KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I don't care how much music snobs sneer at them, KISS has always been a total guilty pleasure and dear to my heart. Granted, they're not as exciting to me as they were when I was a pre-teen but damn, these guys had an amazing string that lasted well into the non-makeup days (yes, I enjoyed The Elder).

Say what you want about what marketing whores Gene and Paul are, they definately know when to step up and give the fans precisely what they want. For under $20 (retail is $30 but t's on sale nearly everywhere this week) you get four legendary concerts that have been classics on the bootleg circuit (Winterland '75, Cabo Hall '76, Budokan '77, The Summit '77) as well as frequently mentioned, but rarely seen television appearences such as them on In Concert, The Midnight Special, Rock Concert, Paul Lynde's Halloween Special, The Mike Douglas Show and so on. The quality on some of these items isn't always the best, but this is thirty year old footage that mostly was only available as bootleg before.

In typical Gene $immon$ mode, there are three bonus discs, I normally don't shop at Wal-Mart but I got the set there instead as I considered the 12 song nearly hour long Largo 12/20/77 show perhaps the best considering the length and era. The video quality of this "bonus disc" actually blows away 99% of the stuff on the official set.

If you don't like Kiss, don't bother, but if you've ever been a fan, this is Heaven. I hope after this set does well, that more artists will release similar DVD sets raiding the vaults of oft-discussed footage that 90% of the fans have not had access too.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I've heard that the three bonus discs were more due to requests from retailers than Gene. Who knows. . .


Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden already have similar sets (the Maiden set is VERY similar -- it's also part 1 of a planned chronological trilogy). Also must-buys for fans of those groups. Come to think of it, the Electric Eye DVD by Judas Priest is also the same sort of thing.

I totally agree that these sets are real treats.

BTW, I'm a total music snob, and I think that KISS were very influential and have always been a lot of fun.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I'm definately anticipating volume 2 (there's supposed to be 3) considering the buzz is circulating that there's going to be a Creatures Of The Night tour show with Vinnie Vincent on there. Vinnie's tenure with the band was short lived, but easily the next best thing to the original lineup. I also loved the Revenge lineup.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

If it wasn't for Kiss, I would not be the music fanatic I am these days. I will never forget my brother showing me the cover of a just released Destroyer album. I was 7 years old and he played me God Of Thunder and that was it. I was hooked. And yes Jay, Music From The Elder is a great album. It actually is my favorite Kiss album and in my all-time top 10. I know, I know...

This new set is incredible, and a real bargin.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I have never heard Music From The Elder. Ever. I'm really curious about it though.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

The Elder is a great album, it's just totally unlike anything else in the Kiss catalog. A World Without Heroes is a modern masterpiece but the fact that it was Kiss, and that it came out when they were at their commercial nadir doomed it from becoming the classic it should've been.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Jay- Thanks for the info. I thought this DVD was repackaged something or other, but now that I know what it really is, I'll have to pick it up. I can still remember seeing them on the Mike Douglas show. '74 or so.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I was just watching the Mike Douglas footage. I wonder why all the quick flashes during the performance? Very weird and distracting.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Picked mine up yesterday at Walmart. Incredible set. My bonus disc is Largo, MD 1977 show. Haven't checked it out yet.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I picked up a copy at Walmart this morning, and they price-matched the Circuit City flyer.

Say what you will about how Wally World treats its employees, but in my experience they do right by their customers.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

any idea what will be on the volume 2 DVD, I know it will be spanning 1978-1992. I think the Largo '79 show will be a given since it was broadcast on HBO (much like the '77 Budoken show was on HBO) and there's a rumored Creatures Of The Night show on the set, what else? I'm curious if we'll see Australia '80 on there as well, but what about the non-makeup tours? I'd like to see a Lick It Up show.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I haven't heard a peep of official news on that, but there's plenty of speculation going on.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

My guess would be the final in makeup show in Brazil from 1982 to be included.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Stupid Walmart. Went to the closest one. Not only didn't they have this, but there was no indication that they had carried it at all. (No empty bin where it *was*.) And then I asked the minimum wage salesperson there, and she had no clue what I was talking about.

No wonder I always default to Best Buy for CDs and DVDs. They usually have what I'm looking for, if they don't, they'll usually check in the back to see if they have any more copies, and they'll always look it up on the computer to see if they're supposed to have it or not. And they price match.

I have another Walmart a little further away that I'll try.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Most Wal-Marts have the music DVDs in a separate section, usually next to the music CDs. It took me a while to find it at the one near me, but it was there and on sale for $15.99. As just a casual fan I wasn't too impressed with what I've watched so far though, as they seem to do most of the same songs at every concert and they don't sound so hot live compared to the studio recordings (though I guess people didn't go to the concerts to hear the music). The 5.1 track is pretty awful too, I'll have to watch it again with the 2-channel track which appears to leave the mono sources in mono, and maybe I'll like it better.

The whole bonus disc thing is pretty dumb, if each one's about an hour long they could have just put all 3 of them onto one disc instead. I picked the one from Wal-Mart just because I heard it was the best and the longest, though since most of the songs on that were also played on the shows on the first 2 discs, I'm not in a big hurry to watch it.

I've only glanced at the liner notes so there may be an explanation, but wonder why the 2nd song from the Midnight Special is in black-and-white, and why the whole San Francisco concert footage was black-and-white video.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Glad I read this thread...I was not expecting much from this set, but if the Midnight Special performance is on there, I'm in for that alone. I remember staying up late and watching it....the coolest thing I had ever seen at the age of 14 (or was it 15???).

The years covered by these shows are really the sweet spot for the "real" Kiss, IMHO OF COURSE!!!!!

Having just back filled my CD collection with the Remaster Cds (thanks, yourmusic.com), this DVD will soon join the collection.

Brian

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I went to a second Wal-Mart, and this time they knew what I was talking about, the clerk said "We only got 2 copies and they sold right away, sorry". So, off to Best Buy, and I picked up the last copy there and used a couple McDonald's Best Buy bucks to get it for $15.99.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

I've seen them do Deuce on YouTube. It would be fun to see that again. I also remember staying up and watching them.

How is the video quality. Amazon reviews seem to go all over the map. Some say it is fine for 70's era televison sight/sound.

Tim

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Does anyone know what the deal is in Canada?

Amazon.ca says it comes out here on the 7th and an ad in the Future Shop flyer says it has 3 discs? Is the third the bonus? And does the bonus come in the package or is it given to you seperately by the sales clerk?

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

The bonus 3rd disc is inside the package in the US.

I only watched part of it, and that was on my 4:3 set in 2.0 audio, but the Budokan concert footage was pretty cool (and there was some neat commentary, although it only ran through a few songs). Some of the old TV footage is of varying quality, and the home movie of Ace Frehley's wedding party is barely watchable (but neat anyway).

I like how the entire thing is closed-captioned! Sing-along city.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

the Ace wedding party is neat, even tho you barely could see anything, since it actually had footage of the band playing together in 1976 without their makeup on.

How is the new Paul Stanley album? I remember Gene's album got mostly horrid reviews, but Paul is much more of an actual singer IMO.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Jesse,

I am not sure about the Midnight Special footage but the SF concert was filmed in B&W. They talk about it on one of their other history of the band videos. That concert is actually my favorite as it shows them so full of energy. It was the main reason I wanted this set but the rest of the stuff included has been excellent. I have yet to start on disc 2 but look forward to it.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Walmart #2...

They didn't have it either, but I did get hooked up with a manager/order person. She said they started with 12 of them, by last Thurs they were down to 3, and today, none left. She said that they were surprised by the demand.

She said another batch was coming later this week. I asked, also with the bonus disc? She said, Largo (she knew!)? I said, yeah yeah. She said yup.

If I had gone to #2 last week when I went to #1, I would have it by now... You live and you learn.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

The deal is... We are only getting one bonus disc up here and that's (disappointingly) the MSG show which is the shortest and reportedly the weakest in picture quality. I confirmed this by speaking with the guy who handles Fontana product at Universal here in Toronto, yesterday. Bottom line, don't go running around to different Wal-Marts to find the Largo disc because all you'll find are confused employees as usual.

FYI FutureShop has the best best price that I've been able to find in TO and the bonus disc is inside the package.

Cheers,
Dave

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Although this set compiles the great historical footage that Kiss fans have been collecting for years on bad VHS tapes, there seems to be at least one instance of the material being edited (for time?). When on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, Kiss performed (lip synched) three songs - "Detroit Rock City", "Beth", and "King Of The Night Time World". Only "King Of The Night Time World" is present on the DVD.
I wonder if anything else has been cut. I'm not sure (and I don't have any of this stuff on VHS), but somehow the Mike Douglas interview seems a little shorter than I remember.

I hope the Tom Snyder Interview (in it's entirety!) is included in Volume 2. One of the best pieces of video ever! God Bless Ace!

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Great dvd set.

Two thoughts:

1) I would have liked more live material from the 1975/Alive! era.

2) It's pretty obvious that they had already lost the 'hunger' (or at least were not as hungry) by 1977 as they were a year or two prior.

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Perhaps you need to get the bonus disk of the Madison Square Garden show!

Re: KISSology 1974-1977... must-have DVD

Well I was just at Best Buy tonight and found this disc there, didn't know it was out for so long! I picked it up because of the Best Buy "bonus" disc rather than shopping around online, but after reading posts here it was probably good. But now I'm going to be tempted to try to track down the other 2 discs, mine had the 1976 cobo hall show. I've only skimmed through the first disc so far and noticed that the Mike Douglas interview is edited, they're interviewing Gene and then it does a fade or cut to them performing the song. Also, does anyone know if they went to the original source material for the concert footage? It seems transferred from VHS rather than a 1" or 2" tape source. I'll hae to watch some of my old tapes to see if the dropouts are on there. The Winterland show seems slightly edited too, as on my tape I recall the opening before they started the concert ran for a minute or two, and you could hear the crowd, etc. Since this thread is a few months old and I just discovered it, what is the consensus among KISS fans in regards to it? Are there a lot of edits throughout, did they go to the original source material, etc?