Review Summary: Alive! remains pretty much a product of its time. In context, it’s easy to see why this was such a landmark in the rock’n’roll scene; seen from today’s standpoint, however, one puzzles at what, exactly, the fuss was all about.
Remember when I told you that
Dressed To Kill was the record which put KISS on the top of the charts? Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
Dressed To Kill was the first step towards worldwide recognition, but the real boom came courtesy of
Alive!, a record which sold four million copies, went double-platinum and is to this day considered one of the definitive live albums of hard rock. Listening to it from an out-of-context perspective, however, the main question is: what was all the fuss about?
In fact, while this is by no means a sub-par live album, and while at times it positively sizzles, one can never shake the feeling that this is basically a
KISS Greatest Hits 1974-75 with added crowd sounds. The publicly admitted overdubs made to the guitars and drums don’t help, either. Accounts vary, but nowadays there remains little doubt that some corrections were made, to a greater or lesser extent. Eddie Kramer stated, on two different occasions, that there was only one instrument which hadn’t been overdubbed; however, he couldn’t seem to make up his mind on which instrument it was, since he originally claimed it to be Ace Frehley’s guitar, only to later state that it was Peter Criss’ drums. Gene Simmons, however, denied these statements, claiming that KISS couldn’t have afforded overdubs, even if they had wanted them.
However, the presence of overdubs is somewhat evident, even to the unaware listener. Basically, this only really starts to feel like a live album in its second half, when Stanley and Simmons start playing with the crowd, getting them to shout “Rock’n’Roll” or asking them what their favourite drinks are. Peter Criss’ drum solo also conveys a very “live” atmosphere, where you can almost see the accompanying light show and the rotating platform elevating the drumkit. However, puzzlingly, during the first half of the solo there are absolutely no crowd sounds in the background; when they do, eventually, come in, the suspicion of foul play has already settled on the listener’s mind.
Still, overdubs or no overdubs, there are clearly a handful of worthwhile moments on this album. The sizzling intro with
Deuce, the added spark
Got To Choose, Firehouse, Nothing to Lose or
Let Me Go, Rock’n’Roll benefit from or the fire-engine siren at the end of
Firehouse are a few examples. The songs themselves also feature enough quirks as to be easily distinguishable from their studio counterparts, on occasion even topping them (
Rock’n’Roll All Night). However, everything is much too polished to make for a “real” live experience. While this wasn’t uncommon in “concert” albums of the time – Judas Priest’s
Unleashed In The East comes to mind – it ends up detracting from the listener’s involvement with the album. The best live albums make you feel like you ARE there, even if you can’t see the band.
It’s Alive! achieves that. Iron Maiden’s
Rock In Rio achieves that.
Alive! is not as successful, even though it comes pretty close to that feeling in the last few songs.
And then there is the debatable – at best – setlist. It seems KISS were consciously gunning to include all their most boring songs on this set, since it features plodders like
Parasite, Watchin’ You, Hotter Than Hell or
She and excludes some of the group’s most fun songs of the period, such as
Mainline, Room Service or
Let Me Know. Still, a good portion of the group’s real standouts are here, including
Strutter, Got To Choose, Firehouse, Black Diamond, Rock’n’Roll All Night, Rock Bottom or
Let Me Go, Rock’n’Roll. One just wishes they had made out with a few of the most yawn-inducing tracks and added a few more power-rockers. This is especially true since, at 74 minutes in lenght, the album can tend to drag quite a bit, being a far more morose experience than the group’s “regular” albums. Don’t expect to listen to this while commuting, or while getting dressed in the morning:
Alive! requires that you put quite a bit of effort and dedication into it, and doesn’t always pay you back in full.
When all is said and done,
Alive! remains pretty much a product of its time. In context, it’s easy to see why this was such a landmark in the rock’n’roll scene; seen from today’s standpoint, however, one puzzles at what, exactly, the fuss
was all about.
Recommended Tracks
Got To Choose
Firehouse
Nothing To Lose
Rock’n’Roll All Night
Let Me Go, Rock’n’Roll
