Band : Kiss
Album title : Kissology Vol 2
Label : Eagle Records
Distributor : PIAS
Release date : August 2009
Release : DVD (3 disc + bonus discs)

“Kissology Vol 2” takes off where volume 1 ended. You have here the best of the “Kiss” shows both masked and unmasked. Some new players enter the scene as well, “Eric Carr” who replaced “Peter Criss”, “Vinnie Vincent” who replaced “Ace Frehley”, and later on “Bruce Kulick” who replaced “Vinnie Vincent/Mark St. John”. This is a 4 DVD set and covers the era from 1978-1991, in “Kiss” terms, from “Dynasty” until “Hot in the shade”.

Disc 1 has the movie “In attack of the phantoms” not an Oscar winning movie, but I’ll bet kids will enjoy this movie, it hasn’t the nowadays special effects in it, but it’s fun to watch, for the “Kiss” fans there’s the rare version of “Rip and destroy” (“Hotter than hell” with other lyrics), and some great live shots from the “Alive II” era. This disc also includes 2 tv specials, “”Land of hype and glory” a great profile on the “Alive II” tour and the oh so infamous “Tom Snyder” show, where a drunken “Ace” gets on “Gene Simmons’” nerves ...

Disc 2 starts with the last appearance from “Peter Criss” with “Kiss”, the “Shandi” music video, the you get the Australian tour reports, tv recordings, a documentary and the complete Sydney 1980 show, amazing footage from “Kiss’” first Australian tour, after Japan went “Kiss” crazy, it was time to unleash “Kiss” on Australian soils!
During this period “Ace” was losing his grip in the “Kiss” family and this disc ends with some tv shows that are pretty rare, the “Friday’s” tv show has 3 songs from “The Elder”, and “Toppop” has the last glimpses of “Ace Frehley”. During the “Creatures of the night” promo tour “Kiss” decided to change their guitarist and “Vinnie Vincent” stepped into “Ace’s” shoes ...

Disc 3 takes you first to the hot tropic Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, it is impressive to see how huge a 300000+ crowd looks like!!! Filmed on their last masked tour this is the show that marked the “Kiss” make up era. Although musically not their strongest line up, everything is played faster and the old songs don’t have that 70’s touch any more. But this is a true mindblowing sight, there is some magic in South America that isn’t found anywhere else in the world.
This show brought the big army tank on the stage, the image that got my attention the most was the pyro used during this show, a rainshower of pyro decending on the stage WOOOOOOOOOW!
I advice everyone to buy the new “Sonic Boom”, especially for the bonus DVD that will be included, you’ll witness what it’s like to see a South American crowd moving like a storm on the ocean ...
Out goes the old and in comes the new, “Kiss” takes of their masks live on MTV and you’ll get 2 pro shot songs, “Creatures of the night” & “Detroit rock city” from the “Lick it up tour” filmed in Portugal. To my knowledge these are the only recordings I can think off that exist.
Relieved from their heavy costumes and high heel boots “Kiss” is released upon the stage in a very dynamic way, they move like whirlwinds around the stage!
Then the “Animalize” and “Asylum” period are skipped, why I don’t know. A remastered version of the “Animalize live uncensored” video would certainly have been appropriate for this volume ...
Well back to 1987, the “Crazy Nights” tour. 5 songs from a Christmas show recorded in Philadelphia, 1987 are included, too bad this is not the complete show. Every “Kiss” collector/fan knows this one has been filmed completely ... But it give a good idea how the immense stage looked liked during the US tour.
It was certainly more impressive than the Japanese and the European tour.
Finishing this DVD is the Auburn Hill, Detroit, ”Hot in the shade”, 1990 tour show. Again this show is stunning, a stage looking like a sphinx. The setlist from this show sees “Kiss” going back to their roots ¾ of the set is composed out of their old classics, the guitars are back, the poppy sound is left behind and “Kiss” is back to a rawer format. Needless to say that their follow album “Revenge” will rock as never before ...
Sadly we need to say goodbye (forever) to “Eric Carr” on Nov 25th 1991, the same day another icon of rock, “Freddy Mercury”, left us much too soon!!! ... A great drummer, who cared a lot for his fans, will be remembered in his last “Kiss” performance. The “God gave rock’n’roll to you II” music video ends “Kissology Vol 2”.

The you have again the 3 different versions, it wouldn’t be “Kiss” if you didn’t have the extra stuff ...
Again you can choose from 3 bonus discs, there’s somthing for every “Kiss” fan. If you like the vintage line up, you should buy the “Largo 1979” version, a great concert from their “Dynasty” tour, it has some great footage although the image is not always great, it’s the best available for now. If you like a colorfull show and performances from “Kiss’s” solo albums this is the one to get.
If you are more into thunderous drums, “Eric Carr” style then you have to go for the “Budokan 1988” show, not a flashy show, if you would expect pyro and all the special effects you’ll be disappointed, but here it’s the music that does the talking. Classics and new tunes mixed in a dynamic set make this a great show.
Last bonus disc is the clubshow from the “Ritz 1988” in New York, this is the one to buy if you are a die hard fan, this is shot with one camera and has a bootleg feel to it, so the music fan who wants to explore “Kissology Vol 2”, should not buy this one!
Both the “Budokan” and “Ritz” show are from the Crazy nights world tour.

All in all, just like “Kissology Vol 1”, this is a great gain for every rock DVD collection, it profiles the history of the band in the time period from 1978-1992 ... And the price you need to pay for it is less than 20 euros so this is actually a bargain for a 4 DVD set, so again, throw out those ancient bad recorded videos and get this gem into your collection!!!

Be aware! “Kissology Vol 3” is soon to be released as well in Europe so make sure you see this one before the next chapter in “Kisstory” will be out ...

100/100 for die hard fans 90/100 because a few songs were left out of some shows and 666 that it's the "Devil"

Luc.