Schlock and roll Kiss and the Misfits kick their marketing machines into high gear BY SEAN RICHARDSON

When the almighty Kiss announced plans to hang up the platform shoes at the end of their 2000 North American tour, rock fans had reason to be skeptical. After all, with the original line-up reunited and the make-up back on, the band were enjoying one of the most successful stretches of their lucrative career. Plus, it had been less than a decade since kindred spirit Ozzy Osbourne had announced his own retirement, only to strike back at the end of the 1990s with OzzFest. So though they had vowed to disappear from the stage for good, it was hard to believe we had actually heard the last of Kiss.

Sure enough, a mere three years have passed and Kiss are already back with a vengeance. They’ve teamed up with Aerosmith for one of the summer’s biggest tours, one that this week makes two stops at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield. They just put out Alive IV, the latest entry in the most legendary series of live albums in rock history and the first release on Kiss Records, the new label they created with marketing and distribution through Sanctuary. And following the success of his first book, Kiss and Make-Up (Crown), bassist Gene Simmons is continuing his assault on the publishing world: last year he launched the lifestyle magazine Gene Simmons Tongue, and next Thursday he’ll be signing copies of his new book, Sex Money Kiss (New Millennium), at Borders in the CambridgeSide Galleria.

The Kiss Farewell Tour might not have put the band down for the count, but it did cause the original line-up to fracture yet again. Drummer Peter Criss was replaced by Kiss veteran Eric Singer on the international leg of the tour, only to return earlier this year. Guitarist Ace Frehley, however, is not on the road with the group this time around: insisting he took the farewell tour at its word, he’s working on his fifth solo album instead. His replacement is Tommy Thayer, who has been tight with Kiss ever since touring with them as an opening act 20 years ago with his band Black ’n Blue. In a controversial move, Thayer becomes the first Kiss substitute guitarist to wear Frehley’s spaceman costume.

Recorded this February at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne, Alive IV is the kind of over-the-top gesture that makes Kiss fans drool. It’s a collaboration with the 60-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Campbell (long-time string arranger to the stars and father of boho alterna-rock icon Beck), all of them decked out in Kiss make-up for maximum entertainment value. When you consider Kiss’s penchant for excess, it’s amazing that it’s taken them 30 years to record a symphonic album. But the big surprise is that they pull it off with something approaching good taste.

For starters, Campbell is less of a schlockmeister than Michael Kamen, the most prominent rock-orchestra guy around thanks to his work on the Metallica blockbuster S&M (Elektra). And the album offers three well-conceived variations on the rock-band-meets-orchestra theme, beginning with six unadulterated rock tracks sans orchestral embellishment, continuing with a five-song unplugged set that features a small classical ensemble, and climaxing with the entire orchestra joining the band to bash through a solid assortment of cuts from Kiss’s 1970s heyday. Say what you will about Simmons and frontman Paul Stanley, the money-mad leaders of the Kiss army still know how to put on a killer show.

Stanley and Simmons set the bar pretty high on Alive IV by kicking things off with "Deuce" and "Strutter," the same two tracks that open the 1975 album that propelled them to superstardom, Alive! (Casablanca). They have no problem passing that crucial litmus test, and it immediately becomes clear that Thayer is much more willing to mimic the original studio recordings in classic tribute-band fashion than former Frehley stand-in Bruce Kulick was. The acoustic set begins with cuddly versions of the group’s two biggest pop hits, "Beth" and "Forever," then moves on to several highlights from their 1996 MTV Unplugged (Mercury) recording, with Stanley and Simmons turning the grunge standard "Goin’ Blind" (a tune covered by both Dinosaur Jr and Melvins) and the glistening disco-metal nugget "Sure Know Something" into impressive showcases of their vocal prowess.

Act three, though, is the money shot, and Kiss make the most of it, adding violin histrionics to "Detroit Rock City," "Love Gun," Simmons’s menacing "God of Thunder," and the Criss-sung epic "Black Diamond." In encores, the Australian Children’s Choir joins Simmons for a schmaltzy "Great Expectations," and Stanley brings the party to a close with the inevitable "Rock and Roll All Nite" gong smashing. Alive IV proves there’s still plenty of ammo in the Kiss Army arsenal, even with an impostor spaceman on guitar.

WHEN KISS announced the formation of their vanity label earlier this year, they celebrated by emphasizing one statistic: the Beatles are the only rock band who have more gold records to their name. The legendary New Jersey punk band the Misfits are still waiting for their first RIAA certification, but when it comes to merchandising — from the ubiquitous fiend skull T-shirts of old to more recent developments like action figures — they’re like the punk-rock underground answer to Kiss. Indeed, they’ve recently extended their brand name to a vanity label, Misfits Records, which operates under the Rykodisc umbrella.

To mark the debut of the label, the Misfits have assembled a stellar cross-generational punk undercard — the Damned, the Dickies, D.I., Agnostic Front, and Balzac — for their month-long Fiend Fest tour, which wraps up this Saturday at the Palladium in Worcester. They’ve also got a new album of pre-Beatles rock-and-roll covers, Project 1950, that features guest performances by Ronnie Spector and Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri. It’s the first studio effort from the band’s current all-star line-up, which includes founding bassist Jerry Only on lead vocals alongside Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena and drummer Marky Ramone.

Project 1950 is the latest in a long line of new beginnings for the Misfits, whose tumultuous history dates back to 1977. Their classic era ended 20 years ago, when frontman Glenn Danzig left; after a long legal battle over the rights to the band’s name, they resurfaced in 1997 with Only and his guitarist brother Doyle at the helm. By the time that line-up had disintegrated, around 2001, the band had established themselves as a decent live draw despite two busted record deals. When Only rebounded by hiring Cadena and Ramone and integrating tunes from their old bands into the Misfits’ live set, even old Danzig loyalists hopped back on board the renovated Misfits train.

Like the latter-day Ramones cover album Acid Eaters (MCA), which proved that even classics by the Who and CCR could tolerate punk makeovers, Project 1950 is an amusing punk history. The Only/Spector duets "This Magic Moment" and "You Belong to Me" are eerier in tone than Marianne Faithfull singing back-ups for Metallica. On "Great Balls of Fire," Destri’s piano pounding chases Only’s frantic lead vocals until everybody seems to run out of breath. Destri switches to organ on "Runaway," the disc’s most effective tender moment.

Despite their perpetual love of melody, every Misfits line-up has been one step away from a train wreck, and the combination of Only’s deafening buzzsaw bass, Cadena’s slash-and-burn guitar, and Ramone’s nervous backbeats is no exception. Project 1950 makes a couple of missteps: the double-time version of Ritchie Valens’s "Donna" never finds a workable groove, and the hammy "Monster Mash" is such an obvious choice that it quickly descends into camp. On the other hand, their cover of Elvis Presley’s "(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame" is one of the most convincing Misfits recordings since Danzig left the band.

Fiend Fest opener act Balzac are also the first signing to Misfits Records, and that makes perfect sense when you see the picture of them dressed in skeleton suits on the back cover of their new album, Beyond the Darkness. It’s the first US full-length and fifth overall for the group, who formed a decade ago in Osaka. They, have, it’s clear, been weaned on a diet of Misfits: that accounts for everything from the costumes to the sing-along choruses to the action figures they have for sale back home in Japan. But they’ve developed their own distinctive touches, like frontman Hirosuke’s urgent vocals, which have more of a gutterpunk feel than Danzig’s or Only’s.

On Beyond the Darkness, Balzac bring flashy metal guitar leads and a street-tough attack to their Misfits-style tales from the crypt. "Day the Earth Caught Fire" shifts effortlessly between trashy hardcore riffs and uplifting vocal harmonies. With its tricky arrangement, "Beware of Darkness" is borderline artcore. And on "Out of the Blue II," Hirosuke leads a jubilant call to arms while guitarist Atsushi pushes the track to the six-minute mark with some tasty classic-rock noodling. So regardless of whether Only is able to keep this version of the Misfits together over the long haul, it appears he’ll be able to fall back on Misfits Records, which is off to a promising start with Balzac’s catchy and ambitious American debut.

Kiss and Aerosmith perform this Monday and Wednesday, August 25 and 27, at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield; call (617) 423-NEXT. Gene Simmons signs copies of Sex Money Kiss next Thursday, August 28, at Borders in the CambridgeSide Galleria; call (617) 679-0887. The Misfits and Balzac perform this Saturday, August 23, at the Palladium in Worcester; call (508) 797-9696.