Kiss‘ new box set features a previously unreleased recording of Gene Simmons performing the Ace Frehley-penned Hotter Than Hell gem “Strange Ways.”
You can hear the track – recorded during a July 20, 1975 rehearsal in Davenport, Iowa – below. A bluesy instrumental jam from the same session is also embedded in this story.
Both appear on the newly released 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe edition of Alive!, Kiss’ breakthrough double-live album.
Read More: Kiss, ‘Hotter Than Hell’: Retro Album Review
Although Frehley wrote the heavy, psychedelic track for Kiss’ second studio album, a lack of confidence kept him from singing lead vocals until 1977’s “Shock Me.” For the Hotter Than Hell version, he instead handed the duties over to drummer Peter Criss.
“I didn’t feel comfortable as a singer at that point,” Frehley explained in the book Kiss: Behind the Mask. “I didn’t think I was as good a singer as I am. It took me a while to come out of my shell. Whenever I wrote songs in the early days, I’d always ask Peter to sing lead so he would get some of the spotlight.”
Our copy of the box set hasn’t arrived yet, so if the liner notes explain why Simmons and not Criss is singing “Strange Ways” here we’ll update our story shortly. According to SetList.fm, Kiss only performed the song live once during Frehley’s tenure with the band.
Released mere weeks after a similarly expansive box set for the band’s 1975 studio album Dressed to Kill, the Alive! box features two previously unreleased complete concerts from 1975, as well as a disc featuring the Davenport rehearsal session and more songs from a show in Cleveland. Both sets are currently available from the band’s official website.
Hear Gene Simmons Sing Kiss’ ‘Strange Ways’
Hear ‘Kiss Jam’ Live From 1975
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Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
