peter criss

DVD REVIEW: KISS – Exposed (1987)

Part 24 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster! 

KISS – Exposed (VHS 1987, DVD 2002)

While Kiss took some time off as Gene continued to pursue his movie career, Exposed was released in lieu of a studio album.  1986 was the first year to ever come and go without new Kiss music.  The band sought commercial success, and an outside producer as they worked hard to record hits.  This video nicely documented their career to that point.

A lot of long term KISS fans absolutely hate Exposed. It is not without flaws, but considering when it came out and what it aimed to do, it is actually one of the best home videos from the era.

Exposed is an early example of a mockumentary, or, as they say in the opening, “A rousing docu-drama. It will be disgusting to some, titilating to others.  But whether it disgusts you, or titilates you, it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” That right there tells you everything you need to know. Interspersed with the docu-drama bits are video clips, and live clips of the band during the makeup years.

The biggest flaw with Exposed is that it’s pretty sexist. It’s all meant to be in good fun I guess, but many will be offended by Gene using women as wall decorations. It was the 80’s; every band influenced by Kiss was doing the same thing, and Kiss responded by taking it to the limit. It is what it is, and if you’re likely to be offended, don’t watch.  It’s still nothing compared to some rap videos I’ve seen.

The second biggest flaw is the lack of Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick participation. They each get two scenes: In Eric’s scene, he meets the interviewer and leaves without any audible lines. In Bruce’s scene, he chases a girl down the stairs and has the line, “Is this for the documentary? Edit her out!” In the final scene, Bruce and Eric are seen taking Paul’s monkey Sonny Crocket for a stroll. Everything else is the Gene and Paul Show.

The docu-drama takes place at “Paul’s mansion”, and this is where the jokes begin.  It’s kind of an 80’s Monkees, with the band all living together in the same house.  There’s a butler and women everywhere.  Gene of course has a throne.

Paul and Gene are funny in Exposed. The interview segments are 50% “straight”, talking seriously about the early years of Kiss, and 50% comedy segments. I enjoyed the comedy. Gene in partiular is a very funny guy. In the “straight” segments there is a comraderie rarely seen between Gene and Paul, such as Paul razzing Gene about early song lyrics he had written. (“My mother is beauuuuutiful…,” Paul croons to an old Gene lyric.)

The music videos include some rarities such as the banned “Who Wants To Be Lonely” clip (more girls). Basically you get every music video from 1982 through to 1985., with a couple exceptions.

The live stuff proved to be just a taster for what Kiss had in their vaults. At the time, bands didn’t release a lot of archive concerts on home video, instead concentrating on documenting current tours. Now they do release such archival concerts on DVD, and since then Kiss have released more complete footage on Kissology I-III. The film quality, despite complaints from the fans, is pretty decent, especially the old 1974 clip of Deuce. Some fans claim their bootleg home videos look and sound better than the official KISS releases; I haven’t seen that.

The video ends with a brief audio clip of Paul answering the question, “What do we call this?” He responds, “Why don’t we call it Volume I?”

Volume II would come later in the form of Kiss’ X-treme Close Up, a more “serious” video, stripped of the girls and the jokiness. I find Exposed to be a much more entertaining video.

Check it out if you are a fan, particularly for 80’s Kiss. Avoid if you are not.

4/5 stars

Incidentally, you can get Kiss Exposed as a third bonus disc in a deluxe edition of Kiss Gold.  Seen below, the regular edition of Kiss Gold.  We’ll be talking about that CD much later on.

REVIEW: KISS – Animalize (1984)

Part 21 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!  Still flushing out the last of the lo-fi cell phone pics, sorry about that.

ANIMALIZE

KISS – Animalize (1984)

Exit Vinnie Vincent.  Enter Mark St. John aka Mark Norton, a music teacher that came highly recommended, but had no touring experience.  Looking for the next young hot shot to compete with Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie, Kiss took a chance.

In addition to yet another lineup change and third lead guitar player, there were other fractures setting in.  Gene Simmons was dead set to become a movie star, and played the villain role alongside Tom Selleck in a movie called Runaway, written and directed by Michael Crichton.  Paul Stanley was left to produce the next album.

Paul and Gene recorded in separate studios, shuffling Mark St. John between them when needed.  Gene didn’t play bass on several of Paul’s songs, and studio musicians were brought in to add guitar solos, drum overdubs, and backing vocals.  All songs but one were co-written by outside writers.

Animalize is one of those albums that was hugely popular (2 x platinum I think?). It has a couple hot singles, a couple decent album cuts, but disappointly Animalize is mostly filler. Gene’s material is particularly forgettable and uninspired. It’s like you’re listening to half a band.
Mathematically, here’s how it breaks down:

1. I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire) – good song
2. Heaven’s On Fire – good song (but overplayed)
3. Burn Bitch Burn – bad
4. Get All You Can Take – great song
5. Lonely Is The Hunter – bad
6. Under The Gun – bad
7. Thrills In The Night – great
8. While The City Sleeps – terrible
9. Murder In High Heels – terrible

4 out of 9 good songs, and not one of them by Gene Simmons. All of Gene’s stuff on Animalize sucked, leaving the kids of the 80’s to think that he was a sideman and Paul was the main guy. Gene also has the worst lyric in Kisstory here: “I wanna put my log in your fireplace.”

However, a highlight of the album are some of the solos.  A fast neoclassical/jazz player, St. John was miles away from Kiss’ roots. It was the era of the fast classically trained player. Even so, when the band thought that Mark wasn’t nailing the feel, they asked Bruce Kulick to fill in on two songs.  He appears on “Lonely Is The Hunter” and “Murder In High Heels”.  So, technically Animalize was Bruce’s first Kiss album, although nobody knew at the time that Kulick was destined to replace St. John, who was struck with a freak arthritic condition that left him unable to tour.

Kulick wouldn’t be granted full member status until the next album, while the band felt him out.  Later, St. John too went on to make some great solo work — check out his Magic Bullet Theory CD.

Animalize is far from outstanding. I would rank it among Kiss’ three worst albums, the other two being Hot In The Shade and Psycho-Circus. It’s historically important because of how popular the tour and album were. Most of the good songs, however, can be found elsewhere such as the Kiss box set.

2/5 stars.

Mark St. John passed away in 2007.  Rest in peace.

REVIEW: KISS – Unmasked (1980)

Part 16 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

KISS – Unmasked (1980)

As a kid I remember loving this album cover. I loved any album cover that was different, and you could stare at trying to make out the details. It didn’t occur to me that this cover represented a newer, cartoonish Kiss far removed from the one on the Destroyer cover.

Indeed, if Kiss were falling apart at the seams on Dynasty, now they had truly run out of steam. Peter Criss was effectively gone, and Anton Fig played the drums on all tracks once again. The band were increasingly separated. Ace Frehley played all the basses on his own songs, and even Paul played bass on a couple of his. “Shandi”, the top 10 single in Australia, featured no Kiss members at all, except Paul Stanley.

The public never knew this at the time. Unmasked, on the surface of it, was a newer brighter poppier Kiss, but underneath there was nothing new about the fragmenting that had set in years earlier. Vini Poncia (Dynasty) was brought in to produce once again, hot on the heels of “I Was Made For Loving You”. Kiss had never sounded so pop, with keyboards in the forefront and compression on the drums. The soft production removed the normally thunderous lifeblood from the songs. This all went hand in hand with their increasingly colourful image.  Indeed, the demo and live versions available elsewhere reveal a heavier Kiss, almost punk-like in delivery.

There are some good songs here, most notably Ace’s. Heavy on melody, “Talk To Me” and “Two Side Of The Coin” feature some great soloing by the Spaceman. “Torpedo Girl” is campy but fun; imagine Kiss doing a summer beach song. It’s odd but, I like it. Paul’s “Shandi” is a great song, and continues to be a great song when it is performed on special occasions by the band.  Gene Simmons once again is underreprensented here, with only three songs: “Naked City” (OK), “She’s So European” (better) and “You’re All That I Want” (best).

It is arguable that Unmasked wasn’t even the nadir, that Kiss sank even lower of the next album, Music From The Elder. I don’t agree with that. The Elder may have failed as an album, but it did succeed in bringing some seriousness back to the table and some rock values back into the production. To me, Unmasked represents the nadir, maybe not the worst album Kiss ever made but probably the least Kiss-like. Even so, many of the songs are well crafted and memorable. It won’t be something you want to listen to in the car with the windows down, or anywhere that someone might overhear you!

2.5/5 stars.

NON-REVIEW – KISS: The Originals I & II

Part 15.5  leading up to the release of Monster:  I had to mention these two albums, rare as they are.  My sister Kathryn bought me The Originals.  It is missing the booklet and Kiss cards.  The Originals II, I’ve never even seen that one.  Here’s what I can tell you.

KISS – The Originals & The Originals II (1976 & 1978)

These are both three record sets, containing a set of three studio albums.  The Originals contained a booklet and 6 Kiss cards.  The Originals II was released only in Japan, and I’ve never seen a copy.

The Originals was a repackage of  Kiss, Hotter Than Hell and Dressed To Kill.  It was released on the heels of Kiss Alive!, which of course was a massive hit for the band.  Why not repack the studio albums that everybody had missed?

Japan released The Originals II in 1978 to promote Kiss’ Japanese tour.  In the pre-internet days, its very existance was considered rumour.  Many thought it was a bootleg at best, myth at worst.  This set contained 4 cardboard masks to wear.  To find one mint, complete?  Yeah right, as if the wife gives me that much in my allowance!

REVIEW: KISS – Dynasty (1979, 1997 Japanese import)

Part 15 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

DYNASTY FRONT

KISS – Dynasty (1979, 1997 Japanese import)

Ahh, the disco years! Alice Cooper did it, so did the Rolling Stones. Kiss were bound to follow. Paul Stanley admitted that he used to go to disco clubs. He found the music simple but interesting enough to try to write. The result was the now-classic “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”, a song which was a bit despised for a while.   Even though it was one of Kiss’ all time biggest hits, it dropped out of setlists in the glam-metal mid-80’s.

Dynasty was designed to be the biggest Kiss album yes, and indeed it did spawn their second biggest hit. Unfortunately, on the inside, the band were coming apart at the seams. In order to placate Peter Criss, his solo album’s producer Vini Poncia was chosen to helm the next album. Poncia then kicked Criss out of the proceedings, as his chops were judged to be not up to snuff anymore.  He appears on only one song, “Dirty Livin'”, a song he co-wrote.

Anton Fig, of Ace Frehley’s solo album (and David Letterman, and later Frehley’s Comet) was chosen to replace him in the studio. It would not be Fig’s last album with Kiss. This was all kept secret at the time.

On the bright side, Frehley had a bunch of lead vocals: the Stones’ “2000 Man”, “Save Your Love”, and the story of his childhood, “Hard Times”. All three are great songs, and probably better than Gene’s two on Dynasty. I find Gene’s songs to be dull and plodding: “X-Ray Eyes” and “Charisma”.

Paul, on the other hand, had nothing but great songs: the previously mentioned “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”, the majestic “Magic Touch”, and the excellent, underrated single “Sure Know Something”. All three are examples of his increasingly skilled songwriting and singing.

“Dirty Livin'” would be Criss’ last songwriting credit on a Kiss album, and his last appearance on one for a long long time. It is not a great song by any stretch, and it is one of the most disco sounding tracks on the album. Still, it has a street vibe that Criss was known for, and his fans love it.

Despite the flaws, Dynasty holds together remarkably well. Even the filler fits in the groove for a seemlessly enjoyable listening experience. After all, all four Kiss members sing lead on it, which was a rare thing that only happened on only a handful of Kiss studio albums.*Ace had more vocals than ever before, and then had lots more on the next album too. The band was tighter than ever with Fig on ghost-drums, and they actually make the best of the overly compressed production sounds.

Dynasty might not be as great as the first six legendary albums, but although cracks were beginning to show, it was still a continuation of the mighty Kiss legacy. What should have happened next was the band getting back to a solid rocker of an album and restoring the faith of the fans who were secretly and openly questioning the integrity of the band. That didn’t happen, and the original Kiss as we knew it was destroyed forever, never to be the same again. The phoenix that rose from the ashes was a different, albeit still powerful, beast.

A word about the Japanese version pictured here:  When Kiss began remastering their albums in the late 90’s, the Japanese got to hear them first, packaged in mini replica record sleeves.  Unfortunately, it does not include a replica of the LP Dynasty poster.  It was the first Kiss remaster I bought simply because I found it here on import before the others came out.

Don’t pick it up Dynasty as your first, but do pick it up.

4/5 stars.

*(Love Gun, Psycho-Circus, and Sonic Boom.)

REVIEW: KISS – Paul Stanley (1978)

Part 14 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!   This time, we’ll look at the final of the four solo albums (and my favourite) released under the Kiss banner in 1978:  Paul Stanley.

KISS – Paul Stanley (1978)

Paul Stanley’s contribution to the Kiss solo album quadrilogy was very much like what Paul was doingin within Kiss itself.  As such it was warmly received by fans turned off by Peter Criss’ and Gene Simmons’ records.  From Paul Stanley, it seemed clear that he was not creatively confined at all within Kiss.  Recruiting old friend Bob Kulick on guitar, Paul laid down an album of hot rockers and a few tender ballads.

“Tonight You Belong To Me” starts off with some lush acoustic guitars (maybe a 6 and a 12 string? I can’t tell), and Paul singing in his classic falsetto. It doesn’t take long though for this to stop however, before a killer angular riff kicks in. (The Hellacopters ripped off the riff for the intro of their song called “Paul Stanley”, actually.) The riff is pure Paul Stanley, and is augmented by loads of juicy feedback.  Bob Kulick just tears through the guitar solo.

This is followed by fan favourite “Move On”, which was played live on the 1979 Kiss tour. It’s another rocker that would have felt at home on Rock and Roll Over or Love Gun.  “Ain’t Quite Right” is Paul’s first ballad of the album, and the first song I’d consider skipping. However Paul comes roaring back next, with the best song on the album.  “Wouldn’t You Like To Know Me?” is fast paced and it rocks hard, and I think if Green Day did it today it would be classified as pop-punk, a genre which didn’t exist in 1978.  Side 1 closes with “”Take Me Away (Together As One)” which might be called Zeppelinesque. It starts off slow and acoustic, turns dark and electric in the very catchy chorus, and goes back to acoustic. Dramatic is a good word.  And Paul’s voice has never been stronger.  I believe he was singing at his absolute peak at this point, personally.

Side 2 starts off with another rocker, “It’s Alright”, which is very Kiss circa Love Gun. The guitar riff and chorus melody are the main selling features of this song. “Hold Me, Touch Me (Think Of Me When We’re Apart)” is a title that can only belong to a ballad. As sappy as it is, I like this song. It’s a piano and strings ballad that might have suited the Peter Criss album, if not for the melodic and memorable guitar solo courtesy of Paul himself. “Love In Chains” follows this, a guitar oriented rocker with great singable verses. The album ends appropriately with “Goodbye”, a song which Paul used to close his 2006 solo shows. It is another stellar song, extremely catchy and well written.

Songwriting is the main selling point of Paul’s solo album. It is Paul’s song craft that makes this album special, that and Bob Kulick’s great guitar tones and talents. Paul had a lot to be proud, it is a gem of an album and one that no Kiss fan should be without.

It’s only a shame that the 2006 followup, Live To Win, didn’t even come close to reaching this level of quality.

5/5 stars


Paul performing “Wouldn’t You Live To Know Me” in 1989 with Bob Kulick and Eric Singer

Part 77: Psycho-Circus

RECORD STORE TALES Part 77:  Psycho-Circus

If you think back to the late 90’s, the hype surrounding Kiss was enormous.  They’d just completed their successful reunion tour to rave reviews, what was left but an album?

I was excited too, but not as excited as “Kiss Man”….

I don’t remember his name and I never heard from him again, so heartbroken was he.  My staff had a habit of telling annoying customers, “Hey, if you really want to talk about Kiss (or insert-band-name-here) then you should call back and talk to this guy Mike.  He loves Kiss.”

One time, they told a lady I was interested in buying her original Whitesnake cover art painting.  Which I wasn’t.  Anyway, back to Kiss.

This guy had come in talking about Kiss with somebody, and they told him to call me.  So he did.  With two of my bosses standing in front of me, I blindly anwered the phone.  To the best of my recollection, this was the conversation.  Imagine two of my bosses standing in front me alternating between glances and glares.

Kiss Man:  Hi, is this Mike?

Mike:  Yes, speaking.

Kiss Man:  Oh hi, I was speaking with (insert whoever’s name it was) a couple days ago, and they told me you were a massive Kiss fan?

Mike:  Yes, yes I am…

Kiss Man:  Like really big Kiss fan?  Like they said you have the dolls.

Mike:  Yes…I do have some action figures… (the bosses both looking at me now)

Kiss Man:  Are they the vintage ones?

Mike:  Uh, pardon?

Kiss Man:  Are they the vintage ones from the 1970’s.

Mike:  Oh, no.  They’re just the MacFarlanes.

Kiss Man:  Cool, still.  So do you know anything about the new Kiss album coming out called Psycho-Circus?

Mike:  (thinking he was now asking when it was out, how much we’ll be selling it for, etc)  Well, it’s out in a couple weeks, and there’s some kind of special edition cover, and we’ll be trying to get that one in. 

Kiss Man:  So how many times did you see them live?

Mike:  Uhh, just once…I don’t really go to a lot of concerts…

Kiss Man:  Just once?  Like on this tour?

Mike:  No…just once.  I wanted to see them on the Revenge tour though.

Kiss Man:  Have you heard the new single, “Psycho Circus”?

Mike:  No, I haven’t yet.

Kiss Man:  On Q107?  No?

Mike:  No, I…

Kiss Man:  Wow, and they said you were a big Kiss fan.

That one hurt, admittedly.

I eventually brought the conversation to a close, got shit for taking a “personal” call, explained to my bosses that I really didn’t have a clue who that was, and then later interrogated the staff to find up who set me up with the Space Ace.

When I found out, they were disappointed that the conversation didn’t go well, as if they were trying to set with up with a new buddy.  “He’s probably really sad now,” they said.

“Yeah.  He’s probably never going to come back into the store again, because of you,” they helpfully added.

Yeah, well.  It was a lose-lose situation and I definitely lost that time!

REVIEW: KISS – Peter Criss (1978)

Part 11 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!   This time, we’ll look at one of the four solo albums released under the Kiss banner in 1978:  Peter Criss.

KISS – Peter Criss (1978)

On September 18, 1978, Kiss became the first band in history to simultaneously release four solo albums.  Each was vastly different from one another.

Peter Criss is not a jazz album, it’s not a country album, it’s not an R&B album and it’s not a rock album. If it’s a failure in the eyes of Kiss fans, it’s only because it’s not a rock album. It falls under that dreaded catagory of “easy listening”: just enough of each genre to make it classified as (in the parlance of our times) “lite rock”.

In all honesty Peter Criss is not a bad album, there are some older folk out there who would love it.  When I was a kid I used to play it to my mom (not sayin’ my mom is “older”, just sayin’), saying “See, you’d like Kiss music too.” That’s what it is: music you can play for your mom.

Peter himself plays drums on most of the album, Allan Schwartzberg plays on the rest. The rest of the instruments are handled by studio musicians with Steve Lukather taking a solo. You can hear quite clearly that Peter loves playing this kind of music, and it suits his voice too. Peter has co-writing credits with his Lips bandmate Stan Pendridge on most songs.

The album kicks off with “I’m Gonna Love You”, a R&B flavoured rock number with a nice horn section and lush backing vocals. This is about as uptempo as it gets. “You Matter To Me” is rendered hard to listen to due to its big fat synthesizer riff. Very outdated and distracting. “Tossin’ and Turnin'” is the old rock and roll standard and similar in tempo and arrangement to “I’m Gonna Love You”. Peter does a great job vocally. “Don’t You Let Me Down” is the first ballad of the album, very 70’s, with more outdated keyboard sounds. Side 1 ends with “That’s The Kind Of Sugar Papa Likes”, a nondescript underwhelming uptempo album filler.

Side 2 begins with one of the best tune on the album, the acoustic ballad “Easy Thing” which goes into a strong string-laden chorus. It’s quiet yet epic at the same time. “Rock Me, Baby” is another R&B song, uptempo with lots of female backing vocals but otherwise filler. “Kiss The Girl Goodbye” is another acoustic ballad, a little too quiet and laid back, very folk sounding, and there are no drums on this track at all. “Hooked On Rock N’ Roll” brings the tempo back up before we go to the last and very best song on the album, Sean Delaney’s “I Can’t Stop The Rain”. It’s a piano and strings ballad, similar in scope to “Easy Thing”.

It’s a shame in a way that Peter was so out of touch with Kiss’ core audience, and had such an inflated ego, that he thought making this album was a good idea at the time. The record turned off Kiss fans in droves, although many have rediscovered it in the warm light of nostalgia.

I think the bottom line is this is a nostalgia CD. I can’t imagine new young Kiss fans getting into this at all, but they may want to play it for mom.

2/5 stars

REVIEW: KISS – Double Platinum (1978)

Part 10 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

A few months after posting this review, I found a cool foil-embossed CD.  Click here to see what that one was all about!

KISS – Double Platinum (1978)

KISS DOUBLE JAPANESE FRONT

Although there had been one Kiss re-pack before (a vinyl set called The Originals), Double Platinum was their first “greatest hits” disc.  The band was beginning to fracture internally.  Both Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were looking to break out with their own solo albums.  Instead, Kiss decided to record four solo albums and release them simultaneously.  This, a first ever for anybody, was a big project and would require six months to execute.  In order to satiate the fans, who had become accustomed to new Kiss albums twice a year, Double Platinum was conceived.

I first got this album in 1985 or 1986 and it was my first exposure to songs like “Hard Luck Woman” and “Makin’ Love”. For years I would often recommend this album as one of the first Kiss albums for people to get. It is still an excellent introduction despite the fact that the market has been flooded with approximately 15 different compilations (rough guess) since then.

One “new” song (a disco-ish remake of “Strutter” called “Strutter ’78”) and a boatload of remixes were quickly prepared. Sean Delaney worked on the remixes, and I don’t think they are as bad as they are made out to be by some fans. For me, these were the original versions that I heard!  And the cool thing in my own experience was, when I eventually moved on to collect the rest of the studio albums, I wasn’t familiar with those versions of the songs.  Everything was fresh for me on those albums.

The technical reasoning for the remixing was to make the band’s uneven catalogue sound more alike, when presented together in this fashion. The material produced by Bob Ezrin (Destroyer) sounded leaps and bounds different than the other stuff, so it was remixed to bring it to Ezrin’s level.

“Strutter ’78” was re-recorded with more compression on the drums. I still think it’s a great track, but it lacks the fire of the Kiss original. It’s more sleek. “Hard Luck Woman” has been remixed to highlight the acoustic guitars, leaving the band out until later in the song. “Rock Bottom’s” intro is presented here without the song itself, and it does work in that form, serving now as an intro to “She”. “Black Diamond” lacks the slow-down ending, and I kind of prefer this version: Instead, at the end, the song starts all over again and goes into a fade.

My only complaint about Double Platinum is in regards to the CD version. The original pressing of the LP had the Kiss logo embossed on silver foil. I paid a lot of money for a Japanese import CD and I wanted the silver foil cover. Instead I got dull paper. The domestic CD is not much better, although the cover is different yet again (printed with silver ink).

FYI, those with records for sale:  I would love a mint complete Double Platinum LP, please.

My guess is that one day we’ll get yet another load of Kiss reissues (it’s already starting with Destroyer/Resurrected)  Let’s get it right next time.

Still, 5/5 stars. Start your Kiss collection with Kiss Alive!, and then grab some studio versions here.

REVIEW: KISS – Alive II (1977)

Part 9 of my series of Kiss reviews, leading up to the release of Monster!

Produced once again by Eddie Kramer, this is taken from multiple shows in 1977, plus 5 studio tracks.  The crowd noise (probably from the Japanese shows) is a bit shrill and the overdubbing of Paul Stanley’s voice is much more noticeable than it was on the first Alive.

The problem that Kiss had in Alive II was to avoid repeating any songs from Alive!, which was only two years prior. That resulted in a truncated tracklist, and then Simmons had the idea to tack on a fourth side of studio material.  He says this was inspired by the ZZ Top album, Fandango!  That idea turned out to be pretty smart, as the five new songs are by and large very decent.

Two other songs were recorded at rehearsals or soundchecks: “Tomorrow And Tonight”, and “Hard Luck Woman”. Crowd noise was overdubbed and the songs sweetened in the studio.

Once again, it is hard to argue with the track selection on Alive II. There are very few songs I would have excluded in favour of others.  The concert opens with the double salvo of “Detroit” and “King of the Night Time World”.  “God of Thunder” is played at a faster tempo and I generally prefer this version to the original.  Ace’s “Shock Me” is here, and Peter Criss sings on “Hard Luck Woman” and of course “Beth” (sung to backing tapes as always).

Ace also had a lead vocal on “Rocket Ride”, one of the new songs. Let’s talk about those a bit.

“All American Man”: I like the riff a lot, and I find this to be one of Paul’s coolest songs. I have also felt it had a similar vibe to the stuff they’d later record for Killers, 4 years down the road. But who’s that on lead guitar? Bob Kulick.  Kulick replaced Ace Frehley on lead guitar, on four of the five studio tracks on Alive II!.

“Larger Than Life”: A Gene plodder. Another pretty strong one. I think you can guess what he’s singing about in the title.

“Rockin’ In The USA”: Gene loves the USA which has given him so much. The lyrics are pretty bad, but it’s basically Gene’s love song to America, much like the Beach Boys had done.

“Rocket Ride”: Ace’s track. Ace plays all guitars and bass, Peter Criss plays drums, and the other two only contribute vocals. An Ace classic which later appeared on his solo Live + 1 EP.

“Anyway You Want It”: I have a soft spot for Kiss covers like this Dave Clark Five track. I think Kiss did a great job with it, particularly with the vocals. Paul plays all guitars.

I must stress, I think you should buy the Alive Box rather than this version. You’ll get four Alives, and some rarer tracks.

5/5 stars. Might not be very live, but it sure is very rock.