Description

Double album on white vinyls with gatefold cover, printed innersleeves and huge poster. Limited 100 copies

KISS’ “Hotter Than Hell” tour had somewhat abruptly ended in Santa Monica, CA on February 1, 1975 after which the band returned to New York to complete work on their next studio album. With recording of their third studio album completed, and its release imminent, the band was ready to continue their progression up the musical food-chain on the touring circuit. With pockets of popularity and the continued challenge of placement with suitable headliners the group started to be booked more and more as a headliner in their own right during this period. The proper Dressed To Kill tour started on March the 27th in Kenosha. Most notable, from this first show of a new phase for the band, is their introduction, which has evolved into “Ladies and gentlemen: The hottest band in the land… KISS.” For the first five songs the set is the same as on the previous tour: “Deuce,” “Strutter,” “Got To Choose,” “Hotter Than Hell,” and “Firehouse.” It’s a business-like performance, and any cob-webs seem to have been dusted off by the band’s earlier set. This double album features an audience recording of a show from Asbury Park in New Jersey on the 25th of June 1975. Its not the best sounding album but the show is intense and having a beautiful release from the Dressed To Kill Tour is still a must for the Kiss collection. The band had introduced their new costumes in May of 1975 and it was used on this show. At the beginning of the tour little changed with the band’s costumes showing minor, if any, modifications to those used on previous tours. However, efforts were already underway to take the costuming to the next level as all aspects of the band’s operation started to be explored for improvement. Central to the development process was the central factor, the band’s appearance. And that meant visually improving the costumes that had started looking rather too road worn. There was one young designer building a reputation for striking and futuristic costumes… Moon Stone was a store theatre fashion designer Larry LeGaspi had opened in 1973, appropriately located on Madison Avenue in New York City. While the store was too far ahead of its time to be successful, his work found placement with bands such as KISS, Labelle, and Funkadelic. If anything, Ace Frehley was the main beneficiary of Larry’s efforts due to his interest in the futuristic spacey “Buck Rodgers” apparel look. Silver discs on the shoulders, a sequin studded body suit (giving a twinkling starry night appearance similar to the ceiling of Larry’s store), and puffed-lame lightning bolt that traversed the torso down the sides of the leg, was simply and effective. Slightly lower space boots in silver assisted Ace with his gravity challenges while complimenting the rest of the design with a sense of balance. One only has to look at the cover of “Alive!” and Ace, the central figure, is a visually more complex and striking character than Gene and Paul beside him. Paul’s design provided the freedom of movement he needed, with an open-chest (but silver-fringed) bodysuit and improved boots. The plain bodysuit soon had large stars added to it, as did his boots. He accessorized with a feather shoulder-guard and choker, and black forearm gloves. Gene, similarly, was cleaned up rather than undergoing an Ace-level transformation. A heavily studded cod-piece, complete with skull and crossbones, and studded knee-high boots mirrored the aggression with which he attacked his instrument. Elements such as the shoulder spikes and bat-wings carried over from the previous era, and like Paul he wore arm coverings, though his basic black leotard had cut-outs on the thighs. The initial studded books, which incorporated spikes, were soon supplemented with a plainer design with silver knee guards. It is likely that the band members regularly mixed and matched what costume item was readily to hand, and perhaps smelt slightly less pungent than another piece! Peter’s costume received the fewest revisions, with a silver lame-fringed spandex bodysuit replacing the leather outfit he’d used the previous year. He’d wear varying accessories included a leather belt with tiger buckle or studded wrist bands. As a drummer he usually wore normal shoes, painted silver, when behind the kit, but had a pair of knee-high platform boots for photo shoots. The stage show also received few modifications, other than a confetti storm being introduced during the final song. Three or four stacks of amps remained on either side of Peter’s drum riser, which was either the levitating variety or static block depending on situation. Flash pots were sometimes placed on top of the amps, or on the stage in front of either stack. Lightning, though, became a more important consideration with the ambience and mood that a designed show could provide. June was also the month when Cashbox said that “Dressed To Kill” had sold some 175,000 copies by that point — which would have been an impressive improvement on the band’s previous commercial efforts. However, a confidential royalty statement placed the sales at 111,766 through June 30, still an improvement on the previous two albums. The Dressed To Kill Tour was a very important step for the band

Track list:
1. Intro
2. Deuce
3. Strutter
4. Nothin´ To Lose
5. Hotter Than Hell
6. Firehouse
7. She
8. Solo Ace Frehley
9. Rock Bottom Intro
10. Rock Bottom
11. C´mon And Love Me
12. 100,000 Years
13. Solo Peter Criss
14. Black Diamond
15. Cold Gin
16. Rock And Roll All Nite
17. Let Me Know