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Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 great melodic metal. May 24, 2010
Michael P. Dobey (colorado springs)
This and all the kissologies are excellent video archives of one of the best hard rock bands ever. The sound is very good in my opinion. It is basic stereo and we are lucky to get that because many concerts recorded in the seventies were recorded in mono! It's all stereo here and the film looks great, one concert is in black and white but it was lost for many years so we are lucky to get it on volume one.
Kiss is what good metal is all about , melodies and fun and this and any other Kissology set won't let you down if you enjoy great seventies to 1980's metal. The best kind in my book!
If you ever wanted to see vintage kiss, well here it is in all its glory. April 17, 2010
Richard Chestney (Peterborough, Cambs)
KISS... the early days, 1974 through 1977, is commonly refered to as the golden age of KISS. For the very few that are unfamiliar with KISStory, then there is no better place to start than the very beginning. The mid '70s defines the New York based group, as KISS took off in a major way behind a huge wave of hype, media exposure and a rabid fan base known as the KISS Army, who purchased anything tattooed with the big, bold KISS logo. By 1976, KISS had taken the wild world of rock 'n' roll by the throat and commanded with authority and pyrotechnics from the stage.
From the very beginning, KISS rode the theatrics of Alice Cooper and took it all to an extreme. KISS was a phenomenon. Their popularity increased at an exponential rate from 1975 to 1977. Before the group experimented with disco, unsuccessfully i'm afraid, and eventually went unmasked, the cat, the bat, the ace of space and the star-eyed love child, hit the scene with a battery of flash bombs, grease paint and smoldering three chord riffola. The first three KISS studio recordings set the stage for the group's bombastic live shows.
With the release of Kissology the Ultimate KISS Collection Vol. I 1974 - 1977, the formative years of KISS are captured in all it's over-the-top concert glory. KISS burst onto the rock world at the same time as Montrose and both bands took a more party rock approach which there British Cousins were doing with Glam Rock, Kiss were the glamasters of America though, with there facepaint, lipstick and wild hairstyles in Gene and Paul's case, they were what the American kids who wern't into protest music of artists like Dylan, just like the kids of our country turned to bands like Slade, T-Rex and David Bowie who wern't into the progressive rock of bands like Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, ELP, ETC.
KISS was like a Saturday morning cartoon taking over from the stage. Larger than life, in the days before MTV sucked the life out of the music scene, KISS was a raucous three-ring circus. Under the big top, Peter Criss held down the big back beat and vocals, as Gene Simmons flicked his tongue and stalked to the right of flamboyant Paul Stanley, while Ace Frehley smoked on guitar at the other side of the massive stage. With smoke bombs, fire breathing, fake blood and sirens accenting the hard rock thunder, KISS was first 'n' foremost all about the show.
Other American rockers, such as Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult and Ted Nugent, simply relied on their songs to carry their respective gigs. With KISS, it was always about the live experience that mattered the most, as the boys from the Big Apple sent it down from the boards like a big-budget Hollywood production. KISS was pure flash, that had to be witnessed first hand. For those that missed out on the shows, the release of "Alive!", in 1975, served as the soundtrack for the KISS live experience for one and all. And virtually every rebellious teen bought the double live set. The Friday night keg party was always bolstered by cranked live takes of "Firehouse", "Cold Gin", and the ultimate party anthem "Rock 'n' Roll All Nite". Just ask those from Cadillac, Michigan what it was all about back in '75.
The Kissology 1974 -'77 set is the first of the three volumes chronicling the KISS machine in living color. Volume two and three, dwell on subsequent years of KISS history, which pale in comparison to the group's mid '70s career defining run. Loaded down with concert footage, TV appearances, promos and historical documentation, the sound quality, as well as the visual display, is not always up to standard, but that is to be expected considering the technological level at the time of these concert recordings. The very early days, are captured by grainy images and substandard audio.
There are four complete concerts included with this retrospective collection. The first full length concert is from the group's appearance at San Francisco's Winterland, in 1975, which is shot in black and white, followed by a 1976 date at Detroit's cavernous Cobo Hall (watch closely at the end of "Firehouse", as Gene's hair catches fire during the second blast of fire-breathing from the winged bassist). Disc two features a pair of shows shot in 1977, from Tokyo, Japan, and Houston, Texas.
KISS has been linked to Halloween since '76, when the group appeared on the sappy Paul "Center Square" Lynde Halloween television show. While Alice Cooper and his guillotine was a more logical choice for the late October ("Rocktober") special broadcast, KISS was simply too big to ignore for such an event. The KISS performance from the Halloween show is included on the second DVD from this package.
The first volume from the Kissology DVD collection, traces an epic period of a band that went on to become a mass merchandising goliath. Alot of people I know hate Kiss these days for being such a money machine, sure Gene and Paul are what you would call rock 'n' roll yuppies, but Kiss still shipped out hot recordings when they were unmasked and more recently with "Sonic Boom". If their back catologue was bad after their Disco phase then I might join the hate bandwagon, but Kiss still rocked out even though the two mainmen are businessmen behind the scenes.
Enjoy this disc, whether you lived the 70's when they ruled the world or if your a teenager just discovering Kiss, because this is a disc with over nine hours of Kiss Klassics shows them as band not into profit as much, but giving rock fans a show like never before.
kiss - peak period April 13, 2010
Zepfan
Excellent for fans of the early - what I would call peak - period Kiss. Be prepared for some black & white footage and LOTS of versions of Stutter,Black Diamond, firehouse etc. as they are repeated throughout from different concerts and performances. The later stuff from this set is a dream as some more songs join the list like the classic Love Gun and Detroit Rock City. If you are a Kiss fan then this is a must.
Great Quality March 20, 2010
Mr. D. J. Tebbett
Reading some of the reviews before i purchased this product i wasnt certian weather it would be worth the buy, but boy am i glad to have purchased it, it truely shows kiss in there prime with the electric solos by Ace the phonominal drum and base beats by Peter and Gene and the powerful vocals by both Paul and Gene and yes although the WINTERLAND SAN FRANCISCO CA concert is in black and white but the picture and sound quality couldnt really be better - the black and white concert is not fuzzy or blurred infact its better quality than some of the concerts on kissology 2 and they were filmed with much better technology. the 20 page full colour booklet gives you an insight into the bands thoughts on preformances and much more.
THIS IS THEE MUST HAVE for any kiss fan.
 Guilty pleasures February 4, 2009
Robert Frampton (Dartford, UK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
As anybody who knows me will already apreciate, this kind of box set is geek nirvana. Hordes of bootleg and TV-filmed performances (some even in black & white for God's sake!)of early KISS, showing the raw energy that grabbed them a place in the hearts of the NY music scene of the early 70s, and laid the foundation for world domination only a few years later.
If you're a casual fan some of this is barely watchable home video quality. If you're a hardcore fan it's like CCTV footage of the Big Bang!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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