{"id":22701,"date":"2012-10-07T01:03:34","date_gmt":"2012-10-07T06:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=22701"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:37:15","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:37:15","slug":"kix-live-in-baltimore-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/kix-live-in-baltimore-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"KIX | Live in Baltimore<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"KIX\"Disclaimer: This record is being released as a CD\/DVD combo (on Oct. 21 in Europe and Oct. 25 in the U.S.) but this review is just for the CD. It will also be released digitally with several bonus tracks.<\/p>\n

KIX have released their first live album in nearly 20 years and they returned to their old stomping grounds to do it. KIX hail from Hagerstown, Maryland, which is about an hour and a half northwest of Baltimore. Baltimore has always been supportive of their home-town heroes so it makes perfect sense for this release to be recorded there at a venue called Rams Head Live!<\/p>\n

KIX have been around for quite a while, forming in 1977 and releasing their debut, self-titled album in 1981. In the world of music, that\u2019s a lifetime. And yet, they\u2019re still going strong and are still a formidable live act. In fact, their live shows are probably as much responsible for their longevity as their songs. In truth, their songs are somewhat simplistic, with a straight-forward rock and roll groove. But as we have learned with AC\/DC, simple can be exquisite when done right. And KIX know how to do it right. Their impressive live shows are why they continue to be invited to play at important rock festivals like Rocklahoma, Rock the Bayou, M3 and the Monsters of Rock Cruise. So it makes sense for them to release a live album showcasing their high-energy shows.<\/p>\n

The album starts on a high note, with the fast-and-furious \u201cNo Ring Around Rosie\u201d, one of the best songs on their platinum selling Blow My Fuse<\/em> album from 1988. Not surprisingly, Blow My Fuse<\/em> is the most represented album on this live release, contributing five of the twelve songs. The other four songs include \u201cCold Blood\u201d, \u201cShe Dropped Me the Bomb\u201d, the title track and their highest charting track, the anti-suicide balled \u201cDon\u2019t Close Your Eyes\u201d, which made it all the way to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989. <\/p>\n

Overall, it\u2019s a pretty good career retrospective, including eight songs from two of their best albums, Midnite Dynamite<\/em> and Blow My Fuse<\/em> (which reached #45 on Billboard). It also goes all the way back to their debut album, including three songs (\u201cAtomic Bombs\u201d, \u201cKix Are For Kids\u201d and \u201cYeah, Yeah, Yeah\u201d) as well as the ever-popular \u201cGirl Money\u201d from their 5th album, 1991\u2019s Hot Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Back in 1993, KIX released another live album, simply called KIX Live<\/em>. Although there is some overlap in songs with five of the songs appearing on the earlier album, seven of the songs are new so it\u2019s a worthy purchase, even if you own the first live release. In fact, five of the songs on this release are neither on the original live album nor their greatest hits album, KIX Essentials<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Although a worthy addition to any rocker\u2019s collection, it\u2019s not a perfect release; in fact, two of their six studio albums are completely ignored. Neither their 2nd album, 1983\u2019s Cool Kids<\/em>, nor their final album, 1995\u2019s Show Business<\/em>, are represented in this collection. Additionally, there are several key songs that are missing from this release such as \u201cSame Jane\u201d, \u201cSex\u201d and \u201cThe Itch\u201d. Fortunately, the latter two do show up as bonus tracks on the digital edition but their exclusion from the CD is baffling. And though Steve\u2019s voice sounds incredible when singing, his lengthy diatribes come off sounding like Paul Lynde meets Charles Nelson Reilly. None are worse than the sophomoric attempt at humor during the final track, which drags on for a mind-numbingly 17 minutes! And each time he repeatedly asks the crowd, \u201cAre you happy?\u201d you will likely find yourself getting increasingly unhappy. Steve is a great showman, and maybe some of this translates better to the visual performance on the DVD, but for music lovers, this disc would be better served sticking to the killer music and less to the banal chit-chat.<\/p>\n

This release is obviously targeted to diehard KIX fans. So why should fans buy it if they already have a lot of their earlier releases? Simply put, KIX are at their best when playing live so here\u2019s a chance to hear them do what they do best. And as anyone who attends live concerts knows, no two shows are the same. And just because this is primarily for long-time fans, it wouldn\u2019t be a bad purchase for someone who is new to the band too due to its strong song list and its career-spanning inclusion of songs from most of their albums.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Bottom line: Should people buy this album? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!<\/p>\n

Band:
\nSteve Whiteman – Vocals
\nRonnie \u201c10\/10\u201d Younkins – Guitar
\nBrian \u201cDamage\u201d Forsythe – Guitar
\nJimmy \u201cChocolate\u201d Chalfant – Drums
\nMark Schenker \u2013 Bass<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tNo Ring Around Rosie
\n2.\tAtomic Bombs
\n3.\tLie Like A Rug
\n4.\tDon’t Close Your Eyes
\n5.\tGirl Money
\n6.\tCold Blood
\n7.\tCold Shower
\n8.\tShe Dropped Me The Bomb
\n9.\tBlow My Fuse
\n10.\tKix Are For Kids
\n11.\tMidnite Dynamite
\n12.\tYeah, Yeah, Yeah<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/a> <\/p>\n

Website(s):\thttp:\/\/www.kix-band.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins – Columnist — Disclaimer: This record is being released as a CD\/DVD combo (on Oct. 21 in Europe and Oct. 25 in the U.S.) but this review is just for the CD. […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[336,1103,6190,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-22701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-hard-rock","9":"tag-kix","10":"tag-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}