Alive II is the second live album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on October 24, 1977, by Casablanca Records. The band had released three albums (Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, and Love Gun) since the previous live outing, the 1975 release Alive!, so they drew upon the variety of new tracks, with Eddie Kramer producing. The album is one of the best selling in the Kiss discography, being the band's first to be certified double platinum in February 1996 (signifying sales of over 1,000,000 for a double album), the same month the Kiss reunion tour was announced. It has continued to sell in the US in the Soundscan era, selling over 300,000 copies from 1991 and to March 2012.
Album information
The origins of Alive II go back to early 1977 when the band's manager Bill Aucoin suggested that Eddie Kramer record a live album during the evening show at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on April 2, 1977. The plan was to release a live album to give Kiss some time off before recording the album that would become Love Gun later that autumn. Kramer finished work on the album, but Casablanca and Kiss deemed it unusable, and the band forged ahead with their Love Gun sessions.
Most of the live tracks on Alive II were recorded during the band's August 26–28 shows at the Forum while on their Love Gun Tour. The 3 p.m. soundchecks at the August 26 and 27 shows were recorded and later used on the album (i.e. "Tomorrow and Tonight" with crowd noise being dubbed in later). "Beth" and "I Want You" were lifted from the unused Japanese live recordings and repurposed for the finished album. As the band did not want to duplicate songs included on Alive!, the songs chosen for the three live sides of the album were all drawn from Kiss' three preceding studio albums: Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, and Love Gun.
The new songs on side 4 (tracks 6–10 on the second CD of the reissue) are tracks recorded live without an audience at Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, and overdubbed and mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York City on September 13–16, 1977. Although Ace Frehley was originally credited for lead guitar on the studio tracks, later sources confirmed that Bob Kulick played lead guitar on the tracks "All American Man", "Rockin' in the U.S.A.", and "Larger Than Life", with Paul Stanley playing all guitars on the cover "Any Way You Want It". Frehley's sole involvement for the studio songs was "Rocket Ride" (originally written for his solo album), on which he sang lead vocals and played both guitar and bass guitar.
Reception
Coming off of a period of extensive touring, Alive II became the band's third album to ship platinum and their fifth to be certified platinum.
In a contemporary review, John Swenson of Rolling Stone criticized Kiss for copying the live performances of the Rolling Stones and the Who, but acknowledged the band's "improved instrumental technique" and attitude, concluding that "Alive II captures the essence of live rock & roll very well".
Modern reviews are generally positive. Critic Greg Prato of AllMusic remarked that several tracks such as "Detroit Rock City", "Shock Me" and "Shout It Out Loud" featured an "adrenaline-charged" vibe. He lauded the album for showing the group in its element as an "exciting live band".
Notes
- Tracks 1–8, 11, 13 and 15 recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 26–28, 1977
- Tracks 9, 10 and 16–20 recorded at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, September 13–16, 1977 and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY
- Tracks 12, 14 recorded at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, April 2, 1977
Personnel
Kiss
- Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar; all guitars, bass guitar (20)
- Gene Simmons – vocals, bass guitar; rhythm guitar (18)
- Peter Criss – drums, vocals
- Ace Frehley – lead guitar, vocals; all guitars, bass guitar (19)
- Bob Kulick – lead guitar (16–18)
Technical
- Eddie Kramer – producer, engineer, mixing
- Kiss – producer
- Corky Stasiak – co-engineer (16–20)
- Neil Dorfsman – assistant engineer
- George Marino – mastering
- Mirage, Inc. – album photographs
- Richard Arens – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Julius Baum – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Fin Costello – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Len DeLessio – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Bob Gruen – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Andrew Kent – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Barry LeVine – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Robert Markelitz – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Neal Preston – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Chip Rock – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Raeanne Rubenstein – "The Evolution of Kiss" photography
- Dennis Woloch – design
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class = "wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1977–1978)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
| style = "text-align:center;"|17
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| style = "text-align:center;"|10
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class = "wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1978)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 46
|}