Well, if your going to do a box set, leave it to the kings of excess to do it right. Kiss does everything on a grand scale and their 2001 box set is no exception. Others may sneer at the fact that Kiss has been a merchandise machine that simply lines the pockets of master-o-marketing Gene Simmons and his ever faithful sidekick Paul Stanley.

Well, this may be true but in the case of this box set, the band gives the fans something for their money; over six hours of music on five discs. That’s 94 tracks of demos, rarities, hits, album tracks, and live material. On top of this we also get a nicely laid out, 120-page, full-color book, including track-by-track commentary, a biography by Jeff Kitts, and tons of excellent photos that are laid out chronologically as is most of the songs. Most of the track comments are by either Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Ace Frehley offers a few comments throughout the book. Peter Criss has even less. I would have liked to have read some more from Peter and Ace. Additional comments by Bruce Kulick, Vinnie Vincent, Eric Singer, etc. would also have been nice. Despite this, I really have to say this is one of the finest box sets I have ever seen. Each disc chronicles a certain time period of the band. Each disc also comes with a full color 6 page insert with photos from the same time period. The entire five disc collection comes wrapped up in a black canvas box with red lining. The silver and black Kiss logo on the front is a metal plate that is glued onto the box. The entire track listing is glued to the back of the box as well. As with any Kiss release, there is also a merchandise order form included. There is also a ‘deluxe edition’ of this set that comes in a guitar case, but doesn’t really contain anything extra.

Disc One 1966-1975
Disc One contains perhaps the most rarities of the five discs. Being a long-time fan of this band, I absolutely enjoyed hearing all the early demos and Wicked Lester material. The first 12 tracks of this disc are all previously unreleased demos. All this material differs from the final album versions and offers some insight into how the band started off. One of the coolest of these early tracks is ‘She’ as performed by Wicked Lester, which is Paul and Gene’s prior band. Imagine Jethro Tull doing ‘She’ in the early 70’s and you get an idea of what this track sounds like, flute and all. Other oddities include the 1960’s Beatle-esque pop rock tracks like “Leeta.” It was very nice to see underrated fan favorites like “Strange Ways” included on this disc. I always thought this was one of Kiss’ most underrated songs. Actually I was quite surprised to see so much Ace material included on this set, being that the set was put together for the most part by Paul and Gene.

Disc Two 1975-1977
Disc Two shows the band in their 1970’s heyday, when they became larger than life and the marketing began to become overwhelming. Still all the material on this disc shows Kiss at their finest. Once again a few demo tracks are thrown in allowing to see inside the machine a little further. The oddest of the demo tracks is “Bad, Bad Lovin’” as it features the lyrics and verses from “Calling Dr. Love” but with a completely different chorus. “God of Thunder” is interesting as it features Paul on lead vocals and Gene singing back-up in a high, almost lady-like manner. Of course, the version that finally appeard on ‘Destroyer’ became Gene’s signature song and is the one that had Christians accusing him of worshipping the devil. During the reunion tours Gene would fly up into the light rigging to sing this song above the crowd, which is pictured on the front cover of disc five. The “live” version of “I Want You” is identical to the version that was recorded for the abandoned live in Tokyo recordings and may very well be the same recording on the Alive II album, without the audience overdubs and with Ace’s solo still included.

Disc Three 1976-1982
The years of decay when the band was absolutely not focused whatsoever on what they were or what their fans wanted. The first five tracks are prime 70’s Kiss, but once the solo albums start and the whole disco experimentation with tracks like “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” and “Shandi” you have to be a die-hard to enjoy. Fortunately for me, I am. Tracks 16-19 feature the last of the make-up era material where the band was again focusing on the heavy metal and hard rock that made them the world wide phenomena in the mid-70’s. Of course, the “Creatures” material is some of my favorite from the band and is also, in my opinion, some of their most underrated material. A live version of Ace’s “Talk to Me” was a nice addition to this set. The live version of “King of the Night Time World” is said to have been recorded at the LA Forum in August, 1977. Since this song wasn’t being performed on that tour, I tend to doubt that this is the case. From the sources I have read, this song may actually be a “soundcheck” recording with the audience dubbed in during the mixing process. “Creature of the Night” comes from the re-mastered, remixed 1985 version of the album, unlike the last two tracks which are taken from the original 1982 mix.

Disc Four 1983-1989
Disc Four could have been released as a single disc called “the Best of the Unmasked Years.” This disc contains only a few rarities, but it’s cool to finally have some of the band’s finest 80’s material on one disc. I always found it odd that releases like ‘Smashes, Trashes & Hits’ didn’t contain more of the material from this era of the band. Reading through the comments by Paul and Gene, however, it’s easy to see why. It seems the band doesn’t look back to fondly on some of their glammy 80’s pop metal material. Don’t exactly understand why as the band was huge during this era and their resurrected metal sound is what brought them back into the spotlight. It was nice to see the band not slagging on Vinnie Vincent and crediting him with helping the band to come out of their slump. There is a few rarities on this disc, like the Eric Carr demo “Ain’t That Peculiar” in which Eric sings and performs all instruments except the guitar which is capably handled by Bruce Kulick. This lyrics are a reworked version of a Marvin Gay song of the same title and may have just been used temporarily by Eric for the demo. This song eventually become “Little Caesar” on the “Hot in the Shade” album. Much was made of Eric’s contribution to the band throughout this part of the book. Another rarity is a glam rocker from Paul Stanley called “Time Traveller.” There are plenty of photos of the band, including rare shots of Vinnie and Eric Carr in their make-up.

Disc Five 1992-1999
Once again, as in the early 80’s Kiss had lost focus and had to rebuild. Disc Five features tracks from the reborn Kiss and the 90’s Kiss reunion, including tracks from the MTV Unplugged sessions. One song that I had not had the pleasure of hearing until this compilation was the acoustic version of “Got to Choose” which was left off the CD version of ‘MTV Unplugged’ and only included on the vinyl version (which I own a sealed copy of). “Into the Void” was Ace Frehley’s contribution to “Psycho Circus” and is likely the only song that all four Kiss members actually played on. The title track from “Psycho Circus” should be labeled as an edit, since it omits the original album introduction on the song. Paul Stanley played the lead on this song. The accompanying book gives Ace and Peter credit for playing on the song, but it’s pretty well know that they weren’t given the opportunity. “Within” should also have been labeled edit or radio edit. or a short time, in October 1998, KISS had planned to release “Within” as the second radio single from the “Psycho Circus” album. The edited version that was made for that single is the version included here and cuts almost a minute from the original track. Other rarities include a demo version of “Domino” and a song written by Gene Simmons that was previously recorded by the late Wendy O Williams called “It’s My Life.” This song had also been recorded by Kiss for “Creatures of the Night”, but the song was not used. This version of the song was recorded during the “Psycho Circus” sessions and has the entire band sharing lead vocals. “Shout It Out Loud” [live] was recorded live at Tiger Stadium, Detroit, MI, on June 27, 1996 during sound-check with the crowd added in at mixing. “Rock and Roll All Nite” was said to be a preview track from the forthcoming Kiss Alive IV. “However, Alive IV was never released, at least not as promised. This track was actually not recorded the credited New Year’s show in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but rather was recorded earlier in the year (probably on the Psycho Circus tour) and given the studio over-dub treatment as well. I had read that it was used as part of KISS’ lip-synched performance at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, on October 29, 1999, for Pixelon’s iBash event as well. Still, Disc 5 of the box is a good overview of the later years of Kiss’ career and a good listen overall

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Track Listing:

DISC 1:

1. Strutter – (previously unreleased, 1973 demo)
2. Deuce – (previously unreleased, 1973 demo)
3. Keep Me Waiting – (previously unreleased, with Wicked Lester)
4. She – (previously unreleased, with Wicked Lester)
5. Love Her All I Can – (previously unreleased, with Wicked Lester)
6. Let Me Know – (previously unreleased, Bell Sound Studios 1973 demo)
7. 100,000 Years – (previously unreleased, Bell Sound Studios 1973 demo)
8. Stop, Look to Listen – (previously unreleased, Paul Stanley 1968 demo)
9. Leeta – (previously unreleased, Gene Simmons 1969 demo)
10. Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll – (previously unreleased, Bell Sound Studios 1973 demo)
11. Acrobat – (previously unreleased, live, at The Daisy, 1973)
12. Firehouse – (previously unreleased, Bell Sound Studios 1973 demo)
13. Nothin’ to Lose
14. Black Diamond
15. Hotter Than Hell
16. Strange Ways
17. Parasite
18. Goin’ Blind
19. Anything For My Baby
20. Ladies in Waiting
21. Rock and Roll All Nite

DISC 2:

1. C’Mon and Love Me – (live)
2. Rock Bottom – (live)
3. Cold Gin – (live)
4. Watchin’ You – (live)
5. Doncha Hesitate – (previously unreleased, 1975 demo)
6. Mad Dog – (previously unreleased, demo)
7. God of Thunder – (previously unreleased, demo)
8. Great Expectations
9. Beth
10. Do You Love Me
11. Bad, Bad Lovin’ – (previously unreleased, demo, early version of Calling Dr. Love)
12. Calling Dr. Love
13. Mr. Speed – (previously unreleased, demo)
14. Christine Sixteen
15. Hard Luck Woman
16. Shock Me
17. I Stole Your Love
18. I Want You – (previously unreleased, soundcheck recording)
19. Love Gun – (previously unreleased, demo)
20. Love Is Blind – (previously unreleased, Gene Simmons demo)

DISC 3:

1. Detroit Rock City
2. King of the Night Time World – (live)
3. Larger Than Life
4. Rocket Ride
5. Tonight You Belong to Me
6. New York Groove
7. Radioactive – (previously unreleased, demo)
8. Don’t You Let Me Down
9. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
10. Sure Know Something
11. Shandi
12. You’re All That I Want, You’re All That I Need – (previously unreleased, demo)
13. Talk to Me – (previously unreleased, live, at Parreta Stadium, 1980)
14. World Without Heroes, A
15. Oath, The
16. Nowhere to Run
17. Creatures of the Night
18. War Machine
19. I Love It Loud

DISC 4:

1. Lick It Up
2. All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose
3. Heaven’s on Fire
4. Get All You Can Take
5. Thrills in the Night
6. Tears Are Falling
7. Uh! All Night
8. Time Traveller – (previously unreleased, Paul Stanley 1986 demo)
9. Hell or High Water
10. Crazy, Crazy Nights
11. Reason to Live
12. Let’s Put the X in Sex
13. Hide Your Heart
14. Ain’t That Peculiar – (previously unreleased, Eric Carr 1989 demo)
15. Silver Spoon
16. Forever – (single version)

DISC 5:

1. God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll to You II
2. Unholy
3. Domino – (previously unreleased, demo)
4. Every Time I Look at You
5. Comin’ Home – (live, unplugged)
6. Got to Choose – (live, unplugged)
7. I Still Love You – (live, unplugged)
8. Nothin’ to Lose – (live, unplugged)
9. Childhood’s End (With Coda) – (previously unreleased)
10. I Will Be There
11. Psycho Circus
12. Into the Void
13. Within
14. I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll
15. Nothing Can Keep Me From You
16. It’s My Life – (Psycho Circus outtake, original version)
17. Shout It Out Loud – (live)
18. Rock and Roll All Nite – (previously unreleased)

VBR: 192 kbps
File Size: 5 x 95.7 mb, 1 x 4.04 mb
Front, back and label artwork included for each disc

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PASSWORD:  Mr_Nadeau