Although it is generally regarded that Kiss’s 1975 Alive! album broke the band into worldwide fame (though the album is also known for being totally “live”). We can’t cast aspersions though. It’s not unusual for many of our beloved live albums to have gone through some ‘sweetening’ before we hear them. But with Off The Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, New York, 1984, we get a genuinely raw-hewed historical document of one of the quartet’s live shows, as it was delivered during their Animalize World Tour.
Part of Kiss’s ‘bootleg’ series that the band has been slowly releasing, this set of 18 songs also marks a historical milestone as it is the only known live soundboard recording to feature guitarist Mark St. John, who was only in the band for a few months. He was let go from Kiss when he developed a form of arthritis that limited his ability to play guitar. He later created his own band, White Tiger, before fading from the public eye. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 51.
As a warts-and-all recording from deep in the arena, it’s no surprise that we clearly hear Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley taking a few songs to get their pipes in gear. Beginning tunes like the opener, a blistering fast, “Detroit Rock City,” and a few of the early ones, like “Creatures of the Night” and “Fits Like A Glove,” suffer slightly from not-yet-fully warmed-up vocals. But the band hit their stride with their chanting over the wild power chords of “I Love It Loud,” the slower “I Still Love You,” and Stanley’s audience sing-along at the beginning of “Black Diamond.”
It should be noted that “Young And Wasted” and “Rock And Roll All Nite” here are incomplete due to a tape change and space. Off The Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, New York, 1984 is available digitally, on CD, and as a double vinyl LP, including a limited edition pressed on 180g custard yellow vinyl. As more and more of these shows become available from Kiss (and surely, they are not the only band releasing live shows like this for their rabid fanbase), we will hear more historic concerts we might recognize shows we were at…and likely some we wish been to.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
