Kiss – ‘Live in Maryland 1977’ – 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 – ‘Live in Maryland 1977’ – 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.

The next bootleg up is ‘Live in Maryland 1977’. This was was recorded at the Capital Centre in Largo, MD way back on December 20, 1977 for the Kiss Alive II Tour. According to various spots on the internet, this show was actually recorded on video with expectations to be used for the American Music Awards show, but I don’t think were ever used. You do get those show in an edited format as the bonus disc on Kissology Vol. 1 from the Wal-Mart edition sold. This recording we have here on CD is that version as it is not a full show.

What does that mean of the sound, well, if you’ve seen the video, you know it sounds fantastic. The quality is great as it was taken from the DVD, I’m sure. Happy to have that show, even if edited, on CD. This particular disc was released in 2014 and is in a digipak. The pictures used on the back cover and inside are pretty grainy and are probably copies of a copy. It is only 1 CD and a soundboard recording.

The Album kicks off with the typical “You Wanted The Best…” and the band goes in to “I Stole Your Love” which is nice to see a different opener from the norm here (at least norm from what’ve reviewed so far. This is peak Kiss. Peter could still kill it on the kit and Ace wasn’t overly sloppy. Both Gene and Paul still sound great as well. There is a great energy to their playing as they weren’t going through the motions yet. Then we skip “King of the Night Time World” in the full show and go in to “Ladies Room” with Gene on vocals and man he is into it! Sounds great.

“Firehouse” is up next and it is totally rocking. The riffs are nasty, the drum beats are heavy and the siren rings louder than ever. Then with a ratta-tat-tat of the drums you get that famous drum fill to open “Love Gun”. I love towards the end when that drum fill and Ace’s riffs cut through it like butter. They rock through that one and though we skip “Let Me Go Rock & Roll”, we get the next one, “Makin’ Love” without noticing the skip. I can just picture Paul strutting around spitting out these lyrics. Great effects put on his vocals. A blistering, rip-roaring song.

We get to the inappropriate, “Christine Sixteen”, with some rough guitar riffs that just don’t seem quite right. Gene is on vocals again and we race through this one. I cringe now hearing this one as we got a bunch of guys in their 20’s singing about Sweet Sixteen girls…ugh!! Glad this one ended, but hate they skip over “Shock Me” as I love Ace songs. Instead, we get “I Want You” which I do love also and is a great Paul song. They follow it up with “Calling Dr. Love” and another great opening riff and cowbell. Gene delivers another demon like performance. The backing vocals leave a lot to be desired though.

Then it is non-stop rock & roll anthems kicking off with “Shout it Out Loud” and man do the race through that song. It seems to be turned up a notch. They then go in to Gene’s signature song (written by Paul) with “God of Thunder”, but not before a little bass solo (or whatever you call that part). It is a bunch of eerie noises and effects just for Gene to split some blood. Visually, I love it. On a CD, it is lacking the full impact. But the song itself kicks ass and it is always a highlight. We even get a Peter Criss drum solo in the middle (like they always do).

Then the end the main set with the classic “Rock And Roll All Nite”...you know that so no need to go further. They skip “Detroit Rock City” & “Beth” on here and go right to the end of the show with the another classic “Black Diamond”. Man, I love that soft guitar opening and how they explode in to the song. And since there was no “Beth” at this show, great to get a Peter song. This is another song they play that I don’t tire of unlike “Rock And Roll All Nite”. And that is the end of the show!

Despite it not being a full show, it is really a great recording. They have edited it to sound like a continuous show so you don’t really notice the songs cut. It is great to finally have this on CD instead of only video so now it can be played in the car. The band is in their prime and everyone is hitting on all cylinders still (for the most part, a few rough patches but that is a live show). Since this show was recorded, I’m sure the full show is out there, but if you come across this one, still worth getting. My Overall Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars and only dinged a little for not being the full show. You