Carr Jam 1981 Nice tribute to Eric Carr to end the album. Alive III The release of this coincides with my KISS fandom rejuvenation. Having seen two shows on the Revenge Tour and being blown away, I couldn't wait for Alive III. I got a call that an indie music shop where I had been buying KISS records, bootleg videos, etc received a few copies early so I drove an hour and picked up a CD & cassette. Boy was I disappointed. It sounded nothing like the shows I saw. It sounded sterile and lifeless. You could say the anticipation for Alive III was stronger than the actual release. Being the rabid fan I was, I bought 3 LP's (one red vinyl, one white vinyl, and one blue vinyl) from the record shop in the town where I went to college. Not essential by any means but definitely worth a listen or two. 4/10
This is exactly what makes albums that extra special and so rewarding. I'm just not interested in any other listening format at all.
I too agree 100% Sequencing on an album is critical to one's enjoyment of it. And agree re: EXILE. It's definitely better listened to as an entire experience. Speaking of... do you have that Stones In Exile DVD or Blu? I've been meaning to get if for a very long time, but still haven't ordered it. Do you like it?
I've got the DVD. I liked it, yes, but haven't watched it in so long I don't recall exactly what was on it..LOL.. If you want it shoot me an email with your addy and I'll send it out to you one day this week. I have to make a PO trip anyhow.
I don't think Alive III holds up very well. To be fair though, I've never liked it much anyway, to begin with.
Alive III - I really liked this album when it first came out, but I have rarely listened to it during the past 24 years. I agree with other who have noted that it doesn't sound like a real live performance. That being said, it does kick a reasonable amount of a**. This lineup is easily my favorite of the non-makeup era, so it is great that this album exists. Although there is a little bit of tracklisting overlap with Alive 1 & 2, I think it was interesting to hear this lineup tackle some of the classic era material (Watching You sounds pretty great to me). My favorite track is I Was Made For Loving You - this guitar-heavy rendition is the definitive version IMO. Overall, Alive 3 is nowhere near as good as Alive 1 or 2, but it definitely has value.
I love 'I Just Wanna'... it rocks, it's fun, it's catchy, and the delightful acapella mid-section is awesome and refreshingly unexpected. Vinnie Vincent's contributions on Revenge are exactly why his departure, although inevitable and unavoidable, thanks to his 'issues', was nonetheless so lamentable... second only to the band not listening to and subsequently losing Ace over the whole (Music From) The Elder debacle... it says a lot for the state of KISS back then that even in his drunken/whacked-out stupor, Paul and Gene were more than willing to keep the Spaceman in the band had we wanted to. Right, that's Revenge done... I loved it; not every track is a winner but when it hits, it really hits. Their best album since Creatures without a doubt... Can't comment on Alive III as I've never got around to hearing it, but suffice to say, I agree with others that posit it should have been recorded/released when Eric Carr was in the band, like on the Creatures tour... and considering the relative commercial failure of that album and tour, a big ol' double-live opus at that point would have made commercial sense, but never mind. The Carnival of Souls debate is gonna be mighty interesting ... man, I LOVE this thread and everyone on it!!!
"Alive III", is just another live-album, but I think seriously it must one of the albums in the whole Kiss-catalogue that I have least listened. Not least but among the ones that I haven't paid much attention at all for many years. I think back in the day (when Alive III released) I heard it, liked it a bit, then I got some unofficial-cd (from my friend) for some strange reason and I never bought the album until many years later. I think "I Was Made For Loving You" and "Detroit Rock City" were my absolute favorites from the album then and they still are my picks from the album. I agree with you @Diamond Star Halo that IWMFLY has that really cool guitar-heavy rendition. Seriously when I first heard that version, it sounded so much better than the studio-version and by that time I didn't quite yet found the world of unofficial recordings. As Alive! and Alive II were the ones that really made impact on me, so comparing this album might be little unfair really. Im talking huge impact actually and those 2 made me realize and click with the whole Kiss-phenomena in earth-shaterring way. But Alive III still got it's moments. It's been long due that I revisit this album after so many years, as I finally got this on cd with the Alive-boxset (that was released in 2006). But even with that set, I haven't much at all listened to it. But I promise to listen to it more. But, now thinking of course it won't stand much against previous Alive-albums and so I just feel that Alive III ain't as essential and must-have as the couple previous more known live-albums. Alive III doesn't hold much and it's aged so much. I think it kinda lacks that excitement, energy, and feeling of real live-performances (for sure I know that the previous albums were doctored as it was usual doing for live-albums). Maybe have look and see if there's any good soundboards from that tour, just to hear what it really was instead of over-producing. I guess I have to revisit this album more often, in fact, as catching up with the thread now I just had to put it on the background as Im writing these lines for you... Great thread and you are great aswell! Been pleasure following, commenting, reading and listening to the songs with you.
I revisited recently and I enjoyed it. Peter is the weak link here but it was his last gasp as the drummer of Kiss. I also appreciated it because Paul was still in fine voice.
Alive III I'm totally shocked that most everyone so far doesn't think much of this album. I love it (loud, preferably). I think it's a worthy successor to Alive! and Alive II. Actually, I think I prefer it to II since the crowd overdubs on that one are off the charts and distracting. The doctoring on Alive III doesn't bother me. KISS shows are larger than life (!) and their live albums should represent that. I love the tracklist here as well as the sequencing. The only head-scratcher is putting RARAN in the middle of the set. I know it was like that in the set for the American shows so it's not like it's in the wrong place on the album. I don't hate the placement, it's just really surprising to have their most famous song not be at the end of the show. The repetition of songs from the first two volumes doesn't bother me. Hell, 4 songs? Fine with me. All 4 of the repeats (Deuce, Watchin' You, RARAN, DRC) sound great here. The band's just on fire for this album, as also witnessed on the KISSOLOGY 3 set. Wish this album had Parasite and War Machine too since I think they'd fit beautifully. For me, Alive III is more successful as a "post-1977 best of" than Smashes because the songs sound so much more full of life than their studio counterparts. Some individual song thoughts: Creatures of the Night is just brutal. It's so much better than the studio version, which I absolutely love. I might jam this particular track more than 95% of KISS' songs. Paul's voice is a little bit haggard which is perfect for this one. I love the attitude and fire from the band in Deuce. Specifically in Unholy, but also for the whole album, I love hearing the background vocals of just the band (and Derek S, who rules) and not some "mega studio gang". Paul's got some great banter before Heaven's On Fire and Forever. Watchin' You is a perfect sound for this set/lineup. Heavy, dark, grooving...love it. The heavier IWMFLY works really well. I love the explosions near the end, better than the "whips" on the original version. The version of I Still Love You is excellent. Powerful. I prefer both Lick it Up and I Love it Loud to be played at this tempo. They work so much better than the studio versions. The Star Spangled Banner is actually a full "new" song, so I'm kind of surprised @GodShifter didn't make a separate entry for it. Then again, it's the only misstep of this album. It's played pretty much straight and safe. I don't need them to be Hendrix, but...come on guys, do something with it. Putting it on the live album definitely seems like they're sincere about it and not a goofy thing like the consensus was about the SSB in Spit. There's no point in them playing SSB and I usually just stop the album before sitting through it. I assume we're doing Unplugged tomorrow?
They really should do Super Deluxe boxes of the shows recorded for the Alive albums. It's a wasted opportunity. I believe releasing the Alive! shows was proposed but nothing has been done.
Someone wants to do the "Star Spangled Banner" go for it. I'm totally ignorant of it. Well, the KISS version anyway.
It sounds like the band playing it absolutely straight. It's entirely skippable. The fact that you didn't even think about it is the highest compliment you could give it.
I wasn't crazy about some of the quick-cut editing during parts of the show (which seems to be par for the course on so many music videos in general), but overall I quite liked the performance. To be perfectly honest, I'd much rather see/hear an Ace/Eric lineup than a Tommy/Peter one, but all things considered this is a pretty strong performance.
I loved Alive III when it came out and while I too find the sound a bit too sterile I kinda like the very heavy renditions of Creatures and I was made which was the biggest surprise with entirely different Paul vocal style.
Great post with lots of nice insights! Thanks! I agree with you that this is a potent lineup. I just feel that the album veers a little toward sterile or fake sounding, in terms of what your ears expect to hear on a live album. A live album shouldn't sound perfect, and this one almost does. But there's no doubt that a lot of the performances hit hard! Personally, I adore "RARAN" in the middle of the set. I wish they'd done it more often. You have to acknowledge it and play it, but it's so nice to not be predictable and save it for the end. Never again would they be unpredictable and ballsy in this manner.
It's funny, I don't hear this album as sound sterile or fake. I also think I've just conditioned myself over the years listening to the various Alive albums. There's going to be a ton of studio fixes after the fact. As long as they don't overdo it, like the Alive II crowd bs, I'm cool with it and it doesn't bother me. I'm really just comparing against the studio versions and these live ones have a lot more life.
ALIVE III When this came out, my interest in KISS was below zero, and I knew nothing about Revenge, Bill & Ted or GGRARTY(II), all of which were a million miles from where I was at by then. But I grabbed it out of curiosity/nostalgia, liked the new songs & ended up getting Revenge soon after. At the time, I had no idea they'd already done GGRARTY on Revenge and in the movie, and I assumed it was just a kitsch one-off, live-only cover version (which is all it ever deserved to be, IMO); Star Spangled Banner was just ridiculous, obvs. Relieved and unsurprised that there was hardly anything from their crap era; this, to me, was KISS admitting that 'from 1984 - 1990, we sucked even worse than Bowie' In a parallel universe where KISS remained as popular from Dynasty onwards as they had been up to ALIVE II, it would be interesting to speculate what they'd have put on ALIVES III, IV and V if, like Rush (ewww), they had continued with the pattern of a double live every 3 or 4 albums. They could probably have assembled a reasonably solid ALIVE III from Dynasty/Unmasked/Elder (plus the solos, albeit regrettably with an obligatory track each from GENE and PETER), but after that? Rapidly diminishing returns. Who here is brave enough to compile a putative track listing for ALIVE V, using just the available scraps from Asylum, CN and HITS? Anyone?
Just for s***s and giggles, I'll try: Rise To It Betrayed Forever I'm Alive No No No Anyway You Slice It Secretly Cruel Little Caesar/Drum Solo Tears Are Falling Thief in the Night Uh! All Night Crazy Crazy Nights
Anybody have songs they wish the Revenge lineup had played? I would have loved hearing them do Magic Touch or Charisma for one.
I wouldn't buy that. Would you buy that? Cos I wouldn't. The only thing in its favour is it looks like a single album! But it has to be a DOUBLE!! Who's gonna pad it out?
