Kiss – Boxx (Vol. 1) (1993) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection,… More

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Kiss – Boxx (Vol. 1) (1993) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have another Australian Bootleg which means it has a big “UNAUTHORIZED” across the cover. It is called Boxx (Vol. 1) and was released in 1993 by a label called Banana and distributed by Apple House Music. What is with the fruit references?? It’s packaging is identical to the Live Vol. 1 we did a few weeks back. Both were made in Australia. This time instead of tracks from one show we get them from two. One is Cleveland 1975 and the other is actually Nashville 1984 despite the cover saying ’85. Oops. It looks like songs 1-6 are from June 21, 1975 at the Cleveland Music Hall and was actually part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour Broadcast…which explains why it sounds so good. Tracks 7-13 are from January 11, 1984 show at Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

It starts off with what is called “Intro” so I was expecting a big “You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best…” opening, however, it was simply the intro to the song “Hotter Than Hell” as are only taking songs from the setlist here and not a full show. “Hotter Than Hell” really cooks. The guitars are smoking, the bass is steaming and the drums are explosive. Paul’s vocals are killer and it is hard to believe this is a bootleg. The go right into “Firehouse” like they do in the original full show. And it is more of the same awesomeness. You know how the song goes so no need discussing that, simply know this sounds like a band in their prime and hungry as hell.

Now we jump to the last song of the original show with the classic Kiss song “Black Diamond”. I have to say, the transitions between songs is flawless as it sounds like one was played right after the other. It starts off with the soft guitar notes and Paul singing softly with the “Ooh, ooh, ooh’s” and BAM!!, the full band explodes and it rocks out. No “HIT IT!!” thought from Paul. Peter takes the reins and does a bang up job. Then we get to a killer live song that you don’t hear very often and that is “Let Me Know” from the debut. FYI…this was called “Sunday Driver” at one point in its development. This does what I wish Kiss did more of and that was have Gene and Paul share vocals. Fun song to hear live as it is rarity. They end this first set of live songs with “Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night” which as you can tell is not spelled like it should be. What can you say about this one…we will move on.

The last batch of songs are the 1984 show and I was worried the sound quality might change up and well, it does. First was an awkward cut from the prior show. Second, the sound is a little hollow sounding and the instruments aren’t as crisp. It kicks off with “Creatures of the Night”. Despite the sound quality not as good, it still sounds great as there is a lot of crowd noise so that gives it a lot of energy. They transition next in to “Detroit Rock City” and again, classic Kiss. They play it fast and furious as they tended to do around this time. Both Eric and Bruce were speed racers.

We then get the “Alcohol” intro from Paul even though this one is a little shorter than he has done in the past. Of course that means, “Cold Gin”. You have Bruce on guitar and he does that famous riff and although it isn’t done like you’d expect as he doesn’t play the same guitar as Ace, you still recognize and it and get excited. He even does the solo his way. Gene attacks those lyrics as only Gene can. And that is the way I like it. Gene keeps the reins as we now get the rock anthem “I Love It Loud”…this is the song that told me Kiss was back when they released it on the Creatures album. The drums sound flat so you don’t get the same impact…but damn do you hear the crowd chant it all back.

The famous drum barrage and an explosive kicks off “Love Gun”. The energy is high and fast, the crowd is electric and the band races through another classic. Then it all ends with two songs from their last two non-makeup era. First is “All Hell’s Breaking Loose”. I love that opening riff and the music has a cockiness, strutting vibe to it. Paul, in all his own cockiness, spits out the lyrics and the Love Child’s style. Such a killer track. It all ends with the song that started the non-makeup ear and that is “Lick It Up”. The first time we say them without the make-up (and we screamed…put it back on). Seriously, a crowd favorite and such a fun song to singalong with. I mean who doesn’t love to sing out “Lick It Up, Lick It Up…OOOOOH! OOOOH OOOOH!”.

And there you have it, another bootleg from John Humphrey’s former collection. This one isn’t bad although it is only pieces of two shows. The sound on the Cleveland shows is amazing and even the Nashville songs sound great if it isn’t quite the same quality. The songs picked are all great live tracks so no complaint there. The treat for me was the song “Let Me Know” as that one stopped being played a long time ago. I think this one is worth having if you see it. It usually isn’t very expensive if you find it. Would I have liked a full show instead…YES!! Absolutely. But I could see this one getting played again. My Overall Score is 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars. The sound was better than expected and better then the other Australian Bootleg I reviewed and it had some 80’s songs…who doesn’t love that era!!