Gene Simmons: A Rock ‘N Roll Journey in the Shadow of the Holocaust

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Nils Brekke Svensson

Gene & Flora in Ross Bergs eyes

One of the real characters in the “Kiss web world” is Ross Berg. He has always been very vocal online about his interest and admiration for Gene and Floras (Genes mother) life, and how the Holocaust and their life in Israel after the second world war has formed them as humans, when It comes to Flora to a degree I really didn’t totally understand myself. When Ross told us all that he would be publishing a book on his own I was really interested in how the result would come out. And maybe It would help me understanding his fascination for Flora. So how did It all turn out?

Ross Berg’s “A Rock ‘N Roll Journey in the Shadow of the Holocaust” is probably the strangest Kiss related book I have ever read. And I have read It three times now, and still are not sure what I think of the book. First of all. I like what Ross has tried to do with this book. The narrative way he writes the book could bring characters more to life. But It takes a really strong author to do something like that. I just don’t know how well I feel he has succeeded. Some parts of the book works really well but other parts doesn’t. More than one time the characters thoughts become to much fiction and a little to dramatic for my taste.

Another problem I have with the book is that I’m not really sure If Ross was the right person to write a book like this with his background. It is written with a very “Jewish American” point of view. And for me who has a very different point of view when It comes both religion and the state of Israel some of his conclusions in the book are a little hard difficult to agree with when Ross seems to write from a slightly religious perspective. I’m sure that Ross and Gene may have some of the same views, but It becomes a little to subjective for my taste. And Gene seems very little like a religious person. So the characters probably become a little more what Ross want them to be than who they really are. Even if his facts are good and interesting to read.

If you really don’t know much about the Holocaust and how hard life were in Israel after the war, you will probably find those parts of the book quite interesting, and people who know a lot about the same period will probably not. There are a lot of books that tells the stories of Holocaust survivors much more vivid and in a better historical light. But as an historical background to who Gene is today It more or less works well.

What is really cool are the background stuff from Gene’s childhood that Ross has dug out that haven’t been written about before. That Ross managed to find this obscure stuff I had not heard about before I find impressive. But there is also a lot of stuff that have been covered before.

So what is the final verdict on the book? I would say interesting and different. And as always I love Kiss books written by fans. If your very interested about Gene as a person It is a good book, if you manage to have in mind that this is the ‘Ross Berg perspective’ on Gene. So if your a ‘Kissbookaholic’ like me. And especially if you like the first parts of Genes biography, then buy the book. It’s worth reading.

If your just looking for a Kiss book, then buy some other book.

Verdict: 6/10

Bob Gruen – Rock Seen

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Nils Brekke Svensson

Incredible Photography

This is really not a review but a little note about a photo book all classic rock fans should have. The book is really not a Kiss book, even if It’s a Kiss related. But I just have to mention the book since It is absolutely awesome.

Bob Gruen is the photographer that have more or less photographed most rock stars that deserves a picture. He was part of the rock scene in New York in the 70′s and have documented the scene thoroughly. For us Kiss fans he is mostly known as the photographer that shoot the famous Dressed To Kiss picture. But he was also present from the beginning of 1974 through the 70′s.

For us Kiss fans the book contains the Dressed To Kill picture, DTK outtake, pictures from the Creem cartoon written by Sean Delaney, picture from Nagoya 1977 and live shots from the Love Gun tour. There are also some cool Kiss pictures in photo montages throughout the book.

The book is also filled with incredible pictures from the famous John Lennon “New York City” photo, to pictures of The New York Dolls, The Ramones, The Clash and on and on. Buy It!

Verdict: 10/10

Ace Frehley – No Regrets

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Nils Brekke Svensson

Lost in the Ozone?

Ace Frehley No Regrets That Ace Frehley were about to release an autobiography raised many eyebrows when the news first came out. What would the man really remember from the decades of substance abuse before his sobriety was one of questions that were asked when the news was leaked. Would we get the story from the «other part» of the band at last?

Gene and Paul have more or less told their story in Gene’s book, interviews and in the audio commentary for Kissology. And many fans have more or less been pissed on them because they believe especially Gene uses every possible moment to make negative comments about Ace and Peter. Would ‘No Regrets’ be Ace’s chance to prove them wrong. Had all his decisions about Kiss over the years been taken for good reasons that Gene and Paul just didn’t understand?

So as you understand I was really excited about this book. Especially when I heard that Ace were getting help because he didn’t feel that he would remember most of the details good enough because his substance abuse during the years. And I didn’t get less excited when the first parts of the book about his childhood and youth were published online before the book came out.

The first part of the book about his formative years is really good. In one way It reminds me much about Gene’s autobiography. The first period with Kiss I also find quite entertaining also. But as a Kiss fan with some knowledge about the bands history and facts I found that the rest of his «Kisstory» just went downhill from there. The book never goes deep or in details about anything later to his career. It just brushes lightly over the major events during the years and gives Ace’s feelings about what happened. Even those are treated quite lightly. And the closer we get to today the faster the book goes. It almost seems like they have been in a rush to finish the book.

I really miss that someone could have painted a larger picture so could Ace tell his story in a context. When you get other people to work with you on a book, they really should be used to fill out the black wholes. I really miss a lot of details. And It feels that the book is mostly written for the general public and not Kiss fans who are the ones that will be buying the book.

His relationship with his wife is also treated very lightly and what Kiss and his abuse has done with his relationship with his family over the years. An what about humour. If there is one thing Ace is famous for beside being a great guitar player is his humour. I more or less expected It would be all over the book. But there are not many traces of It in the book.

What we do get a lot of and in some detail is stories about his substance abuse and his feelings for Gene and Paul, especially Gene. It seems that It is very important for him to justify his actions, and paint Gene as the person who nobody likes and that has no friends. Something he doesn’t succeed at all with in my opinion. I probably even have more admiration for Gene and how he and Paul held the ship above water during almost 40 years, and less for Ace’s choices. Some of them just seem stupid to me. Like his reason to quit the band again in 2002. You have to be quite paranoid to really believe that he is reason is right (read the book yourself to find out why).

There are also factual faults and a tendency to paint a prettier picture than we know that are reality. Like him being on tour with Eric in Canada and telling that he chose to tour and not record after Trouble Walking. That makes me wonder what other parts are not the actual truth. We all know that Ace never toured with Eric in Canada. And that he was dropped by his label because of substance abuse and could not get a new deal with a major label in the beginning of the 90’s even if he wanted one.

So do I hate the book? No, not at all. It’s entertaining. But It could have been so much more. This is a book that should have been up there with Keith Richards «life» that came out last year. It should have been twice the size and had much more detail. The book ended up very similar to Gene’s “Kiss and Make up”. Not a great book but a book worth reading and a book all Kiss fans should have read. As with “Kiss and Make up” I will probably reread It more than once.

Verdict: 5/10

Kiss – Rocks Islington

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Nils Brekke Svensson

KISS – Rocks Islington
By: Vance Kent
Published September 2011, 138 pages (250 copies)

The “I WAS THERE” book

As all die hard Kiss fans know Kiss played an one off concert at O2 Academy in Islington, London last year. A small club with just room for a couple of hundred people. A concert that most Kiss fans could just dream about getting tickets to because of the demand. Even people that work at Classic Rock who arranged the concert had problems getting tickets for the event. But a lucky few got tickets by phone. And this book is their story (well mostly pictures) from the concert most fans just dreamed of seeing. Both the bootleg DVD’s and CD’s that have come from the show has been great so I was quite excited when I was told the book was coming out, even in a very limited edition. As I have said before I really love these ‘fan made’ books.

So first of all the book contains mostly pictures. So It isn’t very difficult to make up one opinion about the book. And the pictures are over all really good, and captures the same feeling I had when I was watching the bootleg DVD. The pictures are divided into ‘chapters’ from what song they are taken from. A really cool idea. The layout is also quite well done. After all the pictures we get some short stories from people who attended the concert. Not many, but the ones who are featured are a good read. I would really have liked to see lot’s more, because that is really a reason one would pull the book off the shelf more often.

OK. That was mostly positive stuff. Now the only thing that I really don’t like at all. The format of the book. When one releases a photo book, A5 pages are more or less useless and really don’t do the pictures justice at all. It’s difficult to read the book and see all the cool pictures, because of the size and that the binding is quite tight. But as I said It is more or less the only thing I don’t like about the book. Otherwise the book is a great memorabilia for those who were there and for those of us who were not. And for the ones who were there the book is a must to have.

Verdict: 7/10

KISS Documented Volume One

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Nils Brekke Svensson

KISS Documented Volume One: Great Expectations 1970-1977
By: Scott Parker
Published June 2011, 188 pages

Close, but no cigar.

OK. Time for another book review. This time It’s about Scott Parker’s Kiss Documented Volume One that came out this summer. Scott had written on the Kissfaq.com forums before about what he planned to release and It seemed interesting. The book was supposed to chronicle Kiss on audio and film/video over a couple of volumes. An interesting project since It really had not been done before. And If It had been done in a good way would be a great ‘companion’ to Kiss Alive Forever and the Kiss Album Focus books to all us collectors. A typical ‘must have’ book for me.

So in June the book was published. There is a limited color edition and and a ordinary b/w edition. After reading some negative critique about the quality on the pictures and price of the color edition, I choose to buy the ordinary cheaper version. Not that the price of the color edition scared me from buying It. But I had no real need for the screen shots from videos in color.

I received the book a couple of weeks ago. But just had the time to browse trough It at first. But now I had the time to really sit down and read the book.

First of all I must say that I really admire authors like Scott Parker that releases stuff like this. They really don’t earn any money of It so It’s just a labor of love really. Much work and very little reward beside if they get some praise from other fans. And his dedication really shows through the book. I really enjoyed reading a lot of his descriptions of interviews and videos. And the synopsis of each interview and film/video are quite good.

As you understand I really like some parts of the book. And Scott’s writing is quite well. My problem when reading the book is that Scott really tries to cover to much stuff in the book. Beside the live shows and interviews the book also covers demos. Something that makes the book a little unfocused and takes up to much space. The demo topic is covered much better in all of Julian Gill’s books. So I really don’t see why Scott felt he had to add It to the other content that I feel is interesting and worth reading. Leaving out the demo descriptions would have left a lot more space for the concert and interview stuff. So he would probably have had place for most of if not all of the 70′s stuff, instead of ending the book in the middle of the 70′s.

There is also the cover that is really blurry. No big issue. But I really don’t understand why the cover has so low resolution. The screen shots is one thing. But there is no reason that the text and illustrations should have low resolution. It almost looks like a screen dump in 72dpi.

But all in all I like the book. It’s no must have Kiss book by any means. But If your a Kiss book collector like me It’s a book you should have in your collection. If your just looking for a Kiss book then It’s not the book for you.

Verdict: 6/10

KISS and Sell: The Making Of A Supergroup

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Nils Brekke Svensson

KISS And Sell: The Making Of A Supergroup
By: Lendt, C.K
Published April 1997, 352 pages
ISBN: 0823075516

Straight from the insider

Great book from a “insider” in the 70′s and 80′s. We get a great look at the business called Kiss. This is probably the best historical testament we will get of Kisstory in the late 70′s and 80′s. I believe Lendt’s view of the guys are quite objective even after he hung around and worked for them for many years. You get all the stories from the when they were a super group in the 70′s to when the more or less were forgotten in the US in the beginning of the 80′s.

Kiss and Sell also is the book with most details about the really turbulent period 79-83 when both Peter and Ace were sacked/quit the band. Lendt’s story about the first time The Elder was played at Polygram’s offices are priceless. I would have paid much to be a fly on the wall on that day.

The only problem with the book as most other great books is that it should have been longer. The stories are so good that you are just craving for more when the book is finished. More pictures would also have been great. Just from listening to the interviews that at one time was posted on Kiss Otaku you know Lendt has much more to tell than he does in this book.

Verdict: 9/10

KISS And Sell: The Making Of A Supergroup
By: Lendt, C.K (Japanese edition)

Same book as above but in Japanese. I can’t really say much about the text content. But I believe that it is the same as the american edition. But the cover and all the rare color and bw pictures makes the book a little better than the american edition. The Japanese edition is worth buying only for the pictures.