Animalize Album - Thrills In The Night
Written by Paul Stanley and Jean Beauvoir. Jean Beauvoir appears on the track on bass and backing vocals. Jean had become involved in the KISS camp during the “Creatures Of The Night” tour when his then band, fronted by the outrageous Wendy O. Williams, the Plasmatics, opened for KISS. As a musician Jean was much more than many might have expected from being tall and dark with a blond mohawk! When released as a single, in early 1985, backed with “Burn Bitch Burn,” the single didn’t chart.
The single featured an edit version that shortened the song from 4:21 to 3:57. Oddly, instead of shortening the song by starting the fade out earlier or during the final three repetitions of the chorus, this edit deletes half of the first verse. The lyrical section which is cut: “Ties her hair up and her blouse buttoned tight / Gets her work done as she waits for the night... / All the people, tell me what would they say / If they knew her, how she hides it away.”
A video was made for the track, which was originally intended to be a concept piece. Concept segments were filmed in Louisville, Kentucky on December 16, 1984. Directed by Albie Vos the “concept” idea was abandoned with the video instead becoming a live performance piece using parts of the December 8 show in Detroit which was filmed for MTV.
“Thrills In The Night” also underwent shrinkage in arrangement during the recording sessions in May. An early mix of the basic track from 5/16/84 runs 4:45, though it seems somewhat plodding. This mix doesn’t have any lead guitar overdubs and only has vocals during the chorus sections, with the “Thrills In The Night” refrain being repeated... A second late-May mix of the song sees the tempo increased resulting in a 4:28 instrumental. This rough mix has the full vocals throughout the song. It’s also very evident from this mix that Eric’s drums, notably the cymbals, are very much lost in the mix which might help explain why a certain session drummer was later brought in to add fills. Another cutting features Mark St. John working on the overdub at the start of the song. Lasting only 30 seconds, the attempt is slightly off in terms of timing prior to Paul’s vocals beginning. The attempt fades out during the first verse...
An SIR rehearsal of "Thrills In The Night" starts off with a bit of guitar and drum warm-up. Following a false start, the band performs a 4:39 instrumental version of the song. This recording could date from either before the recording sessions, or be a rehearsal for the tour. This rehearsal includes a full guitar solo that is somewhat similar to the album version following a basically similar structure. However, it lacks many of the scales and whammy-bar effects. It’s also nearly 10 seconds longer than the album version of the song. After the solo the instrumental continues through the final verse and what would have been two repetitions of the chorus before breaking down. Mark plays some lead over the final two chorus repetitions, similar to on the album.
Following the attempt, Paul comments, “I have to live with it overnight, ‘cause I’m not sure. I can't quite sing and play at the same time.” Regardless, the arrangement was essentially nailed even though the timing indicates that the arrangement was still somewhat fluid. The full track runs 5:31 including the discussion. Amusingly, this practice comes off a rehearsal tape that recorded over some Wendy O. Williams material. Part of “Thief In The Night” and all of version of “Opus In Cm7” survive. These mixes appear to be different from the Wendy’s albums with the drums being absolutely massive in the mix, akin to the “Creatures Of The Night” sound...
A second instrumental/rehearsal circulates that runs 4:57, nearly 45 seconds longer than the album version, which features scat vocals. There are no proper vocals as such throughout the song. There are sections where it appears that Mark is working out some lead parts for the song, notably during the solo section. The piece ends with the music just falling apart...
