Track Listing

1. Psycho Circus
2. Within
3. I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll
4. Into the Void
5. We Are One
6. You Wanted the Best
7. Raise Your Glasses
8. I Finally Found My Way
9. Dreamin'
10. Journey of 1,000 Years

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36655 in Music
• Published on: 1998
• Released on: 2004-03-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Album Description
Japanese-only release limited to one pressing only. Featuresan animated 3-D 'Psycho Circus' NTSC videotape with 3-D glasses for viewing, a one dimensional version of the 'Psycho Circus' video and a picture CD with 'We Are One', 'Psycho Circus' and 'In Your Face'. All of this comes packaged in a beautiful, full color die-cut 1.5" x 6" x 7.5" display box. 1999 release.

Amazon.com
Talk about the roar of the greasepaint: On this first studio effort together since Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley welcomed back once-exiled mates Peter Criss and Ace Frehley with open talons (was it really almost 20 years? How the pterodactyl flies), the unkillable beast called Kiss reels off a few potent additions to its undeniably, er, prodigious body of work. Still stubbornly plodding through the musical tar pits of their classic-rock youth--a little Beatles harmony here, a little Alice Cooper guitar noise there--the dressed-to-ill foursome makes the clock roll back (if not completely unwind) with the fist-waving "I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll" and the if-Green-Day-can-do-it-why-not-us acoustic surprise, "We Are One." Better even than the album is the in-booklet merchandise ad, which hawks Kisstory II in all its "440-page, 9-pound" glory, for a mere $158.95. Like they say: size does matter. --Billy Altman

Entertainment Weekly
This is rock with a capital R, captured in all its cheesy glory.

Customer Reviews

Unfortunately - NOT the original KISS!
Fans of the Original KISS saw this album as a dream come true: Gene, Paul, Ace & Peter back together and in the studio cranking out a new KISS album! Great concept, however, the cd is clearly a typical Gene & Paul album with a bunch of studio musicians rounding things out. This has been admitted by each band member by now: Ace and Peter barely played on this. What was the point of that? Go purchase "Asylum" or "Crazy Nights" if you want to hear the 'Gene & Paul Project' that KISS became after Ace and Peter left the band. These guys should have locked themselves in a rehearsal loft like the old days and created REAL KISS music again! What a horrible disappointment this album is.
As for the actual tunes, things get off to a pretty good start with the title track and "Within" (even though this song is clearly a "Carnival of Souls" leftover). From there, we are left with a bunch of self-aware hackneyed anthems about the band, the fans, and what they have meant to each other. The only other redeeming tune is Gene's final song on the album which could have fit nicely onto "Destroyer" back in 1976.
One hopes that before KISS calls it quits, they will make an album that features only Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter singing, writing, and playing. Give us an actual Original KISS album in the incredible tradition of KISS, Hotter Than Hell, Dressed To Kill, Alive, and Rock And Roll Over. Give us the four guys who started this whole thing - there's nothing like Gene, Paul, Ace, & Peter together.

A great CD plus package for a true KISS fan.
By now, every Kiss fan has purchased the original release of the Psycho Circus CD. Some of us really like it and some of us have been let down. Regardless of that we all agree that a new album by the original line-up was something we could not pass up! Kiss fans, if you dare, buy this version of Psycho Circus! Not only do you get the original disc but the bonus disc is priceless. It has almost a Kiss Alive edge to it. Ace delivers a very cool guitar solo, Peter's drumming is super, and Gene & Paul deliver the goods as usual. I feel that this is a sleeper disc because of the split by Kiss fans on this album, but believe me when I tell you it is worth the price. Gene Simmons once said that Kiss has not recorded their greatest effort yet. True. But this is a great CD to buy for your hard earned buck. If you do not have this disc yet, do not buy the domestic version. The import package is a overall better buy for the true Kiss fan!

Good, But Not Quite A Classic
PSYCHO CIRCUS has been much maligned by both crtics and fans. It has also been praised by both; believe it or not both ROLLING STONE and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY gave the album good reviews (I guess hell must really have frozen over!). The truth is that this is a solid Hard Rock album with a couple of great songs. Album opener "Psycho Circus" easily qualifies as a KISS classic. Both catchy and powerful, it is the perfect updating of their 70's style. "Within" is a dark, dynamic song from GENE who attempts to put a 90's spin on "God Of Thunder," with fairly successful results. "I Pledge Allegiance..." is one of those "good, but not as good as it should have been" songs. You hear some good ideas, and it is fairly catchy, but Paul's choice of working with co-writer Holly Knight sabotages any chance the song had of being a classic. Ace Frehley makes his one songwriting contribution with "Into The Void," easily one of the best songs he has co-written in 20 years, and one of the 3 new KISS classics on the album. "We Are One," is a good pop tune, with a very nice sentiment, but should not have been included on an album already overloaded with "pop" songs. "You Wanted The Best," on the other hand, is the third of the new KISS classics on the album. With a grinding riff over a "Ballroom Blitz," or "Kickstart My Heart" type drum part, it sounds the most like KISS from the 70's out of all the songs on PSYCHO CIRCUS. Paul Stanley makes one of his best "Pop-Metal" contributions ever with "Raise Your Glasses," one of the most infectiously catchy songs of the last 10 years, not just from KISS, but from anyone. The real letdown is the ballad "I Finally Found My Way," which was written by Paul and former KISS, Alice Cooper, and Pink Floyd producer Bob Ezrin. It is a truly mediocre entry in an already mediocre genre - the Rock Ballad. Things pick up a little with Paul's "Dreamin," which, yes, is very similar to Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen." It also has significant differences from that song, and stands up on its own as a moody, dynamic track co-written by former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick. The American version of the album ends with "Journey Of 1,000 Years," a song which would have been very much at home on Gene's solo album from 1978. Not a particularly heavy or "Rockin" song, it is an above average "filler" track. The Japanese version ends with a song written by Gene for Ace to sing, called "In Your Face." "I.Y.F." is a truly uninspired song, which if you look up the word 'mediocre' in the dictionary, I belive it is listed as the newest definition (5. listen to "In Your Face" by KISS). But the truth is with so much solid material, and 3 new classics, PSYCHO CIRCUS is definitely worth buying for any KISS fan. Both the die-hards and the casual fans alike will enjoy this one if they give it a chance.