KISS & Related Recordings Focus
By: Julian Gill
Published March 2004, 228 pages

Another great book from Julian. This is the real story behind all the songs. As Julian writes himself;  “Originally debuting as a feature on the KISSFAQ website, this unofficial & unsanctioned work is a companion book to the “KISS Album Focus” trilogy. It delves specifically into the recording history of KISS, and the associated past members, on a song-by-song basis.”

The official Kiss magazine said in it’s review of the book that ‘Behind The Mask’ were better when it came to the story behind the songs. Maybe if your want Gene and Paul’s view on the songs. But this the better book in my opinion. The book is also an incredible reference book when It comes to collecting demos of the band as I do. This is a great book for both the casual fan who wants to read about the songs from the studio albums, and the extreme Kiss nerds who has to know every little tidbit about the band. The first edition also has a great front cover that I prefer to the later editions of the book. Continue reading →

This is the real Kisstory

Julian Gills ‘the Kiss Album Focus’ started as a feature on the Kiss Asylum website. Inspired by Dale Shermans work on the Black Diamond book. The project was supposed to be a “The objective of the work was to look into the history of KISS on an album-by-album basis. With the colorful history of the band there were many challenges the members faced during their path down the rock ‘n roll road to legend. It was that and other minutiae that I wished to document. Ultimately it was the depth and minutiae that I wanted to pack into the articles and stories that would never make it into a mass-market properly published work!” (Ref. Kissfaq.com). I have been eagerly following his writings on different Kiss-related stuff since I came in contact with him when he had a “Kiss collectors network” in the 90′s. And was looking forward to his first publication of The Kiss Album Focus long before the first edition came out. I was lucky the read the manuscript of the first edition before It came out, and It was easy to see that this was a special book in “Kisstory”. Continue reading →