Universal Music is still the compilation king even in 2015. For almost 10 years, they have been spitting out Kiss compilations like they were going out of style. This time around they release a single disc compilation that was only available in Spain. It was titled ‘Lo Mejor…Kiss’. For you English speaking folks, that simply means ‘The Best of…Kiss’. It is only 14 tracks that covers the 70’s and a smidge in the 80’s as we do get 3 tracks from that era. You get a handful with Gene on vocals, a smattering of Paul and a sprinkle of Peter…but no Ace songs…boo!!! The cover of the album is pretty nice with an early photo of the band. I love how the cover looks like a magazine cover and I even like the font of the logo. There isn’t much to it as the album cover opens to reveal the track listing with a few credits, but no other pictures, no write-up, nothing. Pretty basic. Another cash grab. But being that is a Spanish release, the cool factor is pretty high for me to have it in the collection.

There isn’t much else I could find on it, so we might as well talk the music. The album kicks off with the song that started it all for the band.  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. The ‘Alive!’ version is better though.

And then Paul shows off with a little “Oooh Oooh Oooh” that I’m not sure he could not hit today as it is so high, but it is a perfect way to kick off the song “Heaven’s On Fire” which is another Paul and Desmond song and the first single off ‘Animalize’ The song is another rocker and a very typical 80’s sounding song. It was all over MTV and helped propel the album to Platinum status. On radio, it didn’t fare as well not breaking the Top 40 and hanging around #49. The song is one of the few 80’s song to actually get occasionally played live after they went back to make-up which is cool. Now sadly, this was the only video that contains Mark as he was gone before anything else was done, but at least we have this to remember him by.

“Lick It Up” is 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.  Paul’s second song on the album and it was meant for the radio.  This is a pure 80’s, melodic rock song and no wonder it still gets played a lot.  The video was so 80’s as well.  Real cheesy and had the band in a post-apocalyptic world.  It is a little comical watching it now.  The song, however, is about a guy trying to talk his girlfriend in to doing the nasty so doesn’t really fit with the video.

The first song of their debut, “Strutter”.  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.  The song has a great opening drum fill by Peter and is an uptempo rock song that was inspired by all the sexy women in New York.  There is a great bass riff by Gene why Ace belts out the solo. Paul sings the song and shows all the confidence a lead singer should show.

Now we get ot one of the band’s most iconic songs, “Love Gun” from the album of the same name.  That barrage of drum hits by Peter are so recognizable that the second you hear, you know what you are getting.  When Peter does that barrage towards the end and then Ace comes in with a mini solo, it is magical.  If the bass sounds a little different, that is because Paul handles those duties. The song is still played live today and at almost every show since its release.  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”.

“Detroit Rock City” is up next from ‘Destroyer’ and this single version pretty much cuts out the opening bit of the boy getting in the car and all the car parts as well as the crash. 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.

“I Love it Loud” is up next and MTV played it a lot and every time it came on it was event TV for me. I actually remember having our little black & white TV in the dining room on at dinner one night because I knew the song was coming on. When it did, I stoped eating to watch and made everyone else watch it too. Ace was in the video and I thought Kiss was chugging along just fine. Plus, I loved seeing the Giant Tank stage and Eric was slamming away on those drums. The song 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.

The first single from ‘Dynasty’ was “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”. The song was written by Paul Stanley, Vini Poncia and the great Desmond Child makes his first of many appears with the band (only one on this album). 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. And as I mentioned earlier, the result was people thought this was a disco album. Wrong!! This song did have every trapping of a disco song, the tempo, the beat, the pop sound, the disco sound effects…I mean it was disco…but it was good and it was catchy and they still play it, but I still don’t know if I can give it full marks. Now on a side note, this is Gene’s least favorite song (and Peter and Ace hate it too).

Things keep getting better with another classic Paul Stanley song called “C’mon and Love Me” which is from the album ‘Dressed to Kill’.  This song also gives Paul his first solo on a Kiss song and it is worth noting as it is wonderful.  The song has a rock and pop feel and is catchy as hell with the help of Gene on those backing vocals.  I love the line “She’s a dancer, a romancer, I’m a Capricorn and she is a Cancer” because Paul is not a Capricorn he’s Aquarius.  So, basically he is lying to us.  The second single on the album and only charted to #…who am I kidding, it didn’t chart.

Of course they are going to have “Beth” , also from ‘Destroyer’, which became one of the band’s biggest hits to date.  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 by Bob Ezrin, with full backing orchestration by the New York Philharmonic.  The song originally had the line “Beck what can I do” after the girlfriend of one of Peter’s bandmates in the band Chelsea.  Of course, they changed to Beth which seem to work. The song was softly played and softly sung and was simply a beautiful song that was totally out of left field for the band up to this point.

Now after the success of “Beth”, Peter was given another ballad to sing and I am sure it was in hopes of repeating that magic. This song, “Hard Luck Woman” from ‘Rock And Roll Over’, was written by Paul and Paul 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.  It is mostly acoustic and Peter does a great job and delivers a sweet song.  I also think Peter’s vocals fit the song as they give it some grit and an extra added layer of emotion.  A nice change of pace on an album that has a lot of rock songs…this maybe should’ve been placed earlier to break things up a bit more but who am I to say anything.

The next song was the first single off Love Gun’, “Christine Sixteen”.  Now this song wouldn’t fly today as it is an older man going after a much younger woman at only 16.  But at the time, no one thought anything about it.  Heck, they did this before with “Goin’ Blind’ off the ‘Hotter Than Hell’ album.  There is a cool piano riff in the song which was done by Eddie Kramer.  It is a fun, upbeat track and a favorite of mine for Gene.  A cool, 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.  They also did the demo for “Got Love For Sale” and you can hear those demos on Gene Simmons ‘The Vault”.

“Calling Dr. Love” is the first of four Gene songs on the ‘Rock And Roll Over’.  The song stems from a Gene song called “Bad Bad Lovin’” which you can hear in many forms on Gene Simmons ‘The Vault’ (click links below).  It is a heavy song and Gene sounds as menacing as ever.  This is one of his signature songs.  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.

“Deuce” is up next and from the debut album and is our final song here. The song 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.  The guitar playing is fantastic and Ace plays a killer solo to end the song.  Peter lays down some nice fills and gives the song a great fast tempo beat that drives the song along.

And there you have it. Yet another greatest hits compilation from Kiss and Universal Music. I’ve lost count at this point. There is nothing special on here, but it is a solid 14 tracks from the 70’s & 80’s so for those out there wanting a little Kiss since your significant other isn’t give you one, this will hold you over. Now, you have to live in Spain to get this one or you’ll have to buy it off Discogs or eBay like those of us that don’t live in Spain. I don’t think I’d ever come across this one in my record store trips so I did the next best thing. My Overall Score as a compilation is a 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars. As a unique piece for those of us in the States and pure cool factor…maybe a 4.0!! And that is being a little too generous, but I think it’s cool…what can I say!

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 – HoriPro Music Publishing Collection: Disc 1 (2007)
77. Kiss – Jigoku-Retsuden (2008)
78. Kiss – Ikons (2008)
79. Kiss – Playlist Your Way (2008)
80. Kiss – 3 CD » Playlist + Plus (2008)
81. Kiss – Sonic Boom (2009)
82. Kiss – Superstar Series: The Best of Kiss (2009)
83. Kiss – Icon 2 (2010)
84. Kiss – Monster (2012)
85. Kiss – The Casablanca Singles 1973-1982 (2012)
86. Kiss – Star Boulevard (2012)
87. Kiss – Kiss 40 (2014) – 2 CD Set
88. Kiss – Kiss 40 (2014) – Japanese Edition
89. Momoiro Clover Z vs Kiss – Samurai Sun – CD Single (2015)
90. Kiss – Lo Mejor De…Kiss (2015)
91. Kiss – Kiss Rocks Vegas (2016)
92. Kiss – Kissworld: The Best of Kiss (2017)
93. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Tokyo 2001 (2021)
94. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Live in Virginia Beach July 24, 2004 (2022)
95. Kiss – The Albums Ranked From Worst to First (2021)
96. Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2021)
97. Kiss – Destroyer: 45th Anniversary 2-LP Deluxe Edition (Colored Vinyl) (2021)
98. Kiss – Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2022)
99. Kiss – Creatures of the Night: 40th Anniversary 3-LP Deluxe Edition (Colored Vinyl) (2022)
100. Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Arena, November 28, 1984 (2023)
101. Kiss – Icon (2010 / 2023)
102. 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)