10 Hard Rock Live Albums You Need To Hear
2. Alive! - KISS
When hard rock first started finding its feet, KISS were one of the best bridges between rock and heavy metal. With each member being done up in cartoony makeup, their songs had the nasty grit of hard rock with melodies that stuck in your head the moment you heard them. While the band's image may have been larger than life, things were looking pretty dire at the beginning of the '70s.
After three albums, the band were going over great live but were never able to quite capture their sound in the studio. In an act of desperation, the band decided to put out a live album and see if it would translate to audiences. Blowing everyone's expectations out of the water, Alive! exploded and brought rock and roll to the circus.
Instead of the thin sound of their earlier records, this record puts you right in the middle of the audience, with Paul Stanley as your Heavy Metal Evangelist, whipping the audience into a frenzy at every turn.
The songs may not be the most thought-provoking in rock and roll, but when paired with the energy of the live performance, they became the biggest songs of the band's career. It's a bold claim to open your record with "you wanted the best and you got it," but one listen will show you why these guys were the greatest live act in hard rock.