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THE ORIGINALS II (**JAPAN)

Release Details:
Casablanca/Victor VIP-5504-5506 (Japan, 3/25/78)
The Originals II Booklet: Cover | Pages 1 & 2 | Pages 3 & 4 | Pages 5 & 6 | Rear Cover
Lyric Booklet Cover
Masks: Gene | Paul | Peter | Ace
Obi
Center-rings: record I | record II | record II

Tracks:
Record 1: ("DESTROYER")
  A1. Detroit Rock City ··· (5:20) - Stanley/Ezrin
  A2. King Of The Night Time World ··· (3:13) - Fowley/Anthony/Stanley/Ezrin
  A3. God Of Thunder ··· (4:13) - Stanley
  A4. Great Expectations ··· (4:21) - Simmons/Ezrin
  B1. Flaming Youth ··· (2:55) - Frehley/Simmons/Stanley/Ezrin
  B2. Sweet Pain ··· (3:20) - Simmons
  B3. Shout It Out Loud ··· (2:50) - Simmons/Stanley/Ezrin
  B4. Beth ··· (2:45) - Criss/Penridge/Ezrin
  B5. Do You Love Me ··· (3:33) - Fowley/Ezrin/Stanley
  B6. Untitled Track ··· (1:25) - Simmons/Stanley/Ezrin

Record 2: ("ROCK AND ROLL OVER")
  A1. I Want You ··· (3:02) - Stanley
  A2. Take Me ··· (2:53) - Stanley/Delaney
  A3. Calling Dr. Love ··· (3:41) - Simmons
  A4. Ladies Room ··· (3:25) - Simmons
  A5. Baby Driver ··· (3:39) - Criss/Penridge
  B1. Love 'Em And Leave 'Em ··· (3:41) - Simmons
  B2. Mr. Speed ··· (3:19) - Stanley/Delaney
  B3. See You In Your Dreams ··· (2:31) - Simmons
  B4. Hard Luck Woman ··· (3:32) - Stanley
  B5. Makin' Love ··· (3:12) - Stanley/Delaney

Record 3: ("LOVE GUN")
  A1. I Stole Your Love ··· (3:04) - Stanley
  A2. Christine Sixteen ··· (3:12) - Simmons
  A3. Got Love For Sale ··· (3:28) - Simmons
  A4. Shock Me ··· (3:47) - Frehley
  A5. Tomorrow And Tonight ··· (3:38) - Stanley
  B1. Love Gun ··· (3:16) - Stanley
  B2. Hooligan ··· (2:58) - Criss/Penridge
  B3. Almost Human ··· (2:48) - Simmons
  B4. Plaster Caster ··· (3:25) - Simmons
  B5. Then She Kissed Me ··· (3:01) - Barry/Greenwich/Spector

Album Notes:
There's even less to be said about "The Originals II," than is the case with "The Originals," apart from the package's position of importance in the international KISS discography. For years some fans would question the album's existence, since it was so hard and often expensive to obtain. The author also long doubted its existence until seeing a copy sell at auction for $750 in 1990!

"The Originals II" (VIP 5504-5506) was released in Japan on March 15, 1978, exactly one year after the release of "The Originals" there, and one day after the band had began their second brief tour to the nation. During this visit to Japan KISS would break their own record (tied the previous year with The Beatles), playing five sold-out nights at Tokyo's Budokan. As was the case with other Casablanca issues in Japan at the time "The Originals II" was distributed by Victor Musical Industries. Like the issue in March 1977 to commemorate the visit of KISS to Japan on their brief "Sneak Attack" Tour, the release of a second volume covered the second trilogy of studio albums. There is only one fact about "The Originals II" that vinyl collectors need to be concerned with: It is essentially the holy grail of KISS vinyl. It is difficult, but not impossible to obtain, the artwork is an interesting play on the "Originals" design, and it is very expensive (compared to other vinyl collectibles of which only the "Alive II" misprint, Turkish Dallas Records "Elder," and Japanese promotional "Originals" come close to equaling).

Like "The Originals" in construction, this second volume contains the second group of three studio albums housed in paper dust covers featuring their respective album cover art. These are held in a gatefold construction in the same manner as that used on the Japanese version of "Originals." This varies from the common US version of gatefold used for "The Originals" in that the leafs are larger and retain the contents more completely. The design of the leafs makes the package more durable. The cover art is a combination of the original "Originals" cover overlayed with cartoonish pictures of the band members. These are based upon photos of the band that were included in the 1977 Marvel KISS comic (the "Blood On The Plates" feature, pictures pages 31/32). The best part of the package is the number of premiums included. Most notable of these inserts are the four 12"x12" cardboard masks, one each for the members of the band, which the purchaser would have needed to cut out and attach string to use. They're rather stylized images of each of the band members, and very Japanese, but rather neat nonetheless especially when they're found untouched.

Like "The Originals" the package contains a color booklet, though this one is limited to 8 pages and is just pictures, some of which are quite small considering the 12"x12" size of the booklet, although it does include a centerfold. Additionally, the package contains a black and white lyric booklet for the albums with Japanese language biography of the band. The cover for this booklet is simply the album cover reproduced in black-and-white, with a 1976 picture of the band and the inclusion of a minor Japanese album discography. Naturally, the wrap-around obi keeps everything nicely together while serving its purpose as additional advertising real estate. Unlike the obi used on "The Originals," which was placed around the top of the cover, essentially closing off the package to keep items from falling out, the obi's placement is a full wrap-around affair which is usually placed vertically on the left side of the cover. It accomplishes the same function as the horizontal type.

Value? A complete mint copy of this album package is worth upwards of $400, but deals can be found and incomplete copies sell for substantially less. Like "The Originals," this one has also apparently turned up as a white label promo, but it's hard to believe in Santa Claus until you actually meet him. The value of that is not worth considering, but would be substantial... It is interesting to note that between the time of the releases of "Alive II" and "The Originals II," the Japanese Casablanca distributor Victor also released a six-tape special collection in three volumes, "The KISS Story." This set, subtitled the "Story From Hell" (Casablanca/Victor VCW-503-508), was the first six studio albums packaged two tapes per volume. Volume 1 included "KISS" and "Hotter Than Hell"; Volume 2 included "Dressed To Kill" and "Destroyer"; and volume 3 included "Rock And Roll Over" and "Love Gun." Included with each volume were mini cassette size lyric booklets. This item with special slip covers for each of the volumes is one of the rarest KISS items released in Japan. This is as close as one can get to owning a cassette copy of either "The Originals" or "The Originals II." Some copies of both "The Originals" and "The Originals II" have been found to come with a 12"x12" Victor insert autographed by the band. "The Originals II" has never been officially reissued on CD anywhere, and such copies are pirate or bootleg, often being cheap homemade knock-offs.