This is the first in a series of classic KISS album remixes I have been working on. I thought HOTTER THAN HELL would be an excellent starting point since it has what is almost universally considered to be the worst sounding album of the original line-up. Yes, the murky mix gives it a bit of dark atmosphere and most of us fans have been as forgiving as possible since it contains some of the best of the best of the makeup-era material. I would argue that next to the ELDER, it is the most musically diverse album the band ever assembled. DESTROYER (thanks mostly to Ezrin and especially “Beth”) covers a lot of territory as well, but with HTH we have everything from mid-tempo rockers, power pop, proto-metal, classic RnR, heavy grooves and even a dark ballad. It really is a great picture of everything the band was capable of at that time. On top of that, the performances are fantastic all around.
For all its sonic flaws, I believe there is a LOT more good than bad when it comes to the raw recording. The kick drum sounds great especially for the time, the toms are also very clear and powerful, the bass is good and present and the vocals are very clean and crisp. The guitars are tracked fine overall though the mic placement does sometimes give them an odd tone particularly with some of the solos.
The bad? Mostly the very harsh snare and cymbal mix combined with the overall brittle EQ of the entire album. But that is enough to make for an unpleasant listening experience for most fans and unfortunately does not let these great songs shine like they should.
We know the master tapes are “lost” and many have done “remastered” versions which basically is just endless attempts to change the EQ and compression and never really helps much so I wanted to try something different by stripping it down and recreating the biggest sore thumb which is the drums. I did not want to lose the atmosphere of the original completely or give the album a “modern” sound.
I have completely re-done the drums using a mixture of the original tracks and custom polyphonic samples I have created of Peter’s real drums from various other sources. The kick drums and toms are all from the original album (tweaked and remixed) and the snare and cymbals are mostly recreated to match what Peter plays on the album. For the hi-hat and ride I decided to take Peter’s parts from Alive! and sync them piece by piece to the album to give it a looser, more energetic feel. But they too are edited to what he was playing in the studio. This also includes the non-Alive! album tracks which were recreated piece by piece.
For the bass I added a bit of distortion to give it more of Gene’s live bass sound which they rarely tried to reproduce in the studio for some reason. That is the MAIN reason why the studio recording never sounds as heavy as the live albums, BTW.
The guitars are mostly just re-EQ’d and sometimes the panning is changed a bit. I also added acoustic guitar to “Goin’ Blind” and “Comin’ Home” borrowing Paul from some later-day sources. I added the last chorus to “Parasite” like they play it on Alive! and added a hard ending to “Got To Choose”. I also changed the fades/ending on a few of the other songs. I added a bit of reverb and delay to the vocal in “Goin’ Blind”. You’ll also hear a bit of tambourine and a delayed snare verb on that one. Other than that I wanted to leave the rest alone and keep the original performances intact.
There are also 3 “bonus” mixes at the end.
1) the extended version of “Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll”. I have used the Bell Sound Studio demo version along with a few bits of the Alive! to create something closer to what the band played live in those days. The original album version is heavily edited and leaves out the extra solos, bass break and more.
2.) A (mostly) acoustic version of “Goin’ Blind” which uses the original drums and bass but highlights the acoustic guitars with only the solo being electric. I also used a bit of Gene’s unplugged vocal doubled with his symphony vocal to make it a little different than the regular mix along with a little of the orchestra from the Symphony version on the choruses.
3.) “Parasite” featuring Ace on lead vocals. A “what if Ace had sung from the beginning?” version which I did a live version of earlier. This blends Ace with Gene’s original vocal and is done to match the sonics of the rest of the album. Ace’s vocal comes from the version he recorded for his Origins Vol 1 album.
My goal with this project was to create a clear mix for these songs which sound closer to the KISS we hear on the Winterland '75 concert in all their bombastic glory.
These mixes are not for the purists and are never intended to replace or erase the originals we've all known for decades, but for those who have been longing for a more listenable version of this great album...Enjoy!
PM me for a link to download lossless FLAC or MP3 versions
Preview the album on YouTube:
KISS - HOTTER THAN HELL (franKENstein 50th Anniversary Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... UGkIxKe7Q5
p.s. if anyone else in not banned from the FAQ maybe you can share this over there.
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