KISS, KISSOLOGY VOLUMN 1 DVD REVIEW ON ROCK N ROLL UNIVERSE

As I opened the new Kiss DVD set ’ Kissology Vol.1 1974-1977,’ a strange kind of magic came about and I couldn’t explain what it
was. Dry Ice filled my living room as I placed Disc One in my DVD player and went back to the sofa to check out the packaging on the set. The next thing I know, my living room turns into my bedroom back in the mid/late 70’s complete with the giant 5ft Kiss Army poster on one wall, the Mylar Kiss ‘Destroyer’ poster on another wall, and on the other wall is the classic ‘Spirit of ‘76’ Kiss poster. On my nightstand are the latest copies of Creem, Circus, Hit Parader, Rock, Rock Scene and Grooves magazines. The only thing missing is my mom yelling "Turn that damn thing down!” The smoke finally clears, once again it’s 30 years later and I am on my couch watching probably the greatest pieces of Kisstory one could imagine.

Disc One starts off with “Acrobat” from Long Beach ’74. The video is shot from 1 angle and is a bit distant, but it is incredible seeing footage from that early in their career. Next are three songs"Nothin’ To Lose," ”Firehouse," and ”Black Diamond” from ABC’s ‘In Concert’. An interview with Simmons on the Mike Douglas Show is up next. The highlight is when guest Totie Fields tells Gene that underneath his costume he’s probably a nice Jewish boy and that he can’t hide his hook(nose). Kiss then perform "Firehouse" on the show and Gene spits fire. Up next is an incredible b&w show from the Winterland in San Francisco 1975. This is a full show(although the end of “Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll” cuts off) and the band really seems to be enjoying themselves onstage as they rock through 12 songs. The footage of the’Midnight Special’ is really intense as they play an incredible version of “She” followed by a b&w performance of “Black Diamond,” in which Peter Criss demolishes his drum kit at the end. There are a couple promotional clips from ’Kiss Alive’ and a small documentary on Kiss in Cadillac, MI. The final piece on Disc One is a phenomenal show from Cobo Hall in Detroit, MI 1976. A couple strange highlights from this show are Gene’s hair catching fire & Gene forgetting the first verse to “Let Me Go Rock 'n' Roll ”as he starts singing the first words to "Rock And Roll All Nite".

Disc Two starts with a small clip from the show ’So It Goes’ which they probably could’ve left off. It then goes into the 'Paul Lynde Halloween Special' in which Lynde does a short interview/skit with the band along with the “Wicked Witch" Margaret Hamilton, and the band then plays “King of the Night Time World”. Next up is a classic full show from Tokyo, Japan 1977. The quality is phenomenal on this as most of the tunes were used in an hour concert special on HBO in the late 70’s(this is the full show with 15 songs). Up next is footage from 'Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert' which like the ‘Midnight Special’ was a late night music show on the weekends. This footage was the first time I ever saw Kiss on TV back in the late 70’s and even though it’s lip synched the footage is great. Disc 2 concludes with a perfect quality show of the band performing at The Summit in Houston,TX 1977 as this is Kiss at their peak of popularity in the 70’s.

As always with Kiss in the 70’s there are a few surprises with the set: A 20 page booklet that has the band commenting on each chapter, a Spring Tour ’75 backstage pass cloth sticker and depending on where you purchase the set, a bonus disc from either NYC ’77, Largo, MD ’77 or the 2nd night at Cobo Hall from ’76. I got the NYC 1977 show, which features 7 songs, and is awesome. Just when you thought it was done there’s a couple more surprises,a couple hidden "easter eggs”exist. On Disc One there is b&w footage of the band performing "Deuce” at the Coventry 1973, and on Disc Two there is footage of the band performing “Shout It Out Loud” and "Rock And Roll All Nite” without make-up at Ace Frehley’s wedding in 1976. Paul Stanley wrote the intro to the booklet and talked about their hunger back in the early days. The hunger wasn’t for food or money but was for the hunger to be Kiss, and the hunger to rock which sums up this whole DVD set. On a scale of 1-5 I would give this 5 smoking guitars!