KISS

[GuitarGeek]

Oh good golly, time to start lip syncing, it works for Alice Cooper and with all of the gimmicks and explosions nobody will even notice.

I haven't watched the video, but I've been saying for the last 15 years, the Farewell Tour really should have been just that. I remember at the time of the Farewell Tour, Paul said he'd rather leave the party and have everyone say "Why are you leaving so soon?" than to stay to the point where everyone says "Maybe it's time for you to call it a night". I think this might be a perfect example of that situation in action.

BTW, I didn't know Coop has been lip syncing. I know I've heard people talk about Roger Waters doing it, but I hadn't heard about Coop.

[miamiscot]

Nothing wrong with the first five Kiss albums.

[Gruno]

I have no idea as I don't follow the band that closely. I would hope it's your second suggestion!

It seemed to me that Gene & Ace are pretty OK with each other. And it's Paul who runs the KISS show, and really had the issues with Ace & Peter at the RRHOF thing.

Everything you said is very true. Yes, Paul runs KISS. Even the band members have gone on record stating such.

I always had the understanding that iw as Gene who "ran" Kiss, but what I was talking about had nothing to do with the RRHOF. Gene, in his autobiography, accuses Ace of being anti-Semitic, because Ace used to like to dress up Nazi regalia, and parade around in front of Gene, with full knowledge (according to Gene) that Gene's mother was a Holocaust survivor. Apparently, there are photos floating around that not only show Ace in Nazi gear, but also Paul (who is also Jewish, btw).

The photos were shot in Japan by Lydia Criss -- Peter's wife at the time. They are in her book. It was done as a joke while they were drunk. It's more of a "you had to be there" moment.


As for Paul's voice: it's been this bad for years. Some days are worse than others. Rarely better, though. The only shows I've seen since 2009 have been special events where I didn't have to pay for tickets.

I don't know why they do not use more Gene-sung songs in concert. Gene's solo shows have been great as he has been pulling out gems and rarities. KISS could easily insert some of those into their show. I am sure Paul's ego has something to do with it all.

[JJ88]

Shocked by that video. What that doesn't show you was that he actually precedes it with an acapella bit, featured here. Start around 29 seconds.

[GuitarGeek]

The photos were shot in Japan by Lydia Criss -- Peter's wife at the time. They are in her book. It was done as a joke while they were drunk. It's more of a "you had to be there" moment.

Yeah, I get it. But I must really be out of the loop, Kiss-wise, I didn't even realize Lydia had a book out. Any interesting stories in it? I really do need to pick up some Kiss books. I wish I had gotten...I think it was called Kiss Alive Forever, that listed every live show they'd ever done, lots of cool photos and stories, etc. I saw it at Borders, probably about 15 years ago, and should have gotten it then. And I never did get Kisstory, either. Some Kiss fan I turned out to be, huh?

I definitely need to get Ace's book. I mentioned a couple months back, I stopped at the library and ended up spending a couple hours sort of skimming through it. Love the story about how he was wasted on cocaine and even he could tell Music From The Elder was a bad idea (apparently, countering Ezrin's claim the reason he thought it was a good idea was that his judgement was clouded by his own coke addiction).

[progholio]

BTW, I didn't know Coop has been lip syncing. I know I've heard people talk about Roger Waters doing it, but I hadn't heard about Coop.

It's something that's not too widely circulated - last year my wife and i saw Cooper with Deep Purple & Edgar Winter (who is still f*cking fantastic), she is an occupational therapist by trade and works very closely with speech pathologist, we were very close and there is absolutely no doubt in our minds that his mouth was not at all in sync with the vocals coming out of the system, so different in fact almost like a '60's Japanese monster flick. Another red flag is he never addressed the audience until the "Thank You, Goodnight!" part at the very end (not as youthful sounding as the preceding vocals btw)

I know others think he's just fine so possibly they have some vocal tracks ready for those nights he's not feeling so fresh. I'm thinking more bad nights than good, but hey, very few guys can keep up vocally past age 70.

[Gruno]

[Gruno]

[DocProgger]

I've always been very amused at the whole KISS "thing". I remember when they first started out, I could have seen them play at a local HS gym, 1974 maybe? I had a few friends in HS who were diehards back then in their 70s heyday (they grew out of it) and we gave them shit relentlessly of course. I could never take them seriously, to me it was all like pro wrestling, and some people believed wrestling was real and not staged, no matter how much evidence you showed them.

I think I saw some documentary interview on VH1 or something like that in the last few decades where Gene Simmons pretty much admitted they weren't very talented but they knew how to sell "show business" to the masses, and he may have even referenced PT Barnum's famous line with kind of a wink and a smirk--wish I could remember where I saw that.
You've got to hand it to them, they've perfected and milked their marketing schtick for decades and become filthy rich doing it without apparently an ounce of guilt.

[Dan Roth]

I appreciate the guy's passion. But as long as fans keep paying and cheering for Paul to sing badly at them, he really has no incentive to stop.

[Gruno]

Earliest known footage just leaked...

Live at the Coventry, Queens, NY - December 21, 1973

[Gruno]

Some more leaks have come out and one is a huge holy grail.

Cobo Hall 1975 where KISS ALIVE comes from. We have seen the images in the booklet that came with the LP. Now, we see some of the actual performance! A portion of history that many thought did not exist. It was always rumored that only an 8mm silent film was made of a section of the concert. This is fantastic! This is early KISS!






KISS at Capital Centre 1975
The graphics were done in-house, but the magic shines through. Some killer performances of songs here.





To get this footage as clear as is presented here is spectacular!

[GuitarGeek]

Some more leaks have come out and one is a huge holy grail.

Cobo Hall 1975 where KISS ALIVE comes from. We have seen the images in the booklet that came with the LP. Now, we see some of the actual performance! A portion of history that many thought did not exist. It was always rumored that only an 8mm silent film was made of a section of the concert. This is fantastic! This is early KISS!






KISS at Capital Centre 1975
The graphics were done in-house, but the magic shines through. Some killer performances of songs here.





To get this footage as clear as is presented here is spectacular!

Sweet! I'll have to spend sometime with this footage.

[Gruno]

And today we received another grail!

On April 2, 1977, KISS performed two shows at the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo Japan.

What is known as the Young Music Show (and later the HBO Special) was a condensed, edited version of both concerts, although most songs were lifted from the (better) evening performance. This is the long-lost afternoon (3:00 pm) show. Some shots and bits will look and sound familiar. Others will feel fresh.

Directed by NHK, and mixed by Eddie Kramer.

[GuitarGeek]

Gruno, can I ask you a question. On one of the Youtube videos, I think it was, someone made a comment to the effect that Ace owns the copyright on the Kiss logo. Yeah, I know he designed it originally (and Paul "refined it", according to Gene), but I only recently heard talk that, sometime back in the 70's, that he copyrighted it, before Gene could do it. Does that mean that every single time Kiss uses that logo, including on all the albums that Ace didn't play on, Gene has to pay a royalty to Ace?

[Gruno]

Gruno, can I ask you a question. On one of the Youtube videos, I think it was, someone made a comment to the effect that Ace owns the copyright on the Kiss logo. Yeah, I know he designed it originally (and Paul "refined it", according to Gene), but I only recently heard talk that, sometime back in the 70's, that he copyrighted it, before Gene could do it. Does that mean that every single time Kiss uses that logo, including on all the albums that Ace didn't play on, Gene has to pay a royalty to Ace?

Ace doesn't own the KISS logo. Ace doesn't even own his makeup design.

[Gruno]

Today we are treated to another grail!

Complete 1976 KISS Rehearsals



Jump to 54:10 to see Peter singing "Beth"

Some of this rehearsal was for Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. You can see the same stage moves they rehearsed.

[loshammeros]

I saw them in Germany around that time with The Scorpions kicking arse as the opening act

[Gruno]

More gems released today!!!

[Gruno]

[Gruno]

I saw them in Germany around that time with The Scorpions kicking arse as the opening act

I would have loved to see KISS live back then!

[Gruno]

[Man In The Mountain]

Amazing Gruno. I'm not a fan anymore, but I can still appreciate it for what it was. The Cobo Hall stuff is really a holy grail, and it's hard to look away watching it.

[Gruno]

Amazing Gruno. I'm not a fan anymore, but I can still appreciate it for what it was. The Cobo Hall stuff is really a holy grail, and it's hard to look away watching it.

This is living in fantasy land for us KISS freaks. Never thought I'd see some of this stuff. As a music archivist, this is fascinating!

[Gruno]