By the release of their third album, 1975's
Dressed to Kill,
Kiss were fast becoming America's top
rock concert attraction, yet their record sales up to this point did not reflect their ticket sales.
Casablanca label head
Neil Bogart decided to take matters into his own hands, and produced the new record along with the band. The result is more vibrant sounding than its predecessor, 1974's sludgefest
Hotter Than Hell, and the songs have more of an obvious
pop edge to them. The best-known song on the album by far is the party anthem
"Rock and Roll All Nite," but it was the track
"C'Mon and Love Me" that became a regional hit in the Detroit area, giving the band their first taste of radio success. Since the band was on the road for a year straight, songs such as
"Room Service" and
"Ladies in Waiting" dealt with life on the road (i.e., groupies), and a pair of songs were reworked from
Kiss' precursor band,
Wicked Lester (
"Love Her All I Can" and
"She"). With
Dressed to Kill's Top 40 showing on the
Billboard charts, the stage was now set for
Kiss' big commercial breakthrough with their next release. ~ Greg Prato