ALIVE II: Is It Live Or...?
By: Chris Karam

One of the more controversial topics in KISS fandom is the amount of overdubbing that took place on KISS' classic live albums "Alive!" and "Alive II." Of the two, "Alive II" is a bit more controversial because there have been hints and allegations that the album is not live at all, or that parts of it aren't. Here are the facts: "Hard Luck Woman" and "Tomorrow And Tonight" are indeed studio cuts. This was confirmed in interviews with the original band members in a 1993 issue of Goldmine magazine. These songs weren't performed on the "Love Gun" tour and apparently the band didn't have enough material from the L.A. Forum shows to fill out an album, hence the "fake" live material.

Last year Musician magazine had an entire issue focusing on live recordings. In this issue, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, whose group was touring as KISS' opening act at the time of the "Alive II" recordings, alleged that the group was dissatisfied with the Forum recordings and re-recorded the entire album in an empty auditorium. It has also been reported that KISS recorded their shows earlier in 1977 at the Budokan in Japan for release as Alive II, but were shelved due to the fact that they would have to have used songs that had previously appeared on "Alive" in order to fill out the album. Another allegation is that while the liner notes for "Alive II" cite that it was recorded at the L.A. Forum, the version of "Beth" was actually taken from one of the Japanese shows.

I recently acquired a bootleg entiled "The Lost Alive II Album." The reports of KISS actually planning the Japanese recordings for use as a live album take on some credibility here, as this album sounds as though it were mixed for an official release. But here's the first direct evidence that one of these aforementioned allegations may be true: the version of "Beth" on the bootleg is identical to the one used on the "official" Alive II. The only difference is that Peter says, "Thank you, Tokyo." at the end of the song. This was excised from the "Alive II" version for obvious reasons. What this says to me is that there's more than meets the eye in regards to the origins of KISS' 1977 double live album. With two officially acknowledged studio recordings being initially passed for being live ones and aural evidence that another song was lifted from a show done on another tour, it stands to reason that there's probably much more to this mystery than I know.

Julian Gill had hinted that his KISS Album Focus would have some revelations regarding "Alive II." Sadly, Julian is no longer doing the Album Focus and it's a real shame, for I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say. Well, that's the evidence I've got. Maybe someday we'll know the whole story behind this enigmatic album.

[KA Note: Album Focus Returns Soon! Next Up From Julian: "Love Gun"]

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