Description
Beautiful box set with 4 lps on red vinyls with poster
After enduring a rash of lineup changes and poor-selling albums and tours in the late 70s and early 80s, Kiss regained steady career footing as MTV regulars and arena headliners thanks to hits such as Lick It Up, Heavens On Fire and Tears Are Falling. But adding Bon Jovi-style keyboards to 1987’s Crazy Nights in an attempt to reach an even wider audience proved to be their first major misstep since 1981’s Music From The Elder. The Crazy Nights tour kicked off Nov. 13, 1987 in Jackson and concluded 11 months later in Belfast, Northern Ireland after 129 shows. Neither the album nor the tour performed nearly as well as the band had hoped, with shows suffering from diminished attendance in many cities. After a half-decade of establishing themselves as a new, face paint-free band, less than one-third of Kiss typical set list was now devoted to songs from their 70s heyday, and even those had undergone some unwelcome changes. We played everything a million miles an hour, Stanley recalled in his 2014 memoir Face the Music. Gene [Simmons] equated that with excitement, but it caused a loss of groove. …We’d even had people on the side of the stage playing keyboard sound pads – to enhance the rhythm guitar so I could slack off and jump around more, and to fortify the background vocals for the big eighties gang vocal sound. Looking back, I can see there was no mystery why the audience dwindled. Stanley’s long-simmering frustration with Simmons lack of focus also boiled over around this time, as the bassist’s forays into acting and managing other bands had forced Stanley to do more than his fair share of work on several albums. As far as I was concerned he betrayed me and the band, Stanley recalled in Face The Music. My film career was really starting to irritate Paul and management, Simmons admitted in his 2002 book Kiss and Make-Up. They wondered if I wanted to stay in the band or go for an acting career. The answer was that I wanted it all. But that wasn’t entirely fair to Paul, who was committed to Kiss full time. During this tour the band performed two nights at the Wembley Arena in London in September of 1988. A review in Kerrang at the time read: I grew up with the belief that the New Yorkers were a larger than life, outrageous spectacle on stage. The first night of their UK tour, at Wembley Arena, left that belief in tatters. Was this really what I’d come to see? No sparking KISS logos, virtually no pyro, just a wall of amps and a let’s get this over with attitude. Sure, Paul Stanley behaved like the rock star his is, all poses and leaps, but I feel it’s all down to his commitment and enthusiasm that the band are still touring. I dunno, Gene Simmons just seems content to feast his eyes on the tastiest of female flesh he can find and doesn’t come close to the focus of attention he was in the old days. And he was wearing Adidas sneakers for God’s sake! Also, while Eric Carr is certainly twice the drummer Peter Criss ever was, and Bruce Kulick is a more sober lead guitarist than his predecessors, they just seem to be there to make up the numbers. This box set features both nights at Wembley.
Track list:
Disc 1 and 2: Wembley September 24th 1988
1. Love Gun
2. Fits Like A Glove
3. Heaven’s On Fire
4. Cold Gin
5. Black Diamond
6. Bang Bang You
7. No, No, No
8. Firehouse
9. Crazy, Crazy Nights
10. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
11. Deuce
12. Reason to Live
13. Tears Are Falling
14. I Love It Loud
15. Strutter
16. Shout It Out Loud
17. Lick It Up
18. Rock And Roll All Nite
19. Detroit Rock City
Disc 3 and 4: Wembley September 25th 1988
1. Love Gun
2. Fits Like A Glove
3. Heaven’s On Fire
4. Cold Gin
5. Black Diamond
6. Bang Bang You
7. No, No, No
8. Firehouse
9. Crazy, Crazy Nights
10. Deuce
11. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
12. Reason to Live
13. Tears Are Falling
14. I Love It Loud
15. Strutter
16. Shout It Out Loud
17. Lick It Up
18. Rock And Roll All Nite
19. Detroit Rock City