Alive II Bowie MD

Alive II

KISS

Casablanca Records, 1977

http://wwww.kissonline.com

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/31/2001

Imagine it's 1977. You're a manager for the band Kiss. Theband's popularity has hit a peak thanks to Destroyer, but theirlast two albums have been dropping in quality. (Add in the rumorsthat there is tension within the band, and you've got a juicytimebomb that you're sitting on.) What is one to do in order toreclaim the glory that the band just grasped?

The answer might seem obvious: Kiss first grabbed the brass ringwith Alive!, so why not unleash a second live set on themasses?

Well, for plenty of reasons. Alive II is a half-assed attempt at a live disc, hastilythrown together and not necessarily capturing the band at its best.And that's being kind.

Think about it. It had only been two years since Alive! had been released, so putting out a second live discseemed to be a tad too soon. It was also the fourth Kiss album intwo years - a possible sign that the band was suffering fromcreative burnout. (Never mind that Kiss had basically beenreleasing one album every six months since their debut came out in1974.)