Kiss – ‘Watching Us’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

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Kiss – ‘Watching Us’ – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have a cool bootleg that consists of a collection of performances Kiss did on various TV shows over the years. It is called ‘Watching Us’ and I am not sure what year this was released as it is not listed on the back cover nor does Discogs have it listed. It is 16 tracks covering appearances from 1974 up to 1986. The cover photo and a couple others were taken from a photoshoot on October 19, 1976. This was where they did a photoshoot for Creem magazine and they used polyurethane “fake” snow which is actually so toxic that it is no longer used. I am assuming the guys didn’t suffer any long-term effects from being exposed to it.

The disc starts off with ABC’s in Concert which aired on March 219, 1974. It kicks off with “Nothin’ to Lose and Peter on vocals. The quality is decent enough, a little hollow sounding like it was from a copy of a copy. The crowd sounds good and loud while the band is on fire as they are young and hungry. After that opening track, they go into the classic, “Firehouse”. Paul confidently and effortlessly delivers a stellar vocal. I like the long drawn out ending and the siren ringing loudly. After that, they go into one of my favorites, “Black Diamond”. This one sounds so good despite the quality of the recording. The band simply kills it. Peter’s vocals are spot on. He is so into it and gives it his all. Another great, long, drawn out, explosive ending. This was back when they were all the best they could be.

The fourth track was taken from the Mike Douglas Show that aired on May 21, 1974. Only a couple months passed ABC’s in Concert. We get “Firehouse” again and it is introduced by Mike himself. Sound quality is on par with the opening tracks. A little muddied, but still everyone is clear. The next three songs are from the TV show Midnight Special which aired on July 11, 1975 and it is great. The songs performed were “Deuce”, “She” and “Black Diamond”. Gene nails it on “Deuce” and the harmonies are great. With “She”, the guitars are a little sludgy and the riffs are killer. Ace tears it up on the solo as he starts it off slow and then goes break-neck speed as Peter does a drum roll. Killer stuff. “Black Diamond” sees some great guitar work with Paul, before he screams “Hit It” and everything goes crazy. Peter slays on vocals and this one of the band’s early classic songs that never gets old.

The next couple tracks are from the Young Music Show in Japan and it aired on April 2, 1977. First up is “Let Me Go, Rock’n Roll” and before it starts, Paul speaks to a loud, crazy sounding Japanese crowd. Japan loves their Kiss. The opening riff turns into Gene howling loudly “Rock & Roll”. An aggressive, anthemic stadium anthem. One of their best. With a fade out, then we get more energetic Kiss as they strut through “Makin’ Love”. A fun, high energy track that sees Paul take command of the stage. My favorite part of the song is the Peter Criss larger than life drum roll towards the end. Gets me every time.

Now we get a piece from Dick Clark’s Golden Greats from October 22, 1986. It is an extremely fast rendition of “Rock ‘N Roll All Nite”. The show might’ve aired in 1986, but the clip is from the classic era Kiss in make-up from 1978. Awesome! The next three tracks are from Inner Sanctum in Australia. The show aired November 22, 1980 so you know it is stuff from close to that time period. It opens with “Is That You?” from ‘Unmasked’. The Aussie’s love that album. The sound isn’t the best, a little hollow compared to some of the other tracks. Paul goes all Pop music and those high falsetto style voice.

The next Australian show track is with Ace Frehley as he does “New York Groove”. Love when I get a live version of this song. The song that gave Ace more and more confidence that he could do this on his own. Music is a little low in the mix, but Ace is front and center…I guess that is a good thing. Still love it though. Lastly we get their one disco track with “I Was Made For Loving You” off ‘Dynasty’. Live, this song rocks more than dances. The tempo on this one is nuts. I’m tired just listening to it as it is so fast. Paul slows down the delivery of the verses, but the chorus simply races.

The last three songs are all from ‘The Elder’ album and they are taken from the TV show called ‘Fridays’ which aired January 14. 1982. They open with “The Oath” and this is not one you get to hear live very often and it is awesome. The guitars and bass chug along as the drums keep the beat. Paul sounds good and man does he go high during that chorus. Crazy. Gene takes over and they do “A World Without Heroes” which is one of my favorites from that album. It is the softer side of Gene and we don’t get enough of that. It is slow, eerie and everything you’d expect this dark ballad to be. Lastly, we get “I” and this one rocks out. The guitars are wild, the drums are intense and the energy is electric. Need more “Elder” live tracks!!

And that is it. What a great set of songs from shows we saw when we were kids. A great idea to put them all together in one package to enjoy. The sound isn’t always the best, but it is still good enough to enjoy. There are some songs on here worth it by themselves such as the Australian show songs and the ones from ‘The Elder’. Stuff we didn’t have enough stuff on. With all that being said, My Overall Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars despite the sound not being perfect. For me, it was all about the great imagination of doing all these shows in one package.

The Kiss Bootleg Series:

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