Guitar World Presents: Kiss
By: Shimon Braun
Published February 1998, 129 pages
ISBN: 0793580781

About:
A collection of all the great Kiss articles from “Guitar World”. Most interviews are from around 92-93. It’s a great read. But I’m not really sure what I think of the book as a book. It did not feel like a big deal when it came out and I had read all of the articles before. Anyway its not a bad collection.

Verdict: 5/10

Black Diamond 2
By: Sherman, Dale
Published October 1997, 400 pages
ISBN: 189652236X

About:
This was the best collectors book for a while (until Ingo’s book came out) . The only flaws it has are the later part of the book. He wasted a lot of space on a very incomplete bootleg list. He should have used all this space on more foreign releases and merchandise. But its a great book anyway.

This book was really supposed to come out with the first Black Diamond book as an appendix. But Dale and the publisher decided that It would have become to extensive for one publication.

It is a cool book if you collect books but not the collectibles book if I had to choose just one.

Verdict: 6/10

KISS Live!
By: St. Michael, Mick
Published: August 1996, 32 pages
ISBN: 0711960089

Revenge Is Sweet: An Illustrated Discography
By: Stevens, Joe
Published: March 1997, 88 pages
ISBN: 0711958203

Virgin Modern Icons: KISS
Published: September 1997
ISBN: 1852276886

Kiss: the Hottest Band in the Land
By: Michael Heatley
Published: November 1996
ISBN: 1873884745

About:
I have decided to take these 4 as one. There were a couple of these books released around the reunion tour. All of them are crap in my mind. A cheap shot at earning some money while Kiss where at their height popularity wise.

Mostly uninteresting text and pictures. There are even pictures of tribute bands in some of them. So if you see them don’t buy them. Even if it’s just to make money people could at least made some effort to release something worthwhile.

The only positive thing about these books are that some of them contains some cool photos. But crap is crap in my book.

Verdict: 1/10

Outtakes
By: Chip Rock Dayton
Published October, 1999, 160 pages.
ISBN: 1890313041

About:
A cool photo book. It is not in the same class as Barry Levine’s “The Kiss Years”. But all the classic shots are great. The photos are quite untraditional when it comes to live shots of Kiss, but that makes the book just even more interesting. The text also make Chip sound more like a fan than a professional artist.

The only thing really I don’t like are his shots from the reunion tour looks really bad . He should have featured a lot more vintage photos instead as they are fantastic. And there is also the issue of size. It should have been much larger.

Verdict: 7/10

The KISS Years
By: Levine, Barry
Published April 1997, 144 pages
ASIN: 1890313009

About:
Barry is in my mind “the KISS photographer”. The book and CD is really cool. All the pictures are what I remember as classic shots. But what really bothers me about the book is that it is really to short. Barry would have no trouble filling a book the size of Kisstory with great shots. When you have looked through the book it just feels like a little taste and you really want a lot more, a lot more.
Please give us a coffee table book!

The books also features an interview disc with Barry Levine, where he tells about his work with Kiss over the years. Cool idea. But the problem is that it is mostly the same stuff that is featured inside the book.

Verdict: 8/10

Black Diamond
By: Sherman, Dale
Published April 1997, 248 pages
ISBN: 1896522351

About:
I really should have given Dale a ten points just for the effort. It really feels like a labor of love when one reads it. The problem is that if you have read a lot about Kiss there is really not that much you didn’t know. But then again it’s fun to read. Even if I really do disagree with a lot of his personal meanings and I do belive he could have been a little more objective. So I would say it’s worth buying specially if you don’t know that much about Kiss. His foreword in the books is also great. And it tells much about how difficult research and getting help can be.

The book also features a great interview disc with Eric Carr. And the books get an extra point just for that.

Verdict: 7/10