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 a cool bootleg that consists of a collection of performances Kiss did on various TV shows over the years. It is called ‘Watching Us’ and I am not sure what year this was released as it is not listed on the back cover nor does Discogs have it listed. It is 16 tracks covering appearances from 1974 up to 1986. The cover photo and a couple others were taken from a photoshoot on October 19, 1976. This was where they did a photoshoot for Creem magazine and they used polyurethane “fake” snow which is actually so toxic that it is no longer used. I am assuming the guys didn’t suffer any long-term effects from being exposed to it.
The disc starts off with ABC’s in Concert which aired on March 219, 1974. It kicks off with “Nothin’ to Lose and Peter on vocals. The quality is decent enough, a little hollow sounding like it was from a copy of a copy. The crowd sounds good and loud while the band is on fire as they are young and hungry. After that opening track, they go into the classic, “Firehouse”. Paul confidently and effortlessly delivers a stellar vocal. I like the long drawn out ending and the siren ringing loudly. After that, they go into one of my favorites, “Black Diamond”. This one sounds so good despite the quality of the recording. The band simply kills it. Peter’s vocals are spot on. He is so into it and gives it his all. Another great, long, drawn out, explosive ending. This was back when they were all the best they could be.
Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Watching Us’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)”
2 Loud 2 Old Music 