This week on The Collection I join forces with Tim Durling at Tim’s Vinyl Confessions and we talk Kiss. Most importantly, we talk Kiss 8-Tracks. We are missing a couple of the 80’s ones, but have a pretty extensive collection of 8-Tracks and we go through them all. From the debut album all the way up to The Elder and then Tim has a surprise one he picked up and it was the final Kiss album on 8-Track. If you are a Kiss fan and love the 8-Track, this is a can’t miss episode for you.
So go check it out as it will be live tonight, August 25, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
This episode we are going to show-off the Kiss 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set for their album ‘Destroyer. With talk of two new box sets this year from Kiss, I figured why not show-off the two that I have so this episode will be the first one they released. It is jammed pack with goodness. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have been paying attention to other band’s box sets and now they know how to put one of these together and it is stellar…mostly. We walk through each CD that comes with it (there are 4), a Blu Ray, a hard back book and so much more. An album that came out March 15, 1976 when I wasn’t even 8 years old, but I remember it and still love the album today.
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, June 12, 2025 at 12PM (NOON). Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
The video is up now for Episode 6 of The Collection. When you have older siblings, their music taste can influence what you like and my brother, Gary, was a huge Kiss fan and that spawned me being one as well. From about 7-8 years old all the way til now at 55, I am still a Kiss fan.
For Part 3, we pick up with Kiss after the reunion and start with Psycho Circus and go all the way up to today and their latest Anniversary releases. We even through in a few Kiss Adjacent Vinyl. I was surprised by how many were still sealed. And I was surprised by how upset I got on some of their packaging choices. I give my honest opinion and don’t hold back.
I hope you enjoy this episode which goes “live” right now…Monday night, March 25th at 8pm. Please do leave a comment and I promise I’ll address them as soon as I can! Don’t forget to click “Like” and “Subscribe”. Thanks for watching.
This week we go we back to the very beginning for me when I fell in love with my first band…KISS!!! When you have older siblings, their music taste can influence what you like and my brother, Gary, was a huge Kiss fan and that spawned me bing one as well. From about 7-8 years old all the way til now at 55, I am still a Kiss fan.
We go through my Kiss albums on vinyl, but instead of doing all of them, we will go from the debut up until Creatures of the Night. We will save the rest for another show. I am still missing some of the more rare pieces, but I have a couple cool extras in this one.
I hope you enjoy this episode which goes “live” right now…Monday night, March 11th at 8pm. Please do leave a comment and I promise I’ll address them as soon as I can! Don’t forget to click “Like” and “Subscribe”. Thanks for watching.
I have done a few of these already on the Best & Worst songs from every Judas Priest, Cheap Trick and Whitesnake albums. I really enjoyed doing those so I thought I would continue that process and this time we would go through every Kiss studio album (including the 4 solo albums) and see what is the best song and the worst one off each album as well. Kiss has 24 studio albums to go through so sit back, grab a drink and take it all in. Now, let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. My worst song could be your favorite and this is okay. We all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy the list!! And we will go chronological if you were wondering.
‘KISS’ (1974)
THE BEST SONG – “BLACK DIAMOND”: On an album with so many ‘classic’ Kiss tunes, it was hard to pick. The album ends with one of the band’s best songs, “Black Diamond”. The song was written by Paul and he does sing on it, but is mostly sung by Peter. The songs starts off with a 12-string acoustic guitar and Paul sings the opening line and when he screams “Hit It!”, the song turns in to a blistering rock song with Peter taking over vocals. The song was written about New York and those ladies working on the street that they would fantasize about. Peter’s gravelly vocals gave the song such a powerful edge and he put so much heart and soul in to those vocals. Towards the end of the song, there is a brief musical interlude with Ace tearing it up on guitar and Peter laying down some fills all accompanied by that nasty bass riff from Gene before Peter lays down a final barrage of drum fills and then the song slowly, distortedly comes winding down to an end. It is dark and foreboding and so metal.
THE WORST SONG – “KISSIN’ TIME”: The worst is a cover of the Bobby Rydell Song “Kissin’ Time” which was written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe. It was recorded two months after the release and added a couple months after that to the album. The band was not happy about this at all, but they were pressured into recording it. Paul, Gene and Peter all sang on the song and it is just a shit song. It has that whole 50’s, early 60’s style and is not a wrong song. It is easy to hear that they didn’t want to be there singing this crap and that is why I want the original version so I don’t have to hear that song anymore.
With the album ‘Alive’ in 1975, Kiss finally broke through and were on their ways to be Rock Gods!! But their next album needed to make a statement. It needed to capture the band like none of their other albums had been able to do. Famed record producer, Bob Ezrin, was brought in to man the boards all based on the work he was doing with Alice Cooper. Kiss needed that same energy and success. And did Bob deliver? Oh hell yeah he did!! ‘Destroyer’ was released on March 15, 1976 and with songs like “Beth”, ‘Detroit Rock City” and “Shout it Out Loud”, Kiss was on top. They had made it! A now platinum selling artist, a massive touring act and they were starting to reach heights they only dreamed about. At first thought, the album was slow out of the gate until “Beth” was played on the radio…it was the B-Side to “Detroit Rock City” and then Bam!! Everything changed. To celebrate this pivotal album, Kiss delivered the 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set which we’ve already reviewed and it is jammed pack with goodness. This time we have the 2-LP Deluxe Edition Colored Vinyl which we are discussing. It isn’t as jammed pack but it is still pretty great for what it is.
One thing I really like about this set is the gatefold. It is stunning. When you open up the gatefold and there are the members of Kiss in full gear on their choppers, you get excited. It is really cool.
With the album ‘Alive’ in 1975, Kiss finally broke through and were on their ways to be Rock Gods!! But their next album needed to make a statement. It needed to capture the band like none of their other albums had been able to do. Famed record producer, Bob Ezrin, was brought in to man the boards all based on the work he was doing with Alice Cooper. Kiss needed that same energy and success. And did Bob deliver? Oh hell yeah he did!! ‘Destroyer’ was released on March 15, 1976 and with songs like “Beth”, ‘Detroit Rock City” and “Shout it Out Loud”, Kiss was on top. They had made it! A now platinum selling artist, a massive touring act and they were starting to reach heights they only dreamed about. At first thought, the album was slow out of the gate until “Beth” was played on the radio…it was the B-Side to “Detroit Rock City” and then Bam!! Everything changed. To celebrate this pivotal album, Kiss delivered the 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set and it is jammed pack with goodness. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have been paying attention to other band’s box sets and now they know how to put one of these together and it is stellar…mostly.
It is jammed pack with 4 discs of music. A remastered edition of the main album; 2 CDs of demos, rarities, outtakes and remixes as well as 1 Live CDs chock full of goodness from the Paris show on May 22, 1976. And you also get a Blu-Ray Audio of the main album and I can’t wait to turn this baby on in surround sound and hear all that Bob put in to these songs. But that is not all, not by a long shot. The box set is packed with an 68-page book, posters, stickers, photo cards and all sorts of information about the band…don’t believe me, look at the sticker from the front of the box set…
So sit back and let’s go through the box set in detail with a lot of pictures to show you the beauty of this set.
I’m always out searching for Kiss music that I don’t have on vinyl and right now that is mostly singles. The latest time I was out digging, I came across a 7″ Single for the song “Beth” off their 1976 classic ‘Destroyer’. The original single for this album was “Detroit Rock City” as the A-Side and “Beth” as the B-Side. When that went out to the radio stations, the DJ’s ended playing “Beth” which quickly became the most requested songs on a lot of stations.
After that, the decision was made to reissue the single with “Beth” as the A-Side and “Detroit Rock City” as the B-Side. That is the copy I have. It was released in August 1976. Now, my version I found doesn’t have a picture sleeve as shown as the header. I used that to make the post more enticing. My version actually just came in a plain white sleeve but the original at least would’ve had the Casablanca Sleeve that would’ve looked something like the above picture…If I find any singles out there with that sleeve I will buy it (regardless if it is Kiss or not just so I have the correct one).
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.
We are finally to the end of the Kiss Review Series. And like I like to do at the end of each series is Rank the Studio Albums from Worst to First and we aren’t going to do it any differently here. There are 24 Studio albums and since there are so many, I am keeping the summaries brief and no videos as I usually like to post a video with each album, but just way too many to do this time around.
Kiss began in 1973 and are still around today, but the last studio album was in 2012. It started with the original four – Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Then came Eric Carr who replaced Peter Criss; then Vinnie Vincent who replaced Ace Frehley; then Mark St. John to replace Vinnie and then Bruce Kulick replaced Mark; and it continues with Eric Singer replacing Eric Carr after his death and then Peter & Ace came back in and out after the reunion and then finally Tommy Thayer replaced Ace for good. Lots of changes, but Gene and Paul are always the consistent formula that has kept Kiss “Alive” all these years. For the diehard fan, remember, this is my opinion and your favorites are probably going to be different, but it is okay as we both love Kiss. For the newbie, this is a good guideline on where to focus.
Now, if the band ever decides to do another Studio album, I will gladly come back and update this, but it doesn’t look like that will ever happen. If you want to check out the review of each album in detail, there are links at the bottom to all the reviews in the series and there were only 72 of them!! It took me almost 14 months to get through them all and it is still the most fun I have had on the site.
Thanks for spending all this time with me going through the Kiss catalog and my Kiss collection. I hope you enjoyed it. Enough chit chat as there is a lot to get through so sit back, grab a coffee or a beer and enjoy!!
2 Loud 2 Old Music 