Music from "The Elder" is the ninth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released on the Casablanca Records label in 1981.

Due to poor sales, Kiss did not embark on a supporting tour for the first time in its eight-year history, opting instead to make a handful of promotional appearances.

Nevertheless, it has garnered some positive reappraisal in recent years, with some critics admitting the record had its issues, but that it was still a concept album worthy of note.

Due to the lackluster sales of Unmasked, Kiss toured exclusively outside the US for the first time in their career, except for one concert at the Palladium Theatre in New York City.

The fall 1980 issue of the Kiss Army Newsletter hinted at the style the new album was to take: "It will be hard and heavy from start to finish, straight-on rock and roll that will knock your socks off.

[4] The band and the producer decided to develop a full concept album from a fantasy short story conceived by Simmons, imagining it as a soundtrack for a blockbuster movie.

[4] Members from the American Symphony Orchestra and St. Robert's Choir arranged by Michael Kamen were employed to add an orchestral sound to the tracks.

[7] Frehley resented what he felt was Simmons' and Stanley's domination of the recording sessions and was often outvoted 2–1 on band decisions after Criss' departure, as Carr was not a partner in Kiss as the other three members were, but rather an employee.

[citation needed] The song was covered by Cher on her album Love Hurts and by the heavy metal band Witherscape on the EP The New Tomorrow.

[9] Songs that were demoed but did not end up on the album include "Deadly Weapon" (Simmons recycled the title for a different song on the Asylum album), "Nowhere to Run" (re-recorded for Killers), "Feel Like Heaven" (covered by Peter Criss on Let Me Rock You), "Heaven" (became "Breakout" on Frehley's Comet's first album and "Carr Jam 81" on Revenge), "It's My Life" (covered by Wendy O. Williams and later on The Box Set) and a few instrumentals, one confirmed to be titled "Silly Girl"[10] and at least two known only by their bootleg names "The Difference Between Men and Boys" and "Council of the Elder".

[11] The original demos for "Deadly Weapon", "Feel Like Heaven" and "Nowhere to Run" were included on the 2022 deluxe re-release of the Creatures of the Night album.

The version of Music from "The Elder" released in the US, Europe and Brazil contained a different song order than the one originally intended.

[6] The Japanese pressing of the album contained the intended song sequence, although "Escape from the Island" was excluded from the release and instead included as the B-side of "The Oath" single.

The only public appearances the band made in conjunction with the album were a January 15, 1982, appearance on the late-night variety show Fridays, where they performed "A World Without Heroes", "I" and "The Oath", Solid Gold ("A World Without Heroes" and "I"), and a January 28 lip synched performance of "I" from Studio 54, broadcast via satellite to the Sanremo Festival in Italy.

[3] When Kiss premiered Music from "The Elder" for their management and record company in October 1981, the reaction was a mixture of confusion and resentment.

"A surprisingly good attempt by Kiss to edge forward…" wrote Fred Dellar in Hi-Fi News & Record Review.

[6] Ezrin, despite his recent success with the even more ambitious The Wall, admitted that his judgments concerning Music from "The Elder" were clouded due in large part to a cocaine addiction at the time.

In 2011, Spanish authors Alberto Díaz and Xavi Martínez included it in their book Concept albums: 150 essential releases.

[30] In 2018, the French edition of the Rock Hard magazine included it in the Volume 2 of its "ideal metaltheque", in the concept albums category.