Tag: Under the Gun

Kiss – ‘Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984’ (1993) – 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 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.

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Kiss – ‘Off the Soundboard: San Antonio, TX 12-3-1985’ (2025) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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It has been a couple years since we received any new ‘Off the Sounboard’ albums from Kiss. They were busy ending their touring career and selling off the rights on their image and catalog. Now that things are settled, we are back with the newest ‘Off the Sounboard’ and this is the 6th album in the series. This was was filmed in San Antonio, Texas on December 3, 1985 at HemisFair Arena, which puts right in to the Asylum Tour. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first one we get with Bruce Kulick on guitar. This means we are only missing one from the Vinnie Vincent era as all other members have been covered so far. The rest of the band is of course, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons with Eric Carr on drums. A great lineup of the band.

For this one, Kiss changed things up. It is still similar in packaging in the flimsy brown cardboard box, but instead of a plan brown cover with a stamped on logo, they actually added a picture of the band. However, jury is still out if I like the change or not. It does change the look when you place it against the others, but it is still kinda cool. But the thing that really pisses me off is on how they were offered. You could only get the vinyl on Kiss Online and you could only get it in a bundle which means I had to buy a T-Shirt as well which jacks up the already over-inflated price. There was only the color version of the vinyl and not a standard black and there was NO CD!! Well, there was no CD anywhere in the world except for Japan. So, CDJapan received another big order from me as I want to make sure I get enough stuff to make the shipping worth it. I have to say, the choices on what we were able to buy were limited and very disappointing.

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The Collection: Ep. 64 – ‘Off the Soundboard: San Antonio, TX 12-3-1985’ by Kiss – Album Review

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This week on the collection, we are going to show of the new Kiss ‘Off the Soundboard’ release we have on both vinyl and CD. The show is from San Antonio, TX recorded on December 3, 1985 and is the first ‘Off the Soundboard’ release to feature Bruce Kulick on guitar. The tour was for ‘Asylum’ which is one of the tours I saw and I actually saw the show later that month in 1985 in Atlanta. We will talk the packaging, the crappy things Kiss Online store do and talk the show itself.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, July 7, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Kiss – ‘Detroit 1984: Cabo Hall Dec. 12, 1984’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic16 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.

The bootleg we have for you this time around is called ‘Detroit 1984’ and it was recorded at Cabo Hall in Detroit, Michigan on December 12, 1984. If you are die hard Kiss fan you know why this date is important. This show was recorded on video and released as the first concert video Kiss had ever released and it was called ‘Animalize Live Uncensored’. I had this on VHS and I remember it vividly although I did watch it again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It came out on April 19, 1985 and I was so excited when this came out mainly because I saw this tour. My second Kiss show ever and now I was getting a video from that tour, how cool was that.

The show had a varied setlist with some old and some new. They kick off and end with some classic Kiss songs, but everything else in the middle was all 80’s from ‘Creatures of the Night’ (4 songs) to ‘Lick It Up’ (2 Songs) to ‘Animalize’ (3 Songs). For me, this is where I wanted them to spend their time as I was discovering Kiss on my own with these albums so I wanted these songs and I got my money worth with it.

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Kiss – ‘Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Arena, November 28, 1984’ (2023) – Album Review

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Kiss has been killing it with live releases and the ‘Off the Soundboard’ Series. It was a brilliant idea for them to take control of their live shows and rather than not make any money with all the bootlegs out there, but to release their own bootleg versions of these shows. This is the 5th one I believe and might be one of the cooler ones they’ve done. It was recorded in Poughkeepsie, NY on November 28, 1984 at the Mid-Hudson Civic Arena. Wait, this is their 5th one, which means there are still 2 I haven’t reviewed yet. I need to get on that. Well, back to this. What makes this one so special? It is because the guitarists on the album is Mark St. John. The band at the time also had original members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley as well as Peter Criss’ replacement Eric Carr on drums. Now, by this time, Eric is considered a regular and not the new guy anymore. And one of the nicest guys ever.

Mark was hired after they let Vinnie Vincent go because they didn’t feel he deserved the contract that Vinnie thought he deserved and thank goodness they didn’t. Mark recorded the guitars on the ‘Animalize’ album and immediately let the world know this was not the same old Kiss. And with these Kiss songs played live, Mark adds his own flair and isn’t out there to copy anybodies parts. Nope, not at all. This show is Mark doing it his way.

Sadly, Mark had developed reactive arthritis which caused his hands and arms to swell making playing very difficult. He went out on tour with the band and the band also brought along Bruce Kulick to be the back-up guitarist if Mark couldn’t play. It turned out that Mark was only able to play on 3 of the Kiss shows and this was one of them. That’s right, they actually have the recording of one of the shows with Mark and that is what makes this set so cool. I already have a bootleg from this tour, but my show has Bruce on it. I also saw this tour and that show had Bruce in it. That is why I think this set is so freaking cool. Great job Kiss!!

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Aldo Nova – “Fantasy”: The 45 Single (1981)

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Aldo Nova’s debut album came out in 1981 and it gave him his one and only hit.  Yes, he is considered a one-hit wonder.  That song was “Fantasy”.  The reason he is considered a one hit wonder is the song “Fantasy” was the only song that he released that made it in to the US Top 40 Chart.  It reached up to #23.  He did have two other singles make the Billboard charts, but they never broke the Top 40.  I find that one hit wonder label ridiculous because on the US Mainstream Rock chart he had 3 Top 15 songs…”Fantasy”, “Monkey On Your Back” and “Blood on the Bricks”.  The One Hit Wonder status only relates to the US Top 40 chart.

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All that aside, let’s talk about the song “Fantasy”.  The album version of the song opens the album and is 5:05 in length.  The single version that we are discussing from the 45 that I have is a lot shorter at only 3:13,  What is the big difference?  The opening sequence on the album (and the video) has a a slower build up with the synth sounds creating a helicopter that is flying in and after it lands you have a laser blast that then kicks in to the song.  The radio single cuts all that out as well as the last minute of the song which is basically repeating the chorus over and over.  It is now short and compact and full of punch.

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