KISS Facts:

Eddie Kramer, who produced Alive and Alive II, Comments On The Alive!

In the recent issue of Home Recording magazine producer,engineer Eddie Kramer was asked about recording live albums. A couple of names were dropped and of course KISS was mentioned since he was the chief producer and engineer on both KISS ALIVE and KISS ALIVE II. When asked if any overdubs were used, he mentioned that since KISS was "all over the bloody place" on stage it was very hard to be perfect and thus there was a lot of sloppy playing and missed vocals. He also stated that KISS was not very "tight" musically and that the entire KISS ALIVE album except for the drums were all overdubs. The interviewer had said that the album couldn't really be "Alive" then, Eddie replied "Hardly".

Alive! was the first KISS album to feature free goodies as part of the package (the 8 page full color photo book) and set a trend for the group to give the fans something extra with each succeeding album. The first pressing of the cd didn't include any of these photos. The Remastered Series includes the all the photos as part of the booklet.

Alive! peaked on Billboard's chart at # 9.

Alive! wasn't expected to sell well because not only was it a live album, but a double album as well (i.e. more expensive).

Alive! was recorded as a means to fulfill contractual obligations with Casablanca Records. Because the first 3
albums sold poorly, Alive! would quicken the band's progress in fulfilling album quotas with Casablanca before moving to another label. Fortunately for both Kiss and Casablanca, Alive! took off with "Rock and Roll All Night" as the lead single. Alive! was also released as a result of KISS being dropped from tours because headliners were constantly being upstaged by the band.

The Japanese version of Alive! was subtitled Crazy Beast (Running Amok) From Hell.

5 shows were recorded for the album - Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Tri-Cities, Wyoming; Wildwood, New Jersey; and Springfield, Illinois.

Circus magazine picked Alive! as the second-best album of the year behind Led Zeppelin's 'Physical Graffiti.'

Back to Kiss Discography