KISS - Kiss

KISSes first three studio albums are often instantly dismissed by the Critics, KISS fans, and even some members of the band themselves as not being very good.

This is a grave over-sight.  An Alternative Rocker like myself who is totally into Lo-fi/ No-fi type of productions can find something to like in the less then ideal '70s era production values of these records.

Also the tempos of many of the songs are quite a bit slower then the versions on the 'Alive' series.  All of this adds up to a sort of proto-Grunge vibe on the 'Kiss'.  After a good listen one can see why Buzz Osbourne and Dale Crover of the Melvins groove to KISS.

'Kiss' starts off with and awesome one-two punch of 'Strutter' and 'Nothin' to Lose', two of my favorites.

'Strutter' can really rock and I am surprised that (to my knowledge) KISS has never used it to open a show.  Usually they open with 'Deuce' or lately 'Detroit Rock City'.

Really the only song on here I dislike is the version of 'Black Diamond' on here.  It is just a really bad version and the 'Alive' version is so much infinitely better and also the version that Eric Singer did on 'KISS Klassics' is my favorite so far.