I never bothered with HitS, but Crazy Nights was so bloody awful it killed any interest I had in KISS until the Kiss My Ass compilation in 1994 (7 years), and even that was a momentary blip until the 1996 reunion tour.

I got into KISS in 1977 - but it wasn't Love Gun that won me over, it was the first album.

After all the albums that they released, with the changes in direction on several of them, I never gave up on the band as I kind of figured you never knew what they'd do next. So even with the disappointments that were Crazy Nights and Hot in the Shade (and at the time I really liked Hot in the Shade as the production was more raw than Crazy Nights and it seemed like they were trying to get back to doing what they did best), I still figured they had the capability of putting out a killer album.

Turns out I was right.

Of course, the Hot in the Shade tour helped get the band re-focused. The show was huge, and they played a long set list that drew from (then) recent material and classic material equally.

Setting up the next album quite nicely.

Same here. Part of the fun of being a KISS fan was seeing what they'd do next. Everybody has failures and makes errors in judgment from time to time - but with KISS, they would often follow those up with some pretty spectacular albums, as well. You always had the sense that they still the ability to bounce back. Just as they would this time with their next album.

Four subpar albums (two of them being outright garbage) in a row, loaded with forgettable filler tracks, wore my patience out. Besides, there were so many more interesting acts at the time that KISS of the mid/late 80s was -- at best -- a third-rate band.

I didn't share your optimism at the time. "What'll they do NEXT?!" was (for me) wishful thinking while albums like classic albums "Master of Puppets", "Peace Sells", "Among the Living", "Powerslave", "Seventh Son", "Reign In Blood", etc. were redefining metal and pushing the boundaries of what the genre could accomplish.

And within the cheese/hair metal genre, even Paul & Gene admitted they couldn't keep up with Poison, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Dokken, Whitesnake, Cinderella, and the rest of those monkeys.

But if the 1984 - 1989 era KISS wasn't so mediocre, it wouldn't have made the 1996 reunion so much damn fun. And given that the 90s brought us Revenge, Unplugged, and Carnival of Souls (Peepee Circus notwithstanding), I suppose we should be thankful for that.

At least while KISS was bottoming out with HitS, Ace rebounded with Trouble Walking, easily the best solo non-KISS project ever. Not a perfect album, not a big seller, but WOW what a great record. Maybe once we're done with this thread (*sniffs sadly*) we can talk about the various solo projects the vast cadre of KISS members involved themselves with.

It's funny... Crazy Nights is when I got BACK into Kiss.

I can see where a die-hard of their old stuff wouldn't like it, but that is where the music scene was at the time and they fit right in.

BTW, I came back around with REVENGE. Of course, although Psycho Circus had one or two cool songs, it generally knocked me back on my ass and once again soured me to KISS.

Having been a long time fan I guess my frustration with KISS is that I knew/KNOW they could/can do better, but they just seemed to be more interested in phoning in performances. KISS can be very lazy when it comes to music making. It's like, Puke out some half ass songs...pick up a FAT CHECK...aaaand, we're done for the day.

Mind you, I still think Paul is, and will always be, the best part of KISS musically; and even on the albums I skipped, he still seemed to at least bring the Power ballad goodness to the table. I don't know, maybe my real issue is with Gene and his 95% Crap/Retarded song track record after the release of his solo album. His shit songs often seemed to bring down the rest of the KISS material on a given album.

But hey, as mentioned...Kudos if you could stick through KISS' suck ass years.

Agreed on both counts. I thought "Trouble Walking" was great (much better than HITS) and would also like to see the solo projects dealt with after the KISS albums are covered. And hey, how about the various KISS video and DVD releases too? Let's really make this thread gargantuan.

Since we are a little sidetracked...

Paul Stanley's One Last Kiss DVD came out yesterday. Best Buy and Amazon have it for $11.99. I should have it from Amazon tomorrow.

Songs:
Prologue
Live To Win
Hide Your Heart
A Million To One
Got To Choose
Move On
Bulletproof
Tonight You Belong To Me
Lick It Up
Wouldn't You Like To Know Me
Magic Touch
I Still Love You
Strutter
Everytime I See You Around
Do You Love Me
I Want You
Love Gun
Lift
Detroit Rock City
Goodbye

/end sidetrack

Yeah, I was actually gonna suggest exactly this once we got to the end (I guess that would be the giant KISS boxset). I would love to go thru their videos and hear people's thoughts. I have most of them and it would give me a good excuse to go back and watch them again.

And I definitely would like to hear about the various solo albums/groups though I have very little of that.

Always knew Monkeys made great music, you mentioned some great bands there Matt, for me growing up in the 80's and loving everything Hard/Heavy/Pop/Thrash and especially Hair Metal i never thought Crazy Nights or HITS were even close to some of the great albums of that time, Dr. Feelgood, Justice For All, Appetite For Destruction,New Jersey,Hysteria,Back For The Attack,Reach For The Sky,Somewhere In Time etc etc, such great albums by great bands with those two duds thrown in, and the thing is i love Kiss up until Asylum "which i just purchased cuz of this thread" then once Revenge came out i bought it, damn good album.

Well, after a few missteps people questioned KISS' ability to come up with a great album. But in 1992 KISS would have their...


REVENGE

Released on May 19, 1992.

Track Listing:

1. Unholy
2. Take It Off
3. Tough Love
4. Spit
5. God Gave Rock And Roll To You II
6. Domino
7. Heart Of Chrome
8. Thou Shalt Not
9. Every Time I Look At You
10. Paralyzed
11. I Just Wanna
12. Carr Jam 1981

Produced by Bob Ezrin
Engineered by Chris Steinmetz, Niko Bolas, and George Tutko
Mixed by Mick Guzauski

Line up: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bruce Kulick, Eric Singer.


After KISS had a HUGE hit single with, "Forever," and a wildly successful tour in support of Hot in the Shade, they realized that the album's sales of around 750,000 or so showed that they had to take the songwriting side of making an album more seriously. It also showed that they may need an outside producer to help them make the kind of album that they needed to make.

At the same time Eric Carr was fighting for his life. Diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer - a malignant tumor on his heart - he had undergone surgery and chemotherapy. He was in no condition to go through the hard work of playing drums on a studio album, so the band hired former Black Sabbath, Badlands, and Alice Cooper drummer Eric Singer to play on the album (and, presumably, the tour, should Eric Carr not be up to rejoining in time).

Eric Carr died on November 24, 1991. The most accessible and down to earth member of the band, Eric Carr was very popular with the fans. Gene and Paul loved him, too. He was everything they could have wanted in a drummer, and despite any friction between Eric & his family and the band at the end, Gene, Paul, and Bruce were devastated at his loss.

Turning to making the album as a form of therapy the band came up with an absolute monster. Revenge was exactly what the doctor ordered to make up for the last two studio albums.

Opening with the heaviest track, Gene's, "Unholy," they sent a signal. KISS IS BACK. Back doing what they should have been doing all along.

The album has no real filler as far as I'm concerned, just strong album cuts like, "Heart of Chrome," "Thou Shalt Not," "Paralyzed," "Tough Love," and "Take It Off," (although the last one showed Paul reverting to the sophmoric lyrics that had plagued KISS in the 80's).

For me the musical highlights of the album are, "Unholy," "Spit" (Gene finally gets this kind of thing right lyrically - it's funny, not stupid - and musically this is the funkiest, bluesiest thing KISS has ever recorded), "Heart of Chrome," "Tough Love," "Domino," and "Paralyzed."

"I Just Wanna," is a fun, throwaway song that holds up better than similar songs Paul wrote in the 80's. "Domino," and "Unholy," were solid single releases from Gene (his first single releases since "I Love it Loud"), but "Every Time I Look at You," is a bit disappointing, and the weak link on the album. It's an OK song as power ballads go, but Paul's raspy, distraught vocal just kills the song as far as I'm concerned. The version on Unplugged is better (especially vocally).

Revenge was supported by what I think is KISS' best tour ever. Following up the Hot in the Shade tour with a production that was just as big KISS went out on the road to... indifference. The core fans were there, and loving it! But the peripheral fans weren't. Nirvana and Pearl Jam -and a bad economy - had sucked the life out of traditional Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. It's a shame that more people didn't attend this tour, because the shows were just phenomenal. With the Statue of Liberty as it's centerpiece, KISS went for an Escape From New York theme, and it worked VERY well. The band was tighter than ever, and just kicked ass for two hours a night.

In the end, Revenge was considered KISS' best non-makeup album, and for good reason. It's a little darker, heavier, and the songs are better written than the ones on the previous 5 studio albums. And the production of the album is spot-on as well. It's a great album, and holds up VERY well today.

Agree with 99% of your post there Erik, "Lick It Up" is still IMO the best non makeup era album they did with "Revenge" and "Animalze" tied for my second faves, i just can't pick one, anyway i remember when this came out in 92 i thought wow now this is the Kiss album i knew they could do after those last two turds they dropped, My favorite two cuts from the album are..

Unholy

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Paralyzed

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They should have shelved Hot In The Shade entirely and released Revenge (or a Revenge-like album) in 1989. But given that Revenge was the "strongest" KISS album since "Creatures" and easily the best of their "non-makeup" albums, it's apparent to "me" that the final product "here" is certainly one "of" the band's triumphs.

Sorry about that.

Anyway, being that grunge/indie/alt rock sank the metal scene for a time in the early to mid 90s, "Revenge" didn't sell all that hot, the tour was a disappointment, and that's the last studio work we saw from this group until "Carnival of Souls", a good (but VERY different sounding) album as well. If Revenge had come out around 1989, maybe we could have gotten a third album from this lineup somewhere in between. The world will never know.

But let's be thankful for what we have. Because Revenge freakin' rocks.

Unholy
With this song, Gene is of course back "in form", and this song is a superior effort (with a little help from Vinnie Vincent, of course). One of KISS's best singles ever, and certainly the best album opener they've had since... oh, let's say "I Stole Your Love" from Love Gun.

Take It Off
A fun if exceedingly juvenile rocker from Paul. Did Paul just say "titty"? He most certainly did. Jeepers. Decent tune, not great but certainly above average. They brought dancing girls onstage during the song on tour and of course they didn't take ANYTHING off. In Russia, butt pees in you.

Tough Love
A good midpaced rocker from Paul. Love the groove on this one, the chorus is the weakest part (often an issue with some of Paul's tunes), but a good song anyhow.

Spit
Awesome. Fun and rocking, though. I particularly love listening to Paul and Gene dueling over lines in the chorus. I think this is a great tune. It gets the eye-roll often but I find little to fault here.

Notice a trend here? FOUR DECENT-to-GREAT SONGS IN A ROW!! When the hell was the last time this happened? "Creatures", I think. 10 years prior... hokey smokes!

God Gave Rock And Roll To You II
Who hears this and DOESN'T picture Bill & Ted?? Eric Carr's last performance with the band (backing vocals only), and it's a big slice of dopey anthemic rock and it's catchy as hell. More Paul & Gene on the dueling vocals. Good song.

Domino
a.k.a. "Christine Sixteen" part deux, but who cares? This song was even better on "Unplugged" but as it stands it remains a powerful rocker. Another great song. Gene is not only 3-for-3, he's 3-for-3 with all GREAT tunes. Who the hell woke him up from his 80s coma? Bruce Ezrin?? You're forgiven for "Odyssey". Almost.

Heart Of Chrome
Paul strikes again (with some more Vinnie Vincent help) with a strong melodic rocker. Good tune, I like it. Love the bridge on this one.

Thou Shalt Not
Gene's weakest song on the album, but not a terrible song. Musically it's pretty sound but the lyrics are kinda mehh and it gets entirely to repetitious. I'll give it an Ehh-to-OK.

Every Time I Look At You
Paul being Paul again, with a solid attempt at recreating "Forever". I think it's a better song than that previous single, it's much less "Desmond Childish", with less prom-night sheen and more simple honesty to the lyrics. I would have toned the strings down a LOT, but otherwise I think this is a top-notch pop ballad.

Paralyzed
Better than "Thou Shalt Not", but weaker than his other 3 stellar tunes, this one is an OK rocker. Not entirely memorable, but far from awful.

I Just Wanna
a.k.a "Uh! All Night" part duh. Vinnie co-writes this one too, then ends up suing the band, getting countersued, showing up at Kiss Konventions in make-up, getting cease-and-desist letters, disappears, has a tribute album recorded in his honor, but nobody seems to know how to get in touch with him. Whatever. This yet another dopey-but-fun melodic rocker from Paul. Good song, catchy as bloody hell.

Carr Jam 1981
A fitting tribute to Eric, and the foundation of Ace's solo tune "Breakout" (which he co-wrote with Eric in the 80s).


So Revenge is easily one of the best KISS albums ever, certainly one of Gene's strongest performances as a singer/songwriter and maybe only two pieces of "filler", but even those are still around the OK mark. Not a single bad cut to be found. I'm going with * * * * out of * * * * *. It's just ahead of "Creatures" and is the single best KISS album since Love Gun (which makes it their best album in 15 years!)

My Album Rankings

Kiss: * * * * *
Hotter Than Hell: * * * * 1/2
Dressed To Kill: * * * 1/2
Alive!: * * * * *
Destroyer: * * * 1/2
Rock And Roll Over: * * *
Love Gun: * * * *
Alive II: * * *
Peter Criss: *
Ace Frehley: * * * *
Gene Simmons: * *
Paul Stanley: * * * *
Double Platinum: * * * *
Dynasty: * * *
Unmasked: * * *
Music From The Elder: * * 1/2
Creatures Of The Night: * * * *
Lick It Up: * * * 1/2
Animalize: * * 1/2
Asylum: * * 1/2
Crazy Nights: * *
Smashes Thrashes & Hits: * * 1/2
Hot In The Shade: * 1/2
Revenge: * * * *

Ah, Revenge. As soon as the opening strains of "Unholy" kick off the album, you know that KISS has decided to get serious again. At the time, upon first hearing it, I remember thinking the band hadn't rocked this hard since Creatures, and this was even heavier. If the rest of the album to follow was this good, then we were in for a treat - and it was. As Matt pointed out, when was the last time a KISS album opened with four strong cuts? And they just continued on from there.

With hardly any filler to be found, This was the kind of album I'd been waiting almost a decade for KISS to make again. There's really not a lot I don't like here, so I'll skip the track by track, but I will say I've always loved "I Just Wanna" for it's pure simply fun factor. It's not a song meant to be taken seriously, just taken and enjoyed.

One of the best things about the album is the return of the Gene we'd all been missing. One thing Bob Ezrin really pushed for when making this album was the return of "The Demon", whose presence he felt had been absent for far too long. Well, with songs like "Unholy", he sure got it, and we were all the better for it.

Yeah, Revenge is easily the best non make-up KISS album, their best since Creatures, and rates right along side it as one of my favorites of the band. Period.

I enjoyed the tour a lot, too. Even though the band lost Eric Carr (God bless him, and R.I.P.), they got a fine replacement in Eric Singer, who is a equally great drummer, and also a pretty nice guy, as well.

It's a shame the album and tour didn't do better, but at the time "grunge" was starting to take off, and anything from the 80's that was even associated with the glam/hair metal scene was being shunned like the plague. Even though it didn't do them much good at the time of the album's release, once some of the more popular bands - like Nirvana, The Melvins, The Screaming Trees and even Stone Temple Pilots (although personally, I don't consider the latter "grunge") - started really hitting big, they made sure to point out that one of their influences was KISS. Ultimately, I think that helped put the band in a better light than the rest of the 80's crowd they tried so desperately to fit in with during the prior decade.

Revenge is my favorite KISS album. Revenge and KISS (the first album) are the two quintessential KISS studio albums, IMO.

I've always said that Revenge sounds like the KISS of the first 3 studio albums IF that version of KISS had continued in that direction and all of the band members had continued to get better and better as musicians (which, sadly, didn't happen for Peter after '76 and Ace after '89 or so).

I love a lot of the songs on Revenge, but this has always been my favorite ever since I first heard it on Rock 102 in San Diego just prior to the album's release...

SPIT
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Here's another one of my favorites that I made a video for...

Heart of Chrome
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Revenge is just a great, great album, and it holds up exceptionally well 16 years later.

One other thing that I should mention is just how well Bruce Kulick plays on this album. His solos have the feeling of Ace's best playing, with some of Hendrix's wicked sounds, and just a hint of the flashy technique that Bruce used in the 80's. Great, great stuff. (And a great lead tone, too!)

Was told to pick this up since I had gave up on them from Lick it Up. I know some people like a lot of the songs from that span in the '80s but I never really did.

Granted I only heard those albums through friends and of course radio play of the hits. But Revenge was so much better, imho, right from the start. Too bad this would be it as it will be the only good album during that 15 year span (including Circus). The 1 song I really did not like was God Gave RnR which I believe is a cover song.

Yep. Written by the same person who also wrote "New York Groove" - Russ Ballard.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You," was an Argent song. KISS opened for Argent in '74. Paul and Gene always liked that song, apparently, but didn't like the original's flowery lyrics, so when they covered it they changed about half the lyrics. The new version is much better than the original, IMO.

Revenge. Great album and an amazing return to form for the band. Listening to this album so close to listening to Crazy Nights and Hot In The Shade...it really doesn't even sound like the same band.

Unholy kicks it off with a kick to the balls and Take It Off is a fun stripper song. I kinda wish they had called Spit "Shit" and just left it that way. It sounds the whole time like Gene wants to say shit but can't.

God Gave Rock N Roll To You II is by far the worst song on the album. Even worse than Every Time I Look At You. The original Argent version is much better and even Petra's two covers of it are better...and it's a shit song for both of those groups. Big misstep for KISS covering this song and it is placed smack dab in the middle of a great album. The revised lyrics are shit and the whole song is just hokey, dumb and seems forced. Did I mention I fucking hate this song?

Domino is a great Christine Sixteen update and I really like Heart Of Chrome. Supposedly most of the song refers to Paul's failed romance with Samantha Fox. Thou Shalt Not is another great catchy number from Gene. The Demon came back with a vengeance for this album! Finally.

Every Time I Look At You is a pretty lame schmaltzy songs and I agree with Erik on Paul's weak singing on this one.

Paralyzed is an okay tune but doesn't really stick it good or bad to me. I Just Wanna is a great crowd pleasing song that is perfect for The Starchild to sing in concert. Everyone gets to crowd sing their favorite word as loud as possible and it is just a nice catchy throwaway tune.

Carr Jam 1981 is a nice little tribute but I would have rather them actually include a true song by Carr...like the one Erik posted before. That would have been a little more fitting than an extended drum solo.

All in all...great album that kinda comes out of nowhere after several lackluster albums in a row.

Rating: ****

I have taken a hiatus from this thread recently because I wasn't a big fan of anything in the 80's (or really anything after dynasty). I will, however, add that Revenge is a great album.

I don't know what got into Gene, but Unholy and Domino are excellent songs, and imo up there with the best that the band has ever done. I also really like Take it off as a fun song.

There are not any total clunkers that I can recall off the top of my head, though God Gave Rock and Roll is very very cheesy.

Crap, forgot to mention this in my first post about Revenge, but I'd been waiting for this album to come around, just to do so. For all you "Domino" fans out there, take a listen to this and tell me if you hear anything familiar....

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...and guess who co-wrote and produced that song from Black N Blue? That's right, it was Gene (along with BNB band members Jamie St. James, and now current Kiss guitarist, Tommy Thayer) way back in 1986. Never one to waste anything, Gene also has lifted a small riff for this same track, out of the breakdown of another KISS song, "Only You". Listen to it around the 2:40 mark, and you'll hear it.

At least he made a better song out of it with "Domino", though (albeit, only giving himself credit for it this time around). Here's that, for comparison sake.

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With the band back on track musically they knew it was time for....



Released on May 18, 1993.

Track Listing:

1. Creatures Of The Night
2. Deuce
3. I Just Wanna
4. Unholy
5. Heaven's On Fire
6. Watchin' You
7. Domino
8. I Was Made For Lovin' You
9. I Still Love You
10. Rock And Roll All Nite
11. Lick It Up
12. Forever
13. I Love It Loud
14. Detroit Rock City
15. God Gave Rock And Roll To You II
16. The Star Spangled Banner

Produced by Eddie Kramer and KISS
Engineered by Eddie Kramer and Garth "GGGarth" Richardson

Line up: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Bruce Kulick, Eric Singer

The running question through the 80's for KISS was, "When are you going to do Alive III? In a way you could almost say that Animalize Live Uncensored is a video version of Alive III. They could have recorded a decent Alive III on the Animalize or Asylum tours, but were probably more concerned with rebuilding their fan base than recording a new live album. An Alive III from the Crazy Nights tour just wouldn't have worked as Crazy Nights was just too slick, and too poppy to make for a good platform for a new live album.

Now the Hot in the Shade tour? THAT would have made for a great Alive III. The band was in top form, and they played a great cross section of songs from throughout their career. It would have been particularly fitting as it was the last tour Eric Carr participated in.

But after releasing Revenge - their best album in at least 15 years? It was time. Featuring four tracks from Revenge Alive III is a kick ass live album. Well, almost live. Like the previous two Alive albums Alive III is heavily doctored in the studio. That's fine - KISS is one of those bands that runs around a lot on stage and some wrong notes are hit occasionally, and some vocals drop out as Gene or (especially) Paul would turn from the mike for just a second while singing.

There is some overlapping from previous Alive albums, and the original thought of only including the post Alive II material was strongly considered. But they felt that the new line up gave the old songs new life with a kick in the ass, so they included a handful of classic KISS material as well as the more recent stuff.

For my money the versions of "Deuce," and "Watchin' You," as well as "I Was Made for Lovin' You," and "Creatures of the Night," are the definitive versions of those songs. This is largely due to Eric Singer's playing. He plays with incredible power and precision, but also with a great sense of groove. This version of, "Deuce," adds a triplet cymbal beat to match the guitar riff throughout the song, and it works incredibly well. Whenever I hear another version of the song it really seems to be lacking something.

My main gripe against Alive III is the OMISSION of some great songs (in order to keep the thing as a single CD release). "Tears Are Falling," was recorded on the tour and sounded great, but was left off the album (Paul himself lamented that one in more than one interview). Other glaring omissions - "War Machine," "Hotter Than Hell," and "Firehouse." (Although a case can be made that neither of those last two were really necessary for this one.)

"Parasite," was recorded but also not included, unfortunately. On tour it was hot rodded up by Eric Singer, and it sounds simply amazing (check it out)...
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Ultimately, Alive III improves on Alive II, but doesn't match the phenomenal Alive!

Alive III could have been better if they had included more songs and relesed a 2 CD set. Eddie Kramer also is of the opinion that they polished it up just a little too much, but having seen the tour (and watched the video from the show) I'd have to say that while I agree with Eddie they still got pretty close to getting it 100% right. (I'd grade it out at about 92% right.)

Alive III VS Totally Live

Creatures of the Night
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Deuce
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They're actually very, very close. It sounds to me like they kept most of the rythm tracks, and even most of Bruce's lead work. The vocals got polished a bit.

With Alive III I like the mix, I like the vibe, and I like the engergy of the album, even if it was polished up a little too much. Like I said, the versions here of, "Creatures of the Night," "Deuce," "Watchin' You," and "I Was Made for Lovin' You," are, in my mind, the DEFINITIVE versions of those songs. Hell, I'd actually say the same thing about this version of, "Domino," as it exceeds the studio version!


Here are some more fun live pics showing the Escape From New York stage set....





Overall, I'd say that Alive III is really good, and a worthy addition to the Alive series.

I was always curious why nothing off of Alive 3 was included on the box set. I'm pretty sure it's the only album of there's that was not represented on there and I always wondered why?

I'm not gonna dwell too much on Alive III, except to say the obvious right outta gate -- that it can't compare to the original Alive, but I enjoy it more than Alive II. Certainly it's the best *sounding* (and produced) of the three, but you can't compare 1993 to 1975 and 1977 really.

It's a decent setlist too, although obviously slanted towards the recently released Revenge with 4 songs from there, but the album does sport what I consider to be the finest releases ever of "Deuce" and "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Plus 3 of the best Creatures songs ("Creatures", "Loud", "Still Love You") and a smattering of old school KISS (the aforementioned "Deuce", "Watchin You", "Detroit Rock City", "RnRAN") make the album much more compelling.

If Alive is a five-star album, and Alive II three (if anything, it sounds even MORE manufactured than it should, plus all those dud studio songs (except Rocket Ride) and a less compelling setlist), I got no problem giving ALIVE III * * * *. It's a great sounding live album, there's a strong sense of FUN to it, no real filler tracks (save for "The Star Spangled Banner", and even then it's just sort of an epilogue to the show than a final encore) and even "God Gave RnR To You" has a kind of goofy anthemic feel to end the show.

Of course, this wouldn't be the BEST live album KISS would put out this decade... but I'll save that discussion for the next album.