KISS — Alive II (review)

Live album · 1977 · Hard Rock

4/5 · 2010-05-21
AtomicCrimsonRush

“Alive 2” was a second effort for the band to capture their trademark heavy raucous concert sound, a sound much heavier than any studio albums at the time. “Love Gun” had just been recorded and the band were ready to produce a live album that did not repeat any of the songs on “Alive!” which many taking live performances from different concerts to make up a kind of live compilation, though nobody considered this in 1977.

When I first heard this album I was totally blown away by it as a teenage Kiss addict. All the tracks sound even better than the studio versions. It begins with the incredible ‘Detroit Rock City’ which is very heavy in live format with those blistering lead solos I love so much. It blends beautifully into ‘King of the Nite time World’ as it does on “Destroyer” and it was a perfect start to this live experience. Other great tracks include 'Shout it out Loud', the anthemic hit single for the band.

There are some low points though they are still good hard rocking tracks; ‘Ladies' Room’ (“if some of you girls want to get yourself kissed...”), ‘Makin' Love’, and ‘Tomorrow and Tonight; (The idiot brother to ‘Rock and Roll Allnite’), could have easily been replaced by better songs.

Some tracks such as ‘Beth’ and ‘I Want You’ are taken from the aborted Japanese live album, others are from the Los Angeles Forum while on the Love Gun tour. Sadly I discovered recently that some tracks are even rehearsals! ‘Tomorrow And Tonight’ is from a 3:00 PM soundcheck it was revealed. And the sounds of crowds going mad were dubbed in and mixed in the studio. It is disappointing that Kiss resorted to this sort of cheating as it was not necessary.

Most of the live tracks are taken from the big three following “Alive!”, Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun. There are some glorious highlights; Ace live singing ‘Shock Me’ and part of his lead solo is a defining moment. Gene growling on the faster tempo heavy riffing ‘God of Thunder’ is another. ‘I Stole Your Love’ is also very solid rock featuring Paul getting the crowds to participate in a similar way as he did on “Alive!”’s ‘100, 000 Years’. ‘Shout it out Loud’ is a quintessential Kiss track and played very weel lon this live performance, “We love you! Goodnight!” Paul screams. But it is not good night on this album – there is one side left.

I did not think this live performance was anywhere near as good as “Alive!” though it was exciting to hear the tracks live from their best 3 albums. The real drawcard for the Kiss Army was the new studio tracks on side 4. All of the tracks have something special to offer.

It begins with Paul’s aggressive vocals on ‘All American Man’ with a grinding riff. This is followed by the simply brilliant ‘Rockin' in the USA’ with those unforgettable lyrics from Gene; “flying in a 747, passing by the pearly gates, coming real close to heaven, and my guitar it just can’t wait!” I always loved the riff on this and Gene’s screaming vocals are superb. ‘Larger Than Life’ has some excellent guitar work on it and Gene is once again in scintillating form. This is followed by Ace at his best singing ‘Rocket Ride’, a track I grew to adore. The lead break is divine guitar work and it features killer riffs throughout. ‘Any Way You Want It’ is a weird one, actually a cover version of The Dave Clark Five from 1965, and it sounds it. I did not know what to make of this and still think it is rather corny.

The band were great on this studio side and prepared the way for the next album. Unfortunately all was not at is seemed it was revealed later in 1997. The lead guitar parts on the studio side were played by Bob Kulick not Ace on ‘All American Man’, ‘Rockin' In The U.S.A.’ and ‘Larger Than Life’. Why do these things happen? Ace’s only guitar work was on his own ‘Rocket Ride’. Stanley played all guitars on ‘Anyway You Want It’ on his own interestingly enough. Ace wasn’t about, and these were the first signs of Ace leaving the band.

Overall “Alive 2” is an excellent album, not without it’s flaws, but it still delivers one of the best Kiss eras and features some of their greatest performances.