53. KISS / Alive II. 1977. 3.5/5

The album “Alive” had been the point where Kiss became a worldwide phenomenon. The success of that album in showcasing their songs in a live setting, without seeing the gimmick of make up and stage dressing that had been their call sign to that point, was where the songs became the selling point. The popularity garnered from that release then seeped into their next studio album, the one that many still believe is their greatest, “Destroyer”. On the back of the mega sales of that album, Kiss then toured and recorded on repeat, bringing out “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun” to wide acclaim.
The sanctioning of a second live album to follow up the success of that first album was also seen as a way of buying the band some time when it came to recording their next album. They had tried this with recording in Japan in April 1977, but the resulting recordings were seen as unusable and therefore not publishable. Eventually the majority of the album came from recordings made in August on the “Love Gun” tour.
The band’s decision, which was to only include songs that had been written since “Alive” was released, in essence only from “Destroyer”, “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun”, left people’s opinion divided. Many felt that it restricted the enjoyment and marketability of the album, and that releasing one live show of the band at that time would have been a better option. Others feel that because of the way it was put together, it acts as a compendium piece with “Alive”, in that so many songs now had published live versions of them over the course of those two albums, and that it made it more collectable. Either way, it also contained four new studio tracks, just to up the ante when it came to the fan deciding whether or not it was worth their cash to buy it. Millions felt that it was.

The original 2LP of this album could almost have been released as one side for each album that the songs were drawn from, and one side for the new tracks. Still, it is amazing when you listen to this album just how many great Kiss songs came from these three albums that they were drawn from. And just like the three album span that “Alive” was drawn from, it shows that the no-repeat policy of songs chosen here is actually a wise one.
It leads off with the great duo of “Detroit Rock City” and “King of the Night Time World”, a brilliant way to lead off the “Destroyer” album and it does the same job here. Other songs drawn from that album here are the always brilliant Gene Simmons hard rocker “God of Thunder”, the crowd pleaser “Shout it out Loud”, and the still-incomprehensible live staple of “Beth” sung by Peter Criss. I’ve never understood the necessity of always having this in the set list, apart from allowing whichever drummer is currently in the band the chance to sing a song.
The songs drawn from “Rock and Roll Over”, for me, aren’t in the same class, but are certainly the best songs from the album, with “Ladies Room”, “Making Love”, the always fun “Calling Dr Love” (another Gene song... go figure...) “Hard Luck Woman” with Peter Criss again on vocals, and “I Want You”. And the songs that come from “Love Gun”, which for me is still a slightly underrated album, are just as fun, with the great opening track “I Stole Your Love”, title track “Love Gun”, “Christine Sixteen”, Ace Frehley’s “Shock Me” and “Tomorrow and Tonight”.
Side four contains the five new studio tracks to round out the album, and none of them are particularly outstanding, or hold much value for the discerning listener. I wonder if most owners of this album do the same as I do whenever I pull it out to listen to it, and just put it back in its cover once we have reached the end of the live part of the album with “Shout it out Loud”. Don’t reckon I would have listened to those songs before this last couple of weeks for 30 years.

While I always seemed to have Kiss around me growing up, whether it was my older cousin or friends around the school yard or eventually at parties that I rarely got invited to but would show up at anyway, I didn’t own this album for many years after its release. I certainly heard the album on different occasions as mentioned before, but I just never got around to owning a copy of the album until many years later. In fact, it was when my first daughter was born back in 2003, and when I had been kicked out of the birthing unit for the downtime for mothers and new born child, I had walked into town and gone to one of my favourite places, Illawarra Books and Records, and let my fingers do the walking. And there in front of me, in great condition and a bargain price, were both “Alive!” and “Alive II”. How convenient. And exciting for me, as I then went home that evening after visiting hours had again sent me out into the world, and went home and listened to both of those albums back to back, probably for the first time ever in full. I still remember that to this day... I just don’t mention it to the wife... as she would say “Is THAT what you remember from that time?!?!” Well yes, it is.
In many ways I love this more than “Alive” which I know most Kiss fans will say is sacrilege. That first album and the records it draws from is brilliant, but I think the second version is better. At least, up when the new songs come in. Those I can happily ignore altogether.
Many years later of course we got Alive III and even Alive IV with backing orchestra, but it will always be these two albums that are the stars, and Alive II does have one of the greatest Kiss songs ever on it.