Rock and Roll Over

Rock and Roll Over is Kiss’ fifth studio album and their sixth album overall in three years, coming just eight months after Destroyer in November 1976. After the extra production details on Destroyer (brought on by Alice Cooper/Lou Reed producer Bob Ezrin), the band opted for a live feel here, working with Jimi Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer at the Star Theatre in Nanuet, N.Y. The songs are visceral and hard-hitting, featuring several live favorites: Gene Simmons’ “Calling Dr. Love,” Paul Stanley’s “I Want You,” and “Hard Luck Woman,” a ballad that Stanley wanted to give to Rod Stewart but Simmons insisted go to Kiss drummer Peter Criss, after his Top 10 hit with “Beth.” “Hard Luck Woman” reached No. 15 on the U.S. pop chart. Many songs play up the group’s “sex and rock ’n’ roll” stance (drugs were of no use to Gene Simmons); see the forward-thrusting “Take Me,” “Ladies Room,” “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em,” “Mr. Speed,” “See You in Your Dreams,” and “Makin’ Love.”