Issue #11:
Second Coming

Alright People you are about to read the very last monthly Video Spotlight. (sniff sniff)

Ok I'm composed now. So I figured it's the end of the year so what could I do to make it special being it's the last article of the year. Well, quite honestly I couldn't come up with a damn thing. But, out of the archives of ideas I had is the poll this month. I figured it would be cool to take the winners of all the polls and put them up against each other and have one winner from the 3 usual poll catagories. I know very Star Search. Ok this review will be short and basic. It will be broken down into 2 sections

RANTS - which is what I would have wanted to see on the tape.

RAVES - that will be the review and thing I loved about this video now a warning some parts may be contradicting but I have mixed feelings about some things on this tape. Take it with a grain of salt and form your own opinions and send them to me at my email address bfogle@mindspring.com

Next spotlight I will post some of the best rants & raves of you the readers of Video Spotlight.

December Poll Results:

Favorite Song From '79 Dynasty Largo Show
Rank	Song	Votes
1.	I Was Made For Loving You	13
2.	2000 Man	8
3.	Radioactive, Calling Dr. Love, Tossin & Turning, God of Thunder, Shout It Out Loud	6
8.	New York Groove, Beth	5
10.	Love Gun	4
11.	Move On, King of the Nighttime World, Black Diamond, Detroit Rock City	3
15.	Firehouse	2
16.	Rock & Roll All Nite	1

Member Who Gave The Best Performance
Rank	Member	Votes
1.	Peter	23
2.	Ace	21
3.	Paul	20
4.	Gene	18

Songs You'd Like To Hear Live
Rank	Song	Votes
1.	Sure Know Something	15
2.	Hard Tims	14
3.	Magic Touch	13
4.	X Ray Eyes, Dirty Livin	10
6.	Save Your Love, Charisma	9

Songs You'd Like To Hear Live From The Solo Albums
Rank	Person	Votes
1.	Rip It out	25
2.	Wouldn't You Like To Know Me	18
3.	I'm Gonna Love You	12
4.	See You Tonite	11
5.	Hold Me Touch Me	10
6.	I'm In Need of Love	3
7.	You Matter To Me	1

The Second Coming

RAVES

Wow there's a lot of bases to cover here. The tape starts off with a quick synopsis from 68 when Gene & Paul met. It takes us on a nice trip through the 70's and unfortunately passes through the 80's very quick almost like they didn't exist. It brings us then to 1995 and the LA Kiss convention where Peter sang

Hard Luck Woman with Gene & Paul for the first time. Some cool interviews are layered over the top while all this is going on.

Some of which are from the 2nd coming 30-min short shown at some concerts on the reunion tour.

After a brief clip on MTV Unplugged the next scene is where all the fun starts.

Camera fades to black and we see Peter in front of a mirror putting on his cat make-up for the first time.

This footage is way too cool. You also get a sneak peak of Paul, Ace, & Gene trying on their outfits and makeup as well. The best thing is you almost feel like your there.

Also on this tape is some very cool rehearsal footage.

Shown here are the following

1.First Rehearsal

2.Cobo Hall rehearsals for the Tiger Stadium show

3.Rehearsals in Van Nuys for the Weenie Roast

Another behind the scenes piece is Kiss arriving backstage at the Grammy's.

There is a ton of footage of the Reunion tour on the 2-tape set but I won't comment on that until the Rant section further down in this review.

Some other honorable mentions areä

a.. Seeing the band record their voices for the Action League Now short
b.. Ace & Paul doing the Macerena
c.. Peter working on his drum solo (Ace and Peter goofing of at the end of the clip the "Don't Move part for those who have seen the video already)
d.. Behind the scenes footage of them on the tourbus, planes, airports etc.
e.. Paul's English accent on the tour bus over in Donnigton
All in all a great tape and a must have for any diehard collector. My hats off to Tommy Thayer and staff But! Hang on there Tommy boy you're not off the hook yet. My alter ego is taking over and is about to make you more black and blue than your previous band. Ok maybe not that bad just some thing I feel the tapes should have had and a few minor notes.

RANTS

Ok here we go I will just do this quick and painless as possible

I will break this down to make it easy to follow my demented brain pattern. This will read like a chart and we all liked charts as kids.

a.. Songs
a.. There should have been more complete songs. Specifically ones that weren't played much ex. 2,000 Man, Christine 16, Take Me, Rock Bottom, Shandi (not clips the whole song)
b.. Songs were edited in a high paced fashion and while I realize that too many songs can be overkill some key performances of them should have been included. Ex. 10/16/96 show they opened one night only with Detroit Rock City, 1/22/97 Let Me Go R&R w/ Paul on vox, Cold Gin w/Ace on vox. and other songs from the Japan show where Gene couldn't growl.

2. Other important MIA pieces

a.. No sign of the show the roadie (Ed) for Peter filled in Columbus GA
b.. More footage of rehearsals for the tour complete songs specifically stuff that was rehearsed but not played.
1.. A bigger piece of the 80's skipping over this period like it never existed in uncalled for and is showing disrespect to the other members IE: Eric Carr. While I realize this is about the Reunion of the Original band it also serves as a documentary of the history of the band as well. as other members served as key elements to bandžs continued success or lack of during the Ace & Peter less times.
2.. When the Reunion footage ends we see a couple of clips from a PC photo shoot. Is this to serve as a teaser for another home video? If so, Ižm fine with the teaser just that they (Kissžs next editing team) check with the fans on what wežd like to see. Personally some recording footage would be nice. I know Kiss would never do something like that. Unlike Aerosmith who in the recording studio had no secrets to hide or hidden musicians and released The Making of Pump in 1989.
A dream for the Aerosmith fans came true at least.

Rating overall of The 2nd Coming

First time out here for me I have got to say no matter what I just said above that this tape is missing. It still hits a major homerun here a gets a richly deserved 10. By far the best Kiss home video ever released and why because a fan/ group of fans did it. In other words Gene you need for the fans to control what we want from you. Where am I going with this!

My proposal

I proposed an idea on 3 different levels and I will not stop until it is taken seriously. I presented this to Kiss Online since the webmaster has contact with Kiss figuring he'd pass on a great money making idea but to no avail he ignored my emails time and again. .

Anyone familiar with Columbia House BMG all those video clubs. Ok well my idea was to have from the vaults through all participating websites and for members of Kiss Online's ISP a video of the month club. 3 times a year Kiss puts out through an 800 number a video of the fan's choice.

A full concert, untouched like a bootleg no voiceovers no touchups.

You produce the amount of whatever is sold so the record company and Kiss gets the $$ so they don't begrudge bootlegs.

Now, tapes usually go for about $15.00 a piece. I say that seems fair. I know I need a few full shows from certain years in my collection like 1973 1982,1983, & 1985.

Some other key shows would be nice like Eric Carr's 1st show at the Palladium in NY would be a great thing to own.

Anyone one who wants to help with this; drop me a line at bfogle@kissonline.net In the subject put Video Club.

Maybe we can make this happen.

That's all for this short and sweet issue.

Thanks to all of you for a great 1st year !!

Byron

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