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Alive!

Kiss - Alive! Audio CD

A fair review of the Kiss "Alive!" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Kiss reviews here, or go back to the Kiss tabs.

Band: Kiss
Title: Alive!
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-07-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Deuce 2: Strutter 3: Got to Choose 4: Hotter Than Hell 5: Firehouse 6: Nothin' to Lose 7: C'mon and Love Me 8: Parasite 9: She 10: Watchin' You 11: 100,000 Years 12: Black Diamond 13: Rock Bottom 14: Cold Gin 15: Rock and Roll All Nite 16: Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll

nAKEd inSanE, livE
You show me everything you've got and it's getting wetter in here. OK, even for the LOVE of $. You keep on dancin' and the room gets hot WHY NOT. Wow that bosum! Sweaty candy! You drive me wild, I'll drive you crazy. Naked insane. Live. You keep on saying you'll be mine for a while. It could be hours! Or years! You're lookin' fancy and I like your style. Do that smile again! THAT bad smile, then that sweet smile. I like your SOUNDS! You show me everything you've got. Baby, baby that's quite a lot. Your motor never stops! And it sure tastes good! Close to PASS OUT in heaven. Better than $! I love YOU! .

One of the greatest hard rock live albums ever almost 35 years on

The band's first three studio albums were slow sellers with each album doing better than the previous chartwise yet sales were slow. KISS' fourth album and first double live album entitled Alive! was released in September of 1975.
Alive! was the band's first album where they would work with producer Eddie Kramer (who produced the band's original 1972/73 demos). Eddie had previously produced and/or engineered recordings from legends like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and engineered Humble Pie's breakthrough double live album Performance Rockin the Fillmore from 1971. Kramer would go on to produce three more seminal KISS albums from their peak era in the 1970s and then would produce guiatrist Ace Frehley's '78 solo album (he also worked on most of Ace's solo output in the 80s). Alive completed the original contract that KISS had signed with Casablanca Records (and saved the label from financial ruin).
Since the first three albums weren't successful upon their initial releases (despite charting higher and higher), Alive! had to either be a hit or else.
The album was recorded from shows in 1975 from Detroit, Ohio and New Jersey. It wasn't until VH1's Ultimate Albums special that the band members have also admitted that the whole album was doctored (overdubbing of vocals and instruments). Some fans have been turned away because of this controversy but some others don't care. They didn't have the technology to splice in bits from shows to fix the problems back in 1975 so re-recording was the only route to go. I first got this album on cassette in October of 1988 but the songs were way off sequence. I then got the CD in October of 1993 but the sound quality (though better than cassette) stunk. The 1997 remaster is the best of the versions out there.
From the opening "Deuce" to the closing "Let Me Go Rock and Roll", you are in for a ride.
The rest of the tracks "Strutter", "Got to Choose", "Hotter Than Hell", "Firehouse", "Nothing to Lose", "C'mon and Love Me", a slightly extended "Parasite", "She" (with "Let Me Know" outro and Ace's guitar solo), "Watching You", "100000 Years" (with Peter Criss' classic drum solo), "Black Diamond", "Rock Bottom", "Cold Gin" (with Paul's stage banter) and the Top 20 hit live reading of "Rock and Roll All Night" all bury their studio counterparts.
Alive!, however became the first top ten album KISS made which reached #8 and remained on the charts. Depends on who you believe, Alive went quadruple platinum sales (4 Million) according to the band, but is still only listed at Gold according to the RIAA (KISS may be exaggerating the sales maybe but maybe Casablanca forgot to revert the rights to Mercury when they initially folded but since Universal owns both the now defunct Mercury and resurrected Casablanca then we can finally see a proper certification?).
This live album is still a classic despite some of the phase sounds date it slightly and controversies surrounding the album over 35 years later!
Otherwise, highly recommended! .

kiss,s best live album!!!alive 1975.
alive was recorded on the dressed to kill tour and dressed to kill was kiss,s 3rd album. kiss released their first live album titled; kiss alive in 1975. this album was the album that launched kiss,s carreer into overdrive. this live album captured the sound and dynamics of kiss,s raw power in concert!i think this is another one of the top twenty best live albums in rock. that live photo of the band on the cover should be a poster. i think the best of this is;duece,strutter,let me go rock,n,roll,firehouse,nothing to lose,she,watchin you,black diamond,100,000 years and rock and roll all nite!!!all in all a must for any kiss fan!!!.

one of the greatest of the live albums ever
Most critics agree with this statement and it holds true to this day. This disk presents one of the greatest 'live' albums ever recorded. This is a band at the peak of their powers on stage and sure all live albums had bands correct mistakes in the studio. The technology of the day meant live recordings often were unable to capture a show without losing something in the mix. Today we have much better equipment; but if you have ever seen kiss live then you know they are one of histories greatest live bands and they can reproduce their songs very well live. But this live disc should appeal to any rock fan even if you aren't a kiss fan because it's just a great hard rockin time. Every song is good and fun with the band playing at full board greatness. Any fan of rock and roll should at least have this disc in their collection because few live discs will every capture the pure joy of rockin out in front of a crowd as well as this one does. .

The One that started it all!
It is 4 sides of great song after great song. This is the live album that started it all. What makes this album so special to many KISS fans is that the songs finally sounded like what they should. Their studio albums tended to be weak production and there wasn't much emotion. This album finally captured the intensity of KISS. .

You can see a complete list of all Kiss discography, or go back to the Kiss tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.