Kiss and their label are know for releasing a ton of greatest hits compilations as you have seen over the last few months from what I’ve posted. And we’ve barely scratched the surface. I have another one for you and this one is was released on August 27, 2002. It is called ‘The Very Best of Kiss’ and you get 21 songs. There is nothing new, unreleased or anything special about these songs. They are all taken from the albums they represent with the exception of “Detroit Rock City” which is the edited version but it is from ‘Double Platinum’ and has been released before. Basically, there is really no reason to buy this one.

It is not well representative of their whole career as we only get 3 songs from the 80’s and 1 from the 90’s and that is it. We also only get 1 song from the solo albums and that is Ace’s “New York Groove”. The 70’s heyday is what is mostly represented here and if you want that era, get the ‘Gold’ compilation we mentioned awhile back as it is splendid. You do get a lot of band members represented as we have songs with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanely, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Eric Carr, Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer. No Mark St. John nor Tommy Thayer though. The album did chart at #52 on the Billboard 200 album chart and it did go Gold in the U.S., but otherwise nothing special. And with that, let’s get in to the music.s

The album kicks off with the song “Strutter” from the debut album.  The song was written by both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and over the years, this would be a rare experience as they would wind up writing songs by themselves.  The music of the song was based off an old Gene song called “Stanley the Parrot” which was recorded even before there was a Wicked Lester. 

“Deuce”, also from the debut, was written and sung by Gene and he doesn’t even know what the song actually means.  He just thought it sounded good…and he was right.  The opening line, “Get Up and get your Grandma out of here” is the best opening line.  This is one of those songs that live sounds so much cooler and has more grit, but this is still awesome.

“Got To Choose” which was written and sung by Paul Stanley and from ‘Hotter Than Hell’.  The guitar riff was something Paul took from the Wilson Pickett song ‘Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do)’ and Ace hit on a nice solo.

“Hotter Than Hell”  was written by Paul and another song he stole from somewhere else.  This one is basically a re-write of the Free song “All Right Now” and you can hear that Free influence in it.  The song is about picking up a woman in a bar and having your way and it turns out she’s married which burns you like the midday sun.

From ‘Dressed to Kill’ is a classic Paul Stanley song called “C’mon and Love Me”.  This song also gives Paul his first solo on a Kiss song and it is worth noting as it is simply wonderful. 

Then we get to the song that started it all for the band from the album ‘Alive!’.  The start to superstardom was because of “Rock And Roll All Nite”.  This is now their signature song and it is easy to see why.  It is a pure rock anthem like no other.

“Detroit Rock City” was so different than anything they had done prior, musically and lyrically.  They took a chance shaking things up a bit and it worked.  The song does mention Detroit, but is really about a young fan that is killed why he was on his way to a Kiss concert.  The story is based off an actual event that occurred outside a Kiss concert in Charlotte where a fan was hit by a car and killed outside the arena.  Knowing it is based a real life event adds a little extra to the impact of the song. The song is originally from ‘Destroyer’, but this version is from ‘Double Platinum’ and is edited.

“Shout It Out Loud” was the first single off the album trying to capitalize off the success of the live version of “Rock and Roll All Nite” that was released previously.  The title of the song comes from the Hollies song “We Want to Shout It Out Loud” which Wicked Lester demoed years earlier. The song is sung by both Paul and Gene  and that chorus of “Shout it, Shout it, Shout It Out Loud” is pure rock gold.

“Beth” is their biggest single and it went all the way to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was sung by Peter Criss.  The song was one Peter had written prior to Kiss and written with guitarist Stan Penridge.  The song is a ballad and played on piano with full backing orchestration by the New York Philharmonic. 

 From ‘Rock And Roll Over, we get “I Want You” which was written by Paul while the band was on tour in England.  He was standing on stage at a soundcheck and the song just came to him. It opens deceptively with an acoustic guitar and Paul singing softly before it explodes in to a straight ahead rocker. And what is even better is that it has 2 guitar solos. First one is Paul and the second one is Ace.

“Calling Dr. Love” stems from a Gene song called “Bad Bad Lovin’” which you can hear in many forms on Gene Simmons ‘The Vault’. Interesting to note, on the backing vocals, you can hear Katy Sagal from Married With Children and Sons of Anarchy.  Of course she wasn’t famous at this point.

“Hard Luck Woman” was written by Paul and he had written so Rod Stewart could sing and when listening to the track, I could hear Rod singing this.  Paul was talked in to giving it to Peter and although the song did do as well as “Beth”, it still gave the band another Top 20 hit. 

Then we get a few songs from ‘Love Gun’ starting with “I Stole Your Love” which was written by Paul and he used the same formula he did for “Makin’ Love”. Boy, can you hear it.  There are two guitar solos on this one with the first one being Paul and the second one is Ace Frehley.

The first single off “Love Gun” was “Christine Sixteen”. There is a cool piano riff in the song which was done by Eddie Kramer. A fun fact about the song, the demo was done with Gene and two unknown artist at the time by the name of Eddie and Alex Van Halen. 

“Love Gun” is up next and Paul has stated that the song was inspired by “The Hunter” by Booker T. & the MG’s but I believe performed by Albert King.  The song does mention a “love gun”.  That barrage of drum hits by Peter are so recognizable that the second you hear you know it is “Love Gun”.

The only Solo song we get is from Ace Frehley with a cover of “New York Groove”, by the band Hello and written by Russ Ballard.  This was the single off the album and became a massive hit for Ace and really became his signature song. The biggest hit of all the solo albums going to #13 on the Billboard charts.

“I Was Made For Lovin’ You” was written by Paul Stanley, Vini Poncia and the great Desmond Child makes his first of many appears with the band. This is the only one from ‘Dynasty’. The story goes that Disco was really big at the time and the record company wanted the band to be a little more commercial. Paul thought any idiot could write a disco song and a bet was made and a few hours later, the song was written and the Paul proved his point. The song went to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“I Love it Loud” was written by Gene Simmons and Vinnie Vincent and it was our first glimpse in to Vinnie as a song writer and it was awesome. This was such a heavy metal track and it was the Demon rejuvenated. A massive anthem despite the simple, somewhat stupid lyrics. I love the fade out at the end to then come back again for a few more pointless seconds. Not sure the need, but as a kid, I thought it was cool.

“Lick It Up” was the band’s first single and first video without make-up and the song only went to #66.  It opens with a nice little riff and a little scream from Paul.  This song was meant for the radio.  This is a pure 80’s, melodic rock song and no wonder it still gets played a lot.  The song is about a guy trying to talk his girlfriend in to doing the nasty so doesn’t really fit with the video.

The second single off ‘Hot in the Shade’ became the band’s biggest hit since “Beth” going all the way to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Paul Stanley and Michael Bolton, yes that Michael Bolton. “Forever” features Paul and Bruce handling the acoustic guitars to open the track and Phil Ashley on keyboards. It is a power ballad and it is so sugary sweet, but I can live with it. It is also a cool moment for Eric has his playing is great as it is subtle enough yet he has a lot of little fills in it that give the song a little extra something.

The compilation ends with “God Gave Rock And Roll To You II” which is a cover of the Argent song written by Russ Ballard with heavy lyric changes by Paul, Gene and Bob. The song is the first good rock anthem Kiss had done in years and the first in 10 years to have a co-lead vocals with both Gene and Paul. This was from the Bill & Ted Bogus Journey movie and soundtrack as well as from ‘Revenge’. You can get in a multitude of places.

And that is it. The songs on here aren’t bad by any means, they aren’t the ones I would’ve necessarily chosen and it is too heavily loaded on the 70’s. It feels like it was put together by people that don’t really know anything of the band and just grabbed songs they knew, nothing more. There are better compilations out there so you can avoid this one. My Overall Score is a 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars. I still had to buy it as I am trying to get as complete set of Kiss CDs as I can so I needed it. But I’m not recommending it. I would like to see this get released on vinyl though…hint hint Gene & Paul and the Label!!

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 – The Very Best of Kiss (2002)
64. Kiss – Kiss Symphony: Alive IV (2003)
65. Kiss – The Best of Kiss: The Millennium Collection (1974-1982) (2003)
66. Gene Simmons – Asshole (2004)
67. Kiss – Rock the Nation 2004 World Tour: Instant Live (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, NC 7/28/04) (2004)
68. Kiss – The Best of Kiss: Volume 2 – The Millennium Collection (1982-1989) (2004)
69. Kiss – Rock the Nation Live! DVD (2005)
70. Kiss – Gold (2005)
71. Kiss – The Best of Kiss: Volume 3 – The Millennium Collection (The 90’s) (2006)
72. Kiss – Alive! The Millennium Concert (2006)
73. Kiss – Kiss Alive! 1975-2000 Box Set (2006)
74. Paul Stanley – Live to Win (2006)
75. Kiss – Kissology: Volumes 1 to 3 (2006-2007)
76. Kiss – Jigoku-Retsuden (2008)
77. Kiss – Ikons (2008)
78. Kiss – Sonic Boom (2009)
79. Kiss – Monster (2012)
80. Kiss – The Casablanca Singles 1973-1982 (2012)
81. Kiss – Kiss 40 (2014) – 2 CD Set
82. Kiss – Kiss 40 (2014) – Japanese Edition
83. Kiss – Kiss Rocks Vegas (2016)
84. Kiss – Kissworld: The Best of Kiss (2017)
85. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Tokyo 2001 (2021)
86. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Live in Virginia Beach July 24, 2004 (2022)
87. Kiss – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First (2021)
88. Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2021)
89. Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary 2-LP Deluxe Edition (Colored Vinyl) (2021)
90. Kiss – Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2022)
91. Kiss – Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary 3-LP Deluxe Edition (Colored Vinyl) (2022)
92. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Arena, November 28, 1984 (2023)
93. Kiss – Icon (2010 / 2023)
94. 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)