Kiss – The 8-Track Collection

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

There is No New Release Post today as new releases dry up this time of the year. We will be back after the first of the year. In the meantime, enjoy…

If you follow this site, you know I’m a Kiss fan. I’m not too fanatical, but I do have a decent Vinyl collection starting up. I have all but maybe a few albums on vinyl, however, I haven’t started down the slippery slope of buying every version of an LP. That is a special kind of fan. If you follow this site, you also know that we are in a great blogging universe with a great set of fellow bloggers that we call “Community”. And that word is crucial for this post.

It all started a few years back when Mr. Books, Aaron at KeepsMeAlive, gifted a bunch of 8 Tracks to another friend Geoff at 1001AlbumsIn10Years. Geoff recently reached out to me and asked if I would like them. What Geoff knew was that I was big Kiss fan. What Geoff didn’t know that over the last year, every time I go in to an Antique Mall or a Record Store and they have 8 Tracks, I have been scouring them looking for Kiss 8-Tracks. To date, I have found ZERO!!!! Thanks to Geoff, I now have 6! And the official collecting of Kiss 8 Tracks has now begun!! In fact, I think I am going to go down a rabbit hole. I am going to try and collect all the 8 Tracks I can, all the cassettes and all the CDs. Why not have one of every format. I don’t think I am going to do to the reel-to-reel as that is uber expensive. When I post a picture of a Kiss album, I want that album to have each format in the picture. I think that would be a lot of fun! Let the hunting begin.

But first, let’s go through the 8-Tracks that Geoff sent. First up is “Hotter Than Hell”. Now, these are old and a little rough around the edges, but no ever though people would be collecting these things. When you look at the track listing you see the biggest problem with 8-Tracks. Look at the track listing for Program 1 and 2. The last song on 1 says “Watchin’ You” (Begin) and the first song on 2 is “Watchin’ You” (Cont.). This means the song faded out in Program 1 and then you hear a click and the song fades back in Program 2. It is AWFUL!! My brother made the comment to me that when he listens to Dynasty now, he expects certain songs to fade in and out and they don’t anymore.

As I mentioned these were owned by Aaron first then Geoff and now me. However, this particular tape was owned originally, I am assuming, by Brian McKibbon. How do I know that? Well, he wrote his name on the back. And it looks like this might have cost $10.03 at one time.

Next up is Kiss Alive!! The greatest live (part studio album) ever recorded. The unique thing about this one is that this is a Double LP and yet, they were able to put the entire album on the one tape. Which I have to say is awesome as you wouldn’t have to flip the vinyl over 4 times or a cassette over the same amount. Just put it on and play the whole show. I kind a like that idea. And somehow they were able to not have any fade outs or ins.

Then we get to the band’s biggest album, ‘Destroyer’. This was my favorite album and I remember playing it a lot when I was a kid. Now the band is getting ready to release the 45th Anniversary Box Set of the album which makes the timing of this one incredible. And again, another 8-Track with no fades in the songs. Man, I wish I had an 8-Track Player to hear these. I am sure they sound absolutely horrible and would love to hear it anyway.

Next up is ‘The Originals’ Part 1. If you know the Originals, you know this is a box set that was a re-issue of the first 3 albums. They did this after the success of Alive! and Destroyer. This is a box set as well as there should be 2 of them in the set. We only have Part 1 which has a mixture of songs from the 3 albums. I am surprised it isn’t the debut album in its entirety and then Hotter Than Hell and then Dressed to Kill. This track listing is really interesting. I don’t see this listed in Discogs in the way the track listing is here, but there is only one Canada release and this must be it.

Next we have one that is still in its case. But I am not sure the case belongs to this 8 Track as the case is A&M when Kiss was on Casablanca. Still, cool to have it. This is one that was a double album as well but here we get a 2LP length 8 Track. What is really missing is the massive artwork you get on an album. That makes 8 Tracks a little disappointing, well that and numerous other things. Here is the front and back as this one had the track listing on the back.

And last is another one in the case. This time it is Double Platinum. The band’s first greatest hits compilation. I should say first of SO SO MANY!!! This is also another 2LP double playing time as this too was a 2LP set. And again, this case says Anthem and the band was not on that label so not sure this right either. But it did keep the 8-Track itself ver clean.

And that is all. But man, it was so cool of Geoff for sending these. I owe him one big time!! Here you can get another good look at the set…can’t wait to see if I can make this collection grow at all.

Oh, wait. I almost forgot. Let’s take a picture with each vinyl and 8 Track…

“HOTTER THAN HELL”

“KISS ALIVE!”

“DESTROYER”

“THE ORIGINALS”

“KISS ALIVE II”

And finally…“DOUBLE PLATINUM”

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great day!!! Remember…COMMUNITY!!!

35 thoughts on “Kiss – The 8-Track Collection”

  1. I wasn’t expecting that, kinda surprise! Kiss is my favorite group and I’m trying to buy every album in CD, I have 14 and I have been trying for a year with only my birthday, Xmas and babysitting. I’m listening the Aah song of steelheart’s WAIT.

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  9. This was a cool post for me. My introduction to music was KISS Alive! on 8-track that I stole from my uncle when I was around 9 years old. I dragged my parents 8-track player into my bedroom and played that one album on a loop forever (I didn’t have any other music). 40 years later, KISS is my all-time favorite band. I am that guy collecting vinyl from Discogs and eBay… I just started about two years ago, but I have over 200 items so far. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.

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    1. Awesome. Glad you liked it. It was cool for me as well. I remember my parents car had an 8-Track player in it and we had to wedge a piece of aluminum foil underneath the tape to make it work properly.

      And that is a lot of Kiss vinyl so you must be getting all the variants. I am shooting for one of everything and I am over 60 albums including bootlegs.

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  10. A part of me misses these…a very very small part. Like your brother but instead of a fade out…I had Nazareth Hair of the Dog on 8-track from my sister…to this day I remember the loud “CLICK” when it would go from one track to another…. sometimes in a middle of a song…I still expect that CLICK.

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  12. Full credit to Aaron for starting the 8-track gift exchange!
    I hadn’t noticed the $10.03 price tag – what a bizarre bit of psychological pricing. Normally, you’d think they’d go 3 cents below $10, so the customer would think it’s a “$9” purchase. Maybe the 3 cents above implies that it’s a high quality item? In any event, the pricing strategy worked on Barry McKibbon!
    And the LPs & 8-tracks pair nicely in the photos – but I think you’re right, a CD on the bottom middle and cassette on an angle in the bottom left would bring those album family photos together even more nicely!

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  13. COMMUNITY!!! So awesome that Geoff is sharing the love around, I love it. I never did own them for myself, I just scooped up the pile and sent it on the Geoff. I didn’t remember there was that much KISS in there!

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