KISS ALIVE! Celebrates 34 YearsIt was believed that ALIVE! was recorded at Cobo Hall (Arena) in Detroit over a period of several nights. Other beliefs are that the actual live tapes from the tour were lousy, so when they got off tour he had them set up their gear in the old Capitol Theater (sans audience) in Passaic, New Jersey and do their show so that it could be recorded properly.
Despite Kiss' reputation as a live act, which emphasized theatrics (such as explosions, smoking guitar solos, fire breathing, and blood spitting), as much as it did the music, their notoriety did not translate to increased record sales. Kiss was essentially surviving on then-manager Bill Aucoin's American Express card. Complicating matters was the fact that their label, Neil Bogart's Casablanca Records, was having financial difficulties of its own stemming from a major misstep: the label had released a double album of Johnny Carson monologues earlier in the year. However, the album was a flop, and Casablanca Records had pressed millions of copies in anticipation. The band and Aucoin were nevertheless able to convince Bogart that a memento of a Kiss show would boost their album sales.
There has been considerable debate as to how much use was made of studio overdubs. Gene Simmons states in his autobiography Kiss and Make-Up that very little corrective work was done in the studio and that most of the studio time was devoted strictly to mixing down the multi-track recordings. He also emphasized that Kiss could not have done extensive overdubbing even if they had wanted to; the extremely meager budget allotted to the band simply would not allow it.
According to Dale Sherman's book Black Diamond and Goldmine magazine, in the early 1990s, Eddie Kramer stated there were a few overdubs to correct the most obvious mistakes: strings breaking or off-key notes, for instance. However, in recent years, Kramer has stated that the only original live recording on the album is Ace Frehley's guitar. In a recent televised interview, he also stated the only original live recording on the album is Peter Criss' drums. In addition, on the recent VH1 special of the story of Kiss, the band members themselves make it more known that the album was severely doctored in the studio, and various musicians comment on the album in this special, revealing how disappointed they were to find out their heroes doctored the supposed "live" album in the studio.
Paul Stanley has noted that there's a bass mistake in the choruses of "C'mon and Love Me." He's also made comments that even though there have been live albums recorded later that make Alive! sound like it was recorded in a washroom, he has no qualms about it.
KISS will be recreating the ALIVE! show this fall in Detroit at Cobo Arena, as well as select cities across North America.
KISS' official website KISSonline.com recently stated:
"The KISS Army has spoken! By overwhelming fan demand, KISS has just added a second special KISS Alive 35 concert at Detroit Rock City's legendary concert venue, Cobo Arena. Following the incredible response to the previously announced show on Friday, September 25, in which tickets sold out at a feverish rate, a second KISS date has been added on Saturday, September 26.
"The legendary venue, a Motor City institution that is slated for closure, has hosted KISS concerts on numerous occasions, not the least of which was the series of shows that were recorded to become the KISS 'Alive!' album. The band will come full circle to reprise that classic recording at these September shows, this time returning with brand new staging, costumes, pyro and more.
Legacy
- It peaked at #9 on the album charts. The album charted for 110 weeks, by far the longest in the band's history.
- In 2003, the album was ranked number 159 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
- Popular Japanese musician hide cited this album as a very important influence on him.
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Pop albums | 9 |
Singles - Billboard (United States)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | "Rock and Roll All Nite" (live) | Pop singles | 12 |
Singles - Billboard (Austria)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | "Rock and Roll All Nite" (live) | Pop Singles | 18 |
Singles - Billboard (Canada)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | "Rock and Roll All Nite" (live) | Pop singles | 13 |
International album charts
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| U.S.A. | 9 |
| Austria | 13 |
| Canada | 3 |
| Japan | 56 |
| Norway | 31 |
| Sweden | 22 |
| U.K. | 49 |
