Track Listing:

1. I Want You
2. Calling Dr. Love
3. Hard Luck Woman
4. I Stole Your Love
5. Christine Sixteen
6. Shock Me
7. Love Gun
8. King Of The Night Time World
9. Rocket Ride
10. New York Groove
11. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
12. 2,000 Man
13. Sure Know Something
14. Creatures Of The Night
15. I Love It Loud

Artist:   KISS
Title:    ”Classics”
Label:    Island/Mercury Records
Release Date:   
Genre:   Hard Rock

Rating:   

Written By:   Ken Pierce (copyright 2012) for PiercingMetal.com

In 2011 I reviewed a KISS “Best Of” compilation called “45: The Complete Collection” and while it was a nice grouping of tunes it was by no means “complete”. It was available as a digital only release which was great for the new generation of music fans who are glued to their iPods or Droid devices and keep connected to their music that way. With that being the case I never expected to find this collection broken up into three separate products now entitled “Favorites”, “Classics” and “Discoveries”. I took my original text about the complete release and expanded upon it lightly for the sake of this review.

The second release from the original larger collection picks up with the bands “Rock and Roll Over” album and gives us three from here before going on to “Love Gun” and while there is also a tune from “Destroyer” with “King Of The Night Time World”, I think they tossed it here to mix it up. A solitary number from the bands four solo albums appears and its one of Ace’s but of course it’s the one that is on everyone’s tongue when you mention the solos. Three come from “Dynasty” while the closing two numbers are the sole inclusions from the monster release “Creatures Of The Night”. The surprise to me with this grouping is the complete lack of tunes from the bands “Unmasked” album which while pop oriented in nature still had some stuff that I enjoy at this time a lot more than I anticipated. The interesting thing about this particular release is that a number of these tracks were regularly heard on Rock radio when it was ruling the roost. There are not as many radio stations that cater to this sound in my region anymore and I don’t have Satellite radio so cannot reap its Metal benefits. This is a good place to start as well if you wanted a great selection of numbers and some unexpected choices.

If you already own “45: The Complete Collection” there is no reason to purchase this release. However, if you only want a handful of KISS tunes for your music player then this is perfect for you. The KISS completist now has several digital releases to investigate in order to have the absolute best physical and digital collections. I do think that a digital only release should be a little cheaper since there is no production costs involved either. Shop wisely.

Official Web Site:   www.kissonline.com