Young And Wasted (Bondage Music BON347/348)
Municipal Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee USA January 11, 1984
Disc 1 (54:35) Introduction, Creatures Of The Night, Detroit Rock City, Cold Gin, Fits Like A Glove, Firehouse, Gimme More (Including Vinnie Vincent guitar Solo), War Machine, Bass Solo, I Love It Loud, I Still Love You
Disc 2 (52:16) Drum Solo, Young And Wasted, Love Gun, All Hells Breakin’ Loose, Black Diamond, Lick It Up, Rock And Roll All Nite
In what is billed as a complete soundboard recording Bondage gives us a very good KISS title, a complete Lick It Up concert with excellent sound quality soundboard source of a great show with a minor drawback, it runs 2-3% too fast. For this reviewer it is still listenable and very enjoyable, the band is in fine form but to the hardcore KISS collector it may be a bit annoying.
KISS were in the beginning of what could be called a comeback, the early 80’s were not kind to the band and they saw poor record sales and strife within the group that let to two original members leaving. with the popularity of the new medium of music video and MTV the band quickly took use of them and made one of the boldest moves of their career, taking off their trade mark make up. It not only gave the band a renewed vigor but also gave them news media exposure for their newest record, Lick It Up and had a great line up (although short lived) of Simmons, Stanley, Carr, and Vincent.
The recording begins with a mic test before the “you Wanted The Best” introduction and the band hits the stage with the Creatures > Detroit Rock City opening that worked so well the previous tour. The band is in good form and are playing well, they are tight and the songs go effortlessly. Paul gives an intro about getting “fucked Up” a few days earlier on New Years Eve as an introduction to Cold Gin. The first new song of the night is Fits like A Glove, sounding even faster due to the pitch issue and your typical Gene Simmons lyric. The band storms through Firehouse and get huge response from the audience.
Vinnie vincent start the next new track off with a guitar solo, Gimme More co written by Vincent and Paul Stanley as a ball out rocker, it is precisely that. Vincents guitar solo is well played, Flurries of notes and Hendrix like sounds make for and interesting and enjoyable solo. The song leads into the heaviest song of the night, War Machine has a killer groove and set highlight with Eric Carrs drum set atop the tank turret. Gene gets his solo next and leads into I Love It Loud, the song that at the time was a war cry for rock and roll, the crowd responds and are audible with the opening Yeah Yeah Ahg Yeah. Right Between The Eyes for sure! The disc ends with the Stanley written song from the previous record, I still Love You. The song is classic Paul Stanley, a great, heavy powder type ballad before they were the in thing.
After a great Eric Carr solo (how could it be bad?) we get another new track, the Simmons penned track Young and Wasted. Aggressive in nature the song has a great chorus, Paul does a killer job mimicking the swooping sound found on the recorded version and Vinnie plays a great solo that hits the mark.
Another great Paul rap follows with reference to his “goddamn guitar” and the “fountain of youth”, you guessed it his Love Gun. Vinnie plays a great solo, sounding nothing like Ace’s he plays his own way and is exciting to hear his takes on the classics.
Eric Carr was a very talented guy, he taught himself how to play guitar so he could contribute more to the band, All Hells Breaking Loose is one of his firsts written with help from Paul and Gene the song was a popular video and single, live it is every bit as good. Black Diamond and Lick It Up finishes the main set in typical KISS fashion,The encore is the standard Rock and Roll all Nite.
A very well played concert, KISS were definitely playing to impress their existing fans and more importantly the newer ones. The packaging is typical Bondage, color and relevant photographs from the period along with good graphics packaged in a slim line jewel case. If there was more attention to detail with concerns to the tape speed this would have been an essential release to own but unfortunately it becomes a problem especially on repeated listening’s. I can only recommend it if you are a hardcore KISS collector or find it cheap.
3 Comments
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I agree on the quality of both sound and performance, both are excellent. You are right, this is my only silver from the Lick It Up tour and all I had to compare it to is the fragement of video from the KISSOLOGY and to my ears it sounds a little fast. If the Wolfgangs Vault source is identical in speed then I stand corrected. I do also agree with comments of other Bondage titles about their practice of heavy handed mastering, but I do own several of their titles and can look past it since they were a label who catered to metal. Without them collectors would not have UFO, Scorpoins, Preist, KISS, Maiden….etc on silver cds.
I usually agree to the reviews here but here relayer67 must have had an off day. ;-)
Nashville is a great recording and a great show. I don’t know if he knew KISS in this era but the sound is authentic. They DID play FAST, like many bands in those days. They were younger, hungrier and again, playing fast was in fashion then. Listen to, for instance Iron Maiden then and now. But back to this recording. It was on Wolfgang’s vault and have it from there and the sped is correct and identical to the one on this bondage release allthough I don’t know if bondage has the same source as this one as Wolfgang’s is better. I suggest an upgrade of this release would be a welcome one.