(Album ©1976, Casablanca Records)
As I’ve recounted previously, Kiss’ fifth album was 
the first Kiss record I ever saw or heard, in my second grade class when a classmate brought in his older brother’s copy of this record and proceeded to play “I Want You” in class, blowing my (and I’m sure my teacher’s) mind. Not the best Kiss album, though pretty good, it was certainly the one with the most interesting album cover, designed by artist Michael Doret. The sticker-like quality of this cover image was reinforced by the record label, Casablanca, as they included an actual sticker of the cover art in the LPs. They were precut to be used with each band member separately, and I unfortunately used mine right away…
Michael Doret worked with Kiss again
in 2009 on their Sonic Boom record, which was laid out in a similar, way. And then the album’s cover was used as a reference for Anthrax’s 2018 live album Kings Among Scotland, 42 years after it was first released (see below).
Rock And Roll Over was recorded with Jimi Hendrix’s producer, Eddie Kramer, in Nanuet, NY (less than 10 miles from my old house) and sold more than one million copies, spawning two singles – “Hard Luck Woman” and “Calling Dr. Love” – which became concert staples. It was the band’s second straight RIAA-certified platinum studio album, following Destroyer from earlier in the same year. This album was released amid a string of 6 platinum albums in a row in less than 5 years during the second half of the 1970’s, which is truly impressive.
I find it really strange that I’ve written about this album twice already in this blog, given that it is far from my favorite Kiss record. The fact is, though, that the impact this record had on me is absolutely foundational, both because it was the first to open my eyes and ears to what else was out there in the world beyond my parents’ music, and by 1976, Kiss had figured out how to maximize their visual presentation to go along with their sophomoric yet well-crafted songwriting so well that it mesmerized a then 7-year-old me, along with millions of other kids of all ages in the US and around the world.
