It's Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

Live Album Score: ****

Well... this is Kiss's famous live album! Ohhhhh boy!

There are bands who have made great live albums, like the Rolling Stones, but the Rolling Stones also make great studio albums. There are bands whose best selling albums were live, like Cheap Trick, but their studio albums were quite good. And then there are bands who make great live albums, but their studio counterparts are absolute crap. Kiss, apparently, is the very illustration of that.

We know that Kiss's talent doesn't lie in their songwriting skills and, even though their band relies predominantly on guitar, their talent doesn't lie particularly in their instrument playing (even though it's gotten much better). Indeed, their talent lies in performing! Pleasing the audience! Indeed, they need screaming fans to respond to and not just an empty microphone. And, the result is pure energy!

When I listen to this double live album, I'm thinking ... I never remember Kiss being this much fun when I reviewed their studio albums. It's almost as if they took some time they had beyond putting on face paint to actually develop these songs! And it worked! Some of these songs, most of which sounded like zombies on the studio incarnations, really manage to kick here.

I'm not going to do the track reviews just because that is my policy regarding live albums. To tell you the truth, this is the first live album I ever reviewed for the site and I am just looking for an excuse not to have to intricately go through the track reviews again. And, I think my live album review policy is a good one ... it'll encourage me to go through more of these types of albums anyway, which I originally didn't have any intention of doing. Anyway! I had to review Kiss's live album, because of the rumors that they are the only Kiss albums worth listening to if, indeed, there was ever a Kiss album worth listening to. And, well, the rumors are true!

However, going through some of the track reviews that I gave 3's and 4's to that are on this live album, in most cases, I would increase those to 5's and 6's. ("Deuce," which is the album opener, I totally trashed the version of it that was on Kiss ... this version still isn't great, but it is worth about a 6.) Another notable track that just reeked on Kiss, that I gave a 2 to, was 10,000 years. Well, on this live album Kiss uses it as an excuse to rock out with an extremely cocky, show off session ... again, I'm not sure these instrumentalists are skilled enough to sound exceptionally well during solos ... but heck! And the audience participation there is a ball! I enjoy it a heck of a lot more than a 2! I'd give it a weak 7! (And, again, even though they aren't budding Ted Nugents, their instrument playing has vastly improved.)

Even "Rock and Roll All Nite" is better than the studio cut. (Oohhhhhhhh boy...)

Speaking of their song selection, I can only wonder why they didn't play "Room Service" or "Anything For My Baby," which I said were so good in Dressed to Kill. I guess that'll be one of the planet's biggest mysteries.

Alright ... Kiss still has modest talents ... even though they've seemed to improved to the point where it's almost a relief, you cannot get past the fact that they still have awful songs to work with ... but these guys were born for playing in front of large audiences. And most, if not all, of these songs sounded like somebody juiced these guys up with electricity.

As it stands, I don't recommend this album to serious rock fans. It might appeal to some people, but if you're not apt to liking hard, cock rock, this isn't anything that you're album collection is itching for. Or you might just want it for historical purposes. (I'm reviewing it for free on the Rhapsody music service *wink, wink*) If I were to go through the track reviews and the grid, I anticipate that it would score somewhere around a 6.5 or maybe a 7.

It's time for everyone to drop what they're doing leave your comments here!