KISS – Dressed To Kill (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe 5-CD) [2025], MP3+FLAC

KISS‘ third album ‘Dressed To Kill‘ – the edge of their commercial breakthrough – is getting done up to the nines for its 50th anniversary.

The 1975 release, featuring “C’mon and Love Me” and, arguably the group’s signature song “Rock and Roll All Nite,” has been newly remastered by Bernie Grundman. Bonus audio material includes 23 unreleased demos and outtakes, including the unissued songs “Mistake” and “Burning Up with Fever,” and the debut release of two concerts recorded in 1975 and utilized for the group’s breakthrough Alive! Here, they’ve newly mixed by Alive! engineer Eddie Kramer – and, crucially, stripped of any studio overdubs utilized on that “concert” LP.
We all know the album. It’s amazing. In regards to the demos, outtakes, and alt. version disc: First up is a song called “Mistake”. Total country-ish song. It totally doesn’t fit with “Dressed To Kill” however it shows the band trying something different. It’s a little bit like “Hard Luck Woman”, but more stripped.
The other new demo song is “Burning Up With Fever”, a song that was later released on Gene Simmons’ solo album. This earlier version is a groovier with some smokin’ leads from Ace.
The demo version of “Rock n Roll All Nite” is pretty rockin’! Some different handclaps in there. Also “Anything For My Baby” is slightly different than what we’re used to.
And now for what we’re REALLY interested in: TWO vintage live shows that have been newly remixed from a series of five professionally recorded concerts that were recently found. These aren’t some cheap ass audience recordings. These are the real thing. And we get two of them!

Rounding up the demos are two more versions of “Rock n Roll All Nite”. One is a “party version” which has some voices from a “party” in the background throughout the whole song. The other is an “alt vocal take” version, which seems like it has more cowbell, more drumbeats and different dual background vocals. But one thing’s for sure: you can tell they put a lot of work while writing and recording this song to make it the classic anthem that it is.

The extended outtake of “Room Service” is different! Seems more like a demo, as it has some changed lyrics thrown in there and is quite different than the album. Longer guitar solo too. Seems like an alt take, rather than an extended outtake. The engineer says “I think you can do better” at the end. And they did.
The “Two Timer” alt mix is a more acoustic version. Wouldn’t have been out of place being on Unplugged. It’s not a different mix. It’s a completely different version.

“Ladies In Waiting” (alt ending) is actually as advertised! Basically the same with some differences in the guitar solo sound and a longer fade out. “Cmon And Love Me” alt mix takes out the guitars we’re so used to, and like “Two Timer”, is more of an acoustic version. “Anything For My Baby” (alt mix) is again, an acoustic version.
At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if all these “alt mixes” are just the electric guitars taken out with some newly re-recorded acoustic guitars. It’s hard to believe they tried all these takes of songs with acoustic guitars at the time, when the band was known for being a completely hard rock band.
“Love Her All I Can” (alt mix)… yep. Acoustic, for the most part. They just took out the electric guitars and added acoustic guitars. “Two Timer” extended alt mix actually sounds like a completely different recording. A little more mellow than the album version. Pretty cool.

“Anything For My Baby” extended alt mix is actually that! Sounds like a “first take” they did when recording the album. Very good. “Rock n Roll All Nite super fast outtake” is faster, but not really fast for the verses, but then speeds up a bit for the chorus.
The instrumental outtakes of the album are just that: the album without vocals, with the exception of RnR All Nite which sounds like a different take. Some differences here and there. No fadeouts. Kind of cool. They also highlight how great of a drummer that Peter Criss is.

Than the live shows: any KISS fan should be extremely grateful to have these newly released recordings! Both shows were the first two of 5 shows that were recorded for KISS Alive!, and I’m assuming the other 3 will be used for the Alive! box set which is expected to be announced next month.

First up is Cobo Hall in Detroit, 5/16/75 in front of a sold out crowd of over 12,000 people, which was pretty impressive for a band of their stature at this time in their career. They didn’t really explode in popularity until Alive! came out, but the people in Detroit knew what was up!
This is a totally different setlist from what they were known for doing at the time, opening up the show with “Rock Bottom”, the only time they have ever done that. And it also includes “Two Timer” and “Let Me Know”. Yeah, there’s some sloppiness here and there, but that’s the beauty of live concerts.

The other set is from Davenport Iowa, 7/20/75, and one of two shows that were recorded that night. Much smaller audience than the Detroit show with 4,673 total people attending both of these shows, so they probably played to a little over 2,300 people at this one. This is more like the version of Alive! that we’re used to with the song presentation and energy. They had a couple months of gigs between these shows to get the songs and banter down, and it shows.
All in all, this is an excellent box set.

DRESSED TO KILL (REMASTERED by Bernie Grundman)
CD ONE:
1. Room Service
2. Two Timer
3. Ladies In Waiting
4. Getaway
5. Rock Bottom
6. C’mon And Love Me
7. Anything For My Baby
8. She
9. Love Her All I Can
10. Rock And Roll All Nite

DEMOS, ALTERNATE MIXES AND INSTRUMENTAL OUTTAKES
CD TWO:
1. Mistake (Studio Demo)
2. Rock And Roll All Nite (Studio Demo)
3. Anything For My Baby (Studio Demo)
4. Burning Up With Fever (Studio Demo)
5. Rock And Roll All Nite (Studio Demo – Party Version)
6. Rock And Roll All Nite (Studio Demo – Alternate Vocal Take)
7. Room Service (Extended Outtake)
8. Two Timer (Alternate Mix)
9. Ladies In Waiting (Alternate Ending)
10. C’mon And Love Me (Alternate Mix)
11. Anything For My Baby (Alternate Mix)
12. Love Her All I Can (Alternate Mix)
13. Two Timer (Extended Alternate Mix)
14. Anything For My Baby (Extended Alternate Mix)
15. Rock And Roll All Nite (Super-Fast Outtake)
16. Room Service (Instrumental Outtake)
17. Two Timer (Instrumental Outtake)
18. Getaway (Instrumental Outtake)
19. Rock Bottom (Instrumental Outtake)
20. Anything For My Baby (Instrumental Extended Outtake)
21. She (Instrumental Extended Outtake)
22. Love Her All I Can (Instrumental Outtake)
23. Rock And Roll All Nite (Instrumental Outtake)

LIVE IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN – COBO ARENA – MAY 16, 1975
CD THREE:
1. Rock Bottom
2. Strutter
3. Nothin’ To Lose
4. Two Timer
5. Let Me Know
6. Got To Choose
7. She
8. Ace Frehley Guitar Solo
9. Parasite
10. Cold Gin

+
CD FOUR:
11. 100,000 Years
12. Peter Criss Drum Solo / 100,000 Years
13. Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll
14. C’mon And Love Me
15. Firehouse
16. Deuce
17. Rock And Roll All Nite
18. Black Diamond

LIVE IN DAVENPORT, IOWA – RKO ORPHEUM THEATRE
JULY 20, 1975 – FIRST SHOW
CD FIVE:
1. Deuce
2. Strutter
3. Got To Choose
4. Hotter Than Hell
5. Firehouse
6. She
7. Ace Frehley Guitar Solo
8. Nothin’ To Lose
9. C’mon And Love Me
10. 100,000 years
11. Peter Criss Drum Solo / 100,000 Years
12. Black Diamond
13. Cold Gin
14. Rock And Roll All Nite

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