So why did it take so long for the band to release a third live compilation? To be honest, I don’t know the answer to that question, but the band certainly had several episodes going on during the time frame that may have contributed to the fact. The band all went and released solo albums in 1978, then moved in several different directions over the course of their next few albums, which included dabbling in disco and pop, writing a concept album that generally bombed, the rotation of new members of the band to replace both Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, the ditching of makeup and their on stage personas for their live shows, and eventually Kiss becoming more of a second job than a main priority for Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. On top of all of this, touring became less a part of the band than it had been in the 1970’s. Because their interests began to lie elsewhere than music, Paul and Gene had less time and perhaps less interest in doing long tours which would have been necessary in order to set up recording a live show for release.
All of this probably added up to the point that they reached on the tour to promote the album “Revenge”, and episode of which you can find in Season 2 of this podcast. With the huge worldwide reaction in particular to their cover version of “God Gave Rock n Roll To You”, and the solid sales of the “Revenge” album, no doubt the band felt it was the perfect time to take advantage of this, and come out with a new live album, and thus, “Alive III” came to fruition.
There are several conversations that are often held about this album, and all of the points of view aired are worthy of consideration. As per usual, when it comes to a live album, it should always rank highly, as it will contain the best songs of the band in that era of its release, as well as its best known songs. What Kiss did differently on “Alive II” however was that they didn’t repeat any tracks that they had released from the “Alive” album, something that, I at least feel was a great decision. Here on “Alive III” though, they have felt compelled to add three songs that came from either of those first two live albums - “Deuce”, “Rock and Roll All Night” and “Detroit Rock City”. And – all three are great live versions of those songs, and they do add a familiar and comfortable feeling to this live album.
Some were disappointed that this was not a double live album like those first two albums, but in the age CDs over vinyl, there really wasn’t much difference in actual play time. Both “Alive” and “Alive II” have a run time of approximately 75 minutes, while “Alive III” clocks in at 67 minutes. The difference is negligible. Also, “Alive II” included new studio tracks to pad it out, so on that score “Alive III” holds its own.
What certainly is different is that both “Alive” and “Alive II” covered just three studio albums each, giving them a unique sound and an important place in the band’s history. “Alive III” had to cover TEN studio albums, and despite this still felt it necessary to include those three songs from before this era in order to ensure older fans wanted to buy them. And the result is that several albums miss out on having even one song represented on this album. Given the austerity of the first two live albums, this always felt as though it was a missed opportunity.
Not only that, in my opinion, some of the song choices are poor. Given the band was touring on the “Revenge” album, it only makes sense that several songs from that album appear as a result. “I Still Love You” and “Forever” in particular are average ballads that if you want to play live, fine, but don’t put them on a live album. And there are a lot of other great songs that could have made the cut but for some reason didn’t. And no doubt the set list was cultivated for the tour, not to try and cover ten albums worth of material for a live album. And while that does not detract from the final product here, it does come as a slight disappointment to many, including myself.
Like I’ve a dozen times before on this podcast, I love a good live album. Many can be iconic, trapping moments in time that can never be repeated, and others are just great productions of a band in their element. For me, “Alive III” is a very good live album, with lots of great singular Kiss tracks that are known by fans of numerous generations. Having great Kiss tracks such as “Creatures of the Night”, “Unholy”, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”, “Lick it Up” and “I Love it Loud” given the live treatment is excellent, and all of those tracks stand up brilliantly here. The way they always do.
But what a lost opportunity it was to not have any songs from “Crazy Nights” and “Asylum” represented here, something I feel harder about as “Crazy Nights”, as I’m sure many of you know, is one of my favourite Kiss albums. To be honest, I wonder if Paul in particular was worried that he couldn’t sing them, even at this point in his career. Never mind.
Many people vetoed this album, but I still love it. It’s great to hear Eric Singer’s drumming and Bruce Kulick’s guitar in the live setting, and that the whole band is on song here. I was lucky enough to take my 14 year old son Josh to see Kiss last year on their 4th or 5th End of the Road tour, where they were still great to hear, and I listened to this a fair bit leading up to it, as well as over the last month again. It still sounds great. Kulick’s guitaring is just sensational.
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