| Alive II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live album by Kiss | ||||
| Released | October 14, 1977 | |||
| Recorded | August–September 1977 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 71:26 | |||
| Label | Casablanca | |||
| Producer | Eddie Kramer & Kiss | |||
| Kiss chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Metal Nightfall | [2] |
| Pitchfork | (7.0) [3] |
| Rolling Stone | [4] |
| TrueMetal | (90/100)[5] |
| Vista Records | [6] |
Alive II is a 1977 live album from Kiss. It is the group's eighth album and second live album.
Contents |
The origins of Alive II go back to early 1977 when the band's manager, Bill Aucoin, had the idea to have Eddie Kramer record a live album during the evening show at Budokan Hall in Tokyo on April 2, 1977. The plan was to release a live album to give KISS some much deserved time off before recording the album that would become Love Gun later that Fall. Kramer finished work on the album, but Casablanca Records and KISS deemed it unusable, and the band forged ahead with the Love Gun sessions.
Most of the live tracks on Alive II were recorded during the band's August 26–28 residency at the Los Angeles Forum while on the Love Gun tour. The 3:00 PM soundchecks at the August 26 & 27 shows were recorded, and later used on the album (i.e. "Tomorrow And Tonight") with crowd noise being dubbed in later. "Beth" and "I Want You" were lifted from the aborted Japanese live album and used on the finished Alive II.
As the band did not want to duplicate songs included on Alive!, the songs chosen for the three live sides of the album were all drawn from Kiss' three preceding studio albums - Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun.
On the original double album, the songs on side 4 (tracks #6-10 on the second CD) are studio tracks. Although Ace Frehley was originally credited for lead guitar on the studio tracks, the remastered version released in 1997 confirmed what had been speculated by Kiss fans for years - Bob Kulick actually played lead guitar on three tracks ("All American Man", "Rockin' In The U.S.A." and "Larger Than Life"), not Frehley. Frehley's sole involvement for the studio songs was "Rocket Ride" which he originally wrote for a solo album;[7] Ace sang the lead vocals and played both the guitar and bass on this song . Paul Stanley played all guitars on "Anyway You Want It" which was originally recorded by the Dave Clark Five in 1965.
The original vinyl issue of Alive II was a 2LP set, in a gatefold sleeve, with picture LP-liners. Continuing the Kiss tradition of including promotional items with their albums, Alive II was packaged with a full color booklet entitled "The Evolution of Kiss" and a set of temporary transfer tattoos in a cartoon-style. The tattoos depicted the band logo, Kiss Army logo, band member heads, member signatures and symbols. The symbols were meant to represent the four personas of the group and included a skull and crossbones for Simmons, a rose and star with eye for Stanley, a Saturn-like planet and block print-style 'ACE' for Frehley and a drum and cat's head for Criss. The rose and 'ACE' are copies of Stanley and Frehley's actual tattoos, respectively.
A merchandise order form was also included with the album. It listed an array of official Kiss merchandise, as well as a chance to "enlist" in the Kiss Army.
Jacket sleeve, picture of crazed KISS fans, in a confetti storm and, "GOLD and PLATINUM" shows the records that were released, in that time frame. KISS were well known for their Live Albums and performances and KISS Alive II proved that the band could put on a great performance Live.
Alive II was issued as a 2CD set in what has now become known as a 'fatboy' 2CD case. When the Kiss back-catalog was remastered it was housed in a slimline 2CD case and, in keeping with the rest of the reissue program, had the artwork restored. This included the set of tattoos. The booklet 'The Evolution Of Kiss' and the picture-liners were now incorporated as part of the CD booklet.
Most recently, Alive II was re-released in 2006 as part of the Kiss Alive! 1975-2000 box set (also featuring Alive!, Alive III and Alive! The Millennium Concert). It includes Rock And Roll All Nite (Single Edit Version) as a bonus track. The short running-time of Alive II allowed for a single CD edition in this latest release.
(New studio tracks)
Several early copies of the album's cover feature a rare misprint of 3 additional songs ("Take Me," "Hooligan," and "Do You Love Me") with a slightly altered song order. None of these additional songs, however, appear on the LP. On this misprint, "Take Me" is after "Detroit Rock City," with "King of the Night Time World" appearing after "Ladies Room" on Side 1. Side 2 features "Hooligan" after the song "Shock Me," which is placed after "Hard Luck Woman." On Side 3, "Do You Love Me" appears after "God of Thunder," with "Beth" sandwiched between "I Want You" and "Shout It Out Loud." "Hooligan" and "Take Me" were performed on the Love Gun Tour of 1977, and "Do You Love Me" was performed on the Japanese tour of 1977 making their consideration for inclusion with the second live album possible.
with
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Album – Billboard[8] (North America)
Singles – Billboard[9] (North America)
Singles – Billboard (Canada)
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International album charts
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| Region | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[10] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[11] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
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^shipments figures based on certification alone |
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