Kiss – ‘Boxx (Vol. 2) – Live in Europe 1984’ (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. 2) – Live in Europe 1984’ (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. 2) – Live in Europe 1984 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 other two we’ve reviewed from this company All were made in Australia. This time we get a Gold Disc for the CD which is different.

This show has Bruce Kulick on guitar and he was not yet an official member. All the songs are from a show at the Gaumont Theater in Ipswich, England on October 11, 1984 for the Animalize Tour. I have a full show from this European Tour and it was the October 26 show in Stockholm on the “They Only Come Out at Night” bootleg. This one here is only 10 tracks, it is not a full show, but with only 3 songs are classic 70’s Kiss and the rest are all from the 80’s, I am truly okay with that as I love the 80’s songs. Heck, the 80’s were the era I grew up in. The 70’s, I was a little kid and influenced heavily by my brother’s taste. The 80’s were all my doing.

Unlike Vol. 1, this kicks off with the “You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best” and the band opens with “Detroit Rock City”. A familiar opener and one of the best. High energy, explosive and full on rock & roll. The sound is great on this one too. The tempo is a little fast, but not unusual for 80’s Touring Kiss. At the end we get a big, “Woo Ho!” from Paul and then he goes into his alcohol speech for the intro of “Cold Gin” and the crowd goes nuts! Bruce comes in with that ripping riff and the band is let loose. A beast of a song. Again, the tempo is insane which is all of this album, however, it all sounds awesome.

The last 70’s song is from their debut album and it is “Strutter”. The backing vocals are a little muddied, but overall, another solid rocker. Then it is on to the 80’s and first up is Gene’s “Fits Like A Glove”. The down and dirty and very sleazy song ramps up the testosterone in the crowd. I’m not sure how Gene can sing it that fast without taking a breath. Gene’s bass is loud in the mix and there is one drawn out sliding note he does in this song that is really killer. This song is like a hot knife through butter as Bruce’s solo is smoking.

Then it is Paul’s turn again and he hits that crazy “Woo hoo hoo hoooooo yeah” for the opening of “Heaven’s on Fire”. Eric’s is holding the rhythm as he pounds those drums. Paul’s vocals are in prime form and when the crowd breathe’s back the “Hah Hah Hah” it is spine tingling. Ok, not really, but it is still sounds cool. Now, I’ve mentioned the tempo a few times and the next one is naturally fast and it is “Under the Gun”. This guitar heavy, riff slaying rocker is pure 80’s over-shredding and I love every finger flying note.

Paul goes into one of his horrible sex talks and this one is about submarines and women going down somewhere. Not sure how that really related to this next song, but seriously Paul. What the hell!! “I’ve Had Enough” is the next song and actually is one of my favorites from ‘Animalize’ so I was glad this one was on here. Another speedy ass track and par for the course at this point. Then the final three tracks are all from the ‘Creatures’ album and first up is the ballad “I Still Love You”. The haunting guitar opening the track and Paul’s vocals are so powerful and emotive in this one. A great song to begin with and as good live. Damn, Paul sounds so good here.

Then Gene is on board for the track “I Love It Loud”. After a few “Arights”, Eric’s drum come pounding in and they tear things up with the rock anthem that is quintessentially Gene. The song that brought Kiss back into my life after a couple of dud albums (I like them today though, funny enough). That chorus is one massive hook and if it is too loud, well, you are too old (hmm…that sounds familiar!!) The final track here, but not on the actual show, is “Creatures of the Night”. A strange song to close it out, but not a strange song at all. Another Paul rocker that leaves skid marks from its speedy tempo. It turns out it isn’t a bad song to go out after all as it they tear it up here and leave you wanting more.

Despite this being a partial show, it really gives you a great taste of what to expect from Kiss back in 1984. This is a great smattering of some great live songs during an era that gets overlooked as everyone loves Make-Up era Kiss more. I like them both equally. Plus, anytime I can get 80’s songs live, I am happy. I actually don’t mind the speedy tempo’s because I saw almost every 80’s tour so it was what I was used to seeing. My Overall Score of this one is a 4.0 out of 5.0 as it had great sound, great songs, just too short. If you see it, grab it because this is one that usually is pretty cheap to find.