There was one more release that we haven't discussed yet, so let's talk about...

KISS - SYMPHONY ALIVE IV

Released on July 22, 2003.

Line-up: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Tommy Thayer.

Produced by Mark Opitz
Mixed by Mark Opitz and Tony Wall

Track Listing:

Disc: 1
Act 1
1. Deuce
2. Strutter
3. Let Me Go Rock & Roll
4. Lick It Up
5. Calling Dr. Love
6. Psycho Circus
Act 2
7. Beth - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Ensemble
8. Forever - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Ensemble
9. Goin’ Blind - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Ensemble
10. Sure Know Something - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Ensemble
11. Shandi - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Ensemble

Disc: 2
Act 3
1. Detroit Rock City - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
2. King Of The Night Time World - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
3. Do You Love Me - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
4. Great Expectations - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
5. Shout It Out Loud - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
6. God Of Thunder - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
7. Love Gun - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
8. I Was Made For Lovin’ You - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
9. Black Diamond - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
10. Rock And Roll All Nite - Kiss w/The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

The first thing I think about when I think about KISS Symphony: Alive IV is, "Man, how much better could that have been if Eric Singer had played on it?" Watch the documentary video - Peter had a REALLY hard time staying in time with the conductor. You know damned well that Eric wouldn't have had that problem at all.

Getting past that the album is actually pretty damned good even with Peter's involvement. The first act is just the band getting out there and kicking ass on six great KISS songs. They sound remarkably vibrant, even if a bit slowish on occasion. (Thanks, Pete!)

When the band gets to the acoustic Act 2 they really take things up a notch musically with some outstanding performances of "Goin' Blind," "Sure Know Something," and "Shandi." "Beth," sounds remarkably good in this setting, and although Peter lacks Eric Carr's thunder on, "Forever," it's still fairly effective.

But when we get to Act 3 things are taken up a notch. The, "Hard Rock or Heavy Metal band playing with a symphony," thing is hardly new, but KISS does it better than anyone could have expected. Paul and Gene along with conductor David Campbell make sure that the symphony adds to the bombast rather than overpowering the band. The arrangements for the symphony are generally very, very good, and the whole thing just makes the songs sound bigger and more majestic.

It's not perfect, but Symphony: Alive IV is a big success.

If I remember correctly, this is the one that has the worse edited concert I have ever seen for a professionally shot dvd. Every camera shot lasts a split second for the ENTIRE LENGTH of the concert and you can never concentrate on any of the video. It gave me a headache and probably many people a seizure. It makes the concert virtually unwatchable which is a shame because the music sounds pretty darn good. One of the few cds I don't own by KISS and have never really had the notion to buy for whatever reason.

Guess the dvd ruined it for me and I also find myself never really wanting to hear KISS backed by an orchestra.

I'm not a big fan of the editing on the Symphony Alive IV DVD, either, but the concert was just so damned good that I can live with it.

Here are some of the highlights:

Detroit Rock City - King of the Night Time World
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Black Diamond - Love Gun
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Here's a DVD TALK review I wrote about five years ago for KISS SYMPHONY... which re-reading it, is something of a hoot; because I stopped listening to almost anything KISS related after 1998 or so, the thrill of the reunion tour gone and the craptacularness of Psycho Circus turning me off the band... again.

Reviewing this DVD made me revisit KISS yet again... especially the early to mid 90s period, which I had previously overlooked. Referring to "the abominable Vinnie Vincent era" gave me a laugh, considering how much I loved "Creatures of the Night" and was unaware of his heavy involvment with that album, and how much I really liked "Lick It Up" once I started really listening to it soon afterwards. And album sales really didn't dwindle until the late 80s, so it's not really accurate to say KISS "rebounded" with a disco tune, although my statement that hardcore fans "disowned" DYNASTY came from mostly personal recollections at the time. Giving it a deeper listen later on revealed a lot more strenghts to that album that I had realized.

Still, it's a good album, I'd give it the same * * * 1/2 ranking as a KISS record as I gave it for the DVD. It's not an essential album, but it's a treat for fans. I agree with Erik's assessment that Peter really didn't do the music the type of justice that either of the Eric's could have done.

I'd imagine this performance would be a no-brainer for KISSOLOGY vol. 4, if/when that ever comes out.

Just found this thread and enjoyed reading it. I've recently been in a Kiss mood and am most of the way through listening to all the albums ... I've seen them live a few times (Love Gun, Lick It Up, Asylum, Reunion, and at the last moment, got offered a ticket to the show with Aerosmith and was ticked afterwards about the Ace imposter.

Anyway, lot's of great (and some not so great) tunes that I've not heard in some time, and surprised that much of it holds up really well.

I thought you guys would be interested in this...

Ace Frehley on VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show"

http://www.vh1classic.com/view/playl..._1/index.jhtml

As much as I love Ace -- and it's bordering on serious non-homo man-crush territory -- he's quite a dull interview lately.

Yeah i remember the days of "wild and whacky Ace" now he's "burned out Ace".

I just want the new Ace Frehley album to come out soon...

What's it been? 19 years since his last studio album??? A workaholic he's not....

(Trouble Walkin' was a great album, so I am hoping that the new album is as good as that one.)

I don't know about that... I saw him live several months ago and he seemed pretty together to me.

I don't know about "burned out"... more like, "mellowed out" I suppose.


But I'm dying for that new album ARRRGH!! How long have we been waiting already??

Ok, maybe "Burned out" is a bit strong. I don't do drugs so I don't know the levels of fucked-up-ness. Shit, he was my hero too back in the day.

All I'm sayin' is he has just seemed slow to me in interviews since the late 80's.

Well now that he's sober, I think he's missing that crucial... shall we say, "catalyst"... that made him a lot more ebullient in previous interviews.

Besides, the dude is what, 56, 57 now? Time mellows ya out, too. It would be pretty sad if he tried to recreate that Tom Snyder interview nowadays

Meh, Gene and Paul are both pushing 60 and 70 and they seem more together than Ace.

Ace has unveiled the cover art for the upcoming CD. It looks kinda generic, like something an 8th grader would do on Photoshop, but I'm damn excited to hear the music. Into The Void was the best track on Psycho Circus in my opinion.

http://www.acefrehley.com/anomaly/

I doubt it since they already released this DVD set not too long ago.

Unless, they included several outtakes and such (like "Unplugged" on Vol.3), it would be redundant to put it on Vol. 4 as well.

Of course, never say never, right?

I picked up SpaceWalk (Tribute to Ace Frehley) in a used CD store the other day and just finished listening to it, I have to say this is one of the better tribute CDs I have heard ... plus there is an Ace song I had not heard before ("Take Me to the City" done by Ace) .

I did not care for Cold Gin or New York Groove, but the rest of this rocks (especially Rip it Out, Deuce, Take Me to the City, Parasite, and Fractured Mirror). Worth picking it up if you can find it on the cheap.

Looking forward to the new Ace album.


01 Deuce (3:48) Marty Friedman
02 Shock Me (3.23) Gilby Clarke
03 Rip It Out (3.46) Scott Ian
04 Hard Luck Woman (3.09) Ron Young & Jeff Watson
05 Snowblind (4.01) Snake Sabo
06 Rock Bottom (3.07) Sebastian Bach
07 Parasite (3.16) Tracii Guns
08 Cold Gin (4.10) John Norum
09 New York Groove (4.52) Bruce Bouillet
10 Fractured Mirror (6.35) Dimebag Darrell
11 Take Me To The City (3.37) Ace Frehley

I love Spacewalk... a fun album and a strong tribute, although I question the inclusion of Hard Luck Woman (good song, but not an "Ace" tune by any stretch of the imagination. You could say the same about Deuce, but at least that has historical significance as the first song Ace ever learned with Kiss so there you have it.)

Anyway, if you like Spacewalk you should definitely try to track down Return of the Comet, another really strong Ace tribute album.

01 Rock Bottom (intro) (1:20) Bruiz
02 Rip It Out (3:50) Brian Tichy
03 Cold Gin (6:12) L.A. Guns
04 Strange Ways (3:26) Eric Singer & Karl Cochran
05 Getaway (2:48) Tubetop
06 Shout It Out Loud (2:45) Presidents Of The USA
07 Snowblind (4:05) Dimedag Darrell
08 Dancing With Danger (3:14) Tod Howarth
09 Love Her All I Can (3:00) Eric Singer & Karl Cochran
10 Speedin Back to My Baby (4:15) Lee McCormack and Dallas Remple
11 Rocket Ride (4:14) Gilby Clarke
12 Remember Me (4:13) Mitch Weissman and Richie Scarlett
13 New York Groove (3:24) The Impostors 6
14 Back On The Streets (5:42) The Comet Band
15 Animal (4:26) The Comet Band
16 California Burns (6:16) Tod Howarth
17 Liar (4:14) Bruce Kulick

It's long since out of print but shouldn't be too hard to "find". And it's definitely worth checking out.

Thanks for the tip .. I was indeed able to "find" that CD.

Overall, I like Spacewalk better, but there are some really good tunes on Return of the Comet as well. I think I'll make my own compilation of the two.

I might be in the minority, but I thought the slow version of Speedin' Back to My Baby was cool.

Not sure how Shout it out Loud is on an Ace tribute.


I also located Other Side of the Coin, some Ace demos ... I think it is porbably best most of those never hit an actual CD.

Well, to his credit Gene has eschewed drugs and alcohol his entire life. Paul works out every day and gets PLENTY of protein.

There's a joke there that I REALLY want to make...

I uh think it was rather heavily implied, ol' chap!

Did not want to put this in the Springsteen thread but does this sound familiar to you guys?

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Lol.

Wow that song is retarded.

(Not a big fan of "The Boss")

Yeah he took the riff but it's not wholesale theft. Still, what a freakin' LAME song.