Encyclopedia Of Kiss
BY: Brett Weiss
Published by McFarland
Where does one begin? I’m not sure why it wasn’t thought of before, but I am glad it’s out now. If there was ever a band worthy of its own encyclopedia, it is Kiss. I’m biased of course, as they are my favorite band. That aside, it’s great to see that everything from their songs, to tours, to solo albums, TV and movie appearances, etc. It’s a lot to get your hands around, but the author Brett Weiss put it all at your fingertips. This is one book that you shouldn’t judge by its cover. Literally, there is nothing that would make you think this is a Kiss book, outside of Gene’s hair. No Kiss logo, no actual photo, and so on. But that was the choice of the publisher, not the author Weiss. Enough about that, let’s get to the review of the book.
I spent hours, yes, hours reading through it. I went on a fact finding mission. I looked up various items that I thought would be rare or not commonly known, and it’s in there. For example, Lyn Christopher, where Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons recorded backing vocals, but most didn’t know Peter Criss was on that record and hadn’t met Stanley and Simmons yet. That’s in there. I looked for the RI based authors of a Kiss collectible guide. The Kiss Collectibles: Identification And Price Guide by John & Karen Lesniewski and found it. I kind of thought that was an obscure item as they were from RI and was kind of a local vibe. Those are just some examples I was looking for. Overall, you will see it pretty much covers everything.
I have to say I did self-indulge. I wanted to see my name in the book. Afterall, I did run a Kiss fanzine called Kiss Montage from 1994 to 2005. Alas, I wasn’t listed, the book I was in by Kiss, The Ultimate Kiss Fanzine Phenomenon 1976-2009 was. I am on page 155 in case you were wondering. I also looked to see if I was listed for a promo Kiss card of Paul Stanley. Paul picked a photo of mine and it was used in the trading card set put out by Cornerstone. They are listed under trading cards, but I wasn’t.
I will say if you are a Kiss fan, you will enjoy looking through this. You may want to do a personal challenge and try to find something that is wrong. But I couldn’t find anything. I think I am a pretty good fan of the band, but we can’t remember everything and/or know everything. This is well worth it for that reason alone. But the cool thing is you may even learn something like I did. In the end, you have a go to resource when you want anything on Kiss. If you agree or not, you can Let Me Know.
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