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He was still finishing the final verse in the studio as the recording commenced. Even with the changes the song very nearly didn't happen for the album with producer Bruce Fairbairn being unsure that Frehley could get the song fixed in time to record it the next day. Ace just changed the title of the song after the demo was done, which Gene had mentioned to him". I have the original demos that were cut in Ace's studio, and basically, it's the same song. Despite Simmons claiming he and Stanley needed to provide substantial help arranging the song, co-writer Karl Cochran has said, "as far as the basic song structure, almost nothing was changed from what Ace and I wrote. Frehley then went up to a separate room and rewrote the lyrics to his song in 30 minutes. Frehley would record the song under the title "Pursuit of Rock and Roll" for his 2018 solo album Spaceman.įrehley's "Into the Void" was co-written with Karl Cochran and originally titled "Shakin' Sharp Shooter", but Gene Simmons and Stanley were unhappy with the lyrics and title. He mentions that the title and song were deemed very similar to the song "I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock 'n' Roll". In 2011, in Frehley's book No Regrets, he says that he wrote a lot of songs for the album, one of those songs being titled "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Rock 'n' Roll". Stanley and Simmons have claimed various, and often conflicting, reasons for their not playing much on the album from their not being capable, not showing up, to their wanting new financial deals, and to its being the producer's choice to not use them. Criss stated in his book Makeup to Breakup: My Life in and Out of Kiss that Paul Stanley was so determined not to work with him and Frehley in the studio that they were paid $850,000 each not to participate in the recording. As with Dynasty and Unmasked, however, many of the songs were recorded by uncredited players.Īce Frehley and Criss' contribution was used sparingly in the production of the album, with Criss playing drums only on "Into the Void".
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Following the highly successful 1996–97 reunion tour, Psycho Circus was marketed as the first new studio album by the band's original lineup since 1979's Dynasty (as Peter Criss did not participate on the 1980s Unmasked, although Criss' drum work is limited to only one of the nine songs on Psycho Circus).
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