{"id":39792,"date":"2006-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/alive-ii-2\/"},"modified":"2006-06-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-06-08T00:00:00","slug":"alive-ii-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/alive-ii-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Alive II"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

If I close my eyes, I can see my friend’s brother’s
\nstack of records in his basement. I remember what it felt like to
\nhold the LP version of this release in my hands and to hear my
\nfriend saying, “Don’t scratch it!” I can remember the crowd’s
\nfade-in and the way this release has always been put up on a
\npedestal. After spending time with this release this week, I
\nremember why.<\/p>\n

Alive II<\/i> has always held memories for me,
\ndating back to 7th grade and my buddy Tom’s brother’s record
\ncollection. Mike had every Van Halen, AC\/DC and Police record, but
\nI always was drawn to KISS, and to this day it has helped define my
\nmusical boundaries, proving what a “concert” really was. It’s made
\nbetter by the reliance on material from Destroyer<\/i>, the
\nband’s best album and the first one by them I ever heard.<\/p>\n

Kicking off with “Detroit Rock City,” the crowd is
\nelectric and the band sounds tight, especially Gene Simmons on
\nbass. Launching then into its companion piece, “King Of The Night
\nTime World” always made me think that the kid who died in “Detroit
\nRock City” ended up in Hell and found guitarist\/vocalist Paul
\nStanley singing this song. One of the magical qualities of this
\nrelease is the way in which Paul Stanley interacts with the crowd.
\nIt felt like he was talking to me.<\/p>\n

Granted, in 7th grade, I didn’t understand the
\ninnuendo behind “Makin’ Love” and “Love Gun.” It was mainly the
\ndrumming of Peter Criss that sparked my interest through those
\ntracks. While Criss’ “Beth” will probably always be his legacy, his
\ndrumming was enough for me to inspired to practice my snare drum
\nlessons. The guitar riff on “Makin’ Love” is one of the best the
\nband ever wrote and Criss’ bombastic cymbal crashes and flurry of
\nsnare fills make this song excellent. Guitarist Ace Frehley shines
\non this track as well.<\/p>\n

However, it is the amazing “God Of Thunder” that has
\nalways made this release for me. It’s in the way it transitions out
\nof “Beth” and in the way that I could always imagine the mysterious
\nGene Simmons stalking around the stage before finally approaching
\nthe microphone to start this song, fog and darkness around him.
\n“Shout It Out Loud” and the band’s insistence that “You’ve got to
\nhave a party” always made me think it should have led off the
\nconcert.<\/p>\n

As for the last five tracks, all new studio
\nrecordings, I like the concept of what KISS did than the actual
\ntracks. Bands should do things like this on live albums and release
\nmaterial that makes the sum of the material on the live record more
\nthan just different versions of the studio songs, which this does.
\n(One quick aside: Guitarist Bob Kulick, Bruce Kulick’s brother,
\nplays guitar on four of the studio tracks. Frehley only plays on
\n“Rocket Ride.”)<\/p>\n

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