GENRE: Hard Rock | Glam RockFORMAT: Lossless (Flac) SIZE: (677mb (3% Recovery) Audience Recording (EX+) at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, JAPAN on March 29 1978.
(Tarantura TCDKIS78-2-1,2)
TRACKLIST:
Disc 1:
01. Announcement
02. Monitor Check
03. Introduction
04. I Stole Your Love
05. King Of The Night Time World
06. Ladies Room
07. Firehouse
08. Love Gun
09. Let Me Go, Rock And Roll
10. Makin' Love
11. Christine Sixteen
12. Shock Me
13. Guitar Solo
14. I Want You
Disc 2:
01. Calling Dr. Love
02. Shout It Out Loud
03. Bass Solo
04. God Of Thunder
05. Drum Solo
06. God Of Thunder
07. Rock And Roll All Nite
08. Detroit Rock City
09. Beth
10. Black Diamond
11. Announcement
NOTES:In less than a year Tarantura has put their stamp on the KISS Kollectors community with their releases documenting the 1977 and 1978 Japanese tours featuring Mr. Peach recordings to boot (no pun intended).
The fourth in the series features the second show on the bands 1978 Japanese tour to promote the Alive II record, all of the five shows were played at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo. The recording quality is what we have come to expect from a Peach recording, excellent sounding well balanced throughout with all instruments and vocals coming through nicely with virtually no audience interference close to the microphones, another superb document.
The second night at the Budokan has the band in excellent shape and they put on a fantastic, well played concert for a crowd who, like the previous night, are behind the band 110% and make the listening experience much more enjoyable. After obligatory “ALRIGHT TOKYO……You wanted the best and you got the best….the hottest band in the world….KISS” the band storm the stage and rip into the opening salvo of I Stole Your Love and King Of The Night Time World amid the sounds of exploding pyro and the roar of the audience who scream loudly and passionately for the band.
The band play the same set list as the previous evening and features well paced selections that focus on the post ALIVE ! records with a few of the klassics thrown in. Paul greets the crowd and tests the waters immediately getting the crowd to cheer “All right” and “Rock and roll ” and gets the girls to cheer “HELLO!” and asks to meet them in the Ladies Room and like the previous evening Paul is speaking a little slower and more precise as he communicates with the audience. The band’s playing is tight and again Peter is in great shape his drums fills are spot on as they follow with a rousing Firehouse and Love Gun, Ace nails his solo on the latter. Paul keeps the between song banter to a minimum and they continue to crank them out effortlessly.
What is interesting is the audience, they cheer and scream throughout the show keeping an incredible pace. Sometimes when you listen to live albums the audience noise sounds like it was dubbed on but the KISS audience are devoted and the fifth member of the band. During Shock Me the band helps Ace sing the chorus and again he is playing very well and while his solo goes through the familiar routine his playing is fast and very fluent.
The audience is at a fevered pitch and they are incredibly loud as they sing the chorus of Dr.Love, they even rival Paul’s singing during the song. They actually build momentum as the concert goes on ard help the band sing Shout It Out Loud and at its conclusion are almost deafening. They tone down for the beginning of Gene’s solo, it is interesting tonight as he uses some effect on his bass that gives it a tinny and echoes effect reminding of nails on a chalk board as he attempts to restore order with God Of Thunder.
The song is heavy and epic sounding and again Peter plays the marching pattern perfectly and in my opinion his drumming is what gives the song the demonic undertone. As usual the song evolves into a four minute drum solo, it sounds at times as if the days the band spent touring with Rush and the close relationship the two drummers had helped influence Peters drumming.
He had a large kit with a variety of different drums and utilized them during this very enjoyable solo punctuated by use of his gong as the band again takes the stage for the Thunder coda. Peter is having a great night, he is playing and singing his ass off, you can clearly hear his back ground vocals during Rock And Roll All Nite and can clearly tell he is enjoying himself.
The song is followed by thunderous applause and clapping and the war cry is “WE WANT KISS…WE WANT KISS” that goes on for a full three and half minutes until the crowd is rewarded with Detroit Rock City, again punctuated by explosion. The crowd is on spot for the “Get Up………Get Down part, the harmonized guitar solo by Ace and Paul is perfect. The song is followed by the “WE WANT KISS” chants that leads to a beautiful rendition of Beth that brings the house down, Peter lets out a “whoo” obviously overtaken with the overwhelming love from the audience who politely clap during the song. There is only one song that can finish off the crowd, Black Diamond.
The “WE WANT KISS” chants stop as Paul takes the stage, the audience goes completely bonkers as he interacts with them before playing the songs gentle opening chords. I always loved the songs use of vocal harmonizing and the interplay of Paul and Peter, the latter’s gritty style is matched perfectly with the lyrical content of the one of the bands best songs. Ace wrings out the emotion during his solo and the band finishes with the bombastic use of theatrics and pyrotechnics that leaves the crowd cheering, some like wild beasts ! The house lights come up and closing announcement is made before the recording ends.
Tarantura must given props for their KISS releases, all are beautifully packaged in glossy gatefold sleeves, this one is no different. The front cover is a great shot of the band putting on their make up prior to the show. The sleeve center has shots of the master cassettes and black and white pictures of the band in a back stage dressing / tuning room with cartoon like balloons with Japanese captions and four separate photos of the band members sans make up. The set even comes with a OBI strip and the picture cds are a work of art, with the cover being on disc one and a shot of Peter on the second. With the 1978 tours being very poorly documented this release is a must have and very highly recommended.
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Enjoy !
