bootlegs

REVIEW: KISS – Kissin’ Time in San Fransisco (1974/1975 bootleg)

KISSIN TIME FRONT

KISS – Kissin’ Time in San Fransisco (1974 or 1975 bootleg , Black Diamond Records 1994)

Early Kiss, live Kiss at least, was the best!  They were young hungry punks, a garage band in makeup and heels, playing with an intensity that they never equaled even on later triumphs like Kiss Alive! or Love Gun.  It was a ferocity on stage, made doubly impressive when you remember that they were weighed down by those costumes.

This widely available bootleg recording showcases exactly what early Kiss was about.  Recorded shortly after the release of their second album, Hotter Than Hell, it actually sounds pretty good for 1974 or 75.  You may be familiar with some of these recordings.  “Deuce” for example was on the Kiss eXposed video.  “Parasite” was later made available on the Kiss My Ass VHS and DVD.

What’s astounding here is just how good Peter Criss used to be.  I don’t mean technically.  I mean in that way that a good rock drummer just slams you in the guts and doesn’t let up.  Peter Criss plays like a savage.  The two best moments are “Watchin’ You” and “Parasite”.  He absolutely demolishes his kit, he’s relentless, and it’s so damn fun to listen to him, young and powerful, laying waste.

Gene’s bass is very loud in the mix, and while Gene was also no virtuoso, it’s nice to hear his compositional abilities on bass. Especially in early Kiss, Gene wrote and played some very cool basslines, melodic and solid.  It’s a side of Kiss that is often ignored by the critics.  Gene was heavily influenced by bands like Cream and I think you can hear that.

The setlist is pretty standard, with every song later getting showcased on the aforementioned Kiss Alive!  These versions are without the spit n’ polish that Eddie Kramer put on that disc, live as it was on that night.   In a lot of ways, I prefer these versions.  What they lack in audio fidelity, they make up for in sheer adrenaline and barbarism.  Paul’s as confident as ever on stage.  His stage raps are fully-formed and cocky.  His “Do you believe in rock and roll?” rap is present on “100,000 Years”, with Peter Criss hammering out a consistently tribal backdrop.

The CD is padded out by a bunch of unrelated (and often misspelled) bonus tracks.  “A World Without Heros” is an instrument demo from The Elder, widely circulated.  So is “The Difference Between Men & Boys”, which can be found under different names.  “Young and Wasted” is a Lick It Up demo (not from 1971 as stated on the back, who are we kidding?).  Lastly, “(We Want To) Shout It Out Loud” is from the Wicked Lester album.

4.5/5 stars

Part 152: Carnival of Lost Souls

SAM_1775

RECORD STORE TALES Part 152:  Carnival of Lost Souls

The Year:  1996

The Place:  Dr. Disc, Hamilton Ontario

The Guilty Party:  Me

Remember when the original Kiss reunited back in ’96?  It was a huge deal.  Everybody was talking about it.  What very few people were talking about was the studio album that the previous Kiss lineup (with Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick) had completed prior to the reunion.  That album, Carnival of Souls, was shelved to avoid confusion.

It was, however, leaked.  Or, at least most of it was.  It revealed a new, grungier Kiss ready to take on the likes of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.  Not a bad album in fact, and some songs such as “Hate” and “In My Head” were downright vicious.  A buddy of mine, Len Labelle, hooked me up with a poor-sounding cassette.  It was better than nothing.

Both Gene and Paul pooh-poohed the idea of a release.  You’d read things like, “We don’t know when it’s coming out,” or “We have no plans to release it right now.”  But I was digging that tape and I wanted a CD, dammit!

T-Rev, Tom and myself were at a record show in Hamilton, and we stopped at a local Dr. Disc.  I went over to the Kiss section.  I saw two discs, both at $30 staring me in the face:  the ultra rare Japanese import Chikara, a greatest hits album, and a bootleg copy of Carnival of Souls…

I had a limited budget and could only buy one.  I chose Carnival of Souls.  I’ve never seen a copy of Chikara again.  And Kiss officially issued Carnival 9 months later, rendering my bootleg obselete.  I can’t give it away, today.

It was a bad call, Ripley!  Bad call!

So what about this bootleg that I bought?  Well, it has a few notable features.

  1. The title is wrong.  The title on the bootleg is Carnival of Lost Souls.
  2. The wrong lineup is on the front and back covers.  They show the original Kiss, in makeup.
  3. Even though it says it’s “the complete 11 track version” on the front cover, Carnival of Souls has 12 tracks.  Missing is “I Walk Alone”, the lone Bruce Kulick lead vocal.
  4. The songs are in the wrong order, and most have the wrong titles.

For example:

  • “Hate” = “Hate (Is What I Am)”
  • “Master & Slave” = “Tell Me”
  • “Rain” = “I Think It’s Gonna Rain (Down On Me)”
  • “It Never Goes Away” = “It Never Ends”
  • “In the Mirror” = “(Take A Look) In the Mirror”
  • “I Confess” = “You Confess”

At best, this is now just a weird oddity that sits in my closet, unlistened to, unwanted, unloved, for the rest of eternity.  There’s $30 I’ll never get back again.  Yeah, like I said, it was a bad call!

SAM_1779

REVIEW: KISS – Rock and Roll Over (1976)

Part 7 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Rock and Roll Over (1976)

After 1976’s Destroyer, Kiss had a choice:
a) continue down that road and see what they could see with the epic, orchestrated sound that Ezrin got out of them, or
b) return to their rock roots

On Rock and Roll Over (for better or worse) they chose b).

I love Rock and Roll Over, and I consider it a slightly stronger album than both Destroyer and Love Gun. Check out the tracks:

“I Want You” – Acoustic intro, electric riffage, classic song.
“Take Me” – Paul co-wrote this album cut with Sean Delaney. A lost klassic.
“Calling Dr. Love” – I was never a huge fan of this song, but obviously it always goes over well with the fans in concert.
“Ladies Room” – Peter Criss plays some fun drum rolls on this Gene rocker.
“Baby Driver” – The weakest song on the album, which Peter Criss claims is due to Kiss playing it at the wrong tempo. He does get to scream his butt off though.
“Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” – Gene’s motto?  Either way a great Kiss tune.
“Mr. Speed” – Another Stanley/Delaney classic. Best song on the album! I wish Kiss would play it again!
“See You In Your Dreams” – I prefer this version to the later one on Gene’s solo disc.
“Hard Luck Woman” – Peter Criss has never sounded so raspy and good. Truly, a song for everyone. Simply perfect songwriting courtesy of Paul, with some sweet 12 string.
“Makin’ Love” – Like a stick of dynamite in your ear.

Interestingly Ace had no songwriting credits on Rock and Roll Over. I recall reading that he did write a song called “Queen for a Day”, that he intended on singing, but it was dropped.

Kiss regrouped with Eddie Kramer (Led Zeppelin, Hendrix) to co-produce this album. Kramer previously did the original Kiss demo and Alive! They recorded it as live as possible in a theater. While it does not sound like a live album, it does have a lot more life than Destroyer.

5/5 stars

Also, check out this weird bootleg I have from the Rock and Roll Over tour, simply titled Kiss Army!  It’s obviously supposed to look official.  Although no exact date is given, it purports to be recorded live at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo Japan, 1977.  (Check out how “rhythm guitar” is spelled on Paul’s page.)