This piece of Kiss Bootleg I found at my local independent record store called Lunchbox Records.  It is Kiss from February 7th, 1995 and was recorded at the Hilton Hotel Ballroom in Melbourne, Australia while they were down under on tour.  The album is an acoustic show and this is a collection of outtakes from that show.

The line-up is Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of course and since this is pre-reunion, it also includes Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer.  A great non-makeup lineup.  The band sounds great and even Paul is singing his heart out.  The recording I believe is an audience recording only due to the loudness of the crowd, but let me tell you it sounds freaking awesome.

The crowd is really in to and at times it feels like a campfire singalong.  The band is definitely enjoying themselves as they are interacting with the crowd and seem to be having a blast.

The set is a single LP and includes a full size poster in with the album. The picture is of the front cover so not something different from what you already see…

The vinyl is colored and you can tell what color by the little dot on the front of the album jacket. Yes, it is white.  And funny enough there is nothing printed on the label on either side. It is all white so no need taking a picture of both sides as what you see is what you get on both sides…

And yes, I am playing it while I am writing this up…naturally!’

And now what about the track listing?  Well, it is actually totally awesome!!! Nothing new from around that time period, it is all old and some deep cuts thrown in.

Track Listing:

1. Goin’ Blind
2. Shandi
3. Rock Bottom
4. Got To Choose
5. Black Diamond
6. Hard Luck Woman
7. A World Without Heroes
8. Take Me
9. Shout it Loud
10. Nothin’ To Lose
11. Medley (Coming Home / Flaming Youth / Mr. Speed)
12. Sure Know Something

The album opens with “Goin’ Blind” which is such a cool song and Gene seeks the help of the crowd to singalong and boy they do just that.  Now, the album isn’t a full show, it is outtakes so they don’t just go in to the next song, there is usually a cut and the next one comes up which in this case is “Shandi”.  Of course they are going to play that one as it is an Aussie favorite.

Next up is another favorite, “Rock Bottom”.  They rock it out as best they can being an acoustic show.  But it has all the energy and fire an electric show would have.  And it keeps getting better with “Got to Choose”,  then “Black Diamond”.  The crowd sings the opening verse and screams “HIT IT!!”.  They end the first side with “Hard Luck Woman” and no Peter doesn’t come out and sing and neither does Garth Brooks.  It is Eric singer.  Eric does a bang-up job and the crowd loves it as they sang along as well.

Side 2 opens with an Elder favorite “A World Without Heroes”.  Gene is joking around a lot with the crowd at the end and kinda stops and finishes his line.  It is a fun one to listen to and cool to see this side of the band.  And then from Rock & Roll Over we get “Take Me”.  I don’t think I had this one live on any of my bootlegs so another nice addition to the catalog.

Next up is “Shout It Out Loud” which is a good version, but heard that one a ton.  Then we get “Nothin’ to Lose” which is one I always like to hear.  Eric sings another one and I don’t even care it ain’t Peter.

The band then does a medley with parts of 3 great songs, “Coming Home”, “Flaming Youth” (love this one) and “Mr. Speed”.  These were all crowd favorites and the band was really in to it as well.  Everyone was singing along and I am not sure who sounded better, the crowd or the band.  The band joked a lot between each song and it is was like the were making it up as they went along.

The album ends with “Sure Know Something” because the crazy Aussies love that Dynasty album.  With the crowd’s participation again, as I said earlier, it was a big campfire singalong.  Not a favorite song of mine, but man it was fun with version.

For me this is a real fun one to listen to. You can feel the energy of the room and the band was really having a ball.  The sound was fantastic and I think if you ever come across this one, grab yourself a copy. It will be totally worth it.  For enjoyment level and sound quality, I am giving this one a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars.  I can’t get enough of this one.

Check out the rest of the series if you have time!!  Thanks for stopping by!!

1. Kiss – ‘Accept No Imitations’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ASYLUM TOUR)
2. Kiss – Look Wot You Dun to Me (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (CRAZY NIGHTS TOUR)
3. Kiss – The Summer of Satan: The Devils Ride Out! (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DESTROYER TOUR)
4. Kiss – Return to Capital Center (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DYNASTY TOUR)
5. Kiss – With Fire & Thunder (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (HOTTER THAN HELL TOUR)
6. Kiss – Northhampton PA March 19th, 1975 (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DRESSED TO KILL TOUR)
7. Kiss – The Hottest Show On Earth (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (THE HOTTEST SHOW ON EARTH TOUR 2010)
8. Kiss – All the Way to the Ball Room (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (Australian Tour 1995)