The Very Best Of Kiss

Although several other hard rock acts have seen their hits repackaged more times than Kiss (namely the Who, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, etc.), the masked quartet certainly isn’t far behind, as 2002 saw the group’s latest in a long line of collections, The Very Best of Kiss. Despite recycling many of the same selections over and over on these sets (1978′s Double Platinum, 1988′s Smashes, Thrashes & Hits, 1997′s Greatest Kiss, etc.), fans will flock to the stores to buy any piece of Kiss merchandise to complete their collections, hence the arrival of another of hits. While The Very Best of Kiss does contain a smattering of songs to make their debut on a hits collection (the live version of “Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Got to Choose,” “I Stole Your Love,” “New York Groove,” and a few non-makeup-era tracks), the majority of the track listing is comprised of songs already included on the aforementioned previous titles. Instead of finally doing it right and issuing a double-disc set that spans their career (à la the Who’s 2002 anthology, The Ultimate Collection), there are too many hits and standout tracks that get skipped over by limiting it to a single disc. For newcomers to the band who want to get a brief overview of Kiss, The Very Best of Kiss is adequate, but certainly not the definitive collection. – Greg Prato