Matthew Wilkening | Ultimate Classic Rock

Kiss will re-issue nine of their old albums on vinyl in March of 2014, and also release their 1998 effort ‘Psycho Circus‘ on the format for the very first time.

Among the nine titles returning to record store shelves on March 18 are the band’s self-titled debut and sophomore ‘Hotter Than Hell’ albums (both from 1974) as well as their double-live 1975 breakthrough album ‘Alive!‘ — which was already reissued back in 2008. Also arriving are 1976′s ‘Destroyer,’ 1979′s ‘Dynasty,’ 1980′s ‘Unmasked,’ 1983′s ‘Lick it Up,’ 1984′s ‘Animalize’ and 1992′s ‘Revenge.’ No further details about bonus tracks or packaging features have been released so far, although the albums are available for pre-order on Amazon.

 you can find a pattern somewhere in those choices, be sure and let us know; to our eyes this looks like a roughly equal blend of properly recognized classics and acknowledged misfires. There’s also some very curious omissions — hopefully there’s a second wave to follow, with ‘Dressed to Kill, ‘Love Gun,’ ‘Creatures of the Night‘ and so on. And are we the only ones who’d like a non-bootleg copy of ‘Carnival of Souls‘ for our collections?

One thing you can’t question is the timing of this reissue campaign. These records will be out about a month before the group is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. Which is also the same month frontman Paul Stanley‘s autobiography is released.

Boy, it’s almost like they knew it was gonna happen…