Kiss Music:

Editorial Review:
Limited edition digipak with raised lettering and an exclusive poster.

Description of Kiss Symphony: Alive IV:
In the Kiss universe, more is always, well, more. With this latest installment in the masked rock marauders' live franchise, they have gilded the already overweening lily even more by hiring the 60-piece Melbourne Symphony to accompany them on 10 tracks. Like those who have gone before them--from Deep Purple's coupling with the London Philharmonic Orchestra back in 1970 to Metallica's 1999 pairing with the San Francisco Symphony--Kiss's symphonic partners add a dimension and complexity hitherto absent from their hard-rock ethos. But that's not necessarily a good thing since Kiss are true American primitives, and their anthemic songs work best in their raw, unvarnished state. The addition of the orchestra muddies their trademark sound: at times Paul Stanley's bombastic in-your-face delivery is strangled by an aggressive army of strings, which also tend to totally subsume Gene Simmons's sturdy bass playing. The symphony musicians (who all performed in Kiss makeup) are best appreciated on a lumbering beast of a song like "God of Thunder," where they become an ominous presence adding menacing sound effects and a chilling dynamic as Simmons croaks out the lyrics, or on "Beth," the band's Top 10 ballad, which brandished strings in its original form. For those who aren't enamored of the pairing of black tie and black leather, Kiss has considerately included six unadorned tracks, as well as six never-before-performed-live acoustic versions of classic hits. --Jaan Uhelszki

Kiss Symphony: Alive IV Reviews:
kiss live w/ symphony
2009-10-08 - how come every negative review starts off - "let me start off by saying that am a huge fan" of whatever band they are reviewing?
this is last kiss recording with peter criss on it.i know the mullenium concert came out afterwards,but it was recorded in 1999/2000.this is kiss live and that's what they do best.

Amazing Kiss
2008-09-28 - Kiss and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) together. How is that going to work? Amazingly well! The MSO adds a depth to the music of Kiss like it has never been experienced before. Never again will you listen to your favorite Kiss songs without thinking about this recording. For even a greater experience, find the DVD and see the performance! The MSO is in Kiss make-up and the crowd is electrified! Paul, Gene, Peter and Tommy Thayer (replacing Ace) are in the line-up for this performance and they rock like never before. Get this CD and turn it up LOUD!

dosent sound like kiss
2008-06-23 - okay first off lemme say im a big kiss fan. okay now this cd isnt kiss its symphony. the symphony on here ruins all the kiss songs on here it doesent sound good at all it sounds horrible with the whole symphony. dont buy this cd stay away from it

I was surprised how much I like this. It Shocked Me.
2007-12-18 - Well, I swore I would never own a Kiss release with Tommy Thayer, because I think it's a disgrace to throw someone else in Ace's make up. But on a whim I bought Alive IV mainly because it was only 99 cents used. At least Peter Criss is still on it. Also, the whole rock band with a symphony thing was WAY played out by the time Kiss got around to it. Strike two. OK, so I listened to it. I've been a major Kiss fan since about 1976. The original line-up always was and still is my favorite band. I like the post Ace & Pete Kiss a lot too but it's not the same band. So when they threw Ace and Peter make up on Tommy and Eric Singer, I thought that was lame and weak. Alive IV, in spite of my prejudices, is a really cool two-CD set. Kiss with the symphony isn't soft and underplayed, it's more like the symphony adds to the music when it fits, and they do it very well. It sounds rich and full. Now... was the symphony a good idea on Love Gun? I think no. But on songs like Great Expectations, it's brilliant. They finally play that song live the way it should sound. Very cool. The Destroyer songs are the best, maybe because that Ezrin album was so produced as the studio release. Do You Love Me sounds cool on Alive IV. The ending of Detroit Rock City is really dramatic with all the strings too. Well done. Overall Alive IV was a nice surprise for me, I listen to it a lot and it's a cool way to enjoy the Kiss classics that you might be tired of hearing the same studio (or Alive or Alive II) versions of for so many years. Alive IV is not better than any "real" Kiss album, but if you're a fan who wants a nice double-live album featuring 3/4 of Kiss with a twist, pick this up it's good stuff.

More of the Same
2007-11-15 - I really enjoyed hearing concert versions of Shandi and Great Expectations. But the rest of the album is the same songs you have heard on other live albums. Some were really nice with the orchestra like Beth, but others really didn't sound all that different. At least the unplugged sessions had a lot of songs you really don't hear much in a standard Kiss concert. I love the band, I just wish they would have tried a few other songs from their huge catalog.