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1975 Live KISS Recordings Used In Rock Band 2Source: Stephen Coldwell
Examiner.com writes that the Rock Band 2 Game will include classic 1975 KISS Live Recordings in the game. Check out the article:
KISS DLC for Rock Band unleashes my inner Ace Frehley.
Coming from me, the headline above probably seems like fairly subdued celebration of the arrival of the "Kiss Pack 01" downloadable content for "Rock Band." Considering I've devoted two full articles to Vagiant and 2,300 words to Iron Maiden in this column, you would think I'd muster a little more enthusiasm for a trio of unreleased live Kiss Klassics (I went there) from the glorious days of 1975's "Dressed to Kill" tour. Trust me, it was better to reign in my natural instincts than to go with my original headline, which was going to be "Ace Frehley! Ace Frehley! Oh my God! Thanks to Rock Band I'm going to stay up all night pretending I'm Ace Frehley!"
To put this in perspective, every "Rock Band" column I write can be traced back to my seventh birthday. My parents gave me three presents: a Hardy Boys book ("The Firebird Rocket"), the "Story of Star Wars" record, and "Destroyer" by KISS. I don't know what they were thinking on that one. I've asked them in the 31 years since, and even they don't really remember what they were thinking. They just knew I really wanted it, and like so many others, hearing Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss changed everything about music for me. Whatever the band has become since the 1996 reunion tour, there's no denying the influence they had on an entire generation.
So, KISS has come to "Rock Band." More importantly, Ace Frehley has come to "Rock Band." We got a decent cover of "Detroit Rock City" on the first game, and a one-off DLC of "Calling Dr. Love," but the "KISS Pack 01" is the first video game appearance by KISS the way they should always be heard: live. As a disgruntled KISS fan who thinks they should have continued with the "Revenge" line-up rather than slap on the make-up for a decade's worth of annual farewell tours, anything KISS-related is a tough sell for me these days. It's a smart marketing move for Harmonix to pull this 3 song set from an era that no KISS fan has mixed feelings about; the same tour that was recorded for 1975's legendary "KISS Alive."
Deuce - Wildwood Convention Center, New Jersey, 7/23/75
Guitar: 5, Vocals: 3, Drums: 5, Bass: 2, Band: 4
The traditional KISS opener, this track spotlights the two underrated members of the band: Ace and Peter. If all you think of when you think of Peter Criss is "Beth" or his questionable 1978 solo album, take a quick shot at the drums for any these tracks on Expert. Peter came from a jazz background, and brought to the band a catalogue of riffs you don't find in traditional rock numbers. What can I say about Ace, other than that no one sounded like him before 1973, but many, many have tried to sound like him since. His solo here easily earns a 5 star rating; I might say it's worth the dreaded 5 Devils. Gene Simmons, on the other hand, is slumming it, but he can be forgiven since he also covers vocals on this one.
Parasite - Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI, 5/16/75
Guitar: 5, Vocals: 3, Drums: 5, Bass: 4, Band: 4
Gene makes up for his 2 star rating and ups the ante on this bit of musical brutality from 1974's "Hotter Than Hall" (my second KISS album). Gene's vocals are straight forward and Peter's drums are suitably challenging, but it's Ace's guitar riff that's the killer. This is one of those tracks where it's not the solo you need to worry about, it's the song itself. This one has remained a standard in Ace's solo shows, and with good reason. The fact that he can still pull off "Parasite" at the age of 58 is absolutely something he should be showing off.
100, 000 Years - Orpheum Theater, Davenport, IA, 7/20/75
Guitar: 5, Vocals: 3, Drums: 5 Devils, Bass: 4, Band: 4
Gene's bass lines are almost always more worthy of note when he leaves the singing to Paul Stanley. Since it's the extended live version, aspiring vocalists get to ape Paul's vocal acrobatics while he works the crowd. I'm a little disappointed that we've only got one song with vocals from Paul, one of rock's greatest frontmen and a truly underated singer. This is probably the easiest of the three guitar parts, and on Expert I still barely skidded across the finish line well into the red. The highlight here is Peter Criss's drum part; barreling full speed ahead from start to finish, it well earns its 5 Devils rating. Worse, since it's the only instrument accompanying Paul's crowd chat, there's no one to help you out if you run into trouble.
Sadly, Ace has been gone from the band (for the second time) since 2002 (the closing ceremonies for the Winter Olympics marked his last donning of the greasepaint). I'm way too old to fit into my homemade Space Ace costume, and I'm probably getting a bit far along to go to the shows in make-up without coming off sad and creepy. My KISS Army and Ace Frehley Rock Soldiers memberships are both long expired. That said, thank you, Harmonix, for giving this aging KISS fan one more way to pretend he's going to grow up to be Ace Frehley.
September 15th can't come soon enough...