Kiss – ‘Snake Attack Budokan: Last Show Japan Tour 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 – ‘Snake Attack Budokan: Last Show Japan Tour 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.

A month ago, we did a review of ‘Kabuki Beasts: Kyoto 1977’ and it was recorded Saturday, March 26, 1977 at Kyoto Kaikan Dai Ichi Hall in Kyoto, Japan. This is another Japanese show from that tour. In fact, it is the Last Show of the 1977 Japanese Tour and it was April 4, 1977 at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. It is called ‘Snake Attack Budokan: Last Show Japan Tour 1977’. There were only 150 of these made and sold so good luck trying to find one and if you do, I hope your wallet is full. Mine is #62.

There is a cool trick about this one. It is the full show and it is on two discs, but there are actually two recordings of the show. The first two discs are the main recording which used the Technics RS-686D to record the show and the last two discs used a Sony TC-3000SD. Both captured the same exact show but were in two different places. One is definitely better than the other, but not by much. Sometimes thing sound a little muddy, but for the most part everything is clear and it is very listenable. Yes, they are audience recordings, but really decent recordings at that. The CDs using the Technics have the much beter sound. The Sony one was a little quieter with the vocals and simply not as crisp as the other. Not sure if it was placement of the equipment or the Technics was simply a superior product.

Now, the setlist is EXACTLY the same as the other Japanese show we mentioned above and everything is basically the same. These recordings have two tracks at the beginning that are simply crowd noise and monitor check…plus the last track is crowd noise and announcement at the end of the show. So, they basically don’t cut anything from the moment they hit record. Being 1977, this is classic Kiss and nothing more. This has one killer track after another. They kick it off with “Detroit Rock City” and straight in to “Take Me” which is one I never get to hear enough live. Gene rocks out to “Let Me Go Rock ‘N’ Roll” and then he tears it up in the “Ladies Room”. It is all loud and sensational.

Let’s talk a little about the band’s playing. Well, they can play at this point and hadn’t lost anything. Peter’s drums are killer and he is pounding away. Ace’s playing is sloppy, but not in a bad way. It is the good way we like hearing him play. You get the freaking loud siren in “Firehouse” and with “I Want You” and “Makin’ Love” you get nothing but crowd pleasing rock & roll. Then throw in “Cold GIn” and an Ace guitar solo, an you can’t ask for anything more!!

Peter bangs it out for “Do You Love Me” as Paul struts through the vocals and then one of my favorite live songs is “Nothin’ to Lose” even if the start seems a little messed up. Peter sounds great when he does his part. Gene goes into a bass solo (if you can call it that as it is just noise to do the blood spitting) then in to “God Of Thunder” and he lets the Demon loose only to be pleasantly interrupted with a Peter drum solo only to come back with the finale of “God of Thunder”.

They wrap things up with “Rock And Roll All Nite” and although I am tired of this song, the energy throughout this show makes the song exciting again. And that is it as the crowd cheers louder and louder. The boys don’t disappoint and come back and do 3 encore songs including “Shout It Out Loud” followed by Peter doing “Beth” and the only one that sings it the way it should be sung. The end it all with another favorite of mine and that is “Black Diamond”.

And that is what you get on both discs. Now, the sound on these aren’t as good as the Kabuki Beasts show from last month, but this is still a great show. The biggest difference is the energy from the audience and the band aren’t as powerful. Other than that, it is still a great listen and I’d be satisfied with whichever version I listened to as it is still classic Kiss. I do like the concept of two different recordings of the same show, however, it is completely unnecessary as the Technics version is the one to hear. Overall, My Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars and getting a 0.5 bump for the concept. If you see this one, grab it.