The Kiss: studio vs. live versions

[revolt_again]

The inspiration for this thread came from recently reading some posts on the best of KMKMKM thread, with people saying their favourite track from the album was 'The Kiss', "specially the live versions"...

Now, this struck me as a bit surprising, for I have always thought that the studio version of 'The Kiss' remains unsurpassable to this day. And why? Because Robert's solo in it is simply the best solo he has ever done, IMO. I remember reading an interview with him around 1987 where he said that he actually prepared for that solo for days because he wanted it to be the most powerful thing he had ever done. And I think he achieved it...

So, what about the live versions? It isn't that he does them badly, but I think there's a problem: he uses the wah-wah pedal all the time during the solo. And while that gives the guitar sound a trippier feel, it also steals away some of the passion. While on the studio he only used the wah-wah effect to stress some of the notes, and that's what helps make it so powerful...

Anyway, what do you think?

[revolt_again]

No replies!?

And I thought this was a relevant and potentially interesting topic... 

[dsanchez]

I think "The Kiss" live is as powerful as the studio version and is a rare case of a song where both versions are fine to me (it's not the case of, for example, "A Night Like This" or "Push" where I prefer definitely live versions - specially from 1986).

IMO, the wah-wah pedal addition is fine, as I don't expect an exact replica of the studio version in a concert.

[revolt_again]

I think "The Kiss" live is as powerful as the studio version and is a rare case of a song where both versions are fine to me (it's not the case of, for example, "A Night Like This" or "Push" where I prefer definitely live versions - specially from 1986).

IMO, the wah-wah pedal addition is fine, as I don't expect an exact replica of the studio version in a concert.

Yeah, I have to agree that we aren't supposed to expect live solos to be an exact replica of the studio ones - it wouldn't make sense. My point was that IMO the live additions in this case weren't to the song's benefit...

And I agree also that the live versions of 'Push' are (or at least used to be) better than the version on THOTD - something about that studio version seems lacking to me. Not so sure about 'A Night Like This', though, maybe because the studio version has always seemed (almost) perfect to me (yeah, sax solo and all).