Kiss - Alive II [2LP]

Kiss doubled down on their own legend with Alive II, a 1977 double live album that catches the band at the height of their greasepaint-and-pyro powers.

Two years earlier, Alive! had turned Kiss from a hard-working club act into arena royalty. By 1977 they had three more studio albums to draw from, Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun, so this sequel skips the songs already covered on its predecessor and focuses on newer material, much of it captured at the Los Angeles Forum.

Detroit Rock City kicks things off in a blaze of twin guitars and explosions, and the set rolls on through the swaggering title track of Love Gun and a crowd-pleasing Beth, Peter Criss's tender ballad dropped in among the stomping anthems. Producer Eddie Kramer keeps the sound big and brash, with the audience roaring between every riff.

The fourth side is a curio fans still argue about: five new studio recordings, among them Rocket Ride, which handed Ace Frehley a lead vocal and a riff to match. It turns the album into part concert souvenir, part bonus record, and adds to its charm.

Loud, theatrical and gloriously over the top, Alive II spreads across two LPs that keep the party going long after the last encore has faded and the smoke has cleared.