Anyone who knows me at all could have guessed that I’d find a way to get Kiss included on this feature sooner or later. But can you blame me? Whatever you think about their music, Kiss had its share of memorable album art back in the day. But for a slight twist, I went with one that I don’t usually see called out as one of the group’s best – 1975’s Dressed to Kill:

In contrast to the more popular covers for Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, and Love Gun, which seem to imbue Mssrs. Simmons, Stanley, Frehley, and Criss with superhero or demigod status, this cover opts for a more down-to-earth visual. Oddly enough, the genesis of this photo came from an earlier comic designed to show Kiss as superheroes.

Basically, the idea was that they swooped into town to save music fans from the horrors of a John Denver concert, and ended up changing out of their suits in a phone booth à la Clark Kent. A photo shoot was staged using that as inspiration, and one of the photos ended up as the cover to the band’s third album.

The idea of classic Kiss as larger-than-life figures is so cliché by now that the notion of them in regular garb just appeals to me.

Oh, and here’s the back cover:

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