KISS Alive!

Say what you will. Luagh if you want. Love them or hate them. This is a very very good album. Forget about the costumes and the make-up and the pyrotechnics and the glam and the 'not going to safe the World' lyrics, this album ROCKS!!!! There is so much energy! These guys are tight and together. This is music from their first 3 albums, before they got big and super famous. To me, the live performances of these songs are far better than the studio versions. The most important, the most enjoyable, the best part: Ace’s solos. They are so crisp and sharp! At moments, they mesmerize. At moments, they pierce my heart and demand that my soul wake and give my complete undivided attention. One difference from the studio version to this: the guitar solo on “Rock and Roll All Night.” A little longer and with far more enthusiasm. Ace Frehley’s unique sound on this album greatly enhances the music. The rest of the music: fun, entertaining, high energy, un-pretentious, catchy. When you stop listening to it and go about your day, the songs pound through your mind like, well, like a rock and roll band. Whenever I play this, I can not decide what to listen to after it is done. So, I just listen to it again, and again, and, again. When I very first bought this back in 1976 when it first came out, it did not leave the 8-track player in my old ’68 Dodge Charger for months. When it did, it only left for a very short time before it went back. Then, someone stole it. I have bought this album 4 times on 8-track tape, twice on cassette, 3 times on vinyl, and twice on CD. All 4 8-tracks and 1 cassette were stolen. You might think that Ace was my favorite. It was Gene Simmons. For many Halloweens, my face was painted like Gene’s. I even became a bass player. When I was a senior in high school, my bedroom walls were covered in KISS posters. By the way, I saw them in late 1976, with the original line-up and in make-up. Then, in the early ‘90’s at Red Rocks, and then again in 1995 when they reunited with the original members. When I die and I list my accomplishments, seeing the original KISS in make-up will be on that list.