Alive III

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email

  • Artist: Kiss
  • Rating: StarStar
  • Release Date: May 18, 1993
  • Total Time: 67:26
  • Type: Live
  • Genre: Rock

Previous:Alive II (1977 Album by Kiss)
Next:Alive III [Import] (1993 Album by Kiss)
Alive III
Live album by Kiss
Released May 18, 1993
Recorded November 27–29, 1992
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 67:26
Label Mercury
Producer Kiss, Eddie Kramer
Kiss chronology
Alive II
(1978)
Alive III
(1993)
Kiss Unplugged
(1996)

Alive III is a live album released by the American hard rock band Kiss in 1993, and certified gold in 1994. The recording of Alive III took place over multiple dates (in Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis) during the band's 1992 tour in support of Revenge.

Contents

Album information

It was the first live album the band had released since 1977's Alive II, and the first live recordings released since 1985's "Animalize Live Uncensored" concert film. The recording of "I Was Made For Lovin' You", was actually recorded at one of the bands' soundchecks, but had the crowd overdubbed in the song to make it appear as if it is "live" which led to speculation that many other songs on "Alive III" could be overdubbed. The fact that keyboardist Derek Sherinian appears on Alive III leads to speculation that the band faked vocal parts on stage, specifically Gene Simmons, as he had done so on the "Hot In The Shade" tour in 1990.

This is evidenced by unmixed bootleg videos from two of the Auburn Hills concerts.[source needed] The band has been very secretive about having side keyboard players on possibly many of their tours through the 1980's and early 90's. Kiss fans are no stranger to the fact that some of Alive! and Alive II had certain parts doctored in the studio, and that some of the songs are not even recorded live in concert but at Electric Lady Studios with Eddie Kramer. One prime example of editing is the song "I Just Wanna", because the live version had Paul and the audience singing "I Just Wanna Fuck". In order to avoid a Mature Audiences label, they edited to the "I Just Wanna Fuh".

The album is the only live Kiss album released during the group's non-makeup era excluding Kiss Unplugged, released later in 1996. During the recording of Alive II, Kiss did not want to duplicate songs from Alive!, although some songs from Alive III are duplicate songs from their previous live albums. For example, "Rock and Roll All Nite" was performed on Alive! and again on Alive III, but was not featured on Alive II. It is also the first Kiss live album to feature a different lineup to the previous two, which featured the original lineup.

The liner notes of Alive III include a family tree showing the various Kiss lineups from 1973–1993, as well as bands that the then-current and former members of Kiss were in. It was designed by the band's Japanese fan club. Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, for whom Singer drummed 1986–87, is misnamed Tommy. The re-release of Alive III (as part of the Kiss Alive! 1975-2000 box set) contains an additional track, "Take It Off", matching the original international CD and US vinyl versions of the album.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2/5 stars[1]
Wiki letter w.svg This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Alive III was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 27, 1994.[2] Kerrang! magazine listed Alive III eleventh best album of 1993.[3] The album version of "The Star Spangled Banner" was ranked the seventh performance of the national anthem on the Ultimate Classic Rock list Top 10 National Anthem Guitar Solos, before Ace Frehley's version and after Joe Satriani's.[4]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1. "Creatures of the Night"   Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell Paul Stanley 4:40
2. "Deuce"   Gene Simmons Gene Simmons 3:42
3. "I Just Wanna"   Stanley, Vinnie Vincent Stanley 4:21
4. "Unholy"   Simmons, Vincent Simmons 3:43
5. "Heaven's on Fire"   Stanley, Desmond Child Stanley 4:02
6. "Watchin' You"   Simmons Simmons 3:35
7. "Domino"   Simmons Simmons 3:47
8. "I Was Made for Lovin' You"   Stanley, Child, Vini Poncia Stanley 4:31
9. "I Still Love You"   Stanley, Vincent Stanley 6:04
10. "Rock and Roll All Nite"   Stanley, Simmons Simmons 3:33
11. "Lick It Up"   Stanley, Vincent Stanley 4:18
12. "Forever"   Stanley, Michael Bolton Stanley 4:20
13. "I Love It Loud"   Simmons, Vincent Simmons 3:40
14. "Detroit Rock City"   Stanley, Ezrin Stanley 5:11
15. "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II"   Stanley, Simmons, Ezrin, Russ Ballard Stanley, Simmons 5:21
16. "The Star Spangled Banner"   Francis Scott Key (instrumental) 2:38


"Take It Off" originally was a bonus track on the Japanese, European and South American CD releases and the US vinyl release only, being placed between "Forever" and "I Love It Loud". This version of the album would later be included in the Alive! 1975–2000 4 CD boxed set.

Personnel

with

Charts

Album
Chart (1993) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Album Chart 14
Norway Top 40 Album[6] 15
Sweden Albums Top 60[7] 20
US Billboard 200[8] 9
Singles
Single Chart (1993) Position
"I Love It Loud" US Mainstream Rock Tracks[9] 22

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[10] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[2] Gold 500,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Releases

  • Mercury 314 514 777-2 (May 18, 1993): CD
  • Mercury 314 522 647-1 (May 18, 1993): vinyl

References

  1. ^ Alive III at Allmusic
  2. ^ a b "American album certifications – Kiss – Alive III". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Alive+III%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  3. ^ "Kerrang!'s list of best albums of 1993". http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/kerrang.html. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  4. ^ Top 10 National Anthem Guitar Solos. ultimateclassicrock.com. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  5. ^ "Derek Sherinian discography". Derek Sherinian Official Website. http://www.dereksherinian.com/discography.htm. Retrieved October 16, 2009. 
  6. ^ "VG-lista chart history-Kiss albums database". http://lista.vg.no/album_info.php?AlbumOp=show&albumId=5014&albumtype=album&albumtype_id=1. Retrieved May 29, 2011. 
  7. ^ "Sverigetopplistan chart history-Kiss albums database". http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=KISS&titel=Alive+III&cat=a. Retrieved May 29, 2011. 
  8. ^ "Billboard chart history-Kiss albums". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=5004&model.vnuAlbumId=66345. Retrieved February 12, 2009. 
  9. ^ "Billboard chart history-Kiss singles". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Singles&model.vnuArtistId=5004&model.vnuAlbumId=66345. Retrieved February 12, 2009. 
  10. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Kiss – Alive III". Music Canada. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=Alive+III&sa=Kiss&smt=0. 

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

Mentioned in

Alive III (1993 Album by Kiss)
KISS: Konfidential (1993 Music Film)
Kiss Alive! 1975-2000 [Box Set] (2006 Album by Kiss)
Eric Singer (Rock Artist)