KISS – Kissology Vol. 3 1992-2000

Kissology Volume 3. 1992-2000 – The Ultimate Kiss Collection – was released late last year. From 2000 up until now, the band has not been very active, and what has been done has basically been covered with the releases of Kiss Symphony and Rock The Nation Live, as well as numerous episodes of Gene Simmons’ family jewels. It’s therefore easy to assume that Volume 3 is the last part of the Kissology saga. But, never say never – it’s been a while since the first farewell tour, and still the band is active …

Kiss fans are not like other fans, so the problems, if you can call them problems, with Kissology Volume 1 and 2, was the fact that most fans had seen the material before -– some of the material was even floating around as bootlegs in better quality. And, you have to look at the Kissology series as something for the fans, even the most diehard fans, as the average Joe wouldn’t pick up three disc sets with a total of nine DVDs (actually, 18 discs counting the bonuses) in order to just check the band out. From a fan’s point of view, it’s necessary to have the complete shows, no matter if there’s a blunder here or there, or a guitar is out of tune. The Kissology trilogy consists of many incomplete shows, and that’s not what the fans want to have. Then again, they buy the DVDs anyway – even all three editions of each. Someone might live a decent life in sunny California because of this.

Volume 3 is therefore the most interesting Kissology for most fans, and starts with perhaps Kiss’s strongest lineup musically speaking. Surely not the most Kiss-sounding lineup, as Bruce Kulick on guitar wasn’t an Ace Frehley-wannabe, but he was a part of a once creative Kiss, and didn’t have to be. The 1992 concert from Detroit – a city that has played a major part in Kisstory – shows the amazing talent and groove from Eric Singer, who after doing Paul Stanley’s first solo tour in 1989 and performing on the band’s Revenge album, was the natural replacement for the late Eric Carr. Singer was and still is a force behind his kit, and Kiss sounded fresher than ever in ’92, especially because Gene Simmons had given up doing any and everything else and put his focus back on track. The setlist is a nice blend of Kiss material from all chapters of Kisstory, a mixture that proved to be more difficult to do later on in the same decade.

Next up, after a cool documentary about the band and the conventions, which took place in the mid-nineties, there’s a so-called behind the scenes that leads up to the coolest Kiss show of said decade; the MTV unplugged session in 1995. The diehards have all seen the un-cut version from this show, with all the mistakes and premiere nerves, and what is left here is simply the home video that once was released. Kiss performed quite a few gems this night, not to forget that this was the first and last time they had six members of the family on stage. If you consider yourself a Kiss fan, but you for some reason have thought twice about getting Volume 3 – this show is worth the price of the DVD set alone!

The MTV unplugged session led to the inevitable; a full on Kiss reunion with all four original members. On disc 2 you will find the band’s opening (tour) show for this massive comeback – while the DVD The Second Coming is highly recommended for a more in-depth look at why and how this took place. All stupid Grunge music aside; the Kiss reunion was the most significant musical single event in the nineties, whether you consider the music to be relevant or not. Also here, you can witness the magic between Kiss and their Detroit audience, but alas, the videos are taken from the screen cameras, so you get too many close-ups, the screen is black in-between the songs, and again; it’s not the complete show.

The last part of disc 2 has half of the premiere show from the band’s Psycho Circus world tour, from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In true Kiss fashion, they tried to beat the show from last time around, and for this event, you were given 3D-glasses upon entering the stadium (yeah, I still have mine!). The 3D effect worked quite well, but even if it was successful, it never set a show standard and was soon forgotten. If the unplugged show never was your thing, and you still have doubts whether to buy this DVD or not; here’s another show that alone is worth getting the DVD set! It’s not perfect by any means, but at least it’s complete, and it sees Kiss trying to prove that their new album at the time, Psycho Circus, could be performed next to the classics. A fine album it was, and it worked. The only disturbing fact here is that half the show is on disc 2, and the rest opens disc 3 – maybe in order to make all 3 DVDs in the set last about three hours … but what’s the point, really?

Disc 3, apart from the last part of the Los Angeles show, has a short performance from the premiere party for the movie Detroit Rock City, as well as The Last Kiss, a show from the first of many farewell tours. Ask Ace Frehley about why he is no longer a part of Kiss, and he asks back: Didn’t we do a farewell tour?

Anyway, nobody wants to see Kiss die …

Disc 4 is a show that dates all the way back to 1973, before the band had released their first album. The show is placed here as a little extra and is not to be considered value for the bucks you part ways with – but for the fans, it’s indeed a nice bonus. Also, if you really have too much time on your hands, you can watch the whole thing all over again with commentary tracks. A piece of advice if there ever is a Kissology Volume 4: Please show a sign on the screen where the comments come in, so you can turn on that option, much like the Rock The Nation Live DVD, where you can go choose camera angles.

Speaking of bonuses; the DVD comes with a bonus disc from the KROQ Weenie Roast performance in ’96, which is in fact a complete (but short) performance. There are two more versions of the DVD out there; a Best Buy exclusive and another Walmart exclusive, meaning that the ones this DVD trilogy is made for, have to buy the package three times!

Yes, someone IS indeed living a decent life in sunny California …