Kiss Alive IV: Kiss Symphony

Kiss’s live albums are a mixed bag, even if you are a Kiss fan as I am. Alive was one of the first successful live albums, and though it is rumored to have been heavily re-worked in the studio (a claim Gene Simmons denies in his Autobiography. Casablanca records did not have the money, he says) it stands as an auditory record of the early Kiss experience.

Alive II seems to be just a quick revisiting of earlier success, this time with some new songs, but with little real innovation. To me it is the least relevant of the four.

Alive III is from the non-Peter Criss/Ace Frehley era of the band, and stands out in my mind due to the inclusion of the wonderfully sappy “God Gave Rock and Roll To You.” I believe Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer play on it.

I think the best of the Kiss live albums is Kiss: Unplugged, which combines a bit of nostalgia with Ace and Peter’s return for a few songs, and the superior musicianship of Bruce Kulick on guitar and Eric Singer on Drums. They even cover a Rolling Stones song.

The newest incarnation Alive IV the ongoing effort of Gene Simmons to scrape every last penny out of his fans is a two disc affair with the band performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Gene saw that Metallica made some scratch with the Rock-Symphony hybrid and had to cash in himself.

The songs on the album are a mix of old and new, a couple of which are almost never played live “Great Expectations” and “Let Me Go Rock and Roll.” Kiss starts the show alone for a short set, then brings in the Symphony’s Ensemble for five songs, and then on to the full crew for the second disc.

For the most part I think the power of the Symphony is wasted, merely adding filler sound and playing the string parts on tracks like “Beth.” I don’t think any of the bands that have tried this gimmick have caught on to the full potential of re-working some of their songs out of their original formats and letting the wider range of instruments have a crack at it. The songs sound like they do on their albums only with horn and string accompaniment. I just wish they’d worked in some type of overture with the Symphony playing a medley of the songs that would be played later in the night, then with perhaps some music in between songs, you know, like a symphony or something.

What’s here is pretty good though. The versions of “Beth” and “God of Thunder” worked especially well for me, as did one of my favorites “Goin’ Blind.”

Did I mention that Tommy Thayer is the Starchild on this album? He’s Kiss’s former convention manager and played in a Kiss tribute band, as well as Black and Blue, a band that Gene produced and managed. He does a good job of being Ace, and I think when he’s singing we get to hear what Ace would have sounded like had he stayed of the drugs and been able to sing in the first place.

All in all it’s what you would expect.