KISS 'LOVE GUN' FIRST US PRESSING 1977 CUSTOM LABELS & INNER SLEEVE $7.98 CODE

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KISS 'LOVE GUN' 1977 FIRST U.S. PRESSING ~ CUSTOM LABELS & INNER SLEEVE $7.98 CODE
KISS "LOVE GUN" LABEL: CASABLANCA NBLP 7057 ('NBLP 7057-7.98' SPINE/SLEEVE) RELEASED: JUNE 30, 1977 EDITION: FIRST AMERICAN PRESSING PRESSING PLANT: PITMAN ENGINEERS: EDDIE KRAMER & CORKY STASIAK COVER PAINTING ARTWORK: KEN KELLY ALBUM COVER DESIGN: DENNIS WOLOCH MATRIX (SIDE A): NBLP-7057-AS STERLING
CONDITION: VINYL: VG+  INNER: EX-  SLEEVE: VG+
I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 40 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this clean, original, 1977, First US Pressing copy of KISS' 'LOVE GUN' album on the Casablanca label with the custom labels and original custom inner sleeve.
I've had this album in my collection since it was 'new', over 40 years now. It's still in very nice condition and still has the original custom inner sleeve. It has the original very cool and colorful Casablanca custom 'Love Gun' labels, but unfortunately the cardboard 'Love Gun' insert is missing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a very cool, timeless, rocking album from one of my very Favorite bands when I was a youngster, Kiss! The album still sounds as raw and powerful as the day I first heard it over 40 years ago.
Kiss were still the greatest rock band of all time when this album was made in 1977. It's loud, rocking and fun, exactly what rock and roll was all about at the time. Ace's guitar work is fantastic here and the band is at their musical peak.
'Love Gun' was released 6 months after ‘Rock And Roll Over’ and it was the final crowning achievement to their terrific mid 70's run of classic albums. This album still sounds fresh after all these years.
~~~~~~~~ IF you're interested, I put a write-up about the history of KISS at the bottom of this listing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Love Gun is a great album and was polished to perfection in the studio by producer Eddie Kramer who helped create 10 short and to the point rock and roll songs that not only showcase each of the group’s four personalities and talents, but also manage to fit well together. His studio production captured the bands true rocking spirit. There's a nice blend of harder rocking songs and more pop oriented songs on this album.
With all the make-up and hype, Kiss' musicianship is often overlooked, but these guys could rock as hard as any band on the planet. And they could also write great songs, another thing the critics often overlook.
By 1977, Kiss were at the top of the Rock'n'Roll world. 'Love Gun' represents Kiss at their prime and Kiss at their best! Their records were selling like crazy and they took the marketing world by storm. 
This album was the first studio album to feature all 4 band members singing lead vocals on at least one song. Ace Frehley finally got his chance to sing a song, and what a great song it is.
This, unfortunately, was the last of the “Classic” Kiss albums from the late 70's. When the band's bank accounts inflate, so do their egos. Peter Criss quit the band shortly after this album and 'Love Gun' was the last time the original band would be featured on an album for many years.
Next, the band released the ill-fated '78 solo albums and then the disco-leaning 'Dynasty' album and they were never the same after that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The songs on this classic early KISS album include:
I Stole Your Love Christine Sixteen Got Love For Sale Shock Me Tomorrow And Tonight Love Gun Hooligan Almost Human Plaster Caster Then She Kissed Me
Of note, the song listing on the back cover of original early pressings had the songs in a different order. The original thought was to end the album with 'Hooligan' but that was changed at the last minute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Love Gun' contains many great songs, but three have gone down in history as Kiss classics: Ace's "Shock Me", the great title track, and the powerful opening track "I Stole Your Love"
'I Stole Your Love' is a fantastic opening song, a punch of pure adrenaline, and one of Paul's best songs. Both Paul and Ace have great solos and the song is utterly brilliant.
From then on out, it's one classic after another.
“Christine Sixteen” is one of Gene’s most perfect musical moments. It's a catchy, fun, upbeat track. The original Demo of the song was recorded with these 'new' kids from Los Angeles, Eddie and Alex Van Halen who would turn out OK. On the album version, producer Eddie Kramer plays the piano, and Gene plays rhythm guitar, giving the song a vintage rock and roll feel.
“Plaster Caster” is an odd song by Gene influenced by groupie Cynthia 'Plaster Caster' Albritton, who in 1968 began making casts of the erect penises of rock stars starting with Jimi Hendrix. Apparently Gene was never one of her subjects. “Plaster Caster” rocks hard and has balls (pun intended)
Ace Frehley finally gets to take lead vocals on his autobiographical song 'Shock Me'. It was his first lead vocals on a Kiss album and remained a fan favorite for years.
It's a heavy rocker about the time on the previous tour, 1976 in Lakeland Florida, when Ace touched an ungrounded metal railing and nearly electrocuted himself on stage.
The title track to 'Love Gun', which kicks off side two, is now considered a Rock and Roll classic. It’s everything a KISS anthem should be — loud, aggressive, sexy, and catchy.
It has great drumming by Peter, fantastic guitar riffs and even makes use of the E-Bow, which makes the guitar sound like a string section.
It has been in the set regularly since 1977 and is generally considered one of Paul Stanley’s best songs. 
'Got Love For Sale' and 'Tomorrow and Tonight' are classic KISS, rocking with a bit of a Pop feel, in all the best way, and full of great Ace Frehley guitar riffs.
The last song on the album is 'Then she Kissed Me' the old Phil Spector nugget. It's a nod and throwback to the old New York Girl-Group sound. Sort of Cheesy, but at least it's at the end of an otherwise fantastic album and isn't a bad closer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: Up front, I should mention that this pressing originally came with a cardboard “Love Gun” insert that required assembly and an insert for ordering Kiss merchandise. Both of those items are NOT included with this copy of the album.
VINYL: The vinyl still looks good. A few light hairlines and some light scuffs, but nothing concerning, deep or palpable. I took great care of my records, even back in those days. It's still very acceptable. It could really use a good deep cleaning to improve it. I've never cleaned it in the 40+ years I've owned it. I'll call it VG+. I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl so you can see it's still quite decent.
LABELS: This copy has the cool original, colorful, custom 'Love Gun' labels, showing the band in their full concert gear. The labels are clean and bright. No marks or writing. Very cool labels. Later pressings had basic Casablanca labels. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and careful handling over the years. 
INNER SLEEVE: The custom inner sleeve is still here and still in great condition. It has the $7.98 price code in the corner and the strange KISS band name written in what looks like blood. I'm not sure if that was somehow related to the Comic book, written with the band's blood mixed into the red ink, that was out at the time. The same bloody Kiss logo is on both sides of the sleeve.
JACKET: The jacket is  still in great condition for a 1977 original. The album cover, drawn by Ken Kelly, who also did the artwork for their ‘Destroyer’ album, shows the confident looking bandmembers, in full costume, looking like Rock Gods of some sort, standing over a harem of half-naked women at their feet. That summed up Kiss in 1977.
The back cover has printed information for the Kiss Army fan club and an address to send your $5 membership to.
As you can see, the jacket has some mild corner wear and light edge wear, but not bad. Some minor creasing in the top right corner. Spine is straight, no ring wear, no seam splits. These black covers were notorious for showing dirt, damage and ringwear, but this one looks pretty good. This has been sleeved and stored properly for years, and is still decent. You can see from my pictures it's quite nice.
This first pressing has the $7.98 price code on the sleeve (and the inner) and the new spine sticker, with the new price code information pasted over in the middle of the spine. The Jackets were printed up just before the price jump and they slapped the new higher price code on it just before release.
Finding early, original pressing Kiss albums that weren't destroyed are rare.  Original US pressings of this Kiss record don't turn up for sale that often and it's a real keeper. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They don't get much better than this! A clean original first pressing Kiss album, worthy of any vinyl collection! A great memento from back in the days when KISS ruled the Rock world.
This 'Love Gun' album is rocking, hip and cool, but also a collectible and an investment! Original pressing Kiss albums will remain collectible, probably forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,400 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for well over 20 years, so please bid with confidence!
I'm a 0ne-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far.   There's a history of KISS below if you're interested.   -- JOHN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HISTORY OF THE BAND KISS
Kiss was formed in New York City in 1972 by guitarist Paul Stanley and bass player Gene Simmons, who went on to recruit drummer Peter Criss and lead guitarist Ace Frehley.
They played around the greater NYC club scene, opening for other artists, and doing some of their own gigs, and developed a loyal following.
I first saw KISS opening for, I think, Blue Oyster Cult, back around 1974 at the Academy on 14th street. It was a big New Years Eve bash and I was there to see Iggy, who was also an opening act at the time. I don't recall much, other than they were really really loud and more like rock theater than a concert. I do remember the costumes, the dry ice smoke and Fire! during 'Fire House'. A lot of us in the audience were wondering WTF?, but they did make an impression on my young, fragile, eggshell mind. I saw them several more times after that in the in the 70's.
Their 'shock and awe' approach gained a lot of fans in the NYC area and they were signed to Neil Bogart's new local 'Casablanca' label.
They released a few albums, but they didn't sell well. Like so many bands at the time, they were MUCH better live than on vinyl.
It wasn't until 1975's double live album, 'KISS Alive', that the group finally broke through to mainstream audiences. The live version of 'Rock And Roll All Nite' was a big hit and became a party anthem for a generation of teens who grew up in the 1970's.
The appeal of Kiss was always due to their live performances, backed by massive advertising and promotion. Their stage act was always wild; 4 guys dressed in outrageously flamboyant costumes and makeup, like some kind of Rock superheroes.
Their shows had all sorts of 'gimmicks' on stage; lasers, dry ice, smoke bombs, cool lighting effects, a multi-story stage, fake blood spitting, and Gene's fire breathing. Peter Criss had a drumset that elevated on a hydraulic lift, which was pretty cool for the time.
The stage show was supported by simple, but hard-rocking songs and they created what was called 'The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Show On Earth' earning them a place in the pantheon of rock stardom.  Their live album sold well and they knew the next record had to be great to continue with their rise to fame.
The 1976 follow-up, 'Destroyer' was a great album, some say their best, and was helped out by Peter Criss' power ballad, "Beth," written for his wife, which reached the top 10. The song really wasn't the Band's 'style' but it funded an incredible run of great records and shows thru the rest of the 70's. KISS mania was in full stride between 1976 and 1979.
They recorded a string of great, platinum selling records including 1976's 'Rock and Roll Over', 1977's 'Love Gun', 1977's 'Alive II' and 1979's 'Dynasty'.
By 1977 Kiss was the most popular act in the USA, beating out Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and even the Rolling Stones. Clever marketing made them even more popular. Kiss merchandise included make-up kits, masks, board games, even pinball machines sold like crazy.
Marvel produced two KISS super-hero comic books, and there was even a Movie made called 'Kiss Meet The Phantom Of The Park.' Kiss had it's own Fan Club, called the Kiss Army, which boasted over a million members. KISS seemed to be taking over the world.
In September 1978 all four group members decided to release solo albums, all on the same day. It was the largest shipment of new records to music stores in the history of recorded music. 
The albums enjoyed varying degrees of success; Ace Frehley had a hit with 'New York Groove', and Gene Simmons had a hit single with Radioactive.'
Their 'Love Gun' album was the last record with the full band lineup and the last record of their great mid-70s run of classic albums.
The band released 'Dynasty' in 1979, which had a different style and caved in to the Disco scene that was taking over music at the time.
The combination of Ego, stress, burnout and fatigue started to show. Drummer Peter Criss left the band to be replaced by session player Anton Fig, a friend of Ace Frehley. Fig played drums on their next album, 1980's 'Unmasked', and was then replaced by local New Yorker Eric Carr. 
Ace Frehley, frustrated with the musical direction of the band, quit KISS in December 1982. He was slowly being replaced by session players on parts of their recent albums.
By 1983, music had changed and the popularity of the band was drifting away. KISS decided it was time to step out from under their make-up and show their real character and musical chops. They famously removed their make-upon MTV.
The 'new' KISS started a new era of music. Vinnie Vincent made his official appearance on 'Lick It Up', and the new style gained many new fans in Europe and the UK. The popularity of the new band continued with their next album 'Animalize'. 
The band hired famous Rock producer Bob Ezrin to help craft their next album, but around this time drummer Eric Carr fell ill with cancer and sessions were delayed. Eric died in November 1991, at the young age of 41. KISS was devastated and took a break.
The band eventually returned to work with Producer Bob Ezrin and recorded the highly praised 'Revenge' album. They added drummer Eric Singer to replace Eric Carr to finish the album. They followed that album with yet another live record, 'Alive III', in May 1993.
The Band took a long, retrospective look back at their career after Carr's death, and discovered a bunch of old footage. They officially released 2 full length Videos 'KISS Extreme Close-up' and 'KISS Konfidential' to great critical approval, which also reminded both new and older fans how great the band was.
A KISS tribute album called 'Kiss My Ass' was put together and released in 1994, with contributions from Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Wonder, The Lemonheads, Faith No More, Dinosaur Jr, Rage Against The Machine and others.
The strong interest in 'Kiss My Ass' led to a historic KISS reunion that took place on MTV. In 1996 the original KISS members -- Simmons, Frehley, Stanley and Criss all reunited for an "MTV Unplugged" concert. It was the push the band needed to keep rocking.
KISS put their make-upback on and hit the road for their great successful "Alive Worldwide" tour. After the tour the original line-up returned to the studio and made 1998's 'Psycho Circus,' the first album of new material recorded with the original four KISS members since 1979. It was one of their best albums and one of the highest selling, reaching #3 in the charts.
On January 31, 1999, KISS performed at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami.
In early 2000, the Band annonced their 'KISS Farewell tour' and set off on a World Tour. Peter Criss left the band during the tour and was replaced by Eric Singer, who controversially wears Criss' Catman makeup.
In February 2002, KISS performs at the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Salt Lake City to a massive worldwide audience.
Not bad for a band that started out playing the dingy dirty clubs of New York City for kids like me back in the early 1970's.
KISS have continued to tour and are still performing today on their 'End of the Road' tour, which they say will be their last. We will see...
THANKS AGAIN FOR READING IF YOU GOT THIS FAR ~ JOHN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~