Kiss – Crazy Killer Whales Alive! (Tarantura TCDKIS-2)

Crazy Killer Whales Alive! (Tarantura TCDKIS-2)

Aichi ken Taiikukan Nagoya, Japan Monday March 28, 1977

(78:29) Opening, Monitor Check, Introduction, Detroit Rock City, Take Me, Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll, Ladies Room, Firehouse, Makin’ Love, I Want You, Cold Gin, Guitar Solo, Do You Love Me, Bass Solo, God Of Thunder, Drum Solo, God Of Thunder, Rock And Roll All Nite, Shout It Out Loud (Encore), Beth (Encore), Black Diamond (Encore)

Hot on the heels of the great Heart-Breaker From Hell title Tarantura hits us with another great KISS show, this time going back to early 1977 and the Rock And Roll Over tour with another great Mr. Peach recording.

Recorded just days after last year’s Kabuki Beasts title this gem sounds like it was recorded very close to the stage, at times you can feel the audience at your back but there is very little interference directly by the recorder. The balance between instruments and vocals is excellent, everything is clear and well defined with a little bass in to boot and over all a very good to near excellent recording that is a pleasure to listen to.

The show is fast paced and there is not a lot of talking between songs, The band plow through the first two songs, Detroit Rock City is a classic opening song and grabs the crowd from the beginning, the sound is a little muddy but clears up about half way through and by the time the band plays Take Me the band is already hitting their stride along with the audience.

Paul sounds a little funny in his opening comments, “Does everybody feel …ALL..RIGHT” as if by slowing his speech down it will be easier for the crowd to follow him, he need not worry as the crowd claps in time with the band and follow their every move.

These 1977 concerts are great to listen to, the band is playing phenomenally well, probably the best they will ever play and seem to do nothing but want to please audiences. Ace is fluent tonight, his soloing throughout Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll is great and the song builds the shows momentum.

The first half of the show is used to showcase the new record, after the heavily produced Destroyer record the band comes back with a straight out rocker of an album, the songs are built for the stage and flow effortlessly from the groupie tale of Ladies Room to the hard rocking Makin’ Love to a ultra heavy I Want You all played with guts and enthusiasm. Interestingly the crowd seems to be enjoying themselves while the band plays but between songs they seem well behave and almost restrained. I Want You is probably my favorite of the new songs played, it has a dramatic feel to it with a heavy riff plus a great Ace solo to boot.

Paul does the same old booze rap to intro Cold Gin and the audience’s English sounds great as the respond to Paul’s “Alright” and his gets them the tell him what they want “Cold Gin !”

Ace is ready at the songs conclusion for his solo spot, his solo is fluent and he uses a lot of effects to give it the space effect that the audience eats up. It’s interesting to look at the set list and see how songs from different records go together and create a theme. Ladies Room and Firehouse….Makin’ Love and I Want You….Do You Love Me and Nothin’ To Lose.

The latter two again showcase the strength of the band, their ability to harmonize together clearly showing the influence of bands like the Beatles and Beach Boys. Peter was such an important part of the original line up, his unique vocals take center stage during Nothin’ To Lose.

Gene’s bass solo is his nightly excuse to spit up blood and is a cool prelude to the evilness of God Of Thunder, again punctuated by Peter’s drum fill and marching patterns and goes on to give a spirited three minute solo. Rock And Roll All Nite closes the main set, the crowd chants something and claps till the band comes with a three song encore of Shout It Out Loud, Beth and the standard closing Black Diamond.

The packaging is fantastic, gatefold full color cover with fantastic pictures of the band. The visual is striking of the band in full costume with the beautifully color robes and on the cover large golden whale statues, very classy indeed. The inside has a picture of the master cassette and a couple of rare shots of the band on the airplane and sound check sans make up and there is a OBI sleeve also. Tarantura has once again hit a home run with this release, with KISSOLOGY 4 due later this year it’s a great time to be a KISS fan.