KISS - Asylum - (1985) - (Mercury 422 826 099-1 M-1) - Vinyl - {First US Pressing} 24-Bit/96kHz + 16-Bit/44kHz

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KISS - Asylum - (1985) - (Mercury 422 826 099-1 M-1) - Vinyl - {First US Pressing} 24-Bit/96kHz + 16-Bit/44kHz

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Asylum is the thirteenth studio album by KISS, released September 16, 1985. It features the debut of lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, who played with the band on their Animalize tour and officially replaced Mark St. John in September 1984. He was the band's third lead guitarist since the departure of Ace Frehley in late 1982. This new lineup of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr, and Bruce Kulick would last for six years until Carr's death in November 1991. When KISS concluded the “Animalize” Tour in the spring of 1985 there must have been something of a feeling that they had been let out of the insane asylum they’d been in for the previous 5 years. The musical experimentation that had started with the “Dynasty” album of 1979 and ended with “The Elder,” had transformed KISS from selling out stadiums to barely being able to fill music halls. Moreover, the musical demographic had changed. The number of children attending shows with their parents alienated many KISS fans, and those children were quick to hop on other fads anyway. The bands that had opened for them during the early 1980s, including Mötley Crüe, John Cougar, and Bon Jovi, were doing far better than they were, in some cases leaving them in the dust commercially. These bands were quickly picked up by, and benefited from, the new medium of MTV while KISS’ successes with the station were marginal at best. Many of the new fans had not known the band during their makeup past so the band were truly playing to a whole new audience. A small percentage of “diehard” fans of the original classic era of the band also remained loyal. The name alone was no longer enough in many cases to sell product or concert tickets. With the return to at least halfway respectable sales figures, a stable band with “team-players,” who knew their places (and thus their roles as “hired members” rather than “company partners”), it was like the band had come “out of the asylum.” This, perhaps appropriately, would become the working title for the next studio album. However, that would eventually simply be shortened and become “Asylum.” I have included complete scans from the original US pressing.

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KISS - Asylum - (1985) - (Mercury 422 826 099-1 M-1) - Vinyl - {First US Pressing} 24-Bit/96kHz + 16-Bit/44kHz

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The files are interchangeable!!!

Please enjoy hearing Asylum as it should be heard from the original vinyl!!!