KISS ASYLUM: "KISS - The Box Set" News Page

From: Bob Rodrick

Kiss: The Boxed Set only touches on the bounty of unreleased material stored in the vaults. Thayer comments, "We have a tape storage facility that houses probably tens of thousands of tapes, both audio and video. As the stuff is gone through and reviewed, I'm sure you'll see more things."

For nearly 30 years, hard rock god Kiss have been notorious for their trademark face paint, lavish costumes and larger than life concerts. Often overlooked, however, is the band's gargantuan back catalog - one that includes roughly 35 releases, 26 charting singles and more than 100 hours of music. On November 20, Island/Universal lumps together 64 classics and 30 previously unheard tracks into KISS: The Boxed Set, a mammoth project spanning the group's entire history.

A year in the making, the five disc, six hour collection touches on the earliest recordings by Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and company from 1968 through to their Millennium performance in Vancouver, B.C. Peppered throughout are unreleased demos, soundcheck recordings and live takes for the collector. Scouring the Kiss vaults, the project coordinators baked original tapes, burned 100 hours of material onto reference CDs, and sifted through it all for consideration; the contents were selected by the band itself.

Tommy Thayer, who produced the project and has worked exclusively with Kiss over the past 10 years, tells Ice, "We didn't base it (the track selection) so much on sound quality; it's more from a historical perspective - what's most important and what tells the story." Accordingly, the box is "in roughly chronological order, but not verbatim...I think if you get things exactly in order, it gets a little sterile."

The first disc opens with unissued 1973 demos of "Strutter" and "Deuce," the former the lead off song from Kiss's 1974 self titled debut and the latter cut the band opened with at most of its shows up until 1976 (and later on their reunion tour). The tracks are "the original Eddie Kramer produced demos that got the band signed (to Casablanca) in the first place," says Thayer. Three more unreleased offerings follow: "Keep Me Waiting," "She" and "Love Her All I Can," earlier takes from a shelved album that pre-Kiss assemblage Wicked Lester created in 1972-73. The latter two tracks were recorded later as Kiss songs.

Seven more unheard cuts follow on the first disc, featuring four takes from Kiss's 1973 Bell Sound Studios sessions - "Let Me Know," "100,000 Years," "Let Me Go, Rock 'n Roll" and "Firehouse." Also included is the oldest track on the box, a 1968 Paul Stanley demo of "Stop, Look to Listen," which the guitarist recorded with some unnamed friends. "I'm hearing more Humble Pie and Grand Funk Railroad on that track," says Thayer.

Representing Simmons's early influences is his "Leeta" demo, recorded in New York in 1969 under the moniker Bullfrog Bheer. "Gene's got some very serious Beatles roots going on," Thayer observes. The disc's final unreleased track, "Acrobat," was recorded at a New York Kiss show in early 1973.

"It's actually two songs," Thayer says of "Acrobat." "Half the song was later used on the first record as ŚLove Theme from Kiss.' The second half, ŚMuch Too Young,' never appeared anywhere else, although it has a guitar riff that was influential on "Detroit Rock City."

Many other early demos on the box were also reworked into later classics. Parts of "Mad Dog," including the guitar riff, became "Flaming Youth;" "Bad Bad Lovin'" evolved into "Calling Dr. Love;" "You're All That I Want, You're All That I Need" is an early version of "You're All That I Want;" and the Eric Carr (late Kiss drummer) penned "Ain't That Peculiar" was reworked into "Little Caesar."

Among the other notable box offerings is "Childhood's End," a song recorded during the Carnival of Souls sessions that now arrives with an unreleased coda. "It went off on this tangent at the end," Thayer explains, "and I think everybody decided that it should probably be clipped off."

Rounding out the unreleased tracks are demos for "God of Thunder," "Love Gun," "Love is Blind," "Radioactive" (on which Simmons performs all instruments, "Time Traveler" and "Domino." The original version of "Doncha Hesitate" - recorded during the Alive/Destroyer era - also appears, along with "Nowhere to Run," lifted from the Ś80s's European only Kiss Killers release.

In conjunction with the unissued studio track, "It's My Life," three live cuts cap off the list: a soundcheck recording of "I Want You," from a summer 1977 show at Los Angeles' Forum; "Talk to Me," performed in Australia in 1980; and "Rock and Roll All Nite," recorded at Kiss's Millennium concert and slated to appear on next year's planned Alive IV.

Equally extraordinary to Kiss: The Boxed Set's massive track list is its elaborate packaging. Three versions of the set will be available to consumers: a standard 7" x 11" box; a scaled down replica guitar case version; and a "gold premium" edition, which features a larger case and additional undisclosed goodies. Contained within all three sets is an accompanying 120 page plus color book, with track by track commentary by the original members of Kiss, a flood of rare photos and a historical essay by Jeff Kitts. Thayer says of the packages as a whole, "It's over the top, just like everything else they do."

Kiss: The Boxed Set only touches on the bounty of unreleased material stored in the vaults. Thayer comments, "We have a tape storage facility that houses probably tens of thousands of tapes, both audio and video. As the stuff is gone through and reviewed, I'm sure you'll see more things."

From: Amazon.com
Delux KISS Box Set

KISS fans can now pre-order "KISS: The Box Set" from Amazon.com! Amazon.com lists the standard 5 disc KISS box set for $67.47 and the special "deluxe KISS box set" for $179.97. Both versions of the box set are scheduled for release on November 20th. [Post Your Comments]

From: Launch.com

Download The KISS Box Set Advertisment PDF File (3 MB)
Special Thanks EddieTrunk.com

November 20 is the release date for Kiss: The Box Set, a career-spanning anthology that features 94 Kiss band and solo recordings across five discs, including 30 previously unreleased band and solo demos, outtakes, and live recordings, including some from the pre-Kiss band Wicked Lester. The group is offering the set in two configurations: a regular edition, with a standard-issue boxed-set case, and a Special Deluxe Edition, which comes in a replica hard guitar case. Both include a 120-page book with track-by-track commentary, rare photos, and more, although it's a hardcover book the Special Deluxe Edition. The complete tracklisting for Kiss: The Box Set includes:
Disc One - "Strutter" (demo), "Deuce" (demo), "Keep Me Waiting" (Wicked Lester), "She" (Wicked Lester), "Love Her All I Can" (Wicked Lester), "Let Me Know" (Bell Sound Studios demo), "100,000 Years" (Bell Sound Studios demo), "Stop, Look To Listen" (1968 Paul Stanley demo), "Leeta" (1969 Gene Simmons demo), "Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll" (Bell Sound Studios demo), "Acrobat" (live at the Daisy), "Firehouse" (Bell Sound Studios demo), and the album tracks "Nothin' To Lose," "Black Diamond," "Hotter Than Hell," "Strange Ways," "Parasite," "Goin' Blind," "Anything For My Baby," "Ladies In Waiting," and "Rock And Roll All Nite."
Disc Two - live sessions of "C'mon And Love Me Live," "Rock Bottom," "Cold Gin," and "Watchin' You," "Doncha Hesitate" (demo), "Mad Dog" (demo), "God Of Thunder" (demo), "Great Expectations," "Beth," "Do You Love Me," "Bad, Bad Lovin'" (demo, an early version of "Calling Dr. Love"), "Calling Dr. Love," "Mr. Speed" (demo), "Christine Sixteen," "Hard Luck Woman," "Shock Me," "I Stole Your Love," "I Want You" (recorded at a soundcheck), "Love Gun" (demo), and "Love Is Blind" (demo).
Disc Three - "Detroit Rock City," "King Of The Night Time World" (live), "Larger Than Life," "Rocket Ride," "Tonight You Belong To Me," "New York Groove," "Radioactive" (demo), "Don't You Let Me Down," "I Was Made For Lovin' You," "Sure Know Something," "Shandi," "You're All That I Want, You're All That I Need" (demo), "Talk To Me" (live), "A World Without Heroes," "The Oath," "Nowhere To Run," "Creatures Of The Night," "War Machine," and "I Love It Loud."
Disc Four - "Lick It Up," "All Hell's Breaking Loose," "Heaven's On Fire," "Get All You Can Take," "Thrills In The Night," "Tears Are Falling," "Uh! All Night," "Time Traveller" (demo), "Hell Or High Water," "Crazy, Crazy Nights," "Reason To Live," "Let's Put The X In Sex," "Hide Your Heart," "Ain't That Peculiar" (demo)," "Silver Spoon," and "Forever" (single version).
Disc Five - "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II," "Unholy," "Domino" (demo), "Every Time I Look At You," "Comin' Home" (live, from Unplugged), "Got To Choose" (live, from Unplugged), "I Still Love You" (live, from Unplugged), "Nothin' To Lose" (live, from Unplugged), "Childhood's End" (with coda), "I Will Be There," "Psycho Circus," "Into The Void," "Within," "I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock & Roll," "Nothing Can Keep Me From You," "It's My Life" (original version), "Shout It Out Loud" (live), and "Rock And Roll All Night" from the still-unreleased Kiss Alive IV. [Post Your Comments]