[.ca] Box Set (Deluxe Limited Edition) (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 for 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

You Wanted The Box, You Got The Box!:
Always a sucker for limited editions, box sets and anything else that is rare, imported, or otherwise different. I personally have always wanted to learn the process that goes into writing a song. We've all seen original lyrics and stuff, but to be there (metaphorically) while the band goes through the tunes, deciding what stays, what goes, etc. is really interesting. While not thrilled with some of the re-released material, I understand it's purpose. I would have preferred to have the original studio tracks complementing the unreleased material. However, Paul's vocals on what would be Gene's signature song, "God of Thunder" was enough to hook me. Very haunting, and very different. Like "Wizard of Oz" with Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man or any other "classic" with someone other than the people that made it special (Perry Mason without Raymond Burr), it gets you to thinking what might have been if these unfinished tracks made it to the record.

We wanted the best...:
...And this is what we got, a repackaged offical release of songs that we're on most bootlegs years beforehand.

We Wanted The Best..:
We got.. well, something pretty close. While it would be pretty tough to provide for both the die-hard and casual KISS fan, this long awaited five-disc box set includes a good enough mix of KISS standards, obscure tracks, and unreleased demos to do just that. It covers everything from the eclectic sounds of Gene and Paul's pre-KISS band Wicked Lester right up to the Farewell Tour. Granted, there aren't as many rare tracks as I had originally hoped for, but the ones we did get are excellent. The Bell Sound Studios demos of "Let Me Go Rock n' Roll" and "100,000 Years" are arguably superior to the final cuts, and "Acrobat" from the highly sought-after Live at the Daisy show blows away the previous muffled bootlegs. The second disc offers "Doncha Hesitate," which could have been a KISS classic, "Mad Dog (better off after it evolved into "Flaming Youth"), and the strangely Beatles-esque "Love is Blind." Compared to Gene's demonic anthem from Destroyer, Paul's original (disco?!) version of "God of Thunder" is sure to raise an eyebrow. Discs three and four fall a bit short with only six rare tracks between them, some of which many fans already owned. Disc five ends the set on a positive note with a few good tracks. The very rough cut of "Domino" with slightly different lyrics was a nice inclusion, as was "Got to Choose," which was left off the official MTV Unplugged cd. "Outromental" from the Carnival of Souls bootleg is tacked onto "Childhood's End" in a somewhat a choppy manner, but "It's My Life" from the Psycho Circus sessions rocks like KISS should. Of course, the box set has to end with "Rock n' Roll All Night," and we get the one from Alive IV. Seeing as how Alive IV will now be the Melbourne Symphony show, this may be the only track from the concert to be released. Basically, this set serves as a career retrospective for new KISS fans while throwing the devoted followers a few scraps to hold them over until the inevitable second set. Gene has been quoted as saying that there is enough material in KISS' vaults to keep the fans happy long after the band is no more, so as long as there is a market for KISS Kaskets, you can bet there will be more to come.

Kiss Deluxe Limited Edition \oBOX SET\c:
This is a very exclusive box with both demos and songs that never happend and songs that did. There are also some great live recordings from the first KISS show ever at "The Daisy" N.Y 1973. There could've been some more unusual recordings from KISS's own vaults. This box is created as a guitar case and has a hardcover book with a KISS story and some truly awesome pictures. If you're a true KISS fan you gotta own one of these. /Mike

Good band, mediocre collection:
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.

• 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)