Review Summary: Fans will cream their pants. Other people...not so much.
For Gene Simmons and his KISS, the 90’s had been a breeze. After a successful return to form with
Revenge, the original gang had gotten back together for
Unplugged and continued to milk the success throughout two more best-of compilations and a highly successful Reunion Tour. In the meantime, a disgraceful record called
Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions had bidden a less than dignified farewell to two long-time members, but fortunately that episode was quickly forgotten.
But in 1998, the problems started once again. Frehley and Criss were just as unmotivated as before, and were pretty much left out of the purported “reunion album”,
Psycho Circus. In fact, vocal contributions aside, they only ever played in
one song off that album, Frehley’s rather groovy
Into The Void. The rest of the tracks were completed by drummer Kevin Valentine and Simmons’ long-time lapdog Tommy Thayer, a former member of Black’n’Blue for whom a producing partnership with Simmons represented a one-way ticket to dream land.
Because of the problems, the original four sought to end it with the appropriately named Farewell Tour. However, Simmons, never one to turn down a few extra pennies, went back on his original decision and re-formed KISS with Thayer on guitar (wearing Frehley’s make-up, no less!) and returning drummer Eric Singer (wearing Criss’ makeup), thus establishing the formation fans know today. After a few more concerts, the time was ripe to milk the old cash cow some more, and Simmons and Stanley decided to embrace their most ambitious project so far: a box set.
Hence
KISS: The Box Set, a mammoth of a five-disc release which adds up to over four hours of KISS songs, reportedly selected by the band themselves. And “reportedly” is the right word, since – again – Criss and Frehley’s involvement looks to have been minimal, with Frehley allegedly only faxing in a list with his selected tracks. Furthermore, much was made of the inclusion of demos and other unreleased tracks, but herein lies the first problem of
Box Set: in a total of almost 100 songs, there are about 15 new or unreleased tracks. That’s less than a fifth of the overall material. The remaining four-fifths are made up of those songs we’ve all heard a thousand times, along with a few “forgotten” tracks that help pad up the running time. Each disc is made up of album versions of KISS hits, “demo” versions of a few other hits, and “real” unreleased material. The proportions are not always even, making this a very hit-or-miss release overall. But despite this somewhat deceiving advertising, is this still a worthwhile release for KISS fans and non-fans alike? Well, let’s do a disc-by-disc release and find out.
Disc One will be the most interesting for fans, since this is where most of the unreleased songs are located. The disc concerns itself with the band’s pre-history, with some of the tracks dating as far back as the 60’s, and also includes some songs by the proto-KISS band Wicked Lester. These tracks are basically poppier versions of songs KISS would later release in their first two albums, but it is nevertheless interesting to witness a version of
She with flutes and a Hammond organ. However, this version lacks the kick-ass drumming and solo of the latter version, making it overall inferior. Ultimately, there is very little of interest in these three songs. Even less interesting are the two pre-Lester demos by the KISS head honchos. Paul Stanley’s
Stop, Look to Listen (which dates from 1966, making it the oldest recording here) is just as irrelevant as any non-hit KISS song, while
Leeta has certainly been misplaced, since it is clearly a Beatles ballad from circa 1965, with John Lennon on vocals. The demo department is somewhat more interesting, with an extended version of
Strutter (featuring some punchy soloing) and a version of
Firehouse so raw, it’s surprising how KISS decided not to tamper with it. A false start, dialog among the musicians and improvised “siren” effects were all kept intact, and kudos to Simmons for doing so. Most of the other demos are indistinguishable from the album versions, save for a slightly dirtier sound quality Overall, and despite the welcome return of two forgotten (and good) tracks from
Dressed To Kill, this is a rather uninteresting record, and a lukewarm start to this endeavor.
Fail Moment That this still won’t be the KISS disc to include
Got To Choose or
Mainline.
Disc Two fares much better, probably because it encompasses the best phase of KISS. Unlike Disc One, the unreleased tracks here are really interesting, apart from the plodding and shoddily recorded
Mad Dog.
Dontcha Hesitate, the other “new” song, even asserts itself as one of the standouts, with its catchy pace. The rest of the demo material consists of a speeded-up
God Of Thunder – with different lyrics! – and
Bad, Bad Lovin’ a song which is no less than the proto-
Calling Dr. Love. Hilariously, it is followed in the tracklist by the album version of the “real”
Calling Dr. Love. The rest of the disc is made up of ever-agreeable hits like
Beth, Hard Luck Woman or an inferior demo version of
Love Gun. On the downside, this album abandons the neat chronological order of the first, jumbling the hits around haphazardly. Still, probably the best disc on this set, and worth a listen.
Fail Moment: No
Flaming Youth.
And so we come to the two fluffier, most expendable discs on the set.
Disc Three is probably the worst, because although it starts and ends with two AWESOME songs, the middle portion is just dire. Now, if you know me, you know what the first standout in this disc is going to be. That’s right, my beloved
Detroit Rock City is here, and once again proves that no amount of tampering can ever spoil it – this time, it’s an “edit” that brings back the car sounds for the outro, but not the intro, and then links it to the second track via a nifty, but obviously artificial, crowd insert. The aforementioned second track is
King Of The Night-Time World, taken from
Alive II, and it keeps the quality on high. However, it quickly goes downhill from there. Simply put, the track selection here is atrocious – apart from
Detroit and the ever-dominant
I Love It Loud, which closes the disc, the only other listenable songs are Ace Frehley’s
Rocket Ride and
New York Groove. With the rest, it seems they were going for the worst possible picks from every album. Those two damn songs from
Dynasty are here, as is
Shandi, probably the worst song in the otherwise decent
Unmasked.
The Elder gets its two throwaway tracks, but the set fails to include the only decent song off that album,
Dark Light. And even otherwise decent songs like
Creatures Of The Night sound diminished in such dire company. Worse, the bonus material is virtually non-existent – a roughish demo version of Gene Simmons’
Radioactive and a live insert for
Talk To Me – a decent song, but interpreted in lackluster fashion – don’t really count. Overall, a disc best resumed in just two words: EPIC FAIL.
Fail Moment: HORRIBLE track selection, virtual lack of bonus material.
Disc Four deals with the most controversial phase of KISS, the 80’s. However, despite the presence of horrible material in this stage of the band’s career, this is not my least favorite period of KISS – that would be the one covered on Disc Three. You see, that phase had virtually no redeeming qualities, while this one at least has some irresistibly cheesy singles. Besides, the track selection on this disc is intelligent, unlike the one on the previous set. Sure, we have to put up with at least one bad song for each album, but we also get decent stuff like
Heaven’s On Fire, Crazy Crazy Nights or
Forever. Once again, however, the bonus material fails to excite –
Time Traveller is a very poor song which was rightly left out of
Asylum, while
Ain’t It Peculiar is decent, but forgettable, even if it highlights the country influences the group was aiming for on
Hot In The Shade. Overall, a disc that might have worked well as a stand-alone 80’s-themed compilation, a la
Chikara.
Fail Moment: Virtual lack of bonus material, no
Bang Bang You.
Disc Five closes out the set, and it’s as decent as the records from the period it encompasses. No frills here, just a good selection of tracks from
Revenge, MTV Unplugged, Carnival Of Souls and
Psycho Circus, and a few interesting bonuses. First of all,
Got To Choose. Yes, FINALLY it’s here, but it’s in a severely slowed-down, somewhat boring unplugged version. Still, good to see you, old friend! The rest of the bonuses are much better, and include a demo version of
Domino with different lyrics, an average power-ballad from the
Detroit Rock City movie soundtrack, and a peppy song called
It’s My Life, which Simmons originally wrote for Wendy O. Williams, and which would have fit like a glove on
Unmasked. The set then closes out with two live performances,
Shout It Out Loud – from
Greatest KISS – and the ubiquitous
Rock And Roll All Nite, in a previously unreleased version. It’s strange not to see any tracks from
Alive III, but the disc is decent nonetheless.
Fail Moment: No
Raise Your Glasses.
Overall, then, this is not a worthwhile release, and will please nobody but the most rabid KISS fans. For them, it’s a mandatory buy, of course, but for everyone else it serves little purpose. Sure, the included book and photo gallery may increase the overall value of the package, but in the purely musical aspect, it’s a letdown. Someone looking to get all of KISS’s major hits, along with a few new tracks, may find some worth here as well, but please be warned that there is an awful lot of filler material here, and that for a considerably more affordable price, you can have 1988’s
Smashes, Thrashes and Hits serve the same purpose. At least there are no repeats, apart from
Let Me Know and
Rock And Roll All Nite. But if I had invested my money on this, I would have been severely disappointed. Strictly fans-only.
Recommended Tracks
Disc One: Let Me Know, Let Me Go Rock’n’Roll
Disc Two: Dontcha Hesitate, Hard Luck Woman, Christine Sixteen
Disc Three: Detroit Rock City, New York Groove, I Love It Loud
Disc Four: Heaven’s On Fire, Crazy Crazy Nights, Hide Your Heart
Disc Five: God Gave Rock’n’Roll To You II, Unholy, Every Time I Look At You, It’s My Life
