KISS News Bits

[Mr. Vengeance]

It seems to me that the story that I heard on some show about the Alive album (possibly Classic Albums?) is that the overdubs weren't as wholescale as the legend now suggests. The dubs also weren't because KISS couldn't play the songs well live, but that no one had tried to record a band like KISS live before. The pyro was being picked up by the mics, Paul didn't get close enough to the mic a lot of times and his vocals would fade in and out. Gene would bang the mic stand with his bass and it would make a thump. Etc.

If you've seen KISS on the Midnight Special from 1975 or so, playing live, you hear that they actually could play the songs well, and they sound very much like the Alive album, just a little more raw. If you have the KISSology DVDs, the entire performance in on there, and they are clearly a band that is hungry and playing their asses off, knowing they have a national audience.

[Mr. Vengeance]

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[indeedido]

Every live album has to punch in the holes. If Alive! was all fake, then they should have faked all their albums because it sounds awesome

[Kristy]

How much I detest Zeppelin, I always found their trivia/history to be somewhat interesting. The whole mythology of 'Blackdog' and Page's diabolism that the title was a reference to some hound of hell ("eyes that shine, burning red") all seems to carry some sort of a Satanic resonance, while others thought it was a evil woman driving Plant mad. In fact, Plant later on said the eyes burning part was himself and that the song demonizes not a woman's sexual power but the male's own lust experienced as a possession from within.


Okay, so maybe not all that interesting.

[kwame k]

How much I detest Zeppelin, I always found their trivia/history to be somewhat interesting. The whole mythology of 'Blackdog' and Page's diabolism that the title was a reference to some hound of hell ("eyes that shine, burning red") all seems to carry some sort of a Satanic resonance, while others thought it was a evil woman driving Plant mad. In fact, Plant later on said the eyes burning part was himself and that the song demonizes not a woman's sexual power but the male's own lust experienced as a possession from within.


Okay, so maybe not all that interesting.

Totally interesting, had this thread been about Zep

[Mr Walker]

Uh Oh...

Looks like Paul is making Gene look a bit foolish...

As reported by Thestar.com, singer PAUL STANLEY was a little more understanding than his band-mate.

"You may hear a slightly different story from Gene, but so be it," he told the Star from Los Angeles.

"The media was carrying the dissent and upset feeling of the fans. They weren't creating anything, they were reporting it. Don't blame the messenger."

Stanley said a "comedy of errors" led to Oshawa being left off the tour when an incomplete schedule was announced.

"The size of the production turned out to require a larger venue," KISS spokesman Erik Stein told the Star on Monday. "In this case, that turned out to be the Air Canada Centre."

This, according to the band, was not really the case.

Stanley said Oshawa was actually going to be on next leg of the tour, which hadn't been announced yet. The outcry from Oshawa's KISS fans compelled the band to make a change and play there sooner.

"October 7 was not originally deemed the day we were playing Oshawa," Stanley said. But "to sooth everybody's hurt feelings and concerns" KISS decided to launch their new album in the KISS-loving city.

"The fans were understandably upset, but no harm meant, and certainly no slight," Stanley said. "It was clearly announced that Oshawa was the number one city, so it would be insanity to not play it."

[indeedido]

Much better answer than Gene's. Gene is such a fucking tool. Paul and Ace still speak regularly. No one talks to Gene.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Hard to argue with that... I mean a lot of us did spend money on the KISS Exposed VHS tape back in the day...

Of course we did.

But at least back then the band was honest with themselves and not some glorified half-tribute band.

[indeedido]

True dat, I supported the back then in fact all the way until the end of the reunion tour. But no more.

[Vinnie Velvet]

True dat, I supported the back then in fact all the way until the end of the reunion tour. But no more.

Thing is I actually like the fact that KISS is releasing a whole new album of tunes. It somewhat "legitimizes" this lineup rather than being a greatest hits tribute act for the past five to six years.

Vinnie Vincent was VV; Mark St. John was Mark St. John; Bruce Kulick was Bruce Kulick.

They all didn't pretend to be someone else -- like what Thayer is doing. Granted his playing on the new song Modern Day Delilah is more reminiscient of Vinnie and Bruce rather than Ace. Then again VV and Kulick could play circles around Thayer anyday.

The KISS from 1983 to 1995 was not some tribute band. They toured regularly and released albums as well.

[Terry]

Thing is I actually like the fact that KISS is releasing a whole new album of tunes. It somewhat "legitimizes" this lineup rather than being a greatest hits tribute act for the past five to six years.

Vinnie Vincent was VV; Mark St. John was Mark St. John; Bruce Kulick was Bruce Kulick.

They all didn't pretend to be someone else -- like what Thayer is doing. Granted his playing on the new song Modern Day Delilah is more reminiscient of Vinnie and Bruce rather than Ace. Then again VV and Kulick could play circles around Thayer anyday.

The KISS from 1983 to 1995 was not some tribute band. They toured regularly and released albums as well.

Yeah, but to be fair at least half of the live sets from 1983 to 1993 were comprised of classic KISS tunes...as long as Thayer and Singer are in someone else's makeup, it's a sham.

[Nickdfresh]

Every live album has to punch in the holes. If Alive! was all fake, then they should have faked all their albums because it sounds awesome

The Kiss bootlegs I've heard say it wasn't "all faked." Out of all the the silly shit I've heard, some of the silliest is that Kiss used only the 'drums and crowd noise' from Detroit to make Alive II.

Anyone that has heard Kiss boots know they could play, and the songs were just more polished versions of what they played live night in and out. Of course they overdubbed, but not that much...

[Nickdfresh]

How much I detest Zeppelin, I always found their trivia/history to be somewhat interesting. The whole mythology of 'Blackdog' and Page's diabolism that the title was a reference to some hound of hell ("eyes that shine, burning red") all seems to carry some sort of a Satanic resonance, while others thought it was a evil woman driving Plant mad. In fact, Plant later on said the eyes burning part was himself and that the song demonizes not a woman's sexual power but the male's own lust experienced as a possession from within.


Okay, so maybe not all that interesting.

The funny thing is, the lyrics were at least partially influenced by an actual black dog that one of the members of Led owned and was moping around the studio at the time of recording (Labrador retriever I think)...

[Terry]

The Kiss bootlegs I've heard say it wasn't "all faked." Out of all the the silly shit I've heard, some of the silliest is that Kiss used only the 'drums and crowd noise' from Detroit to make Alive II.

Anyone that has heard Kiss boots know they could play, and the songs were just more polished versions of what they played live night in and out. Of course they overdubbed, but not that much...

Between Kramer, Criss, Simmons, Stanley and Frehley, the stories about Alive post-concert overdubs run the gamut from "just a few vocal touch-ups" to "everything except for Ace's leads and Pete's drums were redone" to "the recordings of Pete's drums were slowed down because he tended to play too fast live, and the slowed down drums were played back and the rest of the band then recorded using them as a 'live click track' "...who the fuck knows what to believe anymore?

Great album at any rate.

[bueno bob]

Yeah, there's a half a million different stories about how "live" Alive and especially Alive II are...safe to say there's probably a good degree of studio trickery going on with both of them, but they're not the only band in the 70s that touched up live albums in the studio (Priest)...or the 80s (any number)...or the 90s (Van Halen)...

Does happen, but at least they're still fun listens.