[.ca] Box Set (5CD)

From Amazon.com:
Set aside the makeup, pyrotechnics, and coffin sales, and all that's left of "the hottest band in the world" is the music. Fortunately, in the case of Kiss, the music is their strongest suit. This five-CD box set blends previously released recordings, demos, and unreleased live material. Rarities come in large part from the band's halcyon makeup period and include unheard songs from an assortment of demos. Among the curios are the Wicked Lester versions of "She" and "Love Her All I Can," replete with horn kicks and hand percussion. No less intriguing is the previously unreleased Destroyer-era, Slade-inspired stomper "Doncha Hesitate" and Paul Stanley's disco-influenced "God of Thunder." Other demos give insight into the band's proclivity for cannibalizing early material for portions of soon-to-be hits. Though most fans recognize the 1970s as Kiss's heyday, the 1980s material such as Creatures of the Night's "War Machine" and Asylum's "Tears Are Falling" holds up surprisingly well. The fifth CD, which consists of 1990s output, falls flat, though some sparks are rekindled with the rewrite of Argent's "God Gave Rock & Roll to You." The box includes a thick, full-color booklet with rare photos and insightful song-by-song commentary from the band. --Kelly Minnis

Chronique amazon.fr:
Point de rencontre des "pulp magazines", du glam rock et du heavy metal, Kiss a incontestablement pesé de tout son poids sur le rock des années 1970. Ce coffret est l'occasion de rendre hommage au quartette infernal de New York, à Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Frehley et Peter Criss, sans qui Marilyn Manson et quelques autres n'auraient peut-être pas existé. Ce Box Set est constitué de cinq CD. Le premier, certainement le plus intéressant pour les fans, comprend plusieurs maquettes qui remontent aux débuts du groupe (alors baptisé Wicked Lester), maquettes qui, fort curieusement, témoignent de l'influence de la scène progressive britannique (Jethro Tull notamment). Les CD 2 et 3, en revanche, remettent les pendules à l'heure, puisqu'ils couvrent les années 1970, en d'autres termes la période la plus populaire (entendons heavy metal) . Quant aux CD 4 et 5, il renvoie à la dernière partie de la carrière de Kiss, marquée par le départ de Criss et Frehley (qui reviendront en 1995 le temps d'un concert "unplugged" dont on retrouve ici quelques titres). Kiss ou "quand la démesure fait loi" ! --Philippe Margotin

you wanted the best this ,box set is the best:
if you want the kiss full musical life in a set.then this is a must.it has somthing for all of the kiss army members,to the now and agian fan.it has from the bands start,to psycho circus album.it is fun to hear demos of classic kiss songs.to the demos and outtakes that got left behind from the album recordings.the main treat to die hard kiss fans is the first recording of god of thunder.with paul stanley singing.it dont have the doom and gloom of the one we know,but a slick sexy sound that whould have a passion taste to it.and you can laugh at gene simmons 1969 demo leeta. a song he did with a band he was in befor wicked lester. this box set is full of kisstory.a true must have by fans.

Very Uneven Listening....No Jewels In The Rough...:
The quality and overall flow of the first few discs renders many of the songs unlistenable. The Wicked Lester stuff is flat out bruatal. It appears very little thought was put into the contents of this set; so much for Kiss's dedication to the fans. As far as the last few discs...well if there ain't no Ace, ther ain't no Kiss. For the Kiss novice, My advice is to purchase the Kiss remasters starting with the first album and ending with Dynasty in one huge & swift super-saver purchase. If you are flat out, die-hard, Gene can do no wrong Kiss fan, then this box maybe inches towards 4 stars. Overall, a purchase to be made by Kiss Army members only.

IT'S A GOOD - BUT NOT GREAT - EFFORT FROM KISS:
KISS is back with yet another reason for their fans - and I am one- to open their wallets. The KISS box set has been talked about for years but was it worth the wait? The answer: sort of. While the set does include some 30 "rare" and "unreleased" songs, there are still hours of material we've all heard for years already. How many "sons of DOUBLE PLATINUM" are they going to put out? Still, the set rocks overall. The remastered versions of the early stuff sounds great. The demos of FIREHOUSE and GOD OF THUNDER are awesome as is Eric Carr's AINT THAT PECULLIAR? Also, the booklet gives many interesting insights on the evelotion of the songs and we get to see and hear how some of the more well known songs came about. One thing I particullarly liked was the full page photo of Vinni Vincent in his ankh make-up. I always feel like Gene tries to edit Vinnie out of KISSTORY, so it was nice to see him get some credit for a change. I have the cheaper version of the set and cant see forking out another 50 - 80 bucks for a different case. If they wanted to make the delux set more special they should have added a 6th disc or a dvd of an earlier concert or something to that effect. Still, it is a good set and really good if you have no KISS albums and want to get one item that will cover everything. The die hards will of course buy it but I encourage the new fans to get it because the new fans will get more out of it than those of us who have been listening to these songs for 20 plus years.

A good but not great box set:
\oI'M BEING CRITICAL HERE BECAUSE I'M A BIG KISS FAN.\c For three decades, KISS has been one of the finest hard rock bands out there. Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss are musical geniuses, and there's no denying. When artists get to be as popular as these guys, it's not unusual to see them release box sets. And now KISS has released a box set. Read on for my review of it. PROS: -The most obvious cool thing about this box set is the unreleased material. There are demos from the band's Wicked Lester days, plus other demos, live stuff, unplugged stuff, and many other cool rarities. -You get a number of hits spanning the band's entire career. -The set relies on more than just hits. You get plenty of underrated masterpieces as well, including stuff from the band's often overlooked eighties days, in which they had a few line-up changes. CONS: -There are two ways to do a career-spanning box set - the good way, which is a definitive collection of all your releases to date, or the bad way, which is a scattershot mixture of tracks. Sadly, KISS goes with the latter style. WHY DO ARTISTS DO THIS!? -The band couldn't seem to decide whether they wanted to do a career-spanning anthology, or a rarities package, so they tried to cram both into one set. That makes this a very scattershot package. OVERALL: Overall this is some excellent music, but I recommend shelling out the extra cash and getting the albums. It just isn't worth blowing this much money on such an uneven set. Want the rare tracks found here? Download them.

This Box ROCKS:
This Box set is amazing, great packageing, awesome book, amazing sound and kick ass songs what more does a box set require!

• Strutter (demo)
• Deuce (demo)
• Keep Me Waiting - Wicked Lester
• She - Wicked Lester
• Love Her All I Can - Wicked Lester
• Let Me Know (Bell Sound Studios demo)
• 100,000 Years (Bell Sound Studios demo)
• Stop, Look To Listen (Paul Stanley demo)
• Leeta (Gene Simmons demo)
• Let Me go, Rock 'N' Roll (Bell Sound Studios demo)
• Acrobat (Live at The Daisy)
• Firehouse (Bell Sound Studios demo)
• Nothin' to Lose
• Black Diamond
• Hotter Than Hell
• Strange Ways
• Parasite
• Goin' Blind
• Anything For My Baby
• Ladies In Waiting
• Rock and Roll All Nite
• C'mon And Love Me (Live)
• Rock Bottom (Live)
• Cold Gin (Live)
• Watchin' You (Live)
• Doncha Hesitate (demo)
• Mad Dog (demo)
• God of Thunder (demo)
• Great Expectations
• Beth
• Do You Love Me
• Bad, Bad Lovin' (demo)
• Calling Dr. Love
• Mr. Speed (demo)
• Christine Sixteen
• Hard Luck Woman
• Shock Me
• I Stole Your Love
• I Want You (Soundcheck recording)
• Love Gun (demo)
• Love Is Blind (demo)
• Detroit Rock City
• King of the Night Time World (Live)
• Larger Than Life
• Rocket Ride
• Tonight You Belong To Me
• New York Groove
• Radioactive (demo)
• Don't You Let Me Down
• I Was Made For Lovin' You
• Sure Know Something
• Shandi
• You're All That I Want, You're All That I Need (demo)
• Talk To Me (Live)
• A World Without Heroes
• The Oath
• Nowhere To Run
• Creatures Of The Night
• War Machine
• I Love It Loud
• Lick It Up
• All Hell's Breaking Loose
• Heaven's On Fire
• Get All You Can Take
• Thrills In The Night
• Tears Are Falling
• Uh! All Night
• Time Traveller (demo)
• Hell Or High Water
• Crazy, Crazy Nights
• Reason To Live
• Let's Put The X In Sex
• Hide Your Heart
• Ain't That Peculiar (demo)
• Silver Spoon
• Forever (single version)
• God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II
• Unholy
• Domino (demo)
• Every Time I Look At You
• Comin' Home (live unplugged)
• Got To Choose (live unplugged)
• I Still Love You (live unplugged)
• Nothin' To Lose (live unplugged)
• Childhood's End (with coda)
• I Will Be There
• Psycho Circus
• Into The Void
• Within
• I Pledge Allegiance To The State of Rock & Roll
• Nothing Can Keep Me From You
• It's My Life (original version)
• Shout It Out Loud (live)
• Rock And Roll All Night (Kiss Alive IV)