Bob Ezrin Regrets Putting Paul Stanley in “A Very Difficult Position” While Creating This KISS Album

Bob Ezrin is reflecting on his work with KISS. During the KISS Kruise: Land-Locked in Las Vegas event, the producer shared how the band’s 1981 concept album Music from “The Elder” put Paul Stanley in “a bad spot.”

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The topic came up during a Q&A, during which Ezrin revealed that, around 2016, he listened to the album for the first time in decades.

“I was sitting there just as a punter listening and thinking, ‘Wow, listen to that that’s really great!’” Ezrin said, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. “There are some amazing moments on the record.”

Despite that, Ezrin believes that the LP “put Paul in a very difficult position because he was basically playing in an almost operatic role.”

While Stanley may have been better suited for the challenge after his 1999 stint in Toronto’s Phantom of the Opera, this was well before he gained that experience.

“Before The Phantom that was completely foreign to him, he was playing this musical theater role which was not comfortable for him,” Ezrin explained. “He did a fantastic job at it, but at the end of the end of the day he didn’t feel fulfilled like he would have if we had done a regular rock record.”

Even with the challenges the album presented, Ezrin said he does not regret his work on the album.

“Everything you do along the way is valuable in some way or another, even if it’s just to teach you a lesson,” he said. “There are some really great performances by some amazing people, several of whom are no longer with us. so to me, It’s a monument to that time and to those people at that time.”

Bob Ezrin Discusses the Late Ace Frehley

One of the late people featured on the album is guitarist Ace Frehley, who died in October.

“He wasn’t really a fan of The Elder. He didn’t really want to do that record. The rest of us did,” Ezrin revealed during the Q&A of Frehley. “To his credit, he pulled up his big boy pants and gave some great performances on the album.”

“In hindsight, I’d have to say he was probably right and we were wrong,” he continued. “But you know, you just have to do your best with the ideas that you have and the time you are in.”

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