The 2000’s were a huge time for Kiss…well, for the label to release greatest hits compilations that is. There are dozens. One of the easiest ones to find is The Millennium Collection which was actually a 3 volume set with a volume released in 2003, one in 2004 and the final in 2006. 2 years after the Volume 3 set was released, Universal decided, why not repackage it and release it all in one set. Sure, why not! As a result, we get ‘3 CD » Playlist + Plus’ which was repackaged as a Double-Gatefold Cardboard set up covered in a Slipcase. It was even promoted as an environmentally friendly set (despite the plastic that wrapped around the set).
The track listing is exactly as The Millennium Collection, no changes at all. For the 3 CDs, we do get a total of 36 tracks and each disc is separate era of the band which is nice. I love the choice of pictures on the packaging with two live shots, one from Alive! and one from ‘The Millennium Concert’. And the two band pictures are pretty sweet, I even like the cover shot with the black background and the faces of the guys. Each CD is a different color and this time, not representing each band member as we get a yellow, an orange and a pink (I think).
Kiss is known for having a million greatest hits album and here we have another. This one is on the cheap side of things and is pretty basic. It is probably a label release and the band probably had zero to do with this one. It was released in 2008 by Mercury and UMe. It is called ‘Playlist Your Way’ and everything about it is cheap. The packing is a fold out cardboard that the CD is housed in. The cover has a big cutout and slipped in is a credit card size cardboard with a picture of the band on one side and a code on the other I believe to download some ringtones. This was 2008 and everyone wanted a ringtone so why not a Kiss one. The card could only be used in the U.S. and my copy was a sealed brand new release so the card was never used.
The CD has 14 tracks that range from the debut album up to ‘Hot in the Shade’. But no, there is not a song from every album in between. It is a random selection and it is basically the hits…well…except for “Uh! All Night”. I don’t really consider that one a hit or a good song. My buddy Michael Ladano reviewed this years ago and he thought it was strange that “Beth” was butted up against “Uh! All Night” and I would have to agree. The dynamics of those two songs sort of clash being side by side. While we are on the songs, let’s discuss them.
First up is “Rock And Roll All Nite” and surprisingly it is the ‘Dressed to Kill’ studio version and not the live version as it is on most comps. It is the rock anthem of rock anthem’s and you can hear those elements and that this song was bursting to be heard. The song came together because Neil wanted them to write an anthem or something for the fans to rally behind and this was the result…not bad!
“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.
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.
Between 2002-2008, The record labels in control of the Kiss Catalog released not one, not two, heck not even 3 Greatest Hit Compilations. Nope. They released a total of 7 greatest hits compilations spread over those years. I am sure there are more, I just haven’t found them yet. Over the last few weeks, we have been through a bunch of them and hopefully this is the last one for a little while. At least until I find more…which I will. As far as compilations go, this one is worth taking notice. Let me explain.
Originally this was released in 2004 as part of the KISS Sound and Vision box set. This set was released on January 11, 2005 and is a 2 CD Set called ‘Gold’. The label for this one was Universal Music Corporation. This set covers the make-up years from 1974 up to 1982…except it doesn’t include anything from ‘Creatures of the Night’. The 1982 in reference here is for the ‘Killers’ compilation. There are 20 songs per disc which means we get a handful of releases from almost every album with some minor exceptions. There is at least one from every release though (except maybe Double Platinum. If you want a comp that gives you the best coverage of the make-up era, I don’t know if you can do better than this.
DISC 1:
Kiss (1974): The representation of the debut album is strong as it gives you five tracks:
The album kicks off with the song “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.
Kiss is notorious for releasing Greatest Hits compilations and it is both the band and the label responsible for that travesty. Don’t get me wrong, they have a ton of great songs so a few greatest hits compilations are probably necessary. However, this is not one of them even though this one is a little different. On June 14, 2004, the label allowed a second volume in the 20th Century Masters’ Millennium Collection. They released ‘The Best of Kiss: Volume 2 – The Millennium Collection’ and what makes it a little different is that it is only compilation from Kiss that focuses solely on their material from the 1980’s. Well, most of the 80’s as it goes from 1982-1989. It does skip the ‘Unmasked’ (1980) and ‘The Elder’ (1981) albums which Volume 1 doesn’t cover either. So a big miss.
But like Volumes 1 & 3, it is only 12 songs and all are previously released so nothing new here. No remixes, single edits, just album cuts which is easier and cheaper. The look is exactly like the other comps in this set so at least they are consistent. My poor case is cracked, the CD is scratched up and is a bit of a mess, but it was free!! Noble Records threw it in when I bought some other Kiss material at the store. Such a great store!!
“Creatures of the Night” was written by Paul Stanley and Adam Mitchell and had Steve Farris on lead guitar. Steve would go on to play for the band Mr. Mister. Also on the album was Adam with additional guitars and Mike Porcaro on bass as Gene wasn’t available or something. The song starts off explosive with Eric’s drums and then some wicked, heavy guitar riffs. Paul sings with a swagger that he has not had in years. He sounds confident and serious and this is a much heavier and more determined Kiss.
“I Love it Loud” is up next and MTV played it a lot. 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 stopped 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.
Welcome back to The Collection. Today, April 20, 2024 was yet another Record Store Day and another morning of getting up too early and waiting in line…but it is always fun. See what we got this time around.
lease 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.
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 4, we are tackling my Kiss Bootlegs that I have on vinyl. We put it in chronological order for the year the album or songs were recorded, not when they were released. We start with Wicked Lester and go up to a 2010 show from L.A. We have over 20, so sit back and enjoy.
I hope you enjoy this episode which goes “live” right now…Monday night, April 15th 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.
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.
In 2014, Kiss was celebrating their 40th Anniversary. To celebrate they did a huge tour with none other than Def Leppard. I caught the show in Charlotte, North Carolina with Leppard opening and I will admit that Def Leppard blew Kiss off the stage, but that is another story. Kiss decided to celebrate with another Greatest Hits compilation titled ‘Kiss 40’. It was released on May 23, 2014 and contained one song from every Kiss release giving them 40 tracks…well, 36 tracks and they stuck 4 other tracks on their for good measure and put out on a 2 CD set.
In Japan only, there was another release of Kiss 40 that was only a single disc edition. It had only 20 tracks and a few different ones then you got on the 2 Disc Set. And for that reason you had to have both sets. And being a Japanese Edition, you also got an OBI strip but this one was bigger as it actually covered the entire back of the CD case as well. The set also included a booklet in both English and Japanese with the lyrics to the songs. There is a new song on the set called “Samurai Son” that was done with the Japanese girl band Momoiro Clover Z and as a result there is a little picture card of the band with Kiss. The last thing is the CD booklet itself which is full of bright, vivid color pictures of the band from throughout the years. It includes every member of the band.
The opening track is “Samurai Son (U.S. Mix)” with the band Momoiro Clover Z. This song sounds like nothing you have heard before with Kiss…well except for Paul’s vocals sound like Kiss. The drums are immense, Momoiro Clover Z does some of the backing vocals and even Gene joins in as well. It is a modern sounding rock song and I think it sounds really cool. Paul hasn’t sounded better, the Japanese sounding drums are cool and there is killer riff included. The song is worth the price of admission here easily.
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.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 