Tag: John Humphrey

Kiss – ‘Flaming Years: Toronto, Canada, September 6, 1976’ (1994) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic2 Comments

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 last time we did ‘Unnecessary Evil: Anaheim Stadium August 20, 1976’. Then it was ‘The Spirit of ’76: Richfield Coliseum, September 3, 1976’. We are now to the final of the 3 shows from the Destroyer Tour. This one is called ‘Flaming Years’ and it was recorded on September 6, 1976 in Toronto Canada at Varsity Stadium. This bootleg was released in 1994 by Backstage and it was released in Italy. The CD was purchased on March 27, 1995 as the receipt was still in the CD and John paid $29.25 for it which I imagine that was a lot back in the day.

Like the Cleveland show, this is another soundboard recording, but the sound is little more clear as it seems to breathe a little better. Paul is still as loud, but the crowd is very faint. There are some interesting moments here as “Rock and Roll All Nite” does cutout midway through and goes right into “Deuce” which is already in-progress. And during the intro to “Black Diamond,” Ace Frehley is apparently calling someone an “asshole.”  I wonder what that was about.

The show stsarts with the annoucer screamning “Alright Toronto, You Wanted the Best and You Got the Best…KISS”. This was louder then when the band actually starts playing “Detroit Rock City”. Paul’s vocals are quite loud in the mix so you hear all his flaws (which aren’t many at this time in their career. Everything else isn’t quite as loud as Paul, but it is clear. Peter is keeping great time, Ace’s is playing is outstanding and the bass is laying the groove. A great performance. It is definitely a soundboard recording. It ends with a car crash as it should be and then it is “King of the Night Time World”. Gene roars in the backing vocals on the Chorus and Paul is still really loud and Ace is still killing it, so is Peter.

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Flaming Years: Toronto, Canada, September 6, 1976’ (1994) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

Kiss – ‘The Spirit of ’76: Richfield Coliseum, September 3, 1976’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic1 Comment

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 last time we did ‘Unnecessary Evil: Anaheim Stadium August 20, 1976’. Now, it is time for ‘The Spirit of ’76: Richfield Coliseum, September 3, 1976’. This bootleg was released in 2011 on a label called Strutter Productions and is listed as For Promotional Use Only Not For Sale…yeah…bootleg!! As far as setlist go, Kiss doesn’t deviate at all from the prior show.

The show says it was in Cleveland, Ohio, but it was actually Richfield, a suburb of Cleveland and throughout Paul says Cleveland. The opening act was Artful Dodger and I have no information on Crowd size or box office take like I did for the last one. It is a soundboard recording and is said to be one of the best recordings of the tour with the exception of some mix level adjustments early on and a cut short on ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’, but this mix fixes the cut short although the remainder of the song sounds different. Crowd noise is minimal and all you hear are the boys doing what they do best!!

The show starts off with some noodling around on the instruments, a pause and then we get the classic “You Wanted the Best and You Got ‘Em…”. This was louder then when the band actually starts playing. Lots of explosions can be heard at the start of “Detroit Rock City”. Paul’s vocals are quite loud in the mix compared to the mix of the last album we discussed, so you hear all his flaws (which aren’t many at this time in their career. Suddenly the drums get higher in the mix, then down a little as I am guessing they are still noodling around. Ace’s guitar sounds very distant during the solo and the bass is about the same. Outside of all that, a great performance. Definitely a soundboard recording.

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘The Spirit of ’76: Richfield Coliseum, September 3, 1976’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

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

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic5 Comments

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.

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

Kiss – The Interview Discs (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic2 Comments

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
Continue reading “Kiss – The Interview Discs (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

Kiss – ‘Days of Sorrow And Madness’ (2012) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic6 Comments

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.

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Days of Sorrow And Madness’ (2012) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

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

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic9 Comments

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.

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

Kiss – ‘Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984’ (1993) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic13 Comments

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 another Australian Bootleg which means it has a big “UNAUTHORIZED” across the cover. It is called Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984 and was released in 1993 by a label called Banana and distributed by Apple House Music. What is with the fruit references?? It’s packaging is identical to the other two we’ve reviewed from this company All were made in Australia. This time we get a Gold Disc for the CD which is different.

This show has Bruce Kulick on guitar and he was not yet an official member. All the songs are from a show at the Gaumont Theater in Ipswich, England on October 11, 1984 for the Animalize Tour. I have a full show from this European Tour and it was the October 26 show in Stockholm on the “They Only Come Out at Night” bootleg. This one here is only 10 tracks, it is not a full show, but with only 3 songs are classic 70’s Kiss and the rest are all from the 80’s, I am truly okay with that as I love the 80’s songs. Heck, the 80’s were the era I grew up in. The 70’s, I was a little kid and influenced heavily by my brother’s taste. The 80’s were all my doing.

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984’ (1993) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

Kiss – ‘Live Vol. 1: Detroit, Michigan April 7, 1974 – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic22 Comments

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 go back to 1974. April 7, 1974 to be exact. This bootleg is from their Detroit, Michigan show that was recorded at the Michigan Palace. The release is called Live Vol. 1 and is out of Australia from a label called Joker. It is Unauthorized as it says in rather large print on the front cover. This is real early in their career and is from The First Kiss Tour!! This was for the Radio Station WABX-FM Kite-In and Balloon Fly show and if I’m not mistaken, there was another up and coming band called Aerosmith on the same bill along with Michael Finnelly and The Mojo Boogie Band. As far as the track listing, there is an error…well, not an error but more of an omission. On the same track as “Cold Gin” is the song “100,000 Years” which is not listed. So that was a plus.

The sound is not that great. Very muddy and sounds like a recording of a recording of a tape. The volume starts off low and suddenly you can hear it getting louder as someone was turning it up. The band is introduced as “the most unusual band” which is totally awesome and so true for the time. Kiss opens with “Deuce” and like I said, the sound is bad. The volume goes up and down and not a good recording at all. But this is hungry, early Kiss and you can hear how good they still sound. A rocking opening song and Gene’s scream during Ace’s solo towards the end was awesome!!

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Live Vol. 1: Detroit, Michigan April 7, 1974 – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

Kiss – ‘The Lost Alive II Album’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic17 Comments

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 is yet another live show from 1977 and I know I said I needed to pick one from a different year as I’ve done a lot from 1977, but I couldn’t pass this one up. This is another from Budokan in 1977 and was a finished mix that was supposed to be used for their Alive II album, but it was scrapped. A year later, we actually got ‘Alive II’ and it was not as quite as live as this one is. This version is more raw and rough around the edges unlike ‘Alive II’ that came out. And for that, it might be a better version, for the most part.

This version of the Bootleg I believe is a self-made CD. The reason I say that is because the pictures seem to be photocopies of another picture as they aren’t as crisp and clear. The CD cover art looks homemade and well, the back cover of the insert is simply a white page with the statement printed on it that reads “From The Collection of John Humphrey”. All that leads me to believe he had the digital version of this and decided to put it on CD. So, I guess this is a bootlegged bootleg…which is cool. To top it off, we get the studio songs that are on Side 4 of ‘Alive II’, but these are different mixes and alternate versions. Lastly, there are 4 demo songs from Gene’s solo album. That is also really cool. Now, how does all this sound?

I’ll be honest. It sounds amazing. The mix is sensational, the crowd noise is pumped in and it feels exciting and electric. The songs are edited together that make you feel this is one cohesive show…and that is how it should be. They open with “Detroit Rock City” and the energy is dripping from the speakers. Paul goes into “Take Me” and he has the crowd in the palm of his hand. The guitars are brutal and the drums are powerful. Gene meets you in the “Ladies Room” next and damn does it feel like the crowd is going nuts.

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘The Lost Alive II Album’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →

Kiss – Madison Square Garden 1977 (2016) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic25 Comments

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 the bootleg is a live show from Madison Square Garden recorded on February 18, 1977. This was a historical show for the band as it was their first time playing this arena. It is also known for that great photo of the band members in full make-up and outfits surrounded by their parents and even has Bill Aucoin in the picture (see above). The set we have here was released in 2016 by Eat A Peach! and of course it is unofficial or it wouldn’t be in my bootleg series.

Included is a little 4 page booklet and even an inner sleeve like an album sleeve with some information on the show. Lastly, the CD is a cool picture disc with the I Love NY on it and the band’s faces in the heart (or the love part). This show is a soundboard recording, but it isn’t the best one I’ve heard. The sound is weak, almost hollow at times and there is a lot of tape wobble at certain parts too. However, it is a full show and even comes with 2 bonus tracks which we will discuss.

Continue reading “Kiss – Madison Square Garden 1977 (2016) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)” →