Today I bring you the second best live album of all time, Kiss Alive!, which slots in right behind At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers (in my opinion). To many of you this is probably a strange choice but it makes perfect sense to me. While the Allman Brothers album was a virtuoso musical performance, Kiss represented the other aspect of rock music. They were loud, fun, and had a performance that was unlike anything that I had ever seen. For that matter I have not seen anything like it since then.
Kiss had put out three studio albums prior to 1975 and everyone had the same complaint, the albums didn’t capture the excitement of a Kiss live show. With one more shot to hit the big time, Kiss decided that if everyone wanted the excitement of their live show why not do a live album. Alive sold over 9,000,000 albums, and as they say, the rest is history.
I saw Kiss twice on the tour that is captured in the Alive! album and my mind was totally blown at each show.
- Gene Simmons spitting fire and drooling blood
- Paul Stanley providing some of the most inane between song patter that somehow sounded cool in the context of the performance
- Peter Criss with a Drum set that extended high above the stage
- Ace Frehley (my favorite) staggering around the stage on incredible platform shoes while playing the most amazing lead guitar parts that you could imagine
It was Awesome with a capital A. Although a video of one of their performance is a poor substitute for seeing their show live, it’s all I can offer you at this point. Here is why I remain a member of the Kiss Army to this day
Deuce – Live at Winterland 1975
Strutter – Live at Winterland 1975
Cold Gin – Live at Winterland 1975
Now that you’ve seen the best you can just forget the rest. Here they are….the hottest band in the land……….Kiss……Alive!
Alive! (Sides 1 and 2)
Alive (Sides 3 and 4)
If you aren’t suffering from Kiss overload at this point, I have one more thing for you before we end this post. Here is a great VH1 special on the Alive album! I hope you enjoy it. As always, let me know what you think.
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 