Search - Kiss :: New Recordings / Kissology (Bonus Dvd)

Current KISS line-up does KISS karaoke

Mel Zorro | 09/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The decision of the current KISS line-up to go back into the studio and re-record some of the band's classic tunes was a great opportunity of which they did not take full advantage.



Everyone knows KISS is better live than in studio and we have 4 Alive! albums and 3 DVD sets to prove it. What makes the live songs great is the different musical arrangments and tempos which give the tracks more energy and flash, unfortunately KISS decided to completely copy the studio versions from each album, which makes the performances sound like KISS karaoke.



I was able to order the album from a Japanese music site and have been listening to it for about 2 weeks with mixed feelings.



What I was hoping for on this album was a studio version of the more rockin' live arrangment of "I Was Made for Lovin' You", instead I got a cheesy recreation of the Dynasty disco sound effects and Paul's "sultry" vocals in place of his commanding rock and roll preacher voice.



This is the problem with most of the tracks, while faithful to the original studio recordings, the production value is not as high and the band does not throw in any variation to make them seem unique. On "Do You Love Me", they could have at least added the outro ending they use when they play it live, but no dice.



The only songs that benefit from the re-recording are "Deuce" which does manage to capture the energy and tempo of a live performance right down to Gene's primal scream: "YEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" and "Hotter Than Hell" whose album of the same name suffered from terrible production values to begin with.



As always, Tommy Thayer faithfully stands in for Ace, playing his leads and solos note for note and Eric Singer provides a great back beat as well as adding so-so vocals to this album's version of "Black Diamond" akin to Eric Carr re-recording "Beth" on "Smashes, Thrashes and Hits".



In the end it's a unique, if unsatisying experiment, but better than another greatest hits package. I wouldn't say it is worth the import price, but if you search online under the Japanese name of the album ("Jigoku Retsuden") you may find it on the site I ordered it from for half the price.



Gene and Paul: How about next time you guys re-record the entire "Hotter Than Hell" album? Just an idea."