CHAPTER 43 - Alive III (1993)

“KISS Alive III” Album Notes:

Produced by Eddie Kramer and KISS. Recorded live during the “Revenge” tour at The Palace Of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan on November 27, Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana on November 28, and The Coliseum Theatre, Richfield, Ohio, on November 29, 1992. Additional material recorded during soundchecks prior to the three shows. Mixed by Eddie Kramer and Garth Richardson at A&M Studios, LA. assisted by Brian Scheuble, Brain Virtue, Mike Douglass, Peter Magadaleno and David Hewitt. Digitally edited by Michael Bernard. Keyboards and additional backing vocals by Derek Sherinian who had toured with Alice Cooper’s band when Eric Singer was drummer. “Tears Are Falling” was brought into the set and recorded during the Cleveland show, though it wouldn’t make the album.

43.01. Creatures Of The Night

According to Gene, this was one of three songs that came primarily from the Cleveland show. Gene summed up the three shows: “You know some shows sound good and others don’t. Detroit was very good, Cleveland was fair, and Indianapolis good. Sometimes, as with ‘Creatures,’ the best sound was on one of the weakest nights” (KISS Crazy #17).

43.02. Deuce

43.03. I Just Wanna

43.04. Unholy

43.05. Heaven’s On Fire

43.06. Watchin’ You

According to Gene, this was one of three songs that came primarily from the Cleveland show.

43.07. Domino

43.08. I Was Made For Lovin’ You

This song was the lead track on the only single issued properly in support of the album. Released in Europe on July 19, 1993, the CD-single (Mercury/Phonogram 862 491-2) also included “I Love It Loud (Live),” “I Was Made For Lovin’ You (Studio),” and “Partners In Crime.”

43.09. I Still Love You

Oddly, neither 43.08 & 43.09 were not included in KISS’ setlists during the “Revenge” tour of 1992. Instead, these songs were among those songs recorded during soundchecks in Indianapolis and Cleveland. These soundchecks were recorded, not only to allow the band to test out the recording and show equipment, to allow for fix-up work with several songs being done as instrumentals.

43.10. Rock And Roll All Nite

43.11. Lick It Up

43.12. Forever

43.13. Take It Off

Only included on the American vinyl and international releases of the album.

43.14. I Love It Loud

While the “Alive III” version of this song was included on some of the CD-singles issued in support of the album (released to radio 4/26/93), the recording would also be used when the band filmed a promo for NFL’s “Monday Night Football.” Mixed with live footage from the “KISS Konfidential” video the band would also lip-synch part of the performance piece at ABE Studios in Hollywood.

During the filming an electrical generator fire during filming caused a delay made the press: “While shooting at ABC Television studios in Hollywood, one of the nearby electrical generators caught on fire, badly charring a giant orange tree located in the lot’s main parking area where the video was being filmed. For fear that the generator might explode, band and crew members ran for safety in the nearby underground dressing room building, while fire trucks came to extinguish the high flames. Two hours later, while crewmember’s were still slightly ruffled, KISS jumped back on stage to continue a show-stopping rendition of the hit song” (River City Music News). The clip was broadcast on October 18, 1993 prior to a game between the Los Angeles Raiders and Denver Broncos.

43.15. Detroit Rock City

43.16. God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II

Eric singer sings harmony with Paul on the song.

43.17. Star Spangled Banner

This had originally been the basis for part of Bruce’s solo on “Spit” from the “Revenge” album, but soon found itself a part of the KISS live set as a solo spot for Bruce to do what the likes of Hendrix had done before him. Bruce has suggested that the inclusion of the piece was a result of the stage design and that he had suggested to Gene that he’d like to play part of it during the show. Bruce commented, “I just presented it to Gene and Paul. I said, hey wouldn’t it be great if instead of me doing a regular guitar solo if I actually played the Star Spangled Banner as a little solo you know kind of Hendrix style. And then Paul suggested one up better instead of that, why don’t we just end the show with it and blow up everything and do a whole production thing like that” (LF #77, Kris Eisen). When recorded for the “Alive III” album Bruce would use an Unibot pedal similar to the one which Jimi Hendrix had used during his classic performance of the piece at Woodstock.

Television Session Notes:

Filmed at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California on May 20, 1993 tracks 43.18 and 43.19 were broadcast on the Arsenio Hall show along with an interview with the band.

43.18. Detroit Rock City

43.19. Deuce

Television Session Notes:

Tracks 43.20-43.22 were filmed for Dick Clark’s “Rockin’ New Year” on December 12, 1993 at Walt Disney World’s Pleasure Island in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. “Rock And Roll All Nite” and “Makin’ Love” would be broadcast on the show with Bruce suggesting, “We really just did Detroit to warm everything up” (Firehouse#61). This performance would mark the end of what had been a quiet year with the band having only played two live shows, one of which had been a wedding reception!

43.20. Detroit Rock City

43.21. Rock And Roll All Nite

43.22. Makin’ Love