On 16. May 1976, recorded the first of four shows for their first live album, “Alive!”.
“Alive!” was recorded over four stops on the “Dressed To Kill” Tour: May 16 at Cobo Arena in Detroit; June 21 at Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland; July 20 at RKO Orpheum Theater in Davenport; and July 23 at Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood. The seventy-eight-minute double album comprises sixteen songs from the band’s first three albums. The album’s title was a homage to the 1972 live album “Slade Alive!” by the English rock group Slade, a band that heavily influenced Kiss. “Alive!” is Kiss’ fourth album overall, and their first live album. It is considered to be their breakthrough, and a landmark for live albums. Released on September 10, 1975, the double-album contains live versions of selected tracks from their first three studio albums, “Kiss”, “Hotter Than Hell” and “Dressed to Kill”.
The live performances featured elaborate setups. For example, during the song “100,000 Years”, crew members used flamethrowers to engulf the stage in a ring of fire, and Peter Criss’ drum kit rose high above the other band members.
Kiss’ wild and energetic stage presence did not translate well to the live recordings. Stanley and Simmons had several miscues, such as playing the wrong chords, knocking over mics, and not singing directly into the mic. Producer Eddie Kramer knew that significant dubbing was needed to make the album sound good. For many years, Kiss denied the use of dubbing on “Alive!”.
In Simmons’ 2001 autobiography, Kiss and Make-up:
A Memoir, he admitted the band had done some post-production alterations: “There have always been rumors that the “Alive!” record was substantially reworked in the studio. It’s not true. We did touch up the vocal parts and fix some of the guitar solos, but we didn’t have the time or money to completely rework the recordings. What we wanted, and what we got, was proof of the band’s rawness and power.”
In a 2003 episode of Ultimate Albums, Kiss fully admitted to overdubbing the album. Stanley said: “What we felt was necessary was to capture the energy of the performance, not necessarily having it note for note of what actually happened.” Simmons said: “Most people assume it was all live. It wasn’t.” Criss said: “We touched up what we had to do and I think it only made it better.”
Kiss rerecorded parts of the album at Electric Lady Studios in August. The live recordings were so heavily altered, only Criss’ drum tracks remained untouched. Even the audience was doctored, as Kramer spliced together the best cheers and screams from various Kiss performances. The band wanted the listener to feel like they were in fact in the audience watching the show, and since directly recording an audience would not sound good, this was considered to be the next best solution. Speaking about the heavy studio redubs years later, Kramer said: “Who cares if it was overdubbed? The energy still comes through.”
Photo: Fin Costello
