Kiss – Kabuki Beasts Kyoto 1977 (Tarantura TCDKIS-1)

  Kabuki Beasts Kyoto 1977 (Tarantura TCDKIS-1)  

Saturday 26 March 1977 Kyoto Kaikan Dai Ichi Hall Kyoto Japan  

(77:01) Monitor Check, Introduction, Detroit Rock City, Take Me, Let Me Go Rock ‘N’ Roll, Ladies Room, Firehouse, I Want You, Makin’ Love, Cold Gin, Guitar Solo, Do You Love Me, Nothin’ To Lose, Bass Solo, God Of Thunder, Drum Solo, God Of Thunder, Rock And Roll All Nite, Shout It Out Loud, Beth, Black Diamond, SE  

Kiss first tour of Japan consisted of ten concerts in five cities, the highlight being an incredible three night run at the Budokan in Tokyo one of which was filmed and broadcast on HBO. The recording featured in this Tarantura release is from the third date on the tour in Kyoto. Kyoto Kaikan Hall a theatre that held an intimate audience of 2,500 people. The source for the recording comes from the vast Mr Peach archives and is of very good sound quality, very little audience interference with a nice balance of instruments.

The concert itself showcases the band in top form playing a fast paced concert featuring a strong set list consisting of four new songs with the klassics mixed in. Starting with “Alright Kyoto, you wanted the best and you got them, the hottest band in the world KISS !”

The band rips into probably their best opener, Detroit Rock City that leads directly into Take Me, the first new song of the night. Paul has a brief hello to Kyoto and the band goes directly into a smokin version of Let Me Go Rock ‘N’ Roll, the playing really tight and Ace has a great solo. After the seconds new song, Ladies Room, the audience is in the bands hands and they deliver with Firehouse.

A set highlight, the band are again firing on all cylinders, towards the end of the songs during the siren wail you can hear the crowd roar their approval of Gene’s fire breathing. Back to business the band goes for the one two punch of I want you and Makin Love, the former featuring a great audience participation with Paul and the crowd singing I want you, Paul literally sings his head off, good stuff. The now tradition introduction to Cold Gin has a twist, the Japanese audience shouting Cold Gin is really kool and the band play a tight version that leads into a great Ace solo.

His playing is very fluent, the crowd is quiet and seem to listen (and watch) intently as he wrings a flurry of notes from his Les Paul. God of Thunder features the second vehicle for solo’s featuring both Gene and his blood spitting and Peter Criss’  who starts his solo to the rapture of applause.

The song itself is probably the heaviest and most demonic sounding in their entire catalog and translates well to the concert stage. The band brings the house down with Rock N Roll All Nite and Shout It Out Loud but the song that gets the loudest applause is the ballad from the Destroyer record, Beth. The crowd cheer throughout but because of the recorder positioning it only adds to the ambiance of the recording.

The Obligatory finally is of course Black Diamond and it does not fail to deliver, the crowd is following the band at every note and show their enthusiasm by clapping and cheering at Paul’s solo guitar intro. An excellent end to an excellent concert, the band are obviously inspired by the response of the fans and give their all, a full show in 77 minutes with not a lull in the whole set.

The packaging is a single sleeve beautifully adorned with photos of the band in kimonos that were well featured in the Japanese music magazines with a very dramatic on the back featuring Gene in a black Kimono with red trim in full costume striking the pose with his dragon boots in front of a temple with a huge Buda on the top.

There is a full color 9 1/2″ X 14″ poster of band live with a photo of the master tapes at the bottom, a very klassy production by Tarantura. For the KISS fan this is a highly recommended title, again kudos must go out to Mr Peach. His incredible archive has given collectors quality recordings of a diverse number of bands at the highest peak. Hopefully the new years brings more of his incredible recordings.