Post by rtbuck on Nov 3, 2008 10:03:43 GMT -5
Paul Stanley – ‘One Live Kiss’
Format: DVD
Label: New Door Records
Review by Bucky for Rock n Roll Universe
Back in the late ‘80’s/mid ‘90’s I had seen former Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley a few times in concert as he was touring the clubs .The name of one of his club tours was the “Just for Fun Tour” & the few times I seen him live was nothing but fun. While Kiss was still performing great explosive shows in arenas & concert halls, for some reason I actually preferred the Ace shows in the clubs. I’m not knocking the Kiss shows back then as Kiss always puts on a phenomenal performance but I just enjoyed those Ace shows in the clubs. After watching this near 2 hour DVD of Kiss front man Paul Stanley putting on an energetic & inspirational performance, I would rather see Paul on a small venue solo tour than a Kiss show with their current line-up. Once again, a Kiss show is always a phenomenal experience & I mean nothing against the hottest band in the world.
‘One Live Kiss’ starts with a great inspirational speech by Paul as he talks about knowing that he was going to be a star at an early age & he knew he had to work hard to achieve that status. He talked about driving a cab & how one night he was driving people to an Elvis Presley concert at Madison Square Garden & all he could think about was how one day people would be going to the Garden to see him perform. While talking “Tonight You Belong to Me” from Paul’s 1978 solo album was playing as a video montage of photos & videos of his past play on the screen.
The concert’s opening song was the title track from his latest solo album ‘Live to Win’ which was followed by “Hide Your Heart” & “A Million to One”, both songs from the Kiss era when they parted ways with their ever popular painted faces. A close up of Paul’s guitar & a couple familiar notes later “Got To Choose” rang out & it never sounded better. Paul’s band was the house band from CBS’s rocking answer to American Idol, ‘Rock Star’. Through out the performance the band sounded tight as hell & as always Paul’s performance did not disappoint as he was energetic as always onstage.
From the beginning until the final notes of “Goodbye” the show was phenomenal as Paul played 4 songs of his latest solo album(“Live to Win”, “Bulletproof”, “Everytime I See You Around”, & “Lift”) spread out among classic Kiss songs such as “Lick it Up”, “Strutter”, “Do You Love Me”, “Love Gun”, “I Want You” & “Detroit Rock City”, a handful of songs from his 1978 solo album(“Move On”, “Tonight You Belong to Me” , “Wouldn’t You Like to Know Me” & “Goodbye”, & even some rare deep cuts from Kiss(“A Million to One” & “Magic Touch”). One of the highlights took place after Paul introduced the members of the band & told the audience that they were going to help out on the next song. Immediately the audience sang out the first verse of the Kiss classic from their ‘Rock & Roll Over’ album “I Want You”. Paul stopped the audience & said “Just for that we’re not gonna play that one yet!” & the band launched into a rocking version of “Lick it Up” which had a cool break in the middle that had a sound that was a bit reminiscent of the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. There are too many highlights throughout the show to list especially from the band which featured some crisp & slick soloing by lead guitarist Rafael Moreiera & drummer Nate Morton who never missed a beat throughout the show even as he tossed his drum sticks in the air & catching them during the intro to “Do You Love Me”. Russian bassist Sasha Krivtsov shined throughout the show especially on “Detroit Rock City” while guitarist Jim McGorman & keyboardist Paul Mirkovich was the glue that held the band together.
After watching this DVD I went back & listened to the ‘Play to Win’ album & it’s been played on a regular basis for the past week. Kiss fans will not be disappointed & if the DVD isn’t quite enough, you can purchase the digital download in mp3 format for only $8.99 at Amazon which I did.
Bucky