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KISS - The Box Set

The long-rumoured and oft-delayed Kiss boxset finally saw the light of day in November of 2001, imaginatively dubbed The Box Set. But don't be misled by its run-of-the-mill title, like everything Kiss has ever done, it's completely over the top.

Featuring five discs full of hits, overlooked album tracks, and rarities. The set comes in two configurations - a standard issue box set, and a far more expensive deluxe edition, which comes in a replica guitar case. (Both come with a 120 page book with track-by-track commentary and rare photos).

Kiss detractors who've never been able to get past the greasepaint, costumes, and bombastic live show should note that the band has penned countless hard rock classics over the years, all of which are here; "Black Diamond," "Rock and Roll All Nite," "Do You Love Me," "Detroit Rock City," "I Love It Loud," and countless others.

But the main attraction for longtime fans is the set's abundance of rarities, including demos of "Strutter," "Deuce," "Firehouse," "God of Thunder" (with Paul Stanley on vocals), and "Love Gun." There are also tracks that never saw the light of day on Kiss albums ("Acrobat," "Mad Dog," "Doncha Hesitate," "Bad Bad Lovin'," "Love is Blind"), and pre-Kiss tracks from the various band members.

While Kiss's '70s work (discs one through three) far outpace the other disc of latter-day material in terms of quality, The Box Set contains a fine balance of the well known and the obscure.