NEW RELEASE

KISS – 40 (2014 Universal Japan)

Alright people. I got a question for everybody here (and I didn’t forget about you people upstairs neither, woah yeah!).  How many of you people believe in rock and roll?

If you believe in rock and roll, like you say you believe in rock-and-ro-oh-oll, then you know that 2014 is the 40th anniversary of the very first Kiss album.  Gene Simmons believes in rock and roll.  So does Universal music.  They believe in rock and roll’s ability to fill their pockets again and again.   As fans, we have learned to accept this.  You don’t have to buy every re-package and reissue that comes out; we all choose which releases to buy based on our wants and budgets.

Unreleased music is a top priority for me, so seeing Kiss 40 coming out with a number of unreleased tracks, I was excited about this release.  I bought the Japanese edition from the folks over at CD Japan, for the Japanese exclusive bonus track.  I’ll talk about that track in a bit, for now I want to express how happy I am with Kiss 40, as a compilation aimed at fans both new and old.

Sets like this are tricky.  You have to include familiar versions of familiar hits for the people buying their first Kiss CD.  You have to include value to the cantankerous old fan, and present the old songs in novel ways.  What Kiss and Universal chose to do was include one song from every Kiss album, including every live album.  Sprinkled into that are the unreleased songs.

High points:

I love that they used the Paul Stanley version of “God of Thunder”, the fast one.  Marko Fox has been using that as his theme song on his show for a while, and I’ve really grown to love this version.  All four solo albums have a song included.  (I would have preferred a harder song from Paul’s album, but “Hold Me, Touch Me” was the single after all.)  Killers is represented, via “Down on Your Knees”.  Not a bad song.  I’m glad to have the radio edit of “Jungle”, finally.  I never had that before, and “Jungle” probably wouldn’t be on the album if it wasn’t edited down from its full seven minutes.  (Although not stated, “Psycho-Circus” is also edited to remove the “circus” intro.)

Low points:

The goal of including Kiss songs from every album also means that you have to hear “Let’s Put the X in Sex”.  Although this would have been a great place to use a rarer remixed version, it’s just the same one from Smashes, Thrashes & Hits.  Another total miss that is here is the dreadful “Nothing Can Keep Me From You”, from the Detroit Rock City soundtrack.  Whyyyyy.

Nitty gritty details:

The first rarity is a 1977 Gene Simmons demo called “Reputation”.  You can hear that aspects of this song later made it into other Gene Simmons compositions such as “Radioactive”.  This is one of those song titles I’d read about for years, but have never heard until now.  Cool.  While the song is definitely a demo, and not quite as good as most finished Kiss songs, it does boast a cool dual guitar solo and rocking piano a-la “Christine Sixteen”.

On the second CD are the rare live tracks.  In addition to live songs sampled from You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!!, Alive IV: Kiss Symphony and The Millenium Concert, there are rare ones here from Instant Live CDs.  Instant Live CDs are live albums you buy at the concert, immediately after the concert — a souvenir of the show you just saw.  Extras are then sold online.  I have a handful myself, but nobody has all of them (at least, nobody I know of!).  “Deuce”, “Cold Gin”, and “Crazy Crazy Nights” are all from these Instant Live albums.  “Crazy Crazy Nights” is the one I was most interested in.  Live performances of that song are scarce in my collection.  It is from the Sonic Boom tour, and it’s pretty solid.  The song is played in a lower key to accommodate Paul, who does pretty good anyway.  Eric and Tommy help him out on the chorus.  Thayer simplifies the original Kulick solo, adapting it to his style and keeping the key hooks intact.  The result is a tasty guitar solo which is a cross of both players.

Finally, those lucky lucky fans in Japan got a brand new live song:  “Hell or Hallelujah” recorded at Budokan.  Although the song itself smokes, Paul’s voice is really sore on this one.  (Both the intro and outro, which could have been neatly edited out, are really harsh.) The song includes the line, “No lies, no fakin’,” and that is totally appropriate, because this sounds 100% live and untouched.  Gotta give ’em credit for not trying to fix Paul’s voice in the mix.

Notable omissions:

“Love Gun”, “Creatures of the Night”, “Hotter than Hell”, “I Stole Your Love”, “Rocket Ride”, “Sure Know Something”, “Hide Your Heart”, “Domino”.

The verdict:

Buy this CD.  The concept of “one track per album” creates some interesting listening results.  The ratio of rarities to hits keeps it fresh all the way through.  And if you’re a Kiss fan absolutely get the Japanese version.  Just go to CD Japan and order it.

4/5 stars

Disc One

1. ‘Nothin To Lose’
2. ‘Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll’
3. ‘C’mon and Love Me’
4. ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’ (Live)
5. ‘God Of Thunder’ (Demo)
6. ‘Beth’
7. ‘Hard Luck Woman’
8. ‘Reputation’ (Demo) – Previously Unreleased
9. ‘Christine Sixteen’
10. ‘Shout It Out Loud’ (Live)
11. ‘Strutter ‘78′
12. ‘You Matter To Me’ (Peter Criss)
13. ‘Radioactive’ (Gene Simmons)
14. ‘New York Groove’ (Ace Frehley)
15. ‘Hold Me, Touch Me’ (Paul Stanley)
16. ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ (Single Edit)
17. ‘Shandi’
18. ‘A World Without Heroes’
19. ‘I Love It Loud’
20. ‘Down On Your Knees’
21. ‘Lick It Up’
22. ‘Heaven’s On Fire’

 

Disc Two

1. ‘Tears Are Falling’
2. ‘Reason To Live’
3. ‘Let’s Put The X In Sex’
4. ‘Forever’ (Remix)
5. ‘God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II’
6. ‘Unholy’ (Live)
7. ‘Do You Love Me?’ (MTV Unplugged)
8. ‘Room Service’ (Live)
9. ‘Jungle’ (Radio Edit)
10. ‘Psycho Circus’
11. ‘Nothing Can Keep Me From You’ (Detroit Rock City soundtrack)
12. ‘Detroit Rock City’ (Live)
13. ‘Deuce’ (Live 2004) – Unreleased commercially
14. ‘Firehouse’ (Live – 1999/2000)
15. ‘Modern Day Delilah’
16. ‘Cold Gin’ (Live 2009) – Unreleased commercially
17. ‘Crazy Crazy Nights’ (Live 2010) – Unreleased commercially
18. ‘Hell or Hallelujah’
19. ‘Hell or Hallelujah’ (Live in Japan 2013) – Japanese bonus track