Kissology Volume 1

I've been watching the new "Kissology Vol. 1" DVD set the last couple days and what can I say, other than I've been thoroughly, and I do mean thoroughly, enjoying it! This first volume focuses on the early years of the group spanning from 1974-1977. In addition to featuring four concerts in their entirety, it contains all their early televison appearances including ABC's In Concert, The Mike Douglas Show, The Midnight Special, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. The four concerts featured are Winterland San Francisco, CA 1/31/75, Cobo Hall Detroit, MI 1/26/76, Budokan Hall Tokyo, Japan 4/2/77 and The Summit Houston, TX 9/2/77.

The visual quality as well as the sound quality of much of the first disc isn't the greatest, but the quality of the second disc is actually very good! Many editions of the boxed set contain a third bonus disc. The edition I have contains an appearance at Madison Square Garden from 2/18/77. Highlights of the boxed set include ferocious takes on early Kiss classics such as "Firehouse", "Deuce", "Strutter", "Black Diamond", "C'mon and Love Me", "She", "Detroit Rock City", "I Want You", "God Of Thunder", "Shout It Out Loud", "I Stole Your Love", "Love Gun", "Shock Me", "Calling Dr. Love" and of course "Rock and Roll All Nite". There's no fewer than six different renditons of "Firehouse" and "Black Diamond" included in the set! Each different rendition of "Black Diamond" in particular seems to be even more over the top than the last!

So much of the focus on Kiss has always related to their stage show, and this set goes a long way in showing that Kiss were by no means just smoke and mirrors, so to speak. If the music wasn't there to begin with none of that would have mattered in the first place. This ain't exactly Shakespeare we're talking about, but when it comes to bombastic three chord rock n' roll, nobody did it better than Kiss in their prime, except arguably AC/DC. As great as some of their records were, Kiss was always best experienced live. And unlike the legendary "Alive" albums, none of these performances have been polished in any way. Simply put, this is Kiss warts and all, and this is Kiss at their very best!

My personal favorite member of Kiss has always been Ace Frehley, not only for his "Space Ace" stage persona (which I always thought was the coolest by far), but also for his actual guitar playing, which was every bit as explosive as the Kiss stage show. Like his AC/DC counterpart Angus Young, much of Ace's guitar playing was built on basic blues based licks, just played very fast. The end result was a style rooted in the past yet pointing towards the future. His infamous extended solo on "Shock Me" ranks amongst the highlights of the three disc set and at one point you can see some of the two handed tapping technique that Ace was among the first to utilize. Legend has it Eddie Van Halen himself got the two handed tapping technique directly from Ace. Paul Stanley was no slouch on guitar either as he proves whenever he takes the occasional lead, and the rhythm section of Gene Simmons and Peter Criss is as tight as can be throughout the five concerts included. Another thing I've always liked about Kiss is, like The Beatles before them, all four original members took the occasional lead vocal and all four members were of course very distinct personalities that created a unified whole.

I think the performances featured in "Kissology Vol. 1" could win over even the most cynical of Kiss bashers! This is six plus hours of classic Kiss footage, and it shows you exactly how Kiss became the biggest band in the world for a time, and why they remain such a cultural phenomenon to this very day.