Peter Criss is the first solo album by
Peter Criss, the drummer of American
hard rock band
Kiss. It was one of four solo albums released by the members of Kiss on September 18, 1978, but yet under the Kiss label, coming out alongside Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.[1] The album was produced by
Vini Poncia, who went on to produce Dynasty (1979) and Unmasked (1980) for Kiss.
Songs
Four of the tracks ("I’m Gonna Love You", "Don't You Let Me Down", "That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes" & "Hooked on Rock 'n' Roll") were originally written in 1971 for Criss's pre-Kiss band, Lips.[2] Criss also covers "
Tossin' and Turnin'", which was a No. 1 hit for
Bobby Lewis in the U.S. during the summer of
1961.[3] The song was subsequently covered by Kiss on their
1979 tour.
Reviews for Peter Criss were mostly negative. In a retrospective assessment
AllMusic called it "the most undistinguished of the bunch, lacking hooks on either the pop-metal rockers or the power ballads, as well as personality throughout."[1] The album was the lowest charting of all the Kiss solo albums of 1978, reaching No. 43 on the US Billboard album chart.[8] Of the four solo albums, Peter Criss was the only album to have two singles released from it: "Don't You Let Me Down" and "You Matter to Me", neither of which charted. In an interview in Goldmine magazine, Stanley and Simmons dismissed the record as being completely opposite of the aims of what Kiss music was about.
Track listing
All credits adapted from the original release.[9]
All songs were written by
Peter Criss and Stan Penridge, except where noted.
Steve Lukather – guitar solo on "That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes" and "Hooked on Rock and Roll"
Bill Cuomo – keyboards 1-5 and 9
Richard Gerstein – keyboards on tracks 6–7, and 10
Davey Faragher, Tommy Faragher, Danny Faragher, Jimmy Faragher, Maxine Dixon, Maxine Willard, Julia Tillman, Vini Poncia, Annie Sutton, Gordon Grody – backing vocals
Tom Saviano – Horns arranged
Michael Carnahan –
saxophone solo on "Tossin' and Turnin'",
baritone sax on "Hooked on Rock 'n' Roll"
Lenny Castro – percussion on "Tossin' and Turnin'" and "Don't You Let Me Down"