Here's a question for this thread; when do you feel it would've been best to put out Alive III? I would've thought recording the Lick It Up tour with the makeup off and a new lease on life despite Vinnie's overplaying. I would've like one from Creatures but I couldn't see them recording a tour that didn't sell well in their eyes.
Personally, I think Animalize Live & Uncensored should have been Alive III. I have heard a lot of people say they should have done it on the HITS tour since they brought back so many of the older songs after 10 years or so. While it was nice to see them go back into the catalog I am not a fan of them reverting back to their Hard Rock sound whilst keeping many of their 80s "Metal" songs in the set they just didn't sound right or at least I didn't think so.
The Animalize tour as that tour did well as they had an MTV hit with Heaven's On Fire and it would've paired with the home video. LU tour didn't do that well. I would've liked a release from the HITS tour as well as that setlist was amazing. That lineup was in top form there.
What if they had put out Alive III after the successful Unmasked shows in Australia in 1980? Alive and Alive II were each put out after three studio albums. They could have done Alive III after the run of solo albums/Dynasty/Unmasked. Then it could have been the Paul/Gene/Ace/Eric Carr lineup.
I love the Sydney 1980 show but I don't think they were doing enough material post-Love Gun to warrant a new "Live" album in 1980. If you look at a typical Unmasked tour set there are only 6 post-Love Gun songs played on the tour. Given how they did their live albums back then not wanting to have repeats from previous live releases they would have had to do another Alive II and add a bunch of songs from soundchecks that they never did live to make up the numbers.
I think they could've used songs from the first two with the hook of hearing Eric Carr play those songs and how different they may feel compared to Peter Criss. But yeah, it would've been a lot of repeats. I do think over time if it happened fans would be glad they did it though it would probably be the least liked one. Were they doing any solo album songs on the Unmasked tour aside from NY Groove?
It looks like they only played NY Groove from the solo albums for that tour. But throw in a few songs played at soundchecks that didn't get played and keep the repeats to a minimum and it would've been a decent album.
That would have been a very weak hook to get people to buy the album especially in 1980 when they were waning pretty fast in the US. The songs do sound different than how Peter played them but I don't think that would have shifted units. Kind of like the Alive III we eventually got. They dropped Move On and Radioactive following Dynasty. I guess New York Groove was the only hit from the 4 so it makes sense to keep it in the set. I personally wish they didn't do the whole repeats thing, to begin with. I get why they did it with Alive II but that album feels so bare without stuff from the first 3 albums to compliment the newer songs. That is why I prefer the bootlegs from that tour over what was released as Alive II.
I made a poll for this question. KISS Alive III: After what album would you have preferred it released?
Mannnnn this is like when Mom dies and all the Brothers just go separate ways.....no more Thanksgivings.... I had no phone for a while, I thought I'd see everyone raising a toast. Bi*ching about this new & last tour..... Merry Christmas Happy New Year to the best Brotherhood on the net. Belatedly but Heartfelt
Imagine a Kiss bizzaro world where The Elder was a multi-platinum hit. They record a live album off The Elder tour with this setlist due to sold out shows everywhere: The Oath Naked City Sure Know Something Is That You? Charisma Talk To Me Shandi Dark Light New York Groove Tonight You belong To Me Radioactive 2000 Man World Without Heroes I Was Made For Lovin' You I --------- Side 4 are the new Killers tracks plus It's My Life I'm A Legend Tonight It's My Life Down On Your Knees Partners In Crime Nowhere To Run
Honestly, if The Elder had been successful and there had been a tour, I doubt Unmasked would've gotten much, if any setlist space on it, unless, like in 1980, the band only toured overseas. Unmasked did well in Europe and Australia/NZ, but not in the States, so if there had been a big US tour behind it in 1981, I doubt they'd have played more than one song off it, probably "Talk To Me" as an Ace feature. I also don't think the Elder's heavier, darker vibe would've accommodated much of anything from the poppy Unmasked either without it being jarringly weird. Honestly, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm kinda surprised Kiss didn't attempt to do a companion audio live album 12 years ago when the Kissology sets were coming out, focusing on songs that never made proper live albums. I think it would've been really welcomed by fans (especially since I'm betting there's better audio for some shows that weren't captured on video that they could've culled from)
I did that setlist to go with the theme of the previous Alive albums. I agree it wouldn't that be Unmasked heavy otherwise.
Yeah, I just saw more UM songs in there than were actually played, and I can't envision a circumstance in which anything from that album is played after 1980. (I personally like the album and would've loved more live versions of its songs, with Eric drumming and a heavier live rock feel, but alas)
I could've added in my bizarro Kiss universe that Unmasked was a 2x Platinum hit and had a big US tour. That could've helped my case for the alternate universe Alive III setlist from 1981. Naked City was the only song that wasn't played live I believe. If Kiss maintained 70's success in this bizarro world we could've saw a live album from these tours going with the every 3 album rule for the rest of the 80's: Alive IV- Animalize Alive V- HITS
As far as I can tell, they only ever played 4 songs from it, and "You're All That I Want" was dropped pretty quickly, unfortunately. If those albums had been hits, I wonder if they would've been a bigger longterm part of the setlist instead of being so reliant on 70's tunes. We'll never know.
I know, it's too bad there weren't more. Would've loved to hear them try "Two Sides Of The Coin" back in the day.