Tag: Ace Frehley

Kiss – ‘Unnecessary Evil: Anaheim Stadium August 20, 1976’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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We are now to a set of shows that were all done within a month of each other. These three disc were included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.

We are going in chronological order for these three shows, so first up is ‘Unnecessary Evil: Anaheim Stadium August 20, 1976’. The release was on Deep Records and was released in 1992 and is obviously another Bootleg. This is actually the 50th Kiss Bootleg Post I’ve done which is crazy to think about. And I still have several more to do. The show we have here is from the Destroyer Tour and saw the band come to Anaheim, California with an impressive line-up for this show. It had Montrose, Ted Nugent as well as Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band all on the bill. There were around 43,000 people at the show and it gross was $437,653 which in today’s dollars would be equivalent to around $2.5 million today. That is crazy to think.

This particular show I read is a soundboard recording, but maybe it is the age, but doesn’t sound that clear for a soundboard. But it doesn’t sound that bad either for an audience recording. You can hear the crowd really well, but the band is a little soft and distant sounding. Although, I can hear everything fairly clear. The show was pretty much an all day festival and reports show the band sold $36,000 in merchandise on that day. There were two massive video screens, one on each side of the stage as well as Eddie Kramer was brought in to record the show. I don’t believe that show has been released yet officially. Maybe that would be a great release for the 50th Anniversary of the album.

The show starts out with a warning from the announcer for everyone to back up as the crowd was pushing the stage. Safety is important. The fans start chanting “We Want Kiss” and with a fade out and fade in, the band was introduced by each name and there was no “You Wanted the Best” intro. As the are coming down the stage, it is known that Gene falls down, but he gets right back up. Since this is a CD, you don’t actually see that happen, just know it does. They open with “Detroit Rock City”. It is heavy, fast paced and over before you know, but not before the car crashes and they go right into “King of the Night Time World”. A song they should’ve played more in the later years. Theses songs follow each other on ‘Destroyer’ and so they should live as well. It is a messy transition with the crowd noise and such, but once it gets going, it rocks.

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Kiss – The Interview Discs (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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We are now to a collection of Interview Discs that were included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.

I am not a fan of interview discs at all. They came with the collection so I am stuck with them, unless I decide to sell them, but I don’t sell my Kiss collection. The problem with Interview disc is playability. Once you’ve heard the interview once, is there a need to ever revisit the interview? Well, no. There is not.

We have 6 discs that were included with the collection and we will briefly discuss each one. I’m not going to tell you what is said, because if I do that, there is absolutely no need for you to listen to them. This is simply a guide to a handful of interview disc that are out there. And let me tell you, there are a ton. Apparently it is a big market in the bootleg CD arena. Who knew!

THE KISS 25TH ANNIVERSARY STAR PROFILE (1999):

First up is ‘The Kiss 25th Anniversary Star Profile which came out in 1999. It comes with a 100-page booklet that gives you the history of Kiss, the complete Discography (up to that point) and a lot of cool pictures. It is thick, it is heavy and a nice surprise. The interview covers the following topics…

  • Chapter 1 – Early Wickedness
  • Chapter 2 – Noise Form The Dragsters
  • Chapter 3 – Finally Alive
  • Chapter 4 – Toy Story
  • Chapter 5 – On the Even of Destruction
  • Chapter 6 – A Bizarre Concept
  • Chapter 7 – Weakness Exposed
  • Chapter 8 – Kiss This!
  • Chapter 9 – Carnival of Kiss
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Kiss – ‘Days of Sorrow And Madness’ (2012) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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We are to yet another disc that was included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.

This particular bootleg comes to us from The Godfatherecords and was released on October 1, 2014. What you get here are two complete live shows from Kiss on one disc. Surprising, I know, however these shows are from 1974 when Kiss was basically an opening act. The first show is from Independence Hall in Baton Rouge, LA on July 16,1974 and the second show is from The Bayou in Washington D.C. on March 25, 1974. When you look at the names of the places they played, you think the names have to be mixed up because The Bayou sounds like a place in Louisiana and Independence Hall sounds like it should be in our Nation’s Capitol. But, trust me. Those are the correct cities for each arena.

The first show at Independence Hall saw Kiss as the opening act of a three band line-up. The other bands were the New York Dolls and Blue Oyster Cult. Kiss was relegated to only 6 songs which makes it last around 30 minutes. The other show at The Bayou saw Kiss do not one, but two shows that night and both sold out. The first at 8pm and the second at 10:30pm. The Bayou was basically a hole-in-wall club that was said to look like an unfinished basement when I looked it up on Kissconcerthistory.com. The recording is the 2nd show and both shows on this disc I think are audience recordings, but done ver well.

INDEPENDENCE HALL (July 16, 1974):

Up first is Independence Hall and they kick off the show with “Deuce” but not before the announcer says “put your two lips together and get ready for Kiss!”. The band comes exploding out of the gate. Gene sounds a little bit younger here and so does Paul. They are still very early in their touring career but they sound tight and mean. There is a long pause between this one the next one which is “Strutter”. Not as abusive as “Deuce”. Strangely, Gene seems to sing the first couple lines before Paul comes in to finish it off. Being an audience recording, the instruments are little muddied, but you can still hear them pretty well.

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Kiss – ‘What Goes On Behind Closed Doors’ (2012) – Album Review

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We are to yet another disc that was included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.

This particular bootleg comes to us from The Godfatherecords and was released on August 1, 2012. What you get here are a bunch of Kiss demos and these aren’t your typical rough sounding bootlegs. No, these are all pretty high quality sounding demos. The first disc is all demos spanning from 1973 to 1998, giving us 25 years of demos and you get a lot of tracks. There are 21 tracks alone on Disc 1.

And Disc 2 is something even more special. Taken directly from the source tapes that were actually used for the Kiss Box Set, we get the original Wicked Lester album. And all I can say is that is the ABSOLUTE BEST sounding recording I have ever heard of this album. I have the Wicked Lester songs on several different bootlegs and not one of them are of this quality. Damn!! It is like having an official release of the album. Yes, it is that good. Based on this, why have Kiss never officially released that album. Will we get it for the box set of the debut album? I certainly hope so.

The cover of this 2 CD set is an outtake of the photo shoot from The Elder. It has non-make-up wearing Paul Stanley touching the door knocker from the original album and his hand partially covering his face. The back cover has the the track listing, but the interesting thing are the pictures inside. You get a ton of snippets of pictures for the band on this tri-fold digipack release. There is one set of pictures that I refused to take and show on this review and no, it is not because there is nudity. It is because it is Paul, Ace and Peter wearing Nazi attire. And even one where they give the Nazi salute. By today’s standards, it is pretty offensive and controversial and I don’t want any of that non-sense here. So let’s just talk about the music.

CD One:

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Kiss – ‘Houston: The Summit Sept. 2, 1977’ (1992) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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While on the Love Gun Tour, Kiss had a two night stop at the venue The Summit in Houston Texas. Those shows were on September 1st and 2nd of 1977. Here for this next Bootleg in the series, we are capturing the 2nd night of the show and this is a really cool show as Kiss were in their prime and they simply slayed on the stage that night. It is a high-energy, explosive performance for a band that was untouched at the time for their live performances. The people in Houston definitely got their money’s worth on that night. This bootleg was released in Germany on Deep Records back in 1992.

This show has never been released from the band, but they definitely have this in their archives as the videos for this show have showed up a couple times in the Kiss camp. First, in 1987, Kiss released a video called Kiss Exposed…a man was it cheesy. On that video that had a few live shots of the band from the heyday and three of those videos were taken from the Sept. 2 show in Houston. The songs used were “Beth”, “I Stole Your Love” and “Ladies Room”. But it gets better. On the Kissology Volume One 1974-1977 DVD released back in 2006, the full show of the Sept. 2 night was released so you got the full video performance. Sweet. Okay, starting with “Rock & Roll All Nite”, the video actually switches to the previous night and the last 4 songs are that night. So, almost the full show.

This is another disc that was included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.

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Kiss – ‘Return to Thunder: Winter Tour 1976/1977’ (2015) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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When Kiss were preparing to tour their album ‘Rock And Roll Over’, They rented some space at Camp Curtis Guild Armory in Reading, Massachusetts and rehearsed. They recorded one rehearsal on November 15, 1976 which is a very famous bootleg that has been going around for years. In fact, I recently reviewed this rehearsal on a vinyl bootleg I have called ‘Choppers ‘N Chicks’. This time around it is the CD from 2015 called ‘Return to Thunder: Winter Tour 1976/1977’. We get that whole show rehearsal as well as some bonus tracks not on that last release.

This package comes in a cardboard vinyl sleeve replica with some cool live shots as well as the Kiss logo from the Rock & Roll Over album. The disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve and if that wasn’t enough they included a 4-page booklet that has 4 pictures. One of each Kiss member including Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, the late, great Ace Frehley and Peter Cris…oops…they have a typo…it should be Peter Criss with two S’s.

This is another disc that was included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at auction. where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.

Track 1-19: Rehearsals Camp Curtis Guild Armory, Reading, Ma, U.S.A. November 15 1976:

The album opens with a fade in as the band is doing “Detroit Rock City”. It picks up right as Paul starts singing the lyrics. It all sounds a little hollow due to the type of recording, but you can hearing everything fairly well. Vocals are good as no one has blown their voice yet as this is only rehearsals. They aren’t half-assing anything as Peter sounds on point, and Ace’s solo is full on like you’d expect.

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Kiss – ‘Watching Us’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have a cool bootleg that consists of a collection of performances Kiss did on various TV shows over the years. It is called ‘Watching Us’ and I am not sure what year this was released as it is not listed on the back cover nor does Discogs have it listed. It is 16 tracks covering appearances from 1974 up to 1986. The cover photo and a couple others were taken from a photoshoot on October 19, 1976. This was where they did a photoshoot for Creem magazine and they used polyurethane “fake” snow which is actually so toxic that it is no longer used. I am assuming the guys didn’t suffer any long-term effects from being exposed to it.

The disc starts off with ABC’s in Concert which aired on March 219, 1974. It kicks off with “Nothin’ to Lose and Peter on vocals. The quality is decent enough, a little hollow sounding like it was from a copy of a copy. The crowd sounds good and loud while the band is on fire as they are young and hungry. After that opening track, they go into the classic, “Firehouse”. Paul confidently and effortlessly delivers a stellar vocal. I like the long drawn out ending and the siren ringing loudly. After that, they go into one of my favorites, “Black Diamond”. This one sounds so good despite the quality of the recording. The band simply kills it. Peter’s vocals are spot on. He is so into it and gives it his all. Another great, long, drawn out, explosive ending. This was back when they were all the best they could be.

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Kiss – ‘Choppers ‘N Chicks’ (2016) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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Kiss is one of those bands that there are hundreds upon hundreds of bootlegs. Each time I go to Repo Records for Record Store Day, I always seem to find bootlegs. It has been Kiss and Van Halen almost every time. This time it was more Kiss. I discovered three bootlegs at Repo Records and since I didn’t have two of them, I bought both. First up was ‘The Rock ‘N Roots of Kiss’ which we covered last week. This time around it is ‘Choppers ‘N Chicks’ from 2016 which is a Rock And Roll Tour Rehearsal from Camp Curtis Guild Armory in Reading, Massachusetts on November 15, 1976. A very famous bootleg that has been going around for years.

An interesting note of fact, that during the rehearsal, the band was filmed lip-syncing three songs that would be used on the Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. Those songs were “Hard Luck Woman”, “I Want You” and “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em”. I believe this is an audience style recording from a tape deck and not a soundboard recording. There were several songs they rehearsed that I don’t believe were played very often on this tour, so it is cool to still have those. “Hard Luck Woman” is one of those songs.

The package we get here is pretty basic. The album jacket is almost rubbery in texture and sadly, I didn’t notice there is a blowout at the top. I can’t take it back and exchange for another one as there isn’t one. The record sleeve is nice and solid with better quality than the jacket. The picture on the front is Gene on his Chopper and on the back is a full band picture with a Chick. The sleeve has another Gene on his chopper picture and then the reverse has the track listing with individual photos of the band, each on their own bike. The vinyl is a splatter that is a rather dull reddish, brownish, orangish color. Not that pretty. The label is white and blank. But how does the music sound?

SIDE 1:

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What to Expect in New Music in 2026!!!

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2026 is upon us and it is always fun anticipating what new albums will come out in the year. Since today would normally be a Friday New Release post, let’s look at the new releases coming our way in 2026. There are quite a few we already know about, but some haven’t been officially announced or even a date set yet.

Last year, there were a few artist I was hoping would release an album that might have or might not have released one.  It is always fun to hope for new music from these bands, but sometimes there are disappointments.  Here are the ones I was hoping to get new albums from last year and what actually happened…

  • Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want. Well – we didn’t get a new album, but we got a new live album with ‘Diamond Star Heroes’, but honestly their live albums bore me.
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!  Time to start up more Soundboard LPs or another box set…give us something! We got a brand new Soundboard LP as well as 2 Box sets with Dressed to Kill and Alive!!  Yes!! That is more like it boys!!
  • Guns ‘N Roses – Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!  Will we ever get a new album! – Still nothing, but we did get new songs…sort of…they aren’t really new as they are leftover tracks from Chinese Democracy with the current line-up…come on boys…do better!!
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 3 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so. – Nothing at all from him in 2025 but he did mention a new album in 2026!! We will see.
  • Billy Idol – There are rumors of a new album and even Steve Stevens showed a test pressing..could it be??!!  We got one!! Yeah!!  ‘Dream Into It’ came out in 2026…I didn’t care for it too much so that is disappointing.

Okay, are there albums I want to see this year from some of my favorite bands that haven’t been announced or in some cases even rumored?  Of course there are.  These are the bands I want new albums from this year…but it might not happen.

  • Def Leppard – It is time for The Collection Vol. 4!! Come on boys, give it to us!! Or a new album…whichever you want. The new album has been hinted at so fingers crossed
  • Kiss – I will keep this on the list until I die!!  Will we get another soundboard or any more box sets??? I hope so!
  • Aldo Nova – He keeps talking about a 2CD set for over 4 years and still nothing much, but will he get around to releasing the full Life & Times of Eddie Gage? I hope so. He has now mentioned something coming in 2026…I will believe it when I see it.
  • Creed – Will there be new music in 2026? Oh, please say it will be so! There have been rumblings and rumors…I think they will at least work on a new album in 2026.
  • Poison – We need a new album, but I don’t expect one. What I do hope we get is a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of their debut, “Look What the Cat Dragged In”. That would be cool.
  • Guns N Roses – Will we get a full album. You know what, I don’t think I really care. The older I get, the more overrated this band really is!! Only one great album in their minuscule catalog.
  • Jeff Scott Soto – Now, Soto puts out a ton of albums every year. I would love a new solo album as it has been years. At the very least, a SOTO band album. But please, NO MORE ART OF ANARCHY! That was awful.

From what I have gathered around the internet, here are the bands that should have new albums out in 2025 or are rumored, but no dates announced yet. The ones I would give a try will be highlighted in Blue. The ones with Dates Announced are at the bottom of this post. The list is building up nicely!!

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Kiss – ‘The Rock ‘N Roots of Kiss’ (2025) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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Kiss is one of those bands that there are hundreds upon hundreds of bootlegs. Each year brings us a new batch and 2025 is no different. I was out shopping for Record Store Day Black Friday and discovered three bootlegs at Repo Records. I didn’t have two of them, so I bought the two I didn’t already own. First up is ‘The Rock ‘N Roots of Kiss’. It is obviously, unofficial, and was released by a company called Rockin’ Bear Records. There are only 9 songs on here and they are simply a collection of songs from Radio Broadcasts in 1974 and 1975. Side A is all 1975 and Side B is from 1975.

Some bootlegs come with a lot of extra inserts, stickers and really cool pieces. This is not one of those releases. This is as bare bones as you can get. It does have a nice thick cover, but the vinyl is in a small clear plastic sleeve, no liner notes or anything to tell us what show these songs are from, but I think I figure it out some of it as we go through the album. It shouldn’t be hard as there weren’t a ton of radio broadcasts released, that I am aware. The only cool thing in here is the vinyl is a clear translucent color which is very nice. The artwork gives me AI vibes as someone got lazy and had the computer draw the cover. Still looks kinda cool though.

SIDE A:

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