Kiss – Alive – 1975
There are many stories that put forth the arguments that Alive!, the album that truly broke KISS, wasn’t all “live”. That the band went back in the studio and sweetened tracks, fixed mistakes, added layers.
I say, who the fuck cares? The live album of the 70s was a ground breaker for some great bands. Kiss, Cheap Trick. Others couldn’t bring the quality of their shows to the vinyl (I’m looking at you, Queen).
Alive is everything one would have hoped the previous three albums could be. Big, bold, ostentatious, crowd pleasing, dangerous, explosive.
Why don’t I care if it’s not purely live? Because the biggest problem I have with any live album is that it’s ONE concert. Right? Or cherry picked performances. Unlike a studio album where the song choices, the production, everything is worked out. A concert is a raw one time experience. For an example of the one time concert that is maybe a good example of the band but doesn’t make you want to rush out and see them live, see The Hold Steady’s A Positive Rage.
That’s why bootlegs of Bruce Springsteen are so great. He put on singularly exceptional shows EVERY TIME OUT. You HAD to hear them all. Or as many as humanly possible.
But albums are a product and live ones are designed to sell not only the band’s catalog but their concerts as well.
Alive does that in spades.
Everything that is missing on the first three studio albums, energy, raw power, excitement, can be found on this record. It made me want to go back and relisten to the predecessors (I did) to see if I had missed something (I hadn’t). The band sounds bigger than on those other records. Like they deserve to be seen live.
That’s quite an accomplishment.
And makes this record one of the better of the era.
Grade A
A Side: Stutter, Firehouse, Come on and Love Me, Parasite, Cold Gin, Rock and Roll All Night, Let me Go Rock and Roll
