Saturday, October 04, 2014

Kiss Double Alive II

The used record shopping spree continues. Picking up the Venom live double LP had me in the mood for some more live records.

While Venom come at you "from the very depths of Hell", Kiss shows us why they are "the hottest band in the world". The first live Kiss record surprised the Hell out of me. While I generally don't pay much attention to live albums, Kiss Alive! lived up to it's reputation as one of the best ever. Man, after I finally gave it a chance a month or so ago, it dominated my playlist...working it's way into a daily rotation. I loved it so much, that I decided to give Alive II a shot.

While it doesn't quite match the powerhouse that is Alive!, Alive II is no slouch. Detroit Rock City is a Hell of an opener, plus King of the Night Time World and I Stole Your Love may be a couple of my favorite Kiss songs...but damn, Beth is on here, so it gets negative points for that alone. Even live, this song is a stinker. Come on, that roar of the crowd once the first notes are played on the piano...shit has to be fake. Still, I'm not going to let that one song ruin this for me. The album still rules.

While the Venom live album was extremely light on the packaging, Kiss does it up right. Gatefold packaging with an explosive photo to capture the live Kiss experience...full color printed albums sleeves with a shot of the crowd...plus a booklet on The Evolution Of Kiss.

1 comment:

Doug W said...

Alive 2 was the first album (well 8-track) I ever bought as a seven year old kid.
Sit down and crank "I Stole Your Love". Totally unfuckable with!