KISS – The Box Set [The Definitive KISS Collection 5xCD] *HQ* Out Of Print

320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ

As requested by many, here’s the stupendous and now collectible KISS “The Box Set [The Definitive KISS Collection 5xCD]“, including rare (and good) material from the popular band.
“The Box Set” was released on November 20th, 2001 and consists of 5 CD’s spanning their entire career (up to that point) housed in a great box with a silver-plated KISS logo. A limited number of the set were released in a guitar case-shaped box.
Each CD has its own full artwork, with each member motif (Ace, Paul, Gene, Peter, Eric). The CD’s span different eras of the band and there are 5 discs full of music.
The Box Set includes 94 tracks, which consists of 30 previously unreleased band and solo tracks, demos, mixes as well as outtakes and live recordings. The other 64 tracks are songs selected from each of the band’s albums except for Gene’s solo. From that one you get a demo.
And plenty of this stuff has not been released on other boxes and exclusively belongs to “The Box Set [The Definitive KISS Collection 5xCD]”.
Sound quality is great, remastered in a Nineties style we like a lot. A must have Box Set.

DISC One starts off with a whopping 12 rare tracks before you even delve into the first KISS album. The first two, Eddie Kramer demos of “Strutter” and “Deuce”, have been released before on singles and compilations, but many casual fans did not have them until now. These tracks just smoke, with “Strutter” being quite a bit longer. They are raw and have great playing from Ace.
Three tracks from the Wicked Lester sessions are included. Wicked Lester was Gene and Paul’s original band, which transformed into KISS when they fired the other three guys. Many Wicked Lester tracks were later recorded by KISS. Yes, it would have been nice to have the whole album. Maybe it will be released officially one day, maybe we will have to live with the bootlegs.

More demos abound including an early Gene song and an early Paul song. Both hint at some directions they would explore within KISS and their solo albums. A live take of the unreleased song “Acrobat” follows (essentially: “Love Theme From Kiss” melded with an unreleased song called “You’re Much Too Young”, which contains an early version of the “Detroit Rock City” riff — whew).
From here, there are nine tracks from the first three albums, ending with “Rock And Roll All Nite”. Not a terribly generous slice of music from those first albums, but it does prevent too much duplication with the songs already included as demos.

On DISC Two live tracks from Alive! kick off this disc, which is mostly made up of songs from the 4th through 6th KISS studio albums. One really cool track is “Doncha Hesitate” which was completely unknown to me previously. It is especially cool because unlike later KISS demos, it includes all four members. Plus, it is actually a really great song! It just didn’t fit in with the direction of Destroyer; it is clearly in the mould of early KISS, which is why it never made the album.
Paul’s “God Of Thunder” demo is here (Paul’s lead vocal and alternate lyrics about Aphrodite), as well as an early version of “Dr. Love” called “Bad Bad Lovin’”. The disc ends with another previously unheard song, a Gene demo called “Love Is Blind” which reveals his crooning Beatles roots.

DISC Three chronicles KISS’ decline in popularity in the early 80’s. It starts out with a bang, “Detroit Rock City”, which is out of chronology. Some tracks from Alive II and the solo albums (with another Gene demo) take us into the disco years. The demo and live versions of the disco tracks reveal the harder edge intended when those songs were written.
Not many rarities on this disc, although “Nowhere To Run” is included, one of my all time favourite songs from KISS Killers, an import-only hits compilation with bonus material.

DISC Four covers Lick It Up (1983) through to Hot In The Shade (1989): The non-makeup part of the 80’s. “Ain’t That Peculiar” is one of the best rarities here, an Eric Carr demo of what would become “Little Caesar”.
There is also a demo of Paul’s “Time Traveller”, a keyboard-based pop rock song. Unfortunately, due to squeezing so many albums onto this CD, Lick It Up is criminally underrepresented. It had many more great songs than just the two singles presented here. “Let’s Put The X In Sex” should have been dropped in favour of “Exciter”, “And On The 8th Day”, or “A Million To One”.

Eric Carr’s final recording (and Eric Singer’s first with KISS) was “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II”, which kicks off DISC Five. Carr was unable to play drums on the track. He did sing the background vocal, which is a highlight of the song. Eric Singer, who had played with Paul Stanley on his 1989 solo tour, was called to replace Carr for the sessions. Sadly, that replacement would have to become permanent when Carr died in November of 1991. This is not the ‘Bill & Ted’ soundtrack version, this is a different mix.
As far as rarities go, a Gene demo of “Domino” is neat. “Got To Choose” from the Japanese version of MTV Unplugged is very welcome.

“It’s My Life”, from the Psycho-Circus sessions, was an old KISS song written back in the 80s and first released by Wendy O. Williams on an album written and produced by Gene Simmons. KISS finally released their own version of it many years later on this box, and it purports to include the entire original band playing on it. I am skeptical of this, but it does definitely have a verse sung by Ace Frehley, while Gene sings the main part.
“Nothing Can Keep Me From You” is on here, a terrible song from the Detroit Rock City movie, and actually more of a Paul solo song since no other members appear on it.
The cool unreleased full-length version of “Childhood’s End” from Carnival of Souls (featuring a coda called “Outromental”) round out the non-album stuff.

The box set ends with the “live” (not really though, actually dubbed) version of “Shout It Out Loud” from the Greatest KISS album, and a “preview track” from what was intended to be the forthcoming Alive IV: “Rock And Roll All Nite” (the only song to be repeated). This version of Alive IV ended up getting shelved in favour of a symphonic live album, which was then dubbed Alive IV: Kiss Symphony. The original version of Alive IV has since been issued in another KISS box set.
A MUST HAVE

Disc One – 1966-1975
1 STRUTTER (demo previously unreleased)
2 DEUCE (demo previously unreleased)
3 KEEP ME WAITING [WICKED LESTER] (previously unreleased)
4 SHE [WICKED LESTER] (previously unreleased)
5 LOVE HER ALL I CAN [WICKED LESTER] (previously unreleased)
6 LET ME KNOW (demo previously unreleased)
7 100,000 YEARS (demo previously unreleased)
8 STOP, LOOK TO LISTEN (Paul Stanley demo previously unreleased)
9 LEETA (Gene Simmons demo previously unreleased)
10 LET ME GO, ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (demo previously unreleased)
11 ACROBAT [Live at The Daisy] (previously unreleased)
12 FIREHOUSE (demo previously unreleased)
13 NOTHIN’ TO LOSE – Taken from KISS
14 BLACK DIAMOND – Taken from KISS
15 HOTTER THAN HELL – Taken from HOTTER THAN HELL
16 STRANGE WAYS – Taken from HOTTER THAN HELL
17 PARASITE – Taken from HOTTER THAN HELL
18 GOIN’ BLIND – Taken from HOTTER THAN HELL
19 ANYTHING FOR MY BABY – Taken from DRESSED TO KILL
20 LADIES IN WAITING – Taken from DRESSED TO KILL
21 ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE – Taken from DRESSED TO KILL

Disc Two – 1975-1977
1 C’MON AND LOVE ME – Taken from ALIVE!
2 ROCK BOTTOM – Taken from ALIVE!
3 COLD GIN – Taken from ALIVE!
4 WATCHIN’ YOU – Taken from ALIVE!
5 DONCHA HESITATE (original version previously unreleased)
6 MAD DOG (demo previously unreleased)
7 GOD OF THUNDER (demo previously unreleased)
8 GREAT EXPECTATIONS 4.21 Taken from DESTROYER
9 BETH – Taken from DESTROYER
10 DO YOU LOVE ME – Taken from DESTROYER
11 BAD, BAD LOVIN’ (demo previously unreleased)
12 CALLING DR. LOVE – Taken from ROCK AND ROLL OVER
13 MR SPEED (demo previously unreleased)
14 CHRISTINE SIXTEEN – Taken from LOVE GUN
15 HARD LUCK WOMAN – Taken from ROCK AND ROLL OVER
16 SHOCK ME – Taken from LOVE GUN
17 I STOLE YOUR LOVE – Taken from LOVE GUN
18 I WANT YOU (soundcheck recording previously unreleased)
19 LOVE GUN (demo previously unreleased)
20 LOVE IS BLIND (demo previously unreleased)

Disc Three – 1976-1982
1 DETROIT ROCK CITY – Taken from DESTROYER
2 KING OF THE NIGHT TIME WORLD – Taken from ALIVE II
3 LARGER THAN LIFE – Taken from ALIVE II
4 ROCKET RIDE – Taken from ALIVE II
5 TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME – Taken from PAUL STANLEY
6 NEW YORK GROOVE – Taken from ACE FREHLEY
7 RADIOACTIVE (demo previously unreleased)
8 DON’T YOU LET ME DOWN – Taken from PETER CRISS
9 I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN’ YOU – Taken from DYNASTY
10 SURE KNOW SOMETHING – Taken from DYNASTY
11 SHANDI – Taken from UNMASKED
12 YOU’RE ALL THAT I WANT, YOU’RE ALL THAT I NEED (demo prev. unreleased)
13 TALK TO ME (Live previously unreleased)
14 A WORLD WITHOUT HEROES – Taken from (MUSIC FROM) THE ELDER
15 THE OATH – Taken from (MUSIC FROM) THE ELDER
16 NOWHERE TO RUN – Taken from KILLERS (previously unreleased in the US)
17 CREATURES OF THE NIGHT – Taken from CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
18 WAR MACHINE – Taken from CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
19 I LOVE IT LOUD – Taken from CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

Disc Four – 1983-1989
1 LICK IT UP – Taken from LICK IT UP
2 ALL HELL’S BREAKING LOOSE – Taken from LICK IT UP
3 HEAVEN’S ON FIRE – Taken from ANIMALIZE
4 GET ALL YOU CAN TAKE – Taken from ANIMALIZE
5 THRILLS IN THE NIGHT – Taken from ANIMALIZE
6 TEARS ARE FALLING – Taken from ASYLUM
7 UH! ALL NIGHT – Taken from ASYLUM
8 TIME TRAVELLER (demo previously unreleased)
9 HELL OR HIGH WATER – Taken from CRAZY NIGHTS
10 CRAZY CRAZY NIGHTS – Taken from CRAZY NIGHTS
11 REASON TO LIVE – Taken from CRAZY NIGHTS
12 LET’S PUT THE X IN SEX – Taken from SMASHES, THRASHES & HITS
13 HIDE YOUR HEART – Taken from HOT IN THE SHADE
14 AIN’T THAT PECULIAR (demo previously unreleased)
15 SILVER SPOON – Taken from HOT IN THE SHADE
16 FOREVER [single mix] Taken from HOT IN THE SHADE

Disc Five – 1992-1999
1 GOD GAVE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO YOU II – Taken from REVENGE
2 UNHOLY – Taken from REVENGE
3 DOMINO (demo previously unreleased)
4 EVERY TIME I LOOK AT YOU – Taken from REVENGE
5 COMIN’ HOME (Live) – Taken from UNPLUGGED
6 GOT TO CHOOSE (Live) – Taken from UNPLUGGED
7J STILL LOVE YOU (Live) – Taken from UNPLUGGED
8 NOTHIN’ TO LOSE (Live) – Taken from UNPLUGGED
9 CHILDHOOD’S END – Taken from CARNIVAL OF SOULS prev. unreleased coda
101 WILL BE THERE – Taken from CARNIVAL OF SOULS
11 PSYCHO CIRCUS – Taken from PSYCHO CIRCUS
12 INTO THE VOID – Taken from PSYCHO CIRCUS
13 WITHIN – Taken from PSYCHO CIRCUS
14 I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE STATE OF R N R – Taken from PSYCHO CIRCUS
15 NOTHING CAN KEEP ME FROM YOU – Taken from DETROIT ROCK CITY soundtrack
16 IT’S MY LIFE (previously unreleased)
17 SHOUT IT OUT LOUD (Live) Taken from GREATEST KISS
18 ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE – ALIVE IV version (previously unreleased)

Out Of Print