Kiss – ‘Live Vol. 1: Detroit, Michigan April 7, 1974 – 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 Vol. 1: Detroit, Michigan April 7, 1974 – 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 go back to 1974. April 7, 1974 to be exact. This bootleg is from their Detroit, Michigan show that was recorded at the Michigan Palace. The release is called Live Vol. 1 and is out of Australia from a label called Joker. It is Unauthorized as it says in rather large print on the front cover. This is real early in their career and is from The First Kiss Tour!! This was for the Radio Station WABX-FM Kite-In and Balloon Fly show and if I’m not mistaken, there was another up and coming band called Aerosmith on the same bill along with Michael Finnelly and The Mojo Boogie Band. As far as the track listing, there is an error…well, not an error but more of an omission. On the same track as “Cold Gin” is the song “100,000 Years” which is not listed. So that was a plus.

The sound is not that great. Very muddy and sounds like a recording of a recording of a tape. The volume starts off low and suddenly you can hear it getting louder as someone was turning it up. The band is introduced as “the most unusual band” which is totally awesome and so true for the time. Kiss opens with “Deuce” and like I said, the sound is bad. The volume goes up and down and not a good recording at all. But this is hungry, early Kiss and you can hear how good they still sound. A rocking opening song and Gene’s scream during Ace’s solo towards the end was awesome!!

Paul talks to the crowd and then they go right in to “Strutter”. The bass is real loud in the mix, but you can still hear Paul and he sounds flawless at this young age. Sound quality still sucks. Then the band plays an old Wicked Lester song “She”. Now, this is 1974 and Kiss have not released the song as Kiss…yet!! This version is close to the final studio version that was to come, but it is a lot slower here. The guitar riff is dirty and Ace is killing it. When you get to the solo it is like a little jam session as Peter and Gene lay down the groove and Ace plays over it and then his solo is even better. A real Ace showcase here.

“Firehouse” is up next and it is as good and nasty as it always is. And they have the trademark bell at the end to top it all off. That bell was just sold by John Humphrey at the same auction I bought these bootleg CDs. Paul talks for a quick second and tries to get the crowd on their feet, then they go in to “Nothin’ To Lose”. Always a great rockin’ track live and Gene and Peter on vocals. Peter gives it his all with his screams of “nothin’ to lose”. A band in their prime.

At this point, Paul asks people if they are high and no alcohol talk like he does later. The legendary guitar riff comes in and we are rocking hard with “Cold Gin”. Again, another guitar showcase for Ace. Man, he could play. Then the song fades out and I believe Gene’s bass solo was cut then it fades back in and we get the unlisted track, “100,000 Years” which sees some great drum work by Peter while Paul plays with the crowd a little. The song ends and it cuts to the next one without any Peter drum solo.

The final two songs first start off with a favorite of mine live and that is “Black Diamond”. I like the slow start and then Paul screaming “Hit it!” then everything explodes and Peter takes over vocals. Always so cool. Ace is guitar work is also great, Peter sounds great, hell…everything sounds great (you don’t mind the bad sound quality anymore and are just enjoying the show at this point). The band says goodnight, the crowd sceams for a minute. The radio people come and then the band comes back out. The final track is “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll” and not “Rock And Roll All Nite” as that song hasn’t been written yet. A fast paced, high energy rock anthem and a fun way to end the night.

The show is actually a great short set. Not a bad song on it and it is a band that was really hungry, really tight and really great. There was definitely something building with them it was simply too bad the studio albums couldn’t capture the live show energy…at least not until the Alive! Studio album…I mean live album. Despite the horrible sound quality of this bootleg, it is still very listenable as most of the bad qualities are towards the beginning. Crank it up and simply enjoy. My Overall Score is a 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars as the show was great and the sound was only bad in the beginning or you get used to it…either way, I like it.