Greatest Kiss is a fine collection of the group's biggest hits presented in their original studio versions, with the notable exception of a live version of "Shout It Out," a track recorded at the opening of the group's 1996 reunion tour that was added to entice dedicated collectors. Ignoring "Shout It Out," Greatest Kiss lives up to its billing, since it captures the band's most familiar material – "Rock & Roll All Night," "Strutter," "Beth," "Cold Gin" – on one disc, making it and Alive the only necessary albums for casual Kiss fans.
Greatest Kiss is a compilation album of greatest hits by the American hard rock band Kiss. It was released in 1997 on Mercury. Along with You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!!, this album was issued to coincide with the group's 1996–97 Alive/Worldwide Tour. The US version covers only selected hits from 1974 to 1980, with an exclusive live version of "Shout It Out Loud"; the non-US releases include the band's 1992 hit "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II.
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…