by By David McCallum
Take It Off – KISS Truly Unmasked by Greg Prato
THERE are now books starting to appear wholly dedicated to the largely undocumented non-makeup era of Kiss, outside of what Simmons and Stanley want you to know.
Take It Off – KISS Truly Unmasked is part facts and part opinion and author Greg Prato does a decent job of compiling the information.
The only actual members that have contributed to the book are Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick and their contributions at a guess are sanitised, especially around the reformation period.
There are other notable players such as Steve Farris (Creatures of the Night session guy) and Ron Keel, who Simmons one produced, who have all positive things to say about Gene.
The book is split into albums from Lick it up through to Unplugged and Carnival of Souls with the non-makeup Creatures of the Night thrown in for good measure.
This was period when they reinvented not only their look but also their sound, sometimes to great success and at other times not so much.
The period was fraught with money issues, reduced sales, small audiences and a general apathy towards the band. However, it produced a decent body of work with the only dip in quality being Crazy Nights and Hot in the Shade.
So who is saying what?
Eddie Trunk is first out of the traps with his hollow ‘I’m mates with the band’ shtick – tiresome.
An inexplicable interview with Katherine Turman (journalist) and the subject of misogyny in Gene’s 80’s lyrics, what offends her and what doesn’t – token PC madness in my opinion.
The real detail is given by the likes of Jean Beauvoir and Curt Gooch (co-author, Kiss Alive, Forever) both of whom have first-hand knowledge of the inner sanctum of the band.
There are a lot of different perspectives from these people which gives more insight into the huge personalities of Simmons and Stanley.
The run up to the makeup going back on is fascinating and how it was tested and worked on. The interviews with Charlie Benante (Anthrax) are cool and show even the larger than life guys get starstruck and are fans like the rest of us.
Throughout all the interviewees are mostly respectful, admittedly some of them and their relevance is questionable. There is a listing of a lot of interviews they did on television over the period which will give you many hours of online searching.
Martin Popoff’s addition to the book is baffling with his comparison of other albums around the period – pointless and inaccurate for the most part.
Generally a good read.
For a Kiss freak, it’s not going to reveal very much new information.
It paints Simmons and Stanley as committed generals who should not be messed with in any shape or form, however, they are fair and appear to treat right those that treat them right.
For further reading to get into the depth of the business end of the band, “Kiss and Sell” by C.K.Lendt; leads to some fascinating insights to the period in question.
