KISS (Alive II) 1977

KISS (Alive II) 1977

Front Cover

Back Cover

Gate-fold Interior - Stage Explosion

The Evolution Of KISS Booklet Insert

Rub-On Tattoo Insert

Alive II is a double LP with 3 sides dedicated to a "Live" concert recorded during the Love Gun Tour. I say "Live" because just like Alive!, a whole lot of sweetening went on during post production. Also, the songs themselves are taken from many different shows. Anyways, it's still a good listen. Personally I prefer Alive! over Alive II. I know I shouldn't be so critical of any "Live" album that has been doctored to make it sound better than the original recording. As I've gotten older, I've come to see this as being standard practice with pretty much all Live Concert recordings. But back in the day, we were made to believe that these shows were recorded as is.....Live. For a little kid like myself at that time, that was a big thing to hear and believed everything that was said. Ah, good times indeed. :)

Fave Song: Love Gun. <----- MVP

The 4th side is all new songs: All American Man, Rockin' In The USA, Larger Than Life, Rocket Ride and Any Way You Want It. Once again, the band felt it necessary to dupe the KISS Army by telling us this was all new stuff from the 4 members. Turns out that Ace only played on Rocket Ride, while Paul did everything on Any Way You Want It. They secretly hired a session man by the name of Bob Kulick to do the guitars for the remaining songs, who will also play an important role in the future regarding KISS....in a round about way, that is. Stay tuned.

Insert trend continues with the "Evolution Of KISS Booklet" insert as well as the Rub-On Tattoo sheet. This was like Xmas...everyday for me. 

The back cover with Gene was so insane with all that blood when it came out. But I no idea what lay in store for me when I opened the gate-fold cover to reveal......

The EXPLOSION!!!!! Daaaaaaaaaaamn. It's still an amazing image to look at even today.

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1