Customer Reviews

Kiss: Kissology Volume II 1978-1991

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2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The best part of this Volume II set is actually having all this stuff in one DVD package. Unfortunately I've seen everything here. I was hoping for a rare "Creatures Of The Night" concert. Rio is good but it lacks any rare songs and the show is so big the audio to me isn't as good as an Arena show would be, but I'll take it. The USA show "Night Flight" had a great special that I would like to have seen. Overall It's a DVD that no fan could pass up on. My only thing is most KISS fans have seen Largo '79 and I would liked to have seen something from the vaults that nobody has seen from the Dynasty tour. Just my opinion.

The Largo Bonus disc lacks "King Of The Nightime World" and the great Ace track "2,000 Man". I don't understand why that was left out.

Here is the latest listing I've found and hopefully is set:

Disc 1

* Land Of Hype And Glory with Edwin Newman - January 10, 1978
* The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder - October 31, 1979
* Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park European Theatrical Cut - 1979

Disc 2

* Shandi (music video) - 1980
* CNN Interview with Peter Criss - September 24, 1980
* Countdown - September 21, 1980
* Rockpop - September 13, 1980

1. "She's So European"
2. "Talk To Me"

* KISS Invades Australia - Sydney Showground: Sydney, Australia - November 22, 1980

1. "Detroit Rock City"
2. "Cold Gin"
3. "Strutter"
4. "Shandi"
5. "Calling Dr. Love"
6. "Firehouse"
7. "Talk To Me"
8. "Is That You"
9. "2000 Man"
10. "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
11. "New York Groove"
12. "Love Gun"
13. "God Of Thunder"
14. "Rock And Roll All Nite"
15. "Shout It Out Loud"
16. "King Of The Night Time World"
17. "Black Diamond"

* Fridays - January 15, 1982

1. "The Oath "
2. "A World Without Heroes"
3. "I"

* Top Pop - November 1982

1. "I Love It Loud"

Disc 3

* Maracana Stadium: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil July 18, 1983

1. "Creatures Of The Night"
2. "Cold Gin"
3. "Calling Dr. Love"
4. "Firehouse"
5. "I Love It Loud"
6. "War Machine"
7. "Black Diamond"
8. "Rock And Roll All Nite"

* MTV Special: KISS Unmasking -September 18, 1983
* Cascais Hall: Lisbon, Portugal - October 11, 1983

1. "Creatures Of The Night"
2. "Detroit Rock City"

* The Spectrum: Philadelphia, PA - December 18, 1987

1. "Love Gun"
2. "Bang Bang You"
3. "No, No, No"
4. "Crazy Crazy Nights"
5. "Reason To Live"

* The Palace At Auburn Hills: Detroit, MI - October 14, 1990

1. "I Stole Your Love"
2. "Deuce"
3. "Heaven's On Fire"
4. "Crazy Crazy Nights"
5. "Black Diamond"
6. "Shout It Out Loud"
7. "Strutter"
8. "Calling Dr. Love"
9. "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
10. "Fits Like A Glove"
11. "Hide Your Heart"
12. "Lick It Up"
13. "God Of Thunder"
14. "Forever"
15. "Cold Gin"
16. "Tears Are Falling"
17. "I Love It Loud"
18. "Love Gun"
19. "Detroit Rock City"
20. "I Want You"
21. "Rock And Roll All Nite"

* Music Video - 1991

1. "God Gave Rock `N' Roll To You II"

* Day In Rock - November 25, 1991: MTV News excerpt

Bonus Disc 1

Nippon Budokan- Tokyo, Japan April 21 1988

1. Love Gun
2. Cold Gin
3. Crazy Crazy Nights
4. Heaven's On Fire
5. War Machine
6. I Love It Loud
7. Lick It Up
8. I Was Made For Lovin' You
9. Detroit Rock City

Bonus Disc 2

Capital Center Largo, MD- July 8 1979

1. Radioactive
2. Move On
3. Calling Dr. Love
4. Firehouse
5. New York Groove
6. I Was Made For Lovin' You
7. Love Gun
8. Tossin' And Turnin'
9. God Of Thunder
10. Shout It Out Loud
11. Black Diamond
12. Detroit Rock City
13. Rock And Roll All Nite

Bonus Disc 3

The Ritz New York, NY- August 13 1988

1. Deuce
2. Love Gun
3. Fits Like A Glove
4. Heavens on Fire
5. Cold Gin
6. Black Diamond
7. Firehouse
8. Crazy, Crazy Nights
9. Calling Dr. Love
10. War Machine
11. Tears Are Falling

KISSology Vol. 1 was one of the greatest music DVD's ever released. A tremendous collection of great, vintage KISS concerts and TV apperances, KISSology really raised the bar when it comes to career retrospectives on DVD.

Now, KISS is releasing (or has released, depending on when you read this), the 2nd volume in the KISSology series, covering 1978-1991. It's got almost everything from that era that fans have wanted on DVD (almost, there are some exceptions) - The Land of Hype and Glory, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder (Ace is a RIOT), Australia 1980, FRIDAYS (!!!), Brazil 1983, a couple songs from the first post-makeup concert, and a complete concert from one of their greatest tours ever - the Hot In The Shade tour! Leon Sphinx was pretty darned cool as the centerpiece, and the band was ON!

There are some other goodies, but the one I intentionally left out until now is KISS in ATTACK OF THE PHANTOMS - the European theatrical version of KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. Supposedly there are scenes cut from the US version, and the score is different in parts as well. This will be a lot of fun to watch - as long as you "get it." It's a 70's campy TV movie, and for that time and genre it is a lot of fun.

The DVD ends with the passing of the great Eric Carr (I had the opportunity to meet him in 1990 - he truly was a great guy, and he is very much missed), leaving the Revenge era for Vol. 3.

Could there be more on there from the 80's? Animalize Live Uncensored is a glaring omission, as is anything from the entertaining Asylum tour, but this is still one heck of a tracklisting and another great release!

UPDATE: After watching the entire set a few things stand out. 1.) The Australia show from 1980 was fantastic. The band was MUCH tighter than the previous year on the Dynasty tour (I got each set, and after watching the Largo disc it was like night and day). 2.) The Brazil 1983 show was heavily edited by the TV network that aired it, and as such a few songs have been shortened in this presentation. 3.) They should have included more songs from the Philadelphia 1987 show. The band was ON, and it would have been nice to have more of this show. 4.) The 1990 Hot in the Shade show is edited. "Rise To It," is missing - they show the bluesy intro, but skip the song. WTF? Eric Carr's drum solo is also edited, but this is understandable - he sampled the intro to the Who's "Who Are You," and that becomes a rights issue. That part of the solo is gone. Interestingly enough, it was edited out so well that you wouldn't notice it isn't there if you didn't know. 5.) The Land of Hype and Glory is edited far too short, and the Tom Snyder appearance is cut in half (Space Bear is MIA).

But, keep in mind - everything that IS here is VERY cool. The footage from Fridays is pristine! The commentary throughout is very good as well, and even Bruce gets in on the commentary action! (Way to go Bruce!) The Detroit 1990 show is a great performance from a GREAT tour with a GREAT stage set. A tour that Paul and Gene still rank as one of their best ever. This set is a very, very solid continuation of what they started with Vol. 1. Could it have been better? Yes. But it is still a great set if you go by what is included rather than what is left out.

Also - ATTACK OF THE PHANTOMS is practically a different movie from Phantom of the Park. Previously unused scenes, extended scenes, music from the solo albums as part of the score, and a rearranged order of what happens in the movie. Some of these things are HUGELY positive (added scenes and dialogue is a big improvement), but some are detrimental (taking events out of order hurts the movie as some things make even LESS sense here). ATTACK is also in anamorphic widescreen, cropped from the original 4:3 TV format (although the cropping is usually done very well).

There is also a very reverential tone towards the late Eric Carr. Eric was a really, really nice guy. (Everyone who met him says that - I met him as well, and he was just REALLY nice and had no inflated "Rock Star Ego." In the commentary Paul hints at regrets at how things unfolded as Eric was dying in 1991. And watch through the credits at the end. In one way it's hard to watch this bonus, but in another it is a nice tribute - and a slight glimpse of Eric's sense of humor and how much he cared about the fans.)

Bottom line? If you're a serious fan, you've got to have it in your collection. If you're just a casual fan you should still get it since the price is right for what you get and the set is a lot of fun to watch.

It seems to be incredibly hip for Kiss fans to turn up their noses at the band's glamour period - those years of "Kiss Meets the Phantom" and color coordinated costumes. But, hey, I don't mind saying I dug it then and I dig it now. It's campy and fun and who the heck cares? That's all that matters. Finally, after years of people like me who really ENJOYED Kiss in all their incarnations, this is a set of DVDs worth having.

I was thrilled with Kissology Volume One and was really looking forward to Vol. Two. I wasn't disappointed. A lot of Kiss fans (who consider themselves somehow "purists") might point to Vol. One as the superior collection. I beg to disagree. For one thing, this volume has a wider variety of songs, whereas Vol. One was basically the same numbers, performed almost identically, over several tours. An excellent collection, no doubt, but this set shows the band flexing their creative muscles and even getting a bit carried away.

The centerpiece of disc one is "Kiss in Attack of the Phantoms," the theatrical release of NBC's 1979 "Kiss Meets the Phantom." A few scenes that had gone unused in the U.S. tele-movie are here and I have to admit, this film is a riot. It's not Coppolla, but it ain't supposed to be! Come on, folks! We're talking about Kiss fighting robot monkey men in an amusement park! It's just fun. The real treat of this version of the movie is that much of the original music used in the American version has been replaced with songs from the solo albums. The effect is very retro, but very nice.

The complete concert from Sydney is just priceless. Seeing Eric Carr in action again is a moving experience. And the band, replete in all their "Xanadu" costumes, manage to rock every bit as hard as when they wore the more credible (?) black leather in the Cobo Hall in 1975.

A huge treat is the complete performances from ABC's short-lived "Fridays" show, the only known live performances of The Elder material. This whole DVD set is worth it just for Ace's guitar on "The Oath." The guy could burn back then, even as he made his exit from the band. I don't care how many concert T-Shirt-wearing-potbellied purists disagree, this stuff was good.

I would have liked to have seen more of the concert in Rio De Janeiro, from the "Creatures of the Night" tour, particularly Gene's bass solo. But that's nitpicking. The footage from the first non-make-up show in Lisbon is grainy - with an almost bootleg quality to it - but that only adds to the charm. And the full set from the "Hot in the Shade" Tour proves, I think, that Kiss are a group of stellar musicians with some seriously great music.

As a side note, if you are one of the lucky few to receive a copy with the bonus "1979 Largo" disc, you'll be happy to notice that the grainy footage (some of which is evident in previous compilations) has been somewhat cleaned up.

If you're a Kiss fan, buy this!! Buy it now!!

Right off the bat, let me say that all of this stuff has been widely available on DVD and VHS for years as bootlegs. There is nothing new here and KISS' truest fans will have seen it all before. That's why the early pre release reviews are legitimate. Also, if you're not into KISS, you won't like this set and there's no need for you to comment. Please move along.

Now, I actually bought this at WalMart at Midnight for the LARGO 79 Bonus Disc. That disc is booty as heck and it looks just like every other available version I've seen. Still, I suppose it's nice to have it "Official".

As for the set proper, well, it's not as exciting as the volume one, mainly because it explores KISS' "Fat Elvis" and true fan years. It's the years where they became cartoon caractures of themselves and lost what it was that they wanted to achieve (mostly because they achieved it and didn't know where to go theatrically or musically).

Disc one opens with a short NBC News clip entitled "Land of Hype and Glory". It's interesting, but standard stuff. No great shakes. The Meat of Disc One is "KISS in Attack Of The Phantoms", the Euro cut of "KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park". It's presented in it's 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio and is enhanced with a stereo remix (the 5.1 mix is just a bloated version of the Stereo mix). It is a better movie in this form than the TV version, but it is in no means a good movie. Still, I wouldn't say it was quite the embarassment the ROCK hipsters out there would have you believe (Ringo Starr/Harry Nilsson's "Son Of Dracula" Anyone???) as it it very watchable in a Godzilla sort of way. The image is sharp and the color, spot on. It looks better than it probably ever should have. The commentary track features some of the cast ofthe film, but surprisingly, nobody from KISS. Rounding out Disc One is the legendary Halloween 1979 Tom Snyder interview. It's legendary because Ace Frehley is loopy as all get out.He joyfully Disrupts the proceedings with his intrusive comments and loud, infective laughter. It's a wonderful TV moment and shows just what's missing from today's TV talk shows.

Disc Two shoul probably just be called the Australia/Europe Years, since that's what the bulk of the disc entails. First, there is a promo video for "Shandi", a huge hit in the land Down Under. Then, there is a CNN interview with Peter Criss without makeup and his back to the camera; as if here were in a witness protection program. This is followed by some TV promo appearances and a documentary of the Australian tour. KISS does conquer Australia with an incredibly tenatious live set. By this time, Eric Carr had replaced Peter Criss on Drums and it seems to be the shot in the arm KISS needed in it's live show. They are absolutely vicious here and this concert is a highlight of this DVD box. Rounding out Disc Two is a Friday's appearance promoting "Music From The Elder" and a Top Pop appearance for "I Love It Loud". At This point KISS was reaching it's creative nadir and this disc kinda leaves the virewer with a cliffhanger. "Will KISS pull itself out of it's creative slump? Tune In Next Week!!!"

Disc Three finds KISS with Vinnie Vincent replacing Ace Frehley in a concert at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The concert is lively and features Vinnie Vincents only real live video footage of him as the "Ankh". Shortly afterwards they would be Unmasked to the world on MTV, shown here on this disc. Freed of their makeup, KISS finds themselves transformed as a no frills, straight ahead rock band and their energy is amazing. Without the makeup, pyrotechnics and stage props, KISS makes themselves the show. The energetic performances from Portugal, The Spectrum in Philly and Detroit makes one forget they ever wore makeup. Their second wind kicks in and finds them completely triumphant with their "Hot In The Shade" tour in Detroit. Their second wind has kicked in as Bruce Kulic replaces Vinnie Vincent. The Third disc closes with a "Day In Rock" Clip and the Music Video for "God Gave Rock and Roll To You".

If there's any real disappointment with the set, it's that there're too many years to cover on 3 discs. There's a lot that I would've loved to see that did'nt surface legitimately... but at under $30 most places, there's really not too much to complain about.

The Sound quality is uniformly good (save for the Largo Bonus Disc, which is muddy as heck). The set has 3 audio tracks: 5.1, 2.0 and commentary. The video quality is a marked improvement from the first volume; which left a lot of fans grumbling that the bootlegs looked better.

Lastly, I'd like to point out the issue of language. Some off color between song patter has been mixed out during the Detroit "Hot In The Shade" footage and it makes the show much less satisfying. I mean, yeah, I know kids are probably watching, but you guys DID say it live and you know kids were there, too. I mean, first it's "Don't Drink And Drive" before "Cold Gin" and now it's self-censorship. What's next, KISS?

Oh yeah, regardless of what Amazon says, I, Terry Thome, Reserve all rights to this review. I wrote it. It's my property, not theirs.

I'm one of those rare dinosaurs that saw kiss in small clubs like Joint In The Woods in 73, was an instant fan, ran the first KISS fanzine "Kisser" with a friend (Hi Randy), maintained a COMPLETE collection, met the band, and followed them fervently till 1980, when the merchandising simply burned me out. My point being, I have credentials.

The history on much of this DVD material is as follows. Kiss ex-manager Bill Aucoin had all the Kiss stuff in a big warehouse. Circa 1987, for reasons personal, he needed money, and speaking with Ace, offered it all for $100,000. Ace didn't want it, and since he was not particularly fond of Gene and Paul, he didn't mention it to them. Enter two fans that met Ace, Al and Gary. They mortgaged a house, paid Aucoin, rented two tractor trailers, and picked up all the stuff. They then hosted numerous killer Kiss conventions. THAT's the source of all the copies of the material on this DVD, which was eventually copied ad nauseum. Well, Gene & Paul eventually found out, had the cops raid an Al/Gary convention, and confiscated everything as "stolen merchandise". Kiss then sponsored it's own conventions, ultimately auctioned all the costumes, and have now funneled the video stuff to be included in Kissology DVD's. THAT's why this material is not new to real fans.

So, anyway, the actual material. The upside is, you get a first generation, clean copy, of some really great Kiss video. The downside,
there are some NASTY cuts. Land Of Hype And Glory is only an excerpt. Too bad cause it was a great show. But the biggest SIN, is that the Tom Snyder show appearance is CUT IN HALF. Any fan will tell you that the single most entertaining piece of Kiss video is the Tom Syder show. This is the one video that even non-Kiss fans appreciate. Ace is a riot! He was drunk and tripping, laughing hysterically, abducted Tom's mascot teddy bear, and put his costume pieces on the bear. Hilarious, but you won't see it, cause it's in the half they cut. It's confounding. So, if you're a big fan, yes this is a great DVD, but don't think you can toss your old VHS bootlegs. Sadly, not yet.

Visually, Kiss can't be topped. Historically, they saw Alice Cooper in 72 and said "If one guy in makeup is this big, what if all four of us wore makeup". Kiss pioneered flames, explosions, and moving stage pieces. Today, these things are staples with metal bands and the like, but Kiss literally started it. In the early days, Kiss were quite the underground cult band. Greasepaint, leather, and flames, wrapped in mystery. Nobody knew their true identity for several years. The teenybopper stuff only started with the Destroyer tour in 76.

Musically, nobody does straight ahead hard rock better than Kiss. I'm not talking metal, or thrash, but plain old crunchy driving hard rock.

And another thing, attitudinally, Gene and Paul were always in one camp, and Ace & Peter in another. Historically, the two camps always fought, and both sides had valid points. Originally each band member contractually "owned a letter" in KISS. Eventually, Ace & Peter sold their letters to Gene and Paul. First Peter, which left Ace to be out-voted on band conflicts, eventually causing Ace to quit as well. Since then, Gene & Paul have been petty about making sure they get majority coverage, and looking best, in everything Kiss, marginalizing Ace & Peter, and sometimes showing them in unfavorable light. I love KISS, all of the original four (and Eric, he's earned it), but I sure wish Gene & Paul could check their ego some, and represent the whole band equally, for the sake of the fans. Gene! Paul! The real fans know the score. And we talk about it. There's a consensus. We want you guys to all play nice, get along, and share the spotlight equally. Ya, Ace & Peter have issues, but so do you. Kiss is too good to be sullied by petty infighting, egos, money, and other BS.
KISS ROCKS !

I went to Wal-Mart to buy KISSology 2 with the Largo Bonus disc. I was surprised that on day 3 of the release there were still 2 on the front display shelf for all to see. When I told the cashier that I was surprised that they weren't sold out he commented that the Garth Brooks concert dvd was one of their quicker sells. Garth Brooks - bwahaha! I guess for this reason I'm lucky that I live in a country music state.

I've loved KISS since 1978, and I've probably played the Alive 1 & 2 albums (yes albums!) more than anyone on the planet. I had friends over at the house and we played pool all day and listened to the albums over and over. I would "play guitar" with my pool stick in between shots, and had all the Ace Frehley rifts down and could "play sync" them with realism. This was before I knew of anything called lip syncing, and it wasn't widely heard of to the public and became a more popular term in the 80s. I was really disappointed when KISS went commercial in 1979 and 1980 with Dynasty and Unmasked to change their style and appeal to the masses, but have grown into a few of those songs over the years. I skipped over the Elder. Creatures of the Night brought me back full time into the KISS Army in 1982, but I was shocked and disappointed again when the makeup was removed in 1983. It didn't help when they did the ugly cavemen look in the Lick It Up video. Later I borrowed the Lick It Up and Animalize cassette tapes from a friend back in the day and played them for a while. I never saw or owned a bootleg concert video, and no I didn't live in a cave - I lived on an island called Hawaii. This review comes from a person who was not spoiled by having any bootlegs so I can say that watching this was a wonderful experience.

Finally, on to the review: Attack of the Phantoms is a nice crisp widescreen production, and it was a little different from the USA version I recorded off the TV. There were a few additional scenes, and one that was missing or replaced. The part where Devereau draws a red circle on a closeup photo of Gene and says "So you're the demon, hmmm?" was missing. Looks like they replaced it with Sam bringing in a rack of photos of the group. An additional part I noticed was the worried girl looking around by the red volkswagon after losing her boyfriend for what - 5 minutes? I just found out that cartoony music was subbed in for the TV version to be more kid-friendly. Instead of KISS songs they played 70's Starsky and Hutch type action music during action scenes on my TV version. It was nice to see that this cd had the KISS music intact. When the security guards were in the shed "Almost Human" was played, and during the fighting with the white apes "New York Groove" was played. More KISS songs instead of 70's "wacka-dooda-wacka" made the production seem less cheezy - if that's even possible.

The Tom Snyder interview was great, despite what many are saying. It is the first half of it and the part I thought was best. I didn't care for Peter talking about his gun collection or Ace playing with the teddy bear which I thought was overkill. Saw that part on YouTube and that was enough.

The Rio concert was awesome and surreal with that huge crowd, but I was wondering why some of the songs were sliced up. On one song they began with Eric's drum solo and then I got the ending of God of Thunder. Where was the beginning? Gene had blood on his face but I missed the spitting. Also the first few verses of Cold Gin was missing. More puzzling than anything and leads me to believe that the cameramen had originally forgot to press record in these cases.

A KISS mini booklet was included with photos and exerpts on what they thought of each era's features - including their feelings on the Tom Snyder interview. A replica of a KISS ticket at Magic Mountain was also included.

The Largo bonus disc was okay, and I wanted to get that one as I never was a big fan of the non-makeup days. I wanted to see another "War Machine" live performance with either of the other 2 bonuses but the makeup concert was the deciding vote. The biggest problem I have with the Largo bonus CD was that during the long shots there are horizontal video lines on the screen which points to cheap recording.

I would have liked to have seen more mid-80s stuff like the Animalize concert and feel that maybe they should've started the 90s in Volume 3. Not really complaining, just shocked at the quick jump in years and I was never into the Crazy Nights and other commercialized music around that time. Still, very much worth the purchase price for me and worthy of 5 solid stars.

I will not be getting Kissology 3, as I am not a fan of any of the replacement "actors". Thayer and Singer look bogus with the makeup. Their faces are so wide that it looks wrong, like they are wearing oversized KISS Halloween masks. Miss you Ace, Peter, and Eric.

Granted, there are many things that could have made this set better: The FULL Tom Snyder interview instead of a fraction of it, more promo footage, a segment on Mark St. John (and since he passed recently, it would at least have been noble and polite to at least pay SOME sort of tribute to the guy -- would have taken some last-minute production scrambling, but they could have done it if they wanted to badly enough), etc. -- Granted, there is a brief snippet of him in an Easter Egg and a brief mention of him in a commentary, neither of which feature is even listed on the contents page.

But what there is is generally very satisfying. Some die-hard KISS fans who have the vast majority of this stuff on bootleg already have bemoaned the fact that they didn't get much new material here. But the vast majority of the casual-to-heavy fans do NOT already have this material in bootleg form, and it is a treat for us to see it.

There are extensive periods in the band's 1983-1986 history that are barely touched on or even ignored, but those years fell between more major salient events and were the easiest eras to omit and still maintain a sense of "flow" in the presented chronology.

Example: The make-up comes off in 1983, so we see the last show IN make-up and the first show OUT of make-up. That's the right idea. The next few years were just a series of tours that didn't see any major milestones or events (barring Kulick replacing Norton, who replaced Vincent -- the band apparently is still uncomfortable discussing that era of rotating guitarists, so let them have their way on this one. If we pressured them to get more detailed about it, they'd still give us the same watered-down version of the events so why beat your head against the wall over it?).

Then they jump to the "Crazy Nights" tour probably because it has more visually interesting footage. The costumes during the "Asylum" era were, as Gene admits, embarrassing. So they were probably happy to omit that era altogether. I don't know anyone who necessarily JUMPS at the chance to show off old video and pics of himself that are embarrassing and cringe-inducing, so why would we expect these guys to do it? Personal preference on their part, an we're all entitled to do the same thing.

The next salient event was the Hot In The Shade tour, notable not only for a re-invigorated band playing from their full catalog of songs, but also for it being Carr's last tour. See? The DVD hits the highlights and salient events, glosses over or ignores a few years where the bumps in the road aren't necessarily worth revisiting for them, and yet the DVD package still is chock full of stuff to see.

The "Animalize: Uncensored" concert IS on DVD, by the way. I found it at Best Buy years ago as an import. It is subtitled in Portuguese.

KISS left a bit of history out, but they kept a LOT in. The "Fridays" stuff is great -- I saw that episode on TV back during its first run, and I never thought I'd get to see it again.

But between KISSOLOGY 1 and 2 and their bonus discs, the KISS Alive 4 with Symphony DVD (which has rapid-fire editing that gives me a headache), the "Rock the Nation" DVD, and the assorted long-form videos that they've released since 1987, KISS has given us TONS and TONS and TONS and TONS of goodies for home video, perhaps more than any other band EVER! That alone is grounds for some appreciation and perhaps even grounds to tell the complainers to shut the heck up.

The more they release for us, the more some of you moan and complain about what they didn't include. Unless Gene and Paul personally hand you a key to their vaults, you will NEVER see everything. It just isn't gonna happen. Nor should it.

There could be all sorts of logical and sensible reasons why certain footage isn't included, but that isn't good enough for some people. They have to know WHY it wasn't included. I get curious about that too, but I'm not going to let that spoil my enjoyment of what I have or allow it to stir up resentment because they didn't bombard me with every last second of footage from everything they ever shot.

Sure, it would be great to get EVERYTHING, but that would be overkill and ultimately a bit saddening. To know you have EVERYTHING and that there is nothing else left to see, well.... that ultimately leads to a kind of boredom.

It might even be too much like the Twilight Zone episode entitled "A Nice Place to Visit". Google that to see what I mean.


This DVD does not include every last inch of film footage shot of them between 1978 and 1991. Sorry gang, but it doesn't. But it includes HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS of stuff I would never see if they didn't release this DVD, so I'm delighted to have it.

And I'm sure you would/will be too.

I've been a KISS fan for many many years. Most of the material that's included in this set I've seen before, and many times. However, its so awesome to have it all on one DVD, officially released, and remastered. The sound and picture quality are mostly really good (considering some of the source material). The performances are really enjoyable as well. I'm really bummed that only half the Tom Snyder interview is included as that is one of the klassic KISS moments. I was so looking forward to seeing Space Bear again. I would also have liked a little more footage of Vinnie, and it would have been really terrific if there was any live footage at all with Mark St. John (especially as he has now passed on as well).

However, there are many inclusions here that I'm excited about, like the performance of the three ELDER songs on "Fridays", the complete Syndey concert, etc.

The best thing about this collection, though, is that it follows the career of drummer Eric Carr from the time he joined the band up 'til his death in 1991. For Carr fans, this truly is a visaul and aural feast. We see him getting introduced by the band to the Australian audience, we see him on various tours with the band (both with make up and without), and best of all we get complete drum solos (well, nearly complete; read the featured reviews for that explanation) from both his first and his final tour with KISS, showing his growth as a drummer and the evolution in his approach to soloing over the 11 years he was in the band. The package is capped off with MTV's announcement of his passing and the video of "God Gave Rock'n'Roll To You", his final performance with the band.

One of the best surprises on the set comes in one of the menus. Each of the menus and sub-menus includes video footage not available anyhwere else. One of the sub-menus on Disk Two features performance footage of Eric in his original "fox" make up -- not the familiar design that's seen on the cover of CREATURES OF THE NIGHT, but the original design which was only seen in a very few photos, including the first batch of press photos the band did with Carr.

The most shocking and heartbreaking thing that got included in this set -- its not listed in the menu, its at the end of the credits on Disk 3 -- is a video that Eric made in his hospital bed a couple of days after his open heart surgery. Oh man....I cried the first time I saw that. I didn't even know anything like that existed. Its actually rather spooky and kind of creepy to watch this short vid. Even though his mood is upbeat and he's joking around in true Carr fashion, there's a sadness to it. Be prepared when you watch it .... but do watch it.

I was a huge Eric fan right from day one. When the first photos of him with the band were released, I wrote him a letter. Couple months later, I got a hand-written letter back from him from Frankfurt, where KISS was touring. I later met him once in FL. When you hear people say or read in these reviews what a great, nice guy Eric was....that's no exaggeration. Eric Carr was a super guy, a really warm, loving human being who really loved his fans, and his fans loved him. I was devastated when he passed away three days after my birthday (and on the same day as Freddie Mercury, god what a horrible day). I will always miss him and will always be his fan.

Thanks to KISS for making this second volume of KISSOLOGY such a treat for Eric's fans. What a great package....it not only chronicles KISS's career throughout the 80s, but also the career of my favourite drummer. Long live Eric Carr.

After the success of KISSology Volume one I,being a die hard KISS fan was very much looking forward to Volume 2. However unlike Volume One which was extemely well done. KISSology Volume 2 is extremely disappointing. Whereas in with volume one we were treated to complete concerts with very little chopping of the tv appearances. Everything in this set is incomplete and chopped up. The second halves of the "Land Of Hype and Glory" and "The Tommorrow Show with Tom Snyder" were left out. None of the concerts offered here are complete shows even though the complete footage from these shows exist. (Rise To It was ommitted from the Hot In The Shade concert presented on disc 3) and even God Gave Rock N Roll To You II is chopped in favor of the credits. There is no footage from 1984-1987 (The "Animalize Live and Uncensored" which has never been released on DVD would have been a ideal addition to this set along with the videos from the Animalize and Asylum albums) However the straw that broke the camels back is the censorship that occurs in this set, especially during the Hot In The Shade concert, and even on the bonus dics. This is inexcusable. If you have never seen any of this footage before that it's a decent introduction to this material. However for those of us who have seen or even own copies of the complete footage this set is an extreme disappointment and I would reccomend that die hard KISS fans avoid. Unlike Volume One. Volume 2 does not give that same bang for the buck despite being a 3 disc set (4 with the bonus dics).

I'm 44 and have been a KISS fan since I was 14. This is a very good collection of good stuff. I give it 4 instead of 5 stars, because this is not my favorite period of Kisstory, and they shortened the Snyder and Newman broadcasts which is too bad (but not unforgivable).

Fans will, naturally, complain of omissions, and they do exist - no footage of tours for the 3 albums between Creatures of the Night and Crazy Nights. The Tom Snyder interview (which is excellent and clearly the best, most candid, personal interview you will EVER see with the original foursome) has only the first ten minutes, thereby leaving out most of the material that might be considered "objectionable to posterity" -- Ace and Paul admitting to drugs, booze, and underage girls, Peter speaking about gun collecting and the gangster fascination. However, the first ten minutes ARE dynamite, and should lay to rest ANY contentions that Gene Simmons edited them to remove Ace's highpoints. They kept the first ten minutes exactly as broadcast, and Gene and Paul do voiceover commentaries to explain that Ace was, in fact, going over very well but that they were always worried that he might implode.

My biggest surprise was "Attack of the Phantoms," which was not NEARLY as wretched as I remembered/imagined it to be. I mean, it's a 70s made-for-TV-movie -- remember them? They all sucked. But, considering the way KISS themselves remember it, they really don't come off looking all that bad. Frankly, the script gives them VERY little dialogue, so they didn't have much room to screw it up. I don't think they made themselves look like fools at all. It's just a cheesy TV movie. The actors' commentary was very interesting, so check it out. And the movie makes, for the time, excellent and abundant use of the solo albums for soundtrack music.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed "Attack of the Phantoms" for its own sake, but it wasn't breath-takingly, history-makingly horrible, is my point. And, of course, very interesting to watch if you're a KISS fan, which I expect anyone who's read this far must be.

I say, get this DVD set. It's inevitable that you will, naturally. And you'll have a lot of fun. The price is a good value.