KISS ALIVE II NBLP 7076 LP STONE MINT 1st press INSERTS best on Ebay 9.1/10

$

80

KISS ALIVE II NBLP 7076 1st pressing 2 LP. sealed. hype sticker  no ringwear/very minor print chipping/bend visual rating (on a scale of 1-10)...9.1! nicest copy of Alive II on Ebay right now 5/14.
about ALIVE II USA:
Alive II was a project conceived easily and obviously with the intention of selling millions of  another 2 record set at $12 each and repeating the success of Alive! the band claims they made side 4 a studio side because there was a shortage of live material that hadnt already been used on Alive, and they also mentioned that they were inspired by another recently successful live album that had a studio side. the real truth is, the album would have only needed one more live track to have the same amount of songs as Alive, and there were actually 3 more ready to go. what they really wanted to do was avoid using any tracks from the first 3 albums at all. "Take Me", "Hooligan", and "Do You Love Me" were recorded but omitted because they felt if they included a studio side theyd have a better chance at a hit single since none of the live material prepared for Alive II had any radio potential except "Beth" but the studio version was still getting a lot of airplay. also, the band had broken big by this point but unlike Alive!, this album wasnt going to serve the same purpose. 9 of the 15 live tracks had already either been singles or b-sides; none of which were big hits except "Beth". the actual radio singles from Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun did not perform nearly as well as reported, as Casablanca had spent a lot of "payola" (cash bribes to disc jockeys and retail reporters) to exaggerate their positive public reaction and these songs were given fake chart numbers (especially Christine Sixteen and Calling Dr. Love which were "top 40") to hype fans, promoters and retail. with some new studio songs, KISS would be able to release a new single to their new mainstream audience that may not be interested in live material, and also have a shot at a successful live single. "Hard Luck Woman" was recorded "live" as a possible single for the album but the original version was still a fresh failure and "live" it didnt come off as a ballad. as far as anyone can say for sure, the song was never even recorded live in concert at all, and neither was Tomorrow and Tonight. "Take Me" would surface 20 years later on the "you wanted the best..." compilation, but "Hooligan" wasnt a band or fan favorite and "Do You Love Me" didnt translate well. contrary to belief, side 4 didnt count as a studio album credit against the band's record contract, although they may have made an unorthodox agreement with neil bogart. Ace thought the idea of a studio side on a live album was ridiculous and used that opinion as an excuse to get a break from his bandmates. He contributed "Rocket Ride" on his own without the band's performances and its also rumored that Peter Criss was absent from all of the studio sessions as well. another nail was hammered into the dying band's relationship when Ace's "Rocket Ride" was chosen as the studio single and became a top 40 hit (perhaps with the help of payola), and the live single for "Shout it out Loud" went nowhere. album designer Dennis Woloch has gone on record as saying he was so rushed into the job of creating the cover art for Alive II that he had to settle for a close-up single band member shot format with the KISS logo and title taking up more than 75% of the album's cover. even though its hard to imagine the album having a different cover, looking at it now knowing that information may change your opinion of it slightly. the inside live gatefold shot was the saving grace, and all the album catalog advertising was moved to the innersleeves. the tattoos and booklet were thrown in to help entice the skeptical record buyer and a hype sticker was included to help raise the curiosity of the finicky consumer that wanted to know what that "1 more surprise" was. it was all very cleverly and carefully devised to hit the record buyer's subconscious hard. once the packaging was designed, a small run of test pressings were printed and someone noticed that they forgot to remove the 3 songs listed that were no longer a part of the album's tracklist. rather than trash them, Gene suggested they get them out there anyway; at least promotionally (shipping them to stores would have pissed off fans expecting to hear those tracks) and if anything it might cause some kind of publicity for the album. to avoid any of these test copies from hitting retail, they cut the corners and issued them as promotional items to friends and industry peeps. it is unclear if they ever made it to the shrinkwrap stage and they were not label stamped as promotional copies. there have been reports that a very small amount of uncut error copies made it into stores due to a careless attempt to account for and collect every copy. real promo copies were goldstamped on the back cover and indicated on the label. the red hype sticker although abundant, was quickly discontinued when it became apparent that the tattoos were either missing or the wax protective sheet was coming off, ruining the tattoos  and in some cases damaging the vinyl. it was a headache for the label and very costly. to make matters worse, many copies were sealed before the adhesive used to bond the jacket dried. this caused many defects to the album including a cloudy, sticky front and back of the jacket and the gatefold was glued together. when the fan went to open it, it often tore the inside live photo. the album was not the success its reputation suggests. its listed in some places as triple platinum but certified only double platinum; and being that its 2 LP contents counted as 2 sales in the eyes of the RIAA, its possible that Alive II may have only sold a little over a million units. of course it was overpressed, and a second pressing was issued without hype stickers to replace the sold initial shipment copies at retail. both pressings quickly ended up in bargain bins.
There were 5 pressings of Alive II in the USA
1. the first and second pressings were very close together and pretty much identical. what's puzzling is the variety of different styles that exist of the album's filmworks labels. some had 2 big KISS logos, titling the album: "KISS Alive II" some had the logo and title on the center just above the vinyl's hole (the most common and the version issued with the error copies). some had different fonts and textures and a crappy KISS logo commonly seen on the spines of KISS cassettes. it may have had something to do with rushing to meet the deadline and utitilizing more than one factory.
2. the third and final Casablanca-only pressing was issued in 1981 and there doesnt seem to be any copies that show signs of the PolyGram take-over (3 digit numbers in one of the corners). the order form was deleted but the tattoos and booklet were usually included. the cover was glossier, darker and made of thinner paper.
3. Alive II is the only Casablanca KISS album known to have 2 PolyGram barcode pressings. the first was made with high quality white cardboard and lists the PolyGram address in the top tight corner where the Casablanca and Rock Steady logos used to be. it usually included the printed innersleeves and the booklets but no tattoos. i have only ever seen and owned one, and i sold it about six months ago. it had no signs of being a record club issue and it was made in the USA.
4. the final vinyl PolyGram pressing is much more common but still exists in a small quantities. it is made of cheaper, recycled brown cardboard which ripped very easily and instantly showed ringwear. most of them were nothing but the LPs with blank plastic innersleeves with the Aucoin and KISS Army information inside the gatefold poorly blacked out (it is still legible). a very few copies included the printed innersleeves and in rarer cases, the evolution booklet.
wait for invoice USA shipping
rest of world also wait for invoice. sadly, international shipping has SKYROCKETED! i just spent $28 to send an LP to Switzerland!