For the OG KISS fans…Alright, Largo! KISS Alive in Maryland 1977 (franKENstein Redux)

[Wiseacre]

Now that I am retired, this is what I do with my spare time when I am not doing my own music stuff. Coming soon will be similar versions of Tokyo ‘77 (using footage from both shows), Houston ‘77 (footage from both nights), Winterland ‘75, Sydney ‘80 and Friday’s ‘82. All with “recreated” audio. The biggest difference is most of the vocals from those show will come from the original concerts.

This is the first in a series of classic multi-cam KISS concerts from the '70s that I have been upscaling and re-creating the audio for. My goal is to give these shows near-album-quality audio while maintaining all the nuances of the actual performances. Rather than simply syncing the official live albums to these shows, I have re-created the basic tracks using various isolated tracks from those albums along with other sources, blending them with actual guitar solos, vocals, drum arrangements and other variations that match the original performance.

This show is from Largo, MD and was taped at Capital Center 12/20/1977 on the ALIVE II Tour.

Vocals: Some vocals bits come from the original Largo recording, but since those vocals are very boxy and distorted (even after "clean-up") they are the vast minority used here. Instead, I used Alive II for the majority of the vocals. They have been altered/edited to perfectly match the Largo video so the feel of the original show is more or less maintained. A few songs use other vocal sources like Houston '76, Detroit '76 & Detroit '77 and NYC '77.

Drums: The drum tracks were done using remixed versions of isolated tracks from Alive!, ALIVEII and Lost Alive II. The original Alive II tracks are blended with samples I created of Peter's actual Alive II and Love Gun drums. Many of the cymbals are also augmented with Peter's actual crash cymbals sampled from ALIVE II. By creating these custom samples I was also able to create versions of the non-A2 songs with the "ALIVE II sound". "Firehouse", "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll", "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Black Diamond" were done using Peter's actual drumming; sometimes from Alive! with alterations made to match the '77 tour versions and sometimes with pieces of other songs on Alive II, edited and rearranged to piece together the song. "Black Diamond", "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll" & and "Firehouse" were done this way. "RARAN" comes mostly from the Lost ALIVE II recording with the arrangement altered to match the Largo version. Peter's drum solo comes from the actual show, with samples blended to better match the sound of the rest of the show.

Bass: A bit of distortion was added to Gene's bass tracks to better simulate his live bass tone. Most of his parts come from either Alive! or ALIVE II with a few exceptions where other (mainly studio) sources were used. His solo before "God of Thunder" is taken directly from the Largo show.

Guitars: Most of the guitars come from Alive II or Lost Alive II. Some of Ace's solos were taken right from the Largo '77 show where he plays different things than on those recordings. His "Shock Me" solo spot comes directly from the Largo show. Some of Paul's guitar tracks come from Alive! and other sources. "Firehouse", "Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll" and "Black Diamond" are taken from Alive! (mostly), but with some distortion added.

The video has been upscaled to 1080p using AI software and is a combination of the original video and extra footage from the alternate-angle version so there are lots of new edits and footage not seen in the original. I have adjusted the entire show, shot by shot to my liking. Everyone has a different opinion on what looks best. I have made the best effort not to completely lose all detail in the darker areas and have tried to maintain a good balance between a darker overall look and the original lighting. This show has quite a bit of video noise and horizontal banding in places that can’t be removed without over-darkening.

I have made the pacing between songs closer to what you'd see and hear on an official release, but only dead space removed. I also slowed down "Firehouse" by about 5% because the original performance is ridiculously fast. It isn't really noticeable in context and still gives the song a similar "pep" compared to early, much slower performances.

Again, my goal was to create a version of this great concert that can be better enjoyed with great audio accompanying it. For those who don't know, these old concerts were recorded with direct-from-soundboard audio. The PA mix would be compensating more for something like a voice than for a relatively loud guitar amp or drum set. Thus, we often get a very uneven sound when ONLY the soundboard mix is heard. This also means there is zero room ambience and the only crowd noise heard was the bleed coming through the stage mics creating a very dead-sounding atmosphere. While a video like this is NOT for the purist, a strong argument can be made that what is captured on those videotapes is far from what someone in the audience would have actually heard.

This version is not an attempt to erase or replace the original, but rather to (hopefully) bring new life to it. You have definitely never seen or heard this show quite like this before. It was many months in the making, so I truly hope other fans enjoy it.

YouTube is currently blocking it (due to erroneous audio algorithms, not video/Gooch/KISS issues), so PM me if you want the link to the 1080p file or the CD audio version.

Here is the full show on Vimeo…

https://vimeo.com/880027547

[BernieTaupson]

Best song was the one they did before the announcer said “Alright Largo!” Haven’t heard that one before, I’d say it’s one of their best.

[CanadianMetal]

Thanks for your hard work !

It looks amazing !! And the sound is great ,
So far , Only had time to watch I Stole Your Love (a great concert opener ) and look forward to watching the rest in the theatre room soon .

Keep up The fantastic work, and hope to see more of your restorations in the near future as I appreciate that it must be lots of work and a labor of love and passion for an incredible band.

\m/

[risingfarce]

Best song was the one they did before the announcer said “Alright Largo!” Haven’t heard that one before, I’d say it’s one of their best.

Why don't you just be a cunt in your mom's basement and let others enjoy life?

#GoFuckYourself

[burntweenysludgewich]

Best song was the one they did before the announcer said “Alright Largo!” Haven’t heard that one before, I’d say it’s one of their best.

Dude, you're so hardcore and extreeeeemely funny.

[BernieTaupson]

You fuckin KISStards are so easy to rile up.

You’re so scarred from that time when you were bullied because you let it slip that you were almost out of Remco KISS Your Face Makeup, 40 years later anyone says anything bad about KISS and your KISStard PTSD kicks in.

[blackedout85]

I only got to watch a couple of minutes, but holy cow man that is amazing!

[HueyRamone]

I only got to watch a couple of minutes, but holy cow man that is amazing!

Me too. I want to A/B it with the regular Largo show to see how it's improved.

Was this the show that Ladies Room and I Stole Your Love were taken from for Kiss eXposed?

[Bono Nettencourt]

So, you're basically doing what Eddie Kramer had to do to Alive! and Alive II.

[Wiseacre]

So, you're basically doing what Eddie Kramer had to do to Alive! and Alive II.

HAHA, MUCH more! He just had them re-play some stuff or track a few songs at soundcheck. He didn't create polyphonic samples of Peter's drums to re-sampled/replace/blend them all (along with virtually every cymbal hit) or blended guitar tracks from like 10 different sources.

In all seriousness though, KISS played much better overall than most of those multi-cam videos would have us believe. Shit sound can make anyone sound bad. I am just (mostly) trying to recreate what they would have actually sounded like with much better quality recordings/mixes. yeah, there was a bit of sloppiness here and there, but not that much considering the shows they put on.

Tokyo '77 is pretty damn "live" and they kill on those shows. Same for the Cobo '76 shows and Winterland. Sound quality makes a big diff. No one sounds great with coffee can drums and vocals 5x too loud in the mix.

[Wiseacre]

I only got to watch a couple of minutes, but holy cow man that is amazing!

Me too. I want to A/B it with the regular Largo show to see how it's improved.

Was this the show that Ladies Room and I Stole Your Love were taken from for Kiss eXposed?

The description explains overall what I did with the show. Aside from lots of new cuts and a bunch of "new" alternate angles, the sound is basically Alive 2 tracks with peters drums resampled (using multiple samples I created using a few of his tracks from Alive 2). Also, almost all of the cymbals were (replaced) manually using his actual crashes from Alive 2. Bass was beefed up with some overdrive to be closer to gene's live sound. Guitars are mostly Alive 2 (remixed) blended with other sources including some solos from the real Largo show. The solos spots are from the original video, just remixed using various things to blend with the "improved" sound. Peter's drum solo was filtered using a few different tricks and the kick and snare were "triggered/replaced" with the custom sampled I made. The vocal quality on Lago SUCKS bad and even with tons of "clean up? aren't good sounding so the vocals are mostly Alive 2, edited and rephrased to match the Largo performance. SOME of the largo vocals were used where they differ from the Alive 2 version (i.e. "C'mon Girl" in Makin' Love). A couple non-Alive 2 songs use Des Moines and other sources for the vocals.

The non-Alive 2 tracks were done using samples to "recreate" the Alive 2 sound as closely as possible. Sometimes I just used the Largo "Overheads" with resampled snare/kick/toms used for the other songs. Sometimes, I actually use Peter's tracks from other songs with the same drum patterns to create from scratch the whole song. For example, LMG, RnR uses a lot of KOTNTW drum parts which are the same. only the kick drum pattern varies on some sections. RARAN was done this way as well as was Black Diamond. Firehouse uses mostly what he plays on the Largo show. Another example is that the drums on "I Stole Your Love" on A2 use a very tight closed hi-hat during the main riff. He generally plays this with an open hat and so it sounds very "tame" using the straight A2 drums. So, I took his hi-hat part from "Makin' Love" to make the song "breathe" more which is closer to the way he actually played it live (Largo/Houston, etc). The other major changed was that I slowed "Firehouse" down by about 5% which still gives it the faster energy without being ridiculously fast. With digital you can get away with this sort of thing.

For Houston 77 and Tokyo 77, the basic tracks will be the same but with the real vocals (and solos, etc) from those shows so they do not sound like a carbon copy of this show.

Winterland '75 uses the same approach but using Alive! tracks (and new samples from that album and DTK instead). Also, those vocals will be 95% from the actual show as well and not just an Alive! sync job.

Syndey was done using samples I made from Eric's kit. That show uses most of Ace's actual guitar parts and the original vocals (though they were fixed back in '80).

[Dyslexicheart]

Best song was the one they did before the announcer said “Alright Largo!” Haven’t heard that one before, I’d say it’s one of their best.

Why don't you just be a cunt in your mom's basement and let others enjoy life?

#GoFuckYourself

Therapy is working out well I see.

[maninblack]

Best song was the one they did before the announcer said “Alright Largo!” Haven’t heard that one before, I’d say it’s one of their best.

Why don't you just be a cunt in your mom's basement and let others enjoy life?

#GoFuckYourself

[Wiseacre]

Whole show is on YouTube now (in pieces)

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXlQ ... LyZjNtLu5J

[Turner Coates]

[maninblack]

[risingfarce]

You fuckin KISStards are so easy to rile up.

You’re so scarred from that time when you were bullied because you let it slip that you were almost out of Remco KISS Your Face Makeup, 40 years later anyone says anything bad about KISS and your KISStard PTSD kicks in.

Took me 5 seconds to write that reply, then I went on with my life.

You spend more time talking about KISS than I do.

You're simply a cunt and will always be a cunt.

[BernieTaupson]

And mine took ten seconds to write, I’m not sure what your point is. Other than showing how fuckin’ RILED UP you are about nothing.

I mean, your user name here is an insult to the KISSFAQ mod Rising Force because you kept getting banned for posting unhinged things there. So …

[Turner Coates]

[bad565]

Fng love it, love how good the sound is coming out of the surround sound in home when you’re just using it for background noise with an awesome visual, thanks again , I just hope that a hole who pulls all Kiss videos down doesn’t try and put a copyright claim and take it down like he always does

[maninblack]

[maninblack]

[Turner Coates]

That's how they partied EVERY SINGLE DAMN DAY!

[Wiseacre]

Fng love it, love how good the sound is coming out of the surround sound in home when you’re just using it for background noise with an awesome visual, thanks again , I just hope that a hole who pulls all Kiss videos down doesn’t try and put a copyright claim and take it down like he always does

Thanks!

Nah, this one is all over YT (even though YT blocks the audio when the whole show goes up as one file for whatever reason). I'm pretty sure this show is owned by the band.

[Dyslexicheart]

Just wanted to say great job on this.

[Wiseacre]

Just wanted to say great job on this.

Thanks!

[HueyRamone]

I only got to watch a couple of minutes, but holy cow man that is amazing!

Me too. I want to A/B it with the regular Largo show to see how it's improved.

Was this the show that Ladies Room and I Stole Your Love were taken from for Kiss eXposed?

The description explains overall what I did with the show. ........

I just meant i wanted to listen to the regular version and then yours... damn what a difference! paul and Aces guitars panned, the flubbed parts gone, awesome!

I will say, I think you should clip the beginning of I stole your love at the announcer. All that futzing around on their instruments is pretty amateurish and doesnt make for an explosive beginning. They wouldnt start a live album with that.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with other Kiss shows, especially Winterland. Paul and Gene should be hiring you!

[Wiseacre]

Me too. I want to A/B it with the regular Largo show to see how it's improved.

Was this the show that Ladies Room and I Stole Your Love were taken from for Kiss eXposed?

The description explains overall what I did with the show. ........

I just meant i wanted to listen to the regular version and then yours... damn what a difference! paul and Aces guitars panned, the flubbed parts gone, awesome!

I will say, I think you should clip the beginning of I stole your love at the announcer. All that futzing around on their instruments is pretty amateurish and doesnt make for an explosive beginning. They wouldnt start a live album with that.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with other Kiss shows, especially Winterland. Paul and Gene should be hiring you!

Thanks! But, c’mon…everyone who’s been watching these boots since the ‘90s knows ya gotta have the line-check noise at the beginning. that’s how every KISS concert started back then.

[HueyRamone]

The description explains overall what I did with the show. ........

I just meant i wanted to listen to the regular version and then yours... damn what a difference! paul and Aces guitars panned, the flubbed parts gone, awesome!

I will say, I think you should clip the beginning of I stole your love at the announcer. All that futzing around on their instruments is pretty amateurish and doesnt make for an explosive beginning. They wouldnt start a live album with that.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with other Kiss shows, especially Winterland. Paul and Gene should be hiring you!

Thanks! But, c’mon…everyone who’s been watching these boots since the ‘90s knows ya gotta have the line-check noise at the beginning. that’s how every KISS concert started back then.

I didnt know that! Yuck! You'd think if there was one band that understood starting a show with a bang...

[Wiseacre]

I just meant i wanted to listen to the regular version and then yours... damn what a difference! paul and Aces guitars panned, the flubbed parts gone, awesome!

I will say, I think you should clip the beginning of I stole your love at the announcer. All that futzing around on their instruments is pretty amateurish and doesnt make for an explosive beginning. They wouldnt start a live album with that.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with other Kiss shows, especially Winterland. Paul and Gene should be hiring you!

Thanks! But, c’mon…everyone who’s been watching these boots since the ‘90s knows ya gotta have the line-check noise at the beginning. that’s how every KISS concert started back then.

I didnt know that! Yuck! You'd think if there was one band that understood starting a show with a bang...

The instrument check sort of built the excitement, IMO. It's like a "heads up" that the show was about to start before the "Aaaaaaalriiiiight...[insert city name]"

it's even like that in Phantom before the first concert sequence.