Kiss Release Plushies, Announce Appearance in "Archie" Comic Book and New Album in 2012

Kiss has announced their 20th album, Monster, and the fourth volume of Kissology will be released sometime around the beginning of the year. In the run-up to these releases, Kiss has some new merchandise coming out.

First up are plushies of the original lineup (Gene, Paul, Peter and Ace) and each doll is 7" tall. The dolls were released yesterday and are available through Entertainment Earth and FYE stores. Each doll is $11.99 through Entertainment Earth.









(from KissOnline)
Come November, Riverdale will rock 'n roll all night -- not to mention, party every day -- for the four-part storyline "Archie Meets KISS" running through "Archie" #627-630. Written by Archie Comics' Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing Alex Segura with art by Dan Parent -- an Archie mainstay most recently known for creating Kevin Keller, the publisher's first openly gay character -- the story will find Sabrina's errant protection spell inviting a horde of demons to town, with the comics-inspired KISS personas of the Demon, Moonchild, Spaceman and Catman arriving just in time to help save the day.

CBR News spoke with Segura and Parent about "Archie Meets KISS" and how the two worlds will collide.

CBR News: First, guys, how did this unusual team-up come together?

Alex Segura: Pretty easily, actually. Gene Simmons called up our Co-CEO Jon Goldwater with the idea. Once the deal was struck, I pitched my story to Jon and President Mike Pellerito. I'd written an issue of "Archie and Friends" before, so they knew I was interested in writing more. The timing worked out really well and the chance to bring together two major pieces of Americana -- Archie and the KISS gang -- was impossible to pass up.

Lastly, Kiss' forthcoming disc Monster already has a Wikipedia page. In an interview, Gene Simmons said that this forthcoming disc is a "combination of three of the band's previous albums, Destroyer, Revenge and the album's predecessor Sonic Boom."

Links:
Kiss

Kiss/Gene Simmons Readies the Next Batch of Archival Material

Kiss has announced that Kissology Volume 3, the third volume in their DVD series, will be released on December 18th. I am a big Kiss fan but enough is enough.

Gene/Paul - All the Kiss fans already have most of these shows as KissVision bootlegs!

Where I was particularly disappointed with Kissology Vol 2 was that the KissVision bootlegs were more complete. Hopefully that isn't the case with the shows on Vol. 3. There is one interesting show in this new set that I haven't seen before but, strangely, it isn't the bonus disc.

The shows in the Kissology Vol. 3 set are:
* Detroit – 1992
* Detroit – 1996
* Los Angeles – 1998
* New Jersey – 2000
* Queens, NY - 1973 (this should be really interesting)

The bonus disc (it sounds like it is available at all retailers) is the KROQ Weenie Roast show from 1996 which was the band's first reunion show.

In other Kiss news, Gene Simmons has given some recent interviews where he talks about a box set of solo recordings, "Monster", of "150 unreleased songs" and a box set of unreleased Kiss songs. Be warned though that both box sets will likely have "monster" price tags. We will see what happens in 2008.

Kiss has also announced a series of shows in Australia and New Zealand based around Indy car racing. The mini-tour kicks off in Melbourne on March 16th.

Kiss - Kissology Volume 2 Will Be Released Tomorrow, August 14th

The second box set of Kiss DVDs, Kissology Volume 2, will be released on Tuesday, August 14th. Like the first volume, there will be three different bonus discs released to different retailers.

Here is the list of bonus discs:

FYE/TARGET bonus disc: (advertised this week for $21.98)
Nippon Budokan - Tokyo, Japan (April 21, 1988)
Track listing: `Love Gun', `Cold Gin', `Crazy Crazy Nights', `Heaven's On Fire', `War Machine', `I Love It Loud', `Lick It Up', `I Was Made For Lovin' You', `Detroit Rock City'

WAL-MART bonus disc : (advertised this week for $24.88)
Capital Center - Largo, MD (July 8, 1979)
Track listing: `Radioactive', `Move On', `Calling Dr. Love', `Firehouse', `New York Groove', `I Was Made For Lovin' You', `Love Gun', `Tossin' And Turnin'', `God Of Thunder', `Shout It Out Loud', `Black Diamond', `Detroit Rock', City', `Rock And Roll All Nite'

BEST BUY bonus disc: (advertised this week for $24.99)
The Ritz - New York, NY (August 13, 1988)
Track listing: `Deuce', `Love Gun', `Fits Like A Glove', `Heavens on Fire', `Cold Gin', `Black Diamond', `Firehouse', `Crazy, Crazy Nights', `Calling Dr. Love', `War Machine', `Tears Are Falling'

Kiss Readies Kissology Volume 2 and Peter Criss Readies New Solo CD

On August 14th, Kiss will release the second volume of the Kissology DVD set. This will be a three disc set with a bonus 4th disc available at "select retailers". It looks like there will only be one version of the bonus disc (unlike the previous Kissology set where there was a different bonus disc at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and "select retailers".


Here is the track listing:

Disc One:
Interviews
Land Of Hype And Glory with Edwin Newman - (1/10/78)
The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder - (10/31/79)
(This one is funny as h*ll as Peter is wasted out of his mind)
+ More

Disc Two:
TV Appearances
"Shandi" (music video) - (1980)
CNN Interview with Peter Criss - (9/24/80)
Countdown - (9/21/80)
Rockpop - (9/13/80)
- "She's So European"
- "Talk To Me"
KISS Invades Australia - (11/80) Documentary
Sydney Showground: Sydney, Australia - (11/22/80)
- "Detroit Rock City"
- "Cold Gin"
- "Strutter"
- "Shandi"
- "Calling Dr. Love"
- "Firehouse"
- "Talk To Me"
- "Is That You"
- "2000 Man"
- "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
- "New York Groove"
- "Love Gun"
- "God Of Thunder"
- "Rock And Roll All Nite"
- "Shout It Out Loud"
- "King Of The Night Time World"
- "Black Diamond"
Fridays - (1/15/82)
- "The Oath"
- "A World Without Heroes"
- "I"
Top Pop - (11/82)
- "I Love It Loud"

Disc Three:
Maracana Stadium: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil -(6/18/83)
- "Creatures Of The Night"
- "Cold Gin"
- "Calling Dr. Love"
- "Firehouse"
- "I Love It Loud"
- "War Machine"
- "Black Diamond"
- "Rock And Roll All Nite"
MTV Special: KISS Unmasking -(9/18/83)
Cascais Hall: Lisbon, Portugal - (10/11/83)
- "Creatures Of The Night"
- "Detroit Rock City"
The Spectrum: Philadelphia, PA - (12/18/87)
- "Love Gun"
- "Bang Bang You"
- "No, No, No"
- "Crazy Crazy Nights"
- "Reason To Live"
The Palace At Auburn Hills: Detroit, MI - (10/14/90)
- "I Stole Your Love"
- "Deuce"
- "Heaven's On Fire"
- "Crazy Crazy Nights"
- "Black Diamond"
- "Shout It Out Loud"
- "Strutter"
- "Calling Dr. Love"
- "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
- "Fits Like A Glove"
- "Hide Your Heart"
- "Lick It Up"
- "God Of Thunder"
- "Forever"
- "Cold Gin"
- "Tears Are Falling"
- "I Love It Loud"
- "Love Gun"
- "Detroit Rock City"
- "I Want You"
- "Rock And Roll All Nite"
Music Video - (1991):
- "God Gave Rock ‘N' Roll To You II"
Day In Rock - (11/25/91): MTV News excerpt

Bonus Fourth Disc:
The Crazy Nights Tour (4/21/88) – Tokyo, Japan – Budokan Hall
- "Love Gun"
- "Cold Gin"
- "Crazy Crazy Nights"
- "Heaven’s On Fire"
- "War Machine"
- "I Love It Loud"
- "Lick It Up"
- "I Was Made For Lovin' You"
- "Detroit Rock City"

I would pick up the bonus edition(s?) as soon as this set is released as Volume 1 seemed to go straight from the stores to eBay. I'll likely pick up this set but there is one thing that I am a bit disappointed with...my speculation is that these two volumes were released to quash the KissVision bootlegs that came out 10+ years ago and the DVD copies of these tapes that were floating around eBay 2-3 years ago. Here is the problem -- If you want to squash a bootleg, you have to include ALL of the tracks from the bootleg on the official release. One of the magic moments on the Philadelphia '87 show was Paul singing White Christmas and there were a lot more tracks on the Tokyo '88 show. Guys -- all you are doing is creating demand for the KissVision material.


Peter Criss is releasing his first solo CD in years on July 24th. This could be an interesting release as Peter recorded with Paul Shaffer and Will Lee from the David Letterman show. Peter also is releasing a limited edition autographed version of this disc through BestBuy:

In dedication to his fans, Criss personally autographed a limited amount of CDs of the “special edition” package, which will be marked with a “gold” sticker on the CD, and will be available in the U.S. at the retail chain BEST BUY.

I'd bet that the limited edition will also go quick and end up on eBay.

Here is the track list for the CD:

One For All
Doesn’t Get Better Than This
Last Night
What a Difference a Day Makes
Hope
Faces in the Crowd
Send in the Clowns
Falling All Over Again
Whisper
Heart Behind Hands
Memories
Space Ace