Paul Stanley picks out “the ultimate” Kiss album
In the early 1970s, the entire idea for Kiss seemed just crazy enough to work. Since many artists were known to stand fairly still throughout their performances, the idea of bringing together some of the most horrifying faces clad in makeup and putting on a rock and roll show for the ages was the kind of spectacle that no one could have turned down. Although the band cut their teeth in the studio playing the kind of rock and roll millions of people could get behind, Paul Stanley thought their crowning moment came from their live album Alive.
When the band first got together, they knew they would do the most damage whenever they walked onto the stage. Even though they could have plastered their likeness across any kind of album cover that they wanted to, no one was going to get the full experience until they saw them live.
Taking cues from artists like Alice Cooper, Stanley, and bass player Gene Simmons envisioned taking the group one step further, eventually working on different stage tricks that left their fans awe-struck. Even though the band would probably tell you that they were far from the best musicians in the world, their talent always came from their ability to leave the audience with amazing visuals, like Simmons breathing fire and spitting blood to guitarist Ace Frehley shooting rockets from his guitar.
But how exactly do you capture that on a live album? Since most of the biggest songs revolved around the band’s stage antics, producer Eddie Kramer was tasked with putting together different microphones around the band during select shows at venues like Cobo Hall in Detroit.
Whereas the first three Kiss albums had sold decent numbers at the time, the band’s glorified greatest hits collection on their live album led to them selling upwards of a million copies. Instead of thriving on their own energy in the studio, the major component of Alive came from the audience, making the listener feel like they were in the middle of the mayhem when the glam rockers were playing.
That being said, it’s not like everything was recorded exactly how it was played. Compared to most live albums out at the time, the band were known for doing some tweaking in the studio, cleaning up a lot of the bum notes being played during the show and tuning up the vocals so they fell in line with the track.
With years of hindsight, Stanley still had love for Alive, recalling to Louder, “We constructed the ultimate Kiss album and the ultimate live album in Kiss Alive! We wanted to immerse you in the audience at a Kiss show – to hear the noise of people around you, for the explosions to be as loud as if you were there”.
The band’s live performance eventually gave them a golden ticket to print money on their next albums, going on a studio adventure across albums like Destroyer and Love Gun. No matter how much time they slaved away in the studio, Alive! Was a testament to what Kiss always was. You can try to make a great live band on your own, but you’re still going to be living the shadow of what they did.
