With 'Dressed to Kill' out and sales only slightly better than 'Hotter Than Hell', the only thing the band really had going for them was their live shows. Their record label was nearly bankrupt and Kiss was about to lose their record deal and it was about to all coming to a crashing halt. The band had yet to receive any royalties after their pittance of an advance and their manager, Bill Aucoin, along with the band were ready to sue and get out of the contract.
In a last ditch effort to save the label and the band, Neil thought a Live album was the way to go. The Live shows is where people finally understood what Kiss was all about. With Gene Simmons spitting blood and breathing fire, with Ace Frehley's electrifying guitar solos, Paul Stanley's charm in his dialogue to the crowd and Peter Criss' drum riser and solo, Kiss was a Live band that needed to be heard LIVE!! Plus, this was cheaper than an album, so they could afford to do this route.
'Alive!' was recorded over four stops on the Dressed to Kill Tour. You had May 16 at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, naturally; June 21 at Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio; July 20 at RKO Orpheum Theater in Davenport, Iowa; and July 23 at Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, New Jersey. With four shows recorded, they could piece together a perfect live album…well…maybe not!
The album wasn't as "Live" as you would think. There were numerous problems with the recordings. The band didn't always sing perfectly in to the mic, notes were missed in their high energy performances and nothing seemed to carry-over as well as they thought it would. They brought in legendary producer, Eddie Kramer, to fix the problems and it is immediately evident that they would have to go in the studio and overdub a lot of the album…okay, most of the album including the crowd noise. From what I understand, the only thing that didn't get touched up was the drums which is a testament to how well Peter was playing back in those days and also to the fact he only had to sit there and play while the others ran around the stage and tried to play at the same time.
I mentioned early that Kiss was unhappy and trying to get out of their contract and five days after the release of the album (which was released on September 10, 1975), Bill Aucoin informed Neil that the band was leaving Casablanca. Neil immediately signed a $2 million check and kept the band. Luckily for Neil, the album sales went through the roof thanks in large part to the release of "Rock & Roll All Nite" as a single and that becoming the band's signature song. Kiss had done it. They had a hit record and were now a successful band that were about to take over and rule the world.
I could go on and on about album details and could go in to the story of the two guys on the back cover, but I will avoid that as I am already taking up a ton of your time. But I will at least say how lucky those guys were making that sign and being in the right place at the right time as they are now immortalized forever on a Kiss album!! I think it is a great picture for the back cover and one of my favorites.
(2loud2oldmusic.com/2020/07/01/kiss-alive-1975-album-review-the-kiss-review-series/)