The ‘Lick it Up’ album, which came out on September 23, 1983, garnered way more attention than it’s predecessor ‘Creatures of the Night’ for one main reason. The band finally took off the make-up which is something they had been talking about doing since at least the ‘Music from the Elder’ era. They finally did it and the big reveal was on MTV during primetime. I remember this vividly as this was event TV for me as I was a lifelong Kiss fan at the time (and still am today). I remember seeing each member in make-up and then without and I remember thinking, “PUT IT BACK ON!!! OOOOH THE HORROR!!!” No, it really wasn’t that bad. It was actually pretty cool. And just like that Kiss was back in the public eye and they had some songs that could back it up.

Now, 40 years later, Kiss was rumored to be releasing another Box Set like say ‘Creatures’ or ‘Destroyer’, but those plans were squashed probably due to the fact the other box sets didn’t sell out…but who knows why. Instead they released a new Japanese Edition with a lot of little extras (but no extra discs or music) and a Picture Disc box set for ‘Lick It Up’ that included two 12″ Singles that were picture discs as well. They were limited to 3,000 copies and my copy is 1,729. This was way better than what happened to the Japanese edition which instead of #’s, a lot of them just showed XXXX…man, that would piss me off. The box is a heavy duty cardboard box embossed in silver rather than the white of the original album. It is quite nice.

I have already reviewed ‘Lick It Up’ in great detail which you can click here and read…Kiss – Lick It Up (1983). For this post, we are only going to show off the new picture discs and packaging for the box set. I hope you enjoy.

‘LICK IT UP’ – THE ALBUM

The album cover and back cover are exactly the same as the original album. The inner sleeve contains the lyrics on bother sides as you would have on the original album release. Thankfully, the faithfully recreated the album cover artwork perfectly.

For the pictured disc, I have to say the color is bright and vivid and it looks sensational. However, my gripe is that it is only the album cover and back of the album that is actually on the picture disc itself. It would have been cool with some other artwork from that era that hadn’t been seen before or used for posters. Something different than the album cover would’ve been really cool me (at least on the flip side. Doing the track list is kind of boring.

“LICK IT UP” – 12″ SINGLE:

The first 12″ Single we get is the first single on the album which was “Lick It Up”. The single was released on a September 18, 1983 a week prior to the album’s release. And if you are curious, there actually was a 12″ single released with these exact songs in the UK. And the exact cover art, so for that I applaud them for recreating that here, except this time with a picture disc. And this time, they do get creative with the art work by putting cool renditions of each member of the band. On this one, we get 2 of the 4 members and those are Paul Stanley and Eric Carr.

“ALL HELL’S BREAKIN’ LOOSE” – 12″ SINGLE:

The second single from the album was for the song “All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose”, however, this one was not released as a 12″ single that I can find. The single was released on February 6, 1984 and the B-Side was in fact “Young And Wasted”. Again, I am glad they kept true to the single. The big difference is there was no 12″ released, like I said, and this artwork on the cover is unique to this release. The actual 7″ singles had pictures similar from the same photo shoot, but not this shot. This time around for pictures we get Gene and Vinnie as if you didn’t expect that to happen.

And that is it. A simple set that I thought was cool. The only reason I bought it was for the 12″ Singles of the two songs as I didn’t have either single in my collection. Otherwise, I probably would not have bought for a picture disc of the main album. I am not the type of collector that buys every variant (at least not yet). Instead, I like to get stuff with songs I don’t have or even extra vinyl of something I don’t have as well. So this release barely passed the test of what it takes for me to buy. I hope you enjoyed it and I am sure we will have more Kiss down the road.

The Kiss Review Series:

1. Wicked Lester and the Progeny Demo Sessions (Bootleg)
2. Kiss – Kiss (1974)
3. Kiss – Hotter Than Hell (1974)
4. Kiss – Dressed to Kill (1975)
5. Kiss – Alive! (1975)
6. Kiss – Destroyer (1976)
7. Kiss – “Flaming Youth” 45 Promo Single – Bonus Edition (1976)
8. Kiss – “Beth” – 7″ Single – Bonus Edition (1976)
9. Kiss – Special Kiss Album For Their Summer Tour (1976)
10. Kiss – The Originals (1976)
11. Kiss – Rock & Roll Over (1976)
12. Kiss – “Calling Dr. Love” – 7″ Single – Bonus Edition (1977)
13. Kiss – Love Gun (1977)
14. Kiss – “Christine Sixteen” – 7″ Single – Bonus Edition (1977)
15. Kiss – Alive II (1977)
16. Kiss – Double Platinum (1978)
17. Kiss – Paul Stanley (1978)
18. Kiss – Gene Simmons (1978)
19. Kiss – Peter Criss (1978)
20. Kiss – Ace Frehley (1978)
21. Kiss – Best of Solo Albums (1978)
22. Kiss – Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park Movie (1978)
23. Kiss – Dynasty (1979)
24. Kiss – “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” (1979) – 12″ & 7″ Singles (Bonus Edition)
25. Kiss – Unmasked (1980)
26. Peter Criss – Out of Control (1980)
27. Kiss – Music From The Elder (1981)
28. Kiss – Killers (1982)
29. Kiss – Creatures of the Night (1982)
30. Kiss – Lick It Up (1983)
31. Kiss – Animalize (1984)
32. Wendy O. Williams – WOW (1984) (Bonus Edition)
33. Kiss – Animalize Live Uncensored (1985)
34. Kiss – Asylum (1985)
35. Kiss – “Tears Are Falling” 7″ Single (Bonus Edition) (1985)
36. Kiss – Creatures of the Night (1985 Re-Issue)
37. Vinnie Vincent Invasion – Vinnie Vincent Invasion (1986)
38. Black N’ Blue – Nasty Nasty (1986)
39. Ace Frehley – Frehley’s Comet (1987)
40. Kiss – Exposed VHS (1987)
41. Kiss – Crazy Nights (1987)
42. Kiss – “Crazy Crazy Nights” – 12″ Single (Bonus Edition)
43. Kiss – “Reason To Live” – 12″ Picture Disc (Bonus Edition)
44. Kiss – Chikara (1988)
45. Kiss – Smashes, Thrashes & Hits (1988)
46. Kiss – Hot In The Shade (1989)
47. Kiss – “God Gave Rock And Roll To You II” (1991) – 12″ Picture Disc
48. Kiss – Revenge (1992)
49. Kiss – Alive III (1993)
50. Kiss – “I Was Made For Lovin’ You (Live)” (1993) – CD Maxi Single (Bonus Edition)
51. Kiss – Konfidential VHS (1993)
52. Kiss – Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved (1994)
53. Kiss – MTV Unplugged (1996)
54. Kiss – You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! (1996)
55. Kiss – Greatest Kiss (1997)
56. Kiss – Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions (1997)
57. Kiss – Psycho Circus (1998)
58. Kiss – The Second Coming Documentary (1998)
59. Eric Carr – Rockology (1999)
60. Mark St. John – Mark St. John Project (1999)
61. Eric Singer Project – ESP (1999)
62. Bruce Kulick – Audiodog (2001)
63. Kiss – Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (2003)
64. Gene Simmons – Asshole (2004)
65. Kiss – Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Instant Live (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, NC 7/28/04) (2004)
66. Kiss – Rock the Nation Live! DVD (2005)
67. Kiss – Alive! The Millennium Concert (2006)
68. Paul Stanley – Live to Win (2006)
69. Kiss – Kissology: Volumes 1 to 3 (2006-2007)
70. Kiss – Jigoku-Retsuden (2008)
71. Kiss – Sonic Boom (2009)
72. Kiss – Monster (2012)
73. Kiss – The Casablanca Singles 1973-1982 (2012)
74. Kiss – Kiss 40 (2014)
75. Kiss – Kiss Rocks Vegas (2016)
76. Kiss – Kissworld: The Best of Kiss (2017)
77. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Tokyo 2001 (2021)
78. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Live in Virginia Beach July 24, 2004 (2022)
79. Kiss – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First (2021)
80. Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2021)
81. Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary 2-LP Deluxe Edition (Colored Vinyl) (2021)
82. Kiss – Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2022)
83. Kiss – Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary 3-LP Deluxe Edition (Colored Vinyl) (2022)
84. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Arena, November 28, 1984 (2023)
85. Kiss – Icon (2010 / 2023)
86. Kiss – Lick it Up (40th Anniversary Picture Disc) (2023)

The Bootleg Series:

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)
9. Kiss – Kiss of Thunder (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (The Rising Sun Tour 2006)
10. Kiss – Agora Ballroom 1974: The Cleveland Broadcast plus Bonus Cuts (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (THE KISS TOUR)
11. Kiss – Hotter Than Hell: Radio Broadcast 1976 (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ROCK & ROLL OVER TOUR)
12. Kiss – The Tickler (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (LICK IT UP TOUR 1983)
13. Kiss – Barbarize (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ANIMALIZE WORLD TOUR 1984 – North American Tour)
14. Kiss – They Only Come Out At Night (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ANIMALIZE WORLD TOUR 1984 – EUROPEAN TOUR)
15. Wicked Lester and the Progeny Demo Sessions (Bootleg)
16. Kiss – Black Diamond: Lafayette Music Room, Memphis, TN April 18th, 1974 – FM Broadcast
17. Kiss – End of the Road: In Allentown 2020 (PPL Center, Allentown, PA, 4th February 2020) (End of the Road Tour) – Blu-Ray
18. Kiss – ‘Monster Tour: Simpsonville 2013’ (Charter Amphitheatre at Heritage Park, Simpsonville, C – 13th August 2013) – Blu-Ray
19. Wicked Lester – The Original Wicked Lester Sessions (Bootleg)
20. Kiss – The Ritz on Fire (August 12, 1988, The Ritz, New York City. A radio broadcast – Crazy Nights Tour)
21. Kiss – Kiss My Axe 1978: Live from the Los Angeles Forum in California, August 25, 1977 (Love Gun Tour)
22. Kiss – Gods of Thunder: The Legendary Concert Broadcast – Sao Paulo, August 27, 1994′
23. Kiss – Black Diamond: Lafayette Music Room, Memphis, TN April 18th, 1974 – FM Broadcast (Alternate Cover)
24. Kiss -Alive! in Amityville: June 1973 – (2021)
25. Kiss – Set the World On Fire: Live (10 CD Box Set – Radio Broadcasts 1974-1994)
26. Kiss – Diamonds in the Dust (2022)