Alive III
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| Alive III | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | May 18, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | November 27–29, 1992 | |||
| Venue | Cleveland, Detroit, and Market Square Arena, Indianapolis | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 66:53 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Producer | Kiss, Eddie Kramer | |||
| Kiss chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Alive III | ||||
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Alive III is a live album released by the American hard rock band Kiss in 1993. It is the third installment of the Alive series. The recording of Alive III took place over multiple dates (in Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis) during the band's 1992 tour in support of Revenge. It was certified gold in 1994.
Background[edit]
Alive III was the first live album the band had released since 1977's Alive II, and the first live recordings released since 1984's Animalize Live Uncensored concert film. The recording of "I Was Made for Lovin' You" was actually recorded at one of the band's soundchecks, but an audience was overdubbed onto the song to make it appear "live", which led to speculation[by whom?] that many other songs on Alive III could be overdubbed, as was done on the first two albums in the series.
The album is the first Kiss live album released during the group's non-makeup era, followed by Kiss Unplugged in 1996. During the recording of Alive II, Kiss did not want to duplicate songs from Alive!, although some songs in Alive III are duplicate songs from their previous live albums, such as "Rock and Roll All Nite". It is also the first Kiss live album to feature a different lineup to the previous two, which featured the original lineup.
The liner notes of Alive III include a family tree showing the various Kiss lineups from 1973 to 1993, as well as bands that the then-current and former members of Kiss were in. It was designed by the band's Japanese fan club. Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath (for whom Eric Singer drummed in 1986–87) is misnamed Tommy. The notes also mistakenly claim that "Watchin' You" is from Kiss, and "I Was Made for Lovin' You" from Dressed to Kill. The re-release of Alive III (as part of the Kiss Alive! 1975–2000 box set) contains an additional track, "Take It Off", matching the original international CD and US vinyl versions of the album.
Reception[edit]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10[2] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
| Q | [4] |
| Rock Hard | 7.0/10[5] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
"Canny power-pop gave a merciless headbanging", decided Jeremy Clarke in Q.[4] Kerrang! magazine listed Alive III as eleventh best album of 1993.[7]
Bruce Kulick's climactic version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was ranked seventh on the Ultimate Classic Rock list "Top 10 National Anthem Guitar Solos", before Ace Frehley's version and after Joe Satriani's.[8]
Alive III was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 27, 1994.[9]
Track listing[edit]
All credits adapted from the original release.[10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Creatures of the Night" | Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell | Paul Stanley | 4:40 |
| 2. | "Deuce" | Gene Simmons | Gene Simmons | 3:43 |
| 3. | "I Just Wanna" | Stanley, Vinnie Vincent | Stanley | 4:24 |
| 4. | "Unholy" | Simmons, Vincent | Simmons | 3:27 |
| 5. | "Heaven's on Fire" | Stanley, Desmond Child | Stanley | 4:15 |
| 6. | "Watchin' You" | Simmons | Simmons | 3:35 |
| 7. | "Domino" | Simmons | Simmons | 3:47 |
| 8. | "I Was Made for Lovin' You" | Stanley, Child, Vini Poncia | Stanley | 4:32 |
| 9. | "I Still Love You" | Stanley, Vincent | Stanley | 6:03 |
| 10. | "Rock and Roll All Nite" | Stanley, Simmons | Simmons | 3:32 |
| 11. | "Lick It Up" | Stanley, Vincent | Stanley | 4:18 |
| 12. | "Forever" | Stanley, Michael Bolton | Stanley | 3:53 |
| 13. | "Take It Off" (bonus track) | Stanley, Bob Ezrin, Kane Roberts | Stanley | 6:04 |
| 14. | "I Love It Loud" | Simmons, Vincent | Simmons | 3:20 |
| 15. | "Detroit Rock City" | Stanley, Ezrin | Stanley | 5:30 |
| 16. | "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II" | Stanley, Simmons, Ezrin, Russ Ballard | Stanley, Simmons | 5:22 |
| 17. | "Star-Spangled Banner" | Francis Scott Key | (instrumental) | 2:40 |
"Take It Off" was a bonus track on the Japanese, European and South American CD releases and the US vinyl release. This version of the album would later be included in the Kiss Alive! 1975–2000 CD box set.
Personnel[edit]
- Kiss
- Paul Stanley – rhythm guitar, vocals
- Gene Simmons – bass, vocals
- Bruce Kulick – lead guitar, backing vocals[11]
- Eric Singer – drums, backing vocals
- Additional musician
- Derek Sherinian – keyboards
- Production
- Eddie Kramer – co-producer, mixing
- Kiss – co-producers
- David Hewitt – engineering consultant
- Michael Bernard – post production editing
- GGGarth – mixing
- Brian Scheuble, Brian Virtue, Mike Douglass, Peter Magdaleno – mixing assistants
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Margery Greenspan – art direction
- Mitchell Kanner – design
Charts[edit]
| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] | 14 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] | 31 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[14] | 9 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15] | 58 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[16] | 25 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] | 57 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[18] | 22 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[19] | 15 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[20] | 20 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21] | 32 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[22] | 24 |
| US Billboard 200[23] | 9 |
Certifications[edit]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[24] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[9] | Gold | 500,000^ |
| ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Releases[edit]
- Mercury 314 514 777-2 (May 18, 1993): CD
- Mercury 314 522 647-1 (May 18, 1993): vinyl
- Universal Music (2014) B0020470-01: vinyl
References[edit]
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Kiss - Alive III review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4 (4 ed.). Muze. p. 875. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
- ^ a b Clarke, Jeremy (June 1993). "Kiss- Alive III". Q. No. 81.
- ^ "Review Album : Kiss - Alive III". Rock Hard (in German). No. 74. 1993. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
- ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8. Archived from the original on June 27, 2011.
- ^ "Kerrang!'s list of best albums of 1993". Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
- ^ Top 10 National Anthem Guitar Solos. ultimateclassicrock.com. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ^ a b "American album certifications – Kiss – Alive III". Recording Industry Association of America.
- ^ Kiss (1985). Alive III (CD Booklet). New York City, New York: Mercury Records. 314 514 777 2.
- ^ Saulnier, Jason (March 14, 2011). "Bruce Kulick Interview". Music Legends. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Kiss – Alive III". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Kiss – Alive III" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0970". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Kiss – Alive III" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Kiss – Alive III" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Kiss – Alive III". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Kiss – Alive III". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Kiss – Alive III". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Kiss Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – Kiss – Alive III". Music Canada.
