I've never been a huge Kiss fan like the Americans, but I can see why this record influenced so many bands and inspired so many kids to rock, and it's all in the image, pretty much how Kiss exist really, because the music pales in comparison to the theatrics, the band hardly challenging the great UK glam scene that spawned Bolan, The Sweet, Bowie and Slade. However, I'm a sucker for album covers and that kinda thing, and so many people talk about the effect 'Alive' had on them. It must be the smoking stage shot, the make-up as the band pose with their instruments amid fireworks and glitter, and the back of the sleeve showing the packed auditorium, kids frothing over their Kiss banners, saluting their heroes, so, even before we've delved into the record we've already been captured by the cover, a perfect ploy to entice rock 'n' roll wanna-be's into the lair of the band who most certainly on this record became world stars. Sure, it's all just a big circus in reality and we get the usual 'classics', from 'Strutter' to 'Black Diamond', ending with 'Rock And Roll All Nite' and 'Let Me Go And Rock And Roll' amid the frantic screams and swirls of space-smoke. Epic as an event, but as a band, a non-event for me, 'Alive' being a dramatic encounter with the most fantastically fickle rock gods ever created.
7/10
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