It must’ve seemed like a huge leap at the time from the garagey sound of the first three Kiss records and the whallop of ALIVE to the über-production of DESTROYER (and I believe they claim they even lost fans over it), but twenty-someodd years later, it still sounds like nothing else on earth (though the band themselves certainly tried to replicate its singular vibe, to no avail). From the echoey expanse of the sound, to the vast aresenal of theretofore taboo instrumentation (pianos all over the place, organs, female back-up vocals, church choirs, all those strings, oboes, french horns and woodwinds on “Beth”.….and is that a fuckin’ calliope on “Flaming Youth”?) it’s a fucking herculean effort. Original pressings even came appended with a mysterious coda track reminiscent of the fabled “inner groove” of SGT.PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, featuring Paul Stanley ruminating about having parties to an obviously receptive audience while the choir from “Great Expectations” warble said silly song’s chorus angelically). What an opus!

The songs themselves, of course, are the stars of the show. Arguably their finest selections are here, notably the epic “Detroit Rock City”, the genuinely sinister sounding “God of Thunder” (written by Paul, actually), the anthemic “Shout It Out Loud” (which I’ve always preferred over “Rock’n’Roll All Night”) and, of course, their power ballad-minus-the-power, “Beth.” Maybe not “something for everyone,” but it’s a pretty wide array of offerings all the same.

Once again, though, what really sets it apart is producer Bob Ezrin’s touch. Lending the band so much sonic space to work within, it sounds as if it were recorded in the apse of the Cathedral of St.John the Divine in Upper Manhattan. Ace’s guitars wail mournfully from far off corners of the huge room. Peter’s drumming reverberates up from some dank lower chamber. Booming piano keys augment Gene’s bass. Children’s voices like demonic cherubim with leather bat wings flap and giggle all over “God of Thunder.” It’s a masterpiece, by gosh!

The track that struck me most upon re-discovery is one I’ve normally never given a great deal of thought to, but it just seemed so wonderfully ludicrous today that I couldn’t stop smiling. “Great Expectations” is inflated with so much needless pomp and circumstance, that it’s hard to believe it was recorded with a straight face. Basically an entirely presumptious excercise in self-mythologizing (written by Gene, naturally), painstaking detailing the hopes, dreams and aspirations of every self-(dis)respecting groupie (“you know what my fingers can do, and you wish you were the one I was doin’ it to!”), Ezrin forgives Simmons’ laughably pretentious preenings (I’m sure Ezrin was paid handsomely enough to overlook the band’s ego problems) and bolsters proceedings with lilting pianos, drama-drenched surges of guitar and hauls in some innocent church choir of eunuched choir boys to chime in on the incongruous, Dickens-pilfering chorus (is Gene suggesting that it is indeed a great thing to expect sexual favors from the band?) Such hubris wouldn’t rear its head some clumsily again until the unforgivale “Charisma” on the Dynasty album. But dressed up in Ezrin’s magic, it’s a fuckin’ hymn.

I could go on and on, and already have. I haven’t even touched on the cover, which remains one of my very favorite single images of all time.

So, anyway, raise your glasses (or ready your slingshots and prove me wrong) to praise DESTROYER by KISS