Not For The Innocent

My friend, Doug, is over in Japan right now, and he is killing me with all the photos of records that he keeps texting me. I'm jealous over all the cool shit that he is finding. Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath on vinyl, Japanese singles from Dokken, and Venom 7 inches...fuck me...I'm so envious.

I can't get over to Japan, so I had to order some Japan to be delivered to my door.

I never liked Kiss as a kid, and then when I started to finally check them out around 2005, I had a hard and fast rule that I was only going to bother with the first six. I knew that shit started to go downhill with I Was Made For Loving You from the Dynasty album in '79, so I stopped short of that record, and spent the next 10+ years pretending that anything after Love Gun didn't exist.

As I was digging deeper and deeper into hair metal earlier this year, I decided to give some of the Kiss albums from that era a shot, and I downloaded the songs from Lick It Up.

I remember really hating Kiss back in the day, but considering where I was musically when Lick It Up was released in '83, I'm surprised that I resisted this band like I did. I mean, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot and Motley Crue were some of my favorite bands at the time, so this album should have been right in that mix...but I guess that I couldn't get past the stink of the Beth single from the mid-70's. What a terrible oversight on my part, because this album is too much fucking fun. I became obsessed with it, and since downloading it back in February, I've already listened to it more than any of those first six records.

When I started looking at Discogs to figure out which pressing I should buy, I absolutely fell in love with the Japanese pressing. I've never been a big Kiss collector, and I haven't paid any attention to getting their older records with all the cool bonus inserts, but with that unique OBI cover sheet that was only for the Japan release, I knew that this was the only way for me to go.

To make things a bit more difficult, I was also going to need to pick up the Japanese pressing with the bonus sticker sheet included. Prices for copies without the sticker sheet were manageable, but I was all-in for Lick It Up, and I wasn't cutting any corners, so I put up the big bucks to get the full package.

Record Store Day 2017 - Part 2: Love Gun

I had high hopes as I headed to the second used record shop of the day. Moody Lords has provided some great Metal records in their bins in the past, and I was looking forward to seeing what treasures awaited me this time around.

The Metal section at Moody Lords didn't have much to offer on this visit, but I was happy to grab a couple of early Riot albums.

Quite honestly, these Riot covers are just embarrassing. When I got home from record shopping, and was showing my wife what I'd purchases, even her reaction was "What the hell is that?", when she saw the Narita cover. Oh you know...just the head of a seal on the body of a sumo wrestler...in a field of skulls. Nothing wrong with this picture. Ha! Weird.

Honestly, I wasn't too familiar with these Riot albums. I liked them, but in the ten years or so since I'd downloaded them, I'd only listened to them an average of once a year. Outside of Swords And Tequila off Fire Down Under, I couldn't have told you a single song off either of these albums, but listening to them today...this is some ripping late 70's/early 80's Metal. I need to listen to these records more often.

I've been holding out on buying Love Gun from Kiss because I kind of wanted a copy with the merch insert and the love gun. The painful truth is that if I was going keep holding out for this, chances are that I wouldn't end up pulling the trigger on it (see what I did there?), for probably another five years. Hey, I'm a busy collector, and don't have the time or finances to get everything I want immediately. Seeing this copy in the used bin for under $10, and even though it was incomplete, I figured that this was a good enough opportunity to add it to the collection. I can worry about upgrades at a later date.

It is an extremely rare occasion for me to buy an album these days without actually having heard at least a couple of songs from it. I was torn when I saw the Leslie West record in the used bins. While I hadn't heard this album, finding it still in the shrinkwrap, and looking like it was still near mint...and for under $10...I figured that I'd roll the dice and take a chance on it.

Released back in 1969, this could be considered the first Mountain record. Raw and bluesy with Leslie West's gritty vocals. Mountain isn't my favorite, but it is still cool stuff for when I'm in the mood for those older sounds.

The Punk section at Moody Lords usually sucks. It's typically full of New Wave bullshit that I couldn't care less about...but I still take the time to flip through just in case. This time the cover of M.I.A.'s Murder In A Foreign Place record jumped out at me. I'd never heard of the band before, but flipping to the back cover, I noticed they were on Alternative Tentacles. Released in 1984...this held some promise.

This record was a cool find. It is pretty much what you would expect from this label in '84.

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.

You Wanted The Best, And You've Got It

I fight tooth and nail against live albums. I find the majority of them to be to be a waste of time. Why listen to a live album and only get select songs, when you can just throw on the studio album and enjoy the deeper cuts as well?

My friend, Jeff, is a big 70's head, and he's been trying to force feed me some live albums lately. He has a handful that he lives and dies by...and the two that he has been pushing hard have been Deep Purple's Made In Japan and Kiss' Alive!. I've done a pretty good job of ignoring him for the past six months or so, but the last time I was over at his house, he handed me a copy of Alive!. He had a few different copies, with various stages of wear and tear, and decided to part with one of them if it meant that I would finally listen to it.

The copy he gave me has more ring wear than I am comfortable with, but it does have the first press, blue Casablanca labels...and the insert booklet is in great shape...plus it was free, so who am I to complain.

I gave it my first listen earlier this week, and I was completely taken by surprise with how much I am loving this. You hear about how live albums are supposed to capture the energy and intensity of a band, and Alive! absolutely embodies that. The band sound like they are having a blast, partying it up with the crowd. Honestly...I'm stunned. I've listened to this record every day since I've first heard it, and have to say that this may be the best live rock record...ever.

Dollar Bin Pick Ups

I'm sure that no one is too excited to see a dollar bin post. Too bad. Suck it up, better stuff is on the way. By "better stuff", I simply mean something more exciting, because these two records are no slouches.

I don't generally like flipping through the used records at my local record store. I mean, it's not like I live in Boston or New York. When you are looking through stacks upon stacks of vinyl from John Denver and The Carpenters, you kind of get an idea that you aren't going to find anything of substance. Still, I was out late one night with my friend, Jeff, and he wanted to stop at the record store around the corner from us. I didn't have any money to spend, so I decided to just look through the dollar bin. Much to my surprise, I found a couple of cheap records to pick up.

I'd never heard Blackfoot before, but seeing the album cover in the bin, it caught my attention. It certainly had that 70's hard rock look, and knowing that Jeff is the expert on this stuff, I asked him about the band. Of course, he had heard of them and he recommended it, even if it was just for the song Every Man Should Know. Trusting his tastes, I bought it. The band has a nice Ted Nugent vibe going on. I'm digging it.

The other record that caught my eye was the first album from Kiss. While not a true first pressing, as it has the song Kissin' Time, that was added to the album after the initial release...it is still an early press of the album, as it has the purple/blue Casablanca labels. Goddamn, this is such a solid album. Not a clunker in the bunch...well, with the possible exception of the forementioned Kissin' Time.