Customer Reviews

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection 2

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being a long time KISS fan, and a fan of ALL eras of this band, I was patiently waiting for a 80's best of. FINALLY it's here! It's essentially a tribute to the often over-looked, under appreciated, non-make up period (with the exception of songs from "Creatures Of The Night", the last of the make up albums for a while). Although a bit short at 12 songs, it is still a GREAT representation of where the band was at during the 80's. Three key tracks come to mind that were omited (Who Wants To Be Lonely, Turn On The Night, and Rise To It - all of which were big MTV hits). Also, a few tracks from their 1992 release "Revenge" would have made this a steller compilation in my book. No points lost though... this is still the "best of" that I'll be playing over and over!

There is some pretty good songs here.These wre the days when good old Eric Carr was at the skins.Man did he thump those bongo's to a T.When he was there Kiss had a different sound,and it gave what i think was new life,and a different energetic sound to this band.I quite liked Kiss in the 80's,but i'm as diehard as you get.These days there is nothing new,but reflecting on there old music,its realy good to hear this era of Kiss.
I would of given this Cd 5 stars if it had of had more than 12 songs.
There is lots of songs i could of added to this collection from the same era.They picked 2 songs from each of the albums from Creatures through to Hot In The Shade.
It was a realy good era for music from this band,which battled back after Ace and Peter left as well as removing the make-up.
It appeared that their careers were on the line,but creativity stepped in and this is a partial reflection.

One of my biggest and most consistent gripes about KISS since the release of "Psycho Circus" is that their entire world has consisted of remakes and reminders that their best work ended around 1982. Endless reissues of albums containing "Shout It Out Loud," "Beth" and "Rock And Roll All Night." All the while forgetting that the band maintained a platinum consistency during the eighties, even if the quality ran wild from album to album.

This "Millennium Edition" actually serves the band quite well! Even if it does skimp a bit on song selection (the cutoff is "Hot In The Shade"), these twelve songs at a budget price are the cream of KISS' later eighties output. You get the thunderous roar of "Creatures Of The Night," the strutting reclaimation of the throne via "Lick It Up," an early rap/rock hybrid on "Heaven's On Fire" and one of Paul's best rockers in "Tears Are Falling." However, it also shows how cliched the metal of that period was; I am not sure anyone will describe "Crazy Nights" or "Hot In The Shade," with their generic Bon Jovi ballads and peppy pop melodies as classics. Witness the almost Bon Jovi parody of "Hide Your Heart." What it does prove once and for all that KISS, even if they were writing with hit machines like Desmond Child or - gasp! - Michael Bolton ("Forever," their biggest eighties hit) still had command of the KISS army.

Get this with the first Millennium Collection and you have the double KISS collection that some of us have been begging for the last 15 years to receive. Almost.

In my opinion the 20th Century masters were not really masters at finding good KISS songs. But I think people who are just getting into the 80's KISS era would like this one. I like to think of it as a demo, because there should've been more songs

This compilation is not getting the attention it should because of so many kiss compilation.first of all this is the only 80s kiss compilation exept the ones released by the band so its a valuable compilation .Second point the compilation is at a very low price 6.99-8$ at wal-mart so its not hurting your wallet and what do you have to lose?The compilation covers from
creatures of the night to hot in the shade,unmasked is not included.It has lick it up,heaven s on fire,hide your heart and more, the 80s kiss is underrated but should be given a try because it aint as bad as somme says .finaly this is a worty compilation the only 80s so give it a chance but,of course you could not like this album or have different opinions hey i just say what i think!

creatures of the night;creatures of the night and i love it loud,(war machine should also be there)

lick it up;lick it up the title track,and all hell`s breaking loose.

anismalize`heaven`s on fire and thrills in the night.

assylium;tears are falling and uh!all night.

crazy nights;crazy crazy nights,and reasons to live.

hot in the shade;hide your heart and the smash hit forever.

missing;songs from unmasked,killers,and the 88 compilation.
go on and give it a try just to hear what 8os kiss sounds like.

I really don't get why so many people knock 80's and 90's KISS. Perhaps they are jaded having grown up with the original incarnation, but to me 80's KISS has always been superior. The song writing was much more evolved, playing was infinitely better (Carr,Kulick and Singer really pushed Paul and Gene in to becoming better musicians), and if anything, the focus was finally put more on the music than the image. I love all of the early stuff as well, but feel KISS hit their stride with Creatures.

As for this comp- it's nice to see a collection that focuses on the 80's output, but there certainly could have been more squeezed onto this disc. Why not some of the zillions of unreleased demos and what not from this period? If anything, it would be nice to have the live version of "Heaven's on Fire" from the Tears are Fallin' single on cd. Oh well, I suppose the record company would rather churn out something cheap and easy than something for the fans.

Overall- glad they haven't forgotten the 80's, but it's too bad they've forgotten the fans.

KISS has a lot of greatest hits compilations out there, but this one is different. All of the others are mainly or all just their stuff from the 70's. For the first time ever, they released one with just KISS's 80's hits. I think they did a pretty good job choosing the songs. I Love It Loud, Lick It Up, Heaven's On Fire, and Forever are all on here, and those were their best known ones. I kind of miss not having You Put The X In Sex and (You Make Me)Rock Hard on here, but it's still a good deal so I'm not going to complain. Those two songs can be found on the Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits compilation.

Yes, Universal has done it again. This makes the 6th "Best Of" compilation in 8 years, and it's getting quite pathetic. If you do not own any compilations I would recomend "Kiss Gold 1974-1982" which will be released in August of this year. Better choices would be "Double Platinum", "Killers", or "Smashes, Thrashes & Hits" because they have something different on them instead of the same old songs re- released for the umpteenth time!!

Sure KISS has way to many compilations (8?), countless tribute albums, and 4 live albums (and a 'best of' live album)... but this "Millennium Collection Vol. 2" is different and worth having if you lost interest in the band in the 1980's like I did. I was heavily into KISS in the 1970's and owned all their releases from their debut through "Dynasty". In the 1980's they started out incredibly strong (and heavy) with "Creatures Of The Night". However, after "Creatures", KISS jumped off the deep end and their hits became far and few between. Not to mention several personnel changes, the overall quality of songs, and cheap album cover designs. I suddenly found myself losing interest in the 80's KISS and did not buy most of their 80's material (with the exception of "Creatures"). That aside, this "Millennium Collection Vol. 2" is essential to KISS fans like me. Their best 80's songs are here, "Tears Are Falling", "Heaven's On Fire", "Hide Your Heart", "Lick It Up", "Creatures Of The Night", "Crazy Crazy Nights", and the ballad "Forever". The only knock on this "Vol. 2" is the terrible inclusion of "Uh! All Night" and the remastered sound on the first two tracks ("Creatures Of The Night" and "I Love It Loud") - it sounds like these 2 songs were recorded in the Lincoln Tunnel. This release gives you most of KISS' best tunes from the 80's without having to buy all their mediocre 80's albums. Inexpensive purchase and overall decent remastered sound to boot. Worth it to me.

For a 12-song greatest hits of the 80's CD, this really is a excellent selection of KISS songs. This CD is a testament to how good KISS still was in the 80's when many weren't paying them any attention.

There's no doubt that this CD could have been even better and longer, but the Millennium series CDs are value CDs with a limited amound of songs. In this case, they chose 2 songs from every KISS CD between 1982 and 1989. I really can't dispute any of the selections made for this CD. So for what it is, it's pretty much a perfect compilation of twelve of their best 80's songs.

"Tears Are Falling", "Crazy, Crazy Nights" and "Forever" are great KISS tracks and three of my personal KISS favorites.

For those with a keen ear, you might notice that the two opening selections from the "Creatures of the Night" album are actually taken from the late-80's reissue and remix of the CD and not from version you can currently buy in stores.

Anyhow, I think this album is a great pickup and a PERFECT companion to the "KISS Gold" 2-disc CD set that leaves off right where this CD begins.