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.
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.
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.
A month ago, we did a review of ‘Kabuki Beasts: Kyoto 1977’ and it was recorded Saturday, March 26, 1977 at Kyoto Kaikan Dai Ichi Hall in Kyoto, Japan. This is another Japanese show from that tour. In fact, it is the Last Show of the 1977 Japanese Tour and it was April 4, 1977 at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. It is called ‘Snake Attack Budokan: Last Show Japan Tour 1977’. There were only 150 of these made and sold so good luck trying to find one and if you do, I hope your wallet is full. Mine is #62.
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.
The next one in the series is ‘Kabuki Beasts: Kyoto 1977’. It is a full show on 1 CD that was recorded Saturday, March 26, 1977 at Kyoto Kaikan Dai Ichi Hall in Kyoto, Japan. This was only their third show ever in Japan at this point. It is an audience recording and it sounds amazing considering that fact. There are a few rough patches where the sound is not crystal clear for either a vocal or a guitar part, but overall this is a superb recording. It is raw, untouched and pure Kiss at their prime. And as an added bonus, it even includes a little poster.
It is hard to believe they fit a full show on 1 CD, but they did. It has the introduction, the solos, Paul’s talks to the crowd and even ends with the crowd cheering for them to come back for another encore after doing 3 songs already. There is an energy with the band that is electric, the crowd is just as enthusiastic and you can feel it in the performances. Being 1977, this is classic Kiss and nothing more. This has one killer track after another. They kick it off with “Detroit Rock City” and straight in to “Take Me” which is one I never get to hear enough live. Gene rocks out to “Let Me Go Rock ‘N’ Roll” and then he tears it up in the “Ladies Room”. It is all loud and sensational.
Paul’s crowd interactions are all stellar, we don’t have those uncomfortable intros he did from the 80’s as those were cringeworthy. Let’s talk a little about the band’s playing. Well, they can play at this point and hadn’t lost anything. Peter’s drums are killer and he is pounding away. Ace’s playing is sloppy, but not in a bad way. It is the good way we like hearing him play. You get the freaking loud siren in “Firehouse” and with “I Want You” and “Makin’ Love” it nothing but crowd pleasing rock & roll. One of the few times the vocals weren’t as loud and clear was on “Makin’ Love”, but I didn’t care. The ‘Alive II’ version is better.
Things kick up a notch even more with “Cold Gin” as Gene tears it up vocally and Ace really shines. Ace impressions even more with his guitar solo. It is so Ace with tone and the shooting of the rockets from the guitar and all the explosions. Peter bangs it out for “Do You Love Me” as Paul struts through the vocals and then one of my favorite live songs is “Nothin’ to Lose” even if the start seems a little messed up. Peter sounds great when he does his part. Gene goes into a bass solo (if you can call it that as it is just noise to do the blood spitting) then in to “God Of Thunder” and he lets the Demon loose only to be pleasantly interrupted with a Peter drum solo only to come back with the finale of “God of Thunder”.
They wrap things up with “Rock And Roll All Nite” and although I am tired of this song, the energy throughout this show makes the song exciting again. And that is it as the crowd cheers louder and louder. The boys don’t disappoint and come back and do 3 encore songs including “Shout It Out Loud” followed by Peter doing “Beth” and the only one that sings it the way it should be sung. The end it all with another favorite of mine and that is “Black Diamond”. Damn, what a great show.
And that is it. For an audience recording, this disc is spectacular. Cranking it up as loud as you can stand only makes it better. Only a few rough patches, but they ain’t that rough and don’t detract from the listening experience. As I said before, the energy is electric both from the band and the crowd. Everyone is having a good time. Kiss were on fire that night and they seem to be really enjoying themselves still. It is a killer setlist, you get a cool poster and it all makes for a good time. As far as bootlegs go, they don’t sound much better than this one. My Overall Score is a 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars as I really enjoyed this one from beginning to end.
This is re-review as I reviewed this when it came out. Have my feelings softened on this one? We will see…
Back in 2013, Richie Sambora met Orianthi and sparks flew, apparently. The two were an item and decided they needed to put out music for the masses and I was happy about it at the time. I love Richie’s vocals and his bluesy, rock style plus he can play the guitar (have you heard of Bon Jovi?). Orianthi is also one helluva a guitar player herself and she can sing with the best of them. She has played for Michael Jackson and for Alice Cooper as well as her own solo work. The two together, I was expecting a bluesy rock album with some amazing guitar work. Did I get that…well…we will see.
After releasing two E.P.’s in 2017 and a couple singles including one double single, we finally get a full album called ‘Radio Free America’ from RSO (it’s there initials, get it!). Now here is the problem with that…the full album is all 13 songs previously released with those E.P.’s and singles and only 2 new songs. That is right, only 2 and one is a cover. So, if you bought the E.P.’s, you aren’t getting much more. And to make it worse, it is an album of 15 songs in length (over an hour and 7 minutes). That is pretty long for an album and you know there will be filler…and trust me there is filler. I heard they recorded 25 songs, I would like to know where those other 10 songs are and will they ever see the light of day now that they are no longer together. Man, I hope so.
With the opening and title track “Making History” Richie & Orianthi are doing what we wanted them to do. They are rocking out. The guitars on this one are exceptional with an almost Def Leppardesque sound from around the “Euphoria” era at times (maybe). The guitar solo is freaking sensational and it is all I ask from these two. Of course I have one minor negative on the song. The vocals are missing something whether it is the chemistry or the mix. Bob Rock is the producer and he does great work, but I am not a fan of them singing simultaneously. I prefer them to trade back and forth.
Happy Thanksgiving!! Here is what I am thankful for as far as music goes (of course tops is my family and friends).
I am always on the hunt for Kiss Bootlegs and I got another classic one a few weeks back. Noble Records was having their 3rd Anniversary Drop and Dylan always has some great stuff out that day. The store opened at 10 and the line had to be long as it always in as everyone wants the good stuff. I had been recovering from surgery and this was my first trip out so there was no way I was getting there early and standing in line. No, I wasn’t doing that. Instead I left the house at a little before 10 and got there around 10:20 am. I figured, if it was meant for me to have it, it would still be there. And guess what, it was still there and I grabbed it!!! Yes, I was excited. Bootleg #21 of Kiss was now in my collection.
This one was an old one. It was from 1981 and was actually a re-issue of the 1978 original release of the album. The people putting out this one spared no expense as the album sleeve is a plain white cardboard with nothing on it. Instead you get a piece of paper with a badly printed picture of the band and the details on the release. That is it. The inner sleeve is white and labels, well, as you see below, there was not much too them. But typical bootleg fashion, the band’s name is not on the label. I love these old style boots, you can’t beat them.
This was recorded live at Los Angeles Forum, California, On August 25, 1977 and this is fresh off the new album at the time, ‘Love Gun’. I’m really excited about this one because I didn’t have a bootleg from the Love Gun Tour…now I do. The band was hungry, young and insanely good at this time. The recording is an audience recording as you can hear a lot of the kids screaming around the person recording the show. But as far as audience recordings go, it isn’t bad. It isn’t the whole show as it is only 11 songs and most of them are from the ‘Love Gun’ album.
I’ve found a few Kiss singles lately and this is the last in the bunch…for now. This time around I found the single to the song “Calling Dr. Love” off the band’s 1976 album ‘Rock And Roll Over’. The song was the band’s fourth Top 20 hit going all the way to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the second single on the album which following the success of the album, ‘Destroyer’, went on to sell over a million copies and hit platinum status. Kiss was on a roll at this time and their popularity was growing by leaps and bounds.
A fun fact on the song is that it was written by Gene while he was at a Holiday Inn where I am sure he was “living in sin” (let’s see who gets that reference). The song title was inspired by a Three Stooges film called ‘Men in Black’ which contained a hospital intercom announcement, “Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard.” And thanks to wiki for that reference.
My version is again, the standard U.S. version with the boring Casablanca / Filmworks standard sleeve. No picture sleeve. The B-Side is the Paul Stanley sung song “Take Me”. No special remixes, no unreleased tracks, just the same old stuff, but I still had to have it. I’m a little nuts that way.
After the MTV Unplugged special that ran on August 9, 1995, the fan reaction was huge. People were itching for the original line-up to get back together in make-up. Now Kiss is not one to generally miss a good opportunity. While they were in the studio with their current line-up of Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer recording their next album (Carnival of Souls), Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were contemplating their next move. Well, the noise was getting too hard to ignore and so was the money.
The Carnival of Soul album was shelved (for the time being) and Bruce and Eric were pushed to the side as Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were back in the band. The Kiss Reunion was going in full force. The band decided to get back together, the make-up was re-applied and the Tour was scheduled. This tour would be called the 1996-1997 Alive / Worldwide Tour. If you want to read about my concert experience a little and see the Tour Book…click TOUR BOOK.
In support of the Tour, Kiss decided to make a massive cash grab and released a Greatest Hits compilation of sorts. This one was released on June 25, 1996 and was called “You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best” and consists of all live tracks from the band with Ace and Peter. The name of the album, of course, stems from the opening line of all the Kiss shows when most famously, roadie JR Smalling would scream out “You Wanted the Best, and you got it. The Hottest Band in the Land…KISS!!!”
Before we get to the music, let’s talk about what was inside the Album. Not much, sorry. When you bought this album, inside was simply order forms for Kiss merchandise because Kiss never missed an opportunity to sell you something…
Alright, back to the music on the album. Did this album offer anything new and different. Well yes, it actually did it. But it mostly consisted of songs taken from the albums ‘Alive!’ and ‘Alive II’. There were, however, 4 previously unreleased tracks as well. You get four songs that were taken from those eras that were outtakes or leftover tracks. Now, if you were in Japan you got a bonus track. Let’s be honest, this is a total and utter cash grab. There is nothing real special. This is pure & simple, Kiss trying to profit off the new found interest in the band. But at least you got some unreleased stuff which is still way more than you get on from the next release. I’m getting ahead of myself, let us talk about what you get on this one.
RECORD 1:
The first record has the most unreleased stuff. The first three tracks are all unreleased. First up you get “Room Service” recorded in Davenport, IA in 1975. Then you get “Two Timer” which was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit MI on May 16, 1975. The third track is “Let Me Know” and it was recorded at the same Cobo Hall show as the previous track. These are cool tracks as they aren’t normally played live so that much is awesome about them. But here is the crazy thing. They were overdubbed and remixed in 1996 with not Ace on guitar or probably not even Peter on drums. Bruce Kulick has admitted he worked on the overdubs and those drums sound pretty damn good and clean…and a little modern. I’m just saying. The crowd noise also sounds so fake and it doesn’t really feel that live. Who knows what to believe.
The remaining of Record 1 are three tracks from ‘Alive!’ which are “Rock Bottom”, “Parasite” and “Firehouse” and one track from ‘Alive II’ which is “I Stole Your Love” and “Calling Dr. Love”. If you don’t have those two albums, then these songs are classic and worth having. But if you don’t, you aren’t really a Kiss fan are you…sorry I’m judging and that isn’t nice…but seriously why don’t you own those two albums…better than this crap!!
RECORD 2:
The second record kicks off with another previously unreleased track and that one is “Take Me” which was Los Angeles, CA and recorded in 1976. Again, this was overdubbed in 1996 as well. It at least has more of a live feel than those first three. Paul is a little rougher around the edges and there is a better energy so I won’t bash this one. Now most of the rest of the album are tracks from the two classic albums again. The tracks are “Shout it Out Loud”, “Beth” and “Rock And Roll All Nite”.
If you have the Japanese edition, your album would end with another unreleased live track. This one was Ace’s song “New York Groove”. This one is cool in that it was recorded from Australia back in 1980 and actually includes Eric Carr on the drums which is always cool. I actually like this track as well and glad I have it. I like it because it has the warts and all as they didn’t clean up the feedback or much of anything which makes it really live. On Side D of this album is a 17 minute interview with the band hosted by Jay Leno. Which basically makes it pure promotion, nothing but softball question and Peter is the only that sounds like he is having any fun (maybe Ace too). Gene and Paul are the same as they always are…stick to the point and sell it. Now the funny thing is Paul states that everyone is “Straight” and “Clear Headed”, but if I’m not mistaken that during rehearsing for the Unplugged, Ace would show up late and in a slight “haze” from possible drinking so not an honest comment completely.
And that is it, thank goodness. What a waste of product this truly is and is only for diehard fans and idiots like myself. However, I don’t own this yet as it is really expensive to get on vinyl. I will have it at one time, but right time, right price! As far as a score, it gets a 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars only because it does have 5 unreleased tracks at the time. If it wasn’t for that, this would be a 0!!
Next Up: Kiss – Greatest Kiss (1997)
Check out the rest of the series if you have time!!
This piece of Kiss Bootleg I found at my local independent record store called Lunchbox Records. It is Kiss from February 7th, 1995 and was recorded at the Hilton Hotel Ballroom in Melbourne, Australia while they were down under on tour. The album is an acoustic show and this is a collection of outtakes from that show.
The line-up is Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of course and since this is pre-reunion, it also includes Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer. A great non-makeup lineup. The band sounds great and even Paul is singing his heart out. The recording I believe is an audience recording only due to the loudness of the crowd, but let me tell you it sounds freaking awesome.
The crowd is really in to and at times it feels like a campfire singalong. The band is definitely enjoying themselves as they are interacting with the crowd and seem to be having a blast.
The set is a single LP and includes a full size poster in with the album. The picture is of the front cover so not something different from what you already see…
Back in 2013, Richie Sambora met Orianthi and sparks flew, apparently. The two are an item and now they are putting out music for the masses and it is about time. I had heard back last year, I believe, that they were working together and going to put out an album. Well, we finally got one; however, it is only an E.P. with only 5 songs. Now, I am not greedy, but I would have preferred a whole album.
Now when I heard we were getting music from the two, I was excited. I love Richie’s vocals and his bluesy, rock style plus he can play the guitar (have you heard of Bon Jovi). Orianthi is also one helluva a guitar player herself and she can sing with the best of them. She has played for Michael Jackson and for Alice Cooper as well as her own solo work. The two together, I was expecting a bluesy rock album with some amazing guitar work.
What I was expecting and what we actually have are not quite the same thing. Apparently, the two of them wanted to deliver an album that was not what people expected. They wanted to give something that shows that they can do something more than play guitar. Message received loud and clear.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 