Be sure, KISS did not invent the concept. But they did perfect it — elevating the live album format to an all-new, highly bankable art form. Prior to their iconic 1975 breakout, Alive!, there had been many concert recordings released by a slew of marquee rock artists — Cream, The Stones, The Who, The Allman Brothers Band and Deep Purple, to name just a few. However, following the blockbuster success of Alive!, it became an industry standard, and everybody was dropping live LPs — even pop chart-busters including Barry Manilow and Helen Reddy would soon take a page from the recently-published KISS playbook. And it’s tough to fathom how such soon-to-be superstar artists as Peter Frampton, Bob Seger and Cheap Trick ever would have been rescued from the rungs of mid-level support act status if ...
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