese CD bonus track; 3:35)
Principal members:
- Paul Stanley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, bass guitar on track 8 and the chorus section of track 3, acoustic guitar on tracks 5 and 8.
- Ace Frehley – lead guitar and lead vocals on "Into the Void", "You Wanted the Best", and "In Your Face", acoustic guitar on tracks 5 and 8.
- Gene Simmons – lead vocals, bass guitar (except tracks 1, 8 and 9), rhythm guitar on track 5
- Peter Criss – drums on "Into the Void", lead vocals on "You Wanted the Best" and "I Finally Found My Way"
"Welcome to the tropes":
- Album Title Drop: "Psycho Circus" on the Title Track.
- Based on a Great Big Lie: This album was widely announced as the first studio album in over a decade by the band's original line-up. In reality, only one of the album's songs, "Into the Void", was recorded with all 4 band members, this song being also the only one where Criss actually played drums. Ace Frehley only played lead guitars on three songs and vocals on three other songs. The rest of the songs were recorded with studio musicians Kevin Valentine (drums) and Tommy Thayer (lead guitar; he later picked up the "Spaceman" make-up).
- Call-Back: The last regular song on this album, "Journey of 1,000 Years" has lyrical and musical references to two earlier songs on the album — parts of the lyrics reference the song "Within", while the string melody is taken from guitar harmonies in the title track.
- Creepy Circus Music: "Psycho Circus" has this as its intro.
- Face on the Cover: All four members of KISS have portraits next to a Monster Clown image.
- Heavy Meta: "I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll".
- Longest Song Goes First: The opening title track is the longest song in the album, at a length of 5:30. It's 20 seconds longer than the next track and second-longest song, the 5:10 "Within".
- Monster Clown: The lenticular cover of the album features the face of one.
- The Night That Never Ends: "Within" sings about "Night without day/And every day's black as the night."
- One-Word Title: "Within" and "Dreamin'".
- Pep-Talk Song: "Raise Your Glasses".
- Record Producer: Their only album with Bruce Fairbairn, who would die a year later.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "I Finally Found My Way", and to a lesser extent "We Are One".
- Title Track: "Psycho Circus".
- Vocal Tag Team: All four members taking turns on the vocals for "You Wanted The Best".
- You Are Not Alone: "We Are One", which downright uses it as the first line and was stated by Gene to be an homage to the fans.
