Great article, Pierce!

At this juncture, KISS, like Guns N' Roses after them, couldn't be reasoned with, IMO -- especially Gene. The solo albums were just a bad idea: period.

If you look back at GnR's "Use Your Illusion" project: there's ONE solid album, there. What Axl and the gang should have done is follow the Bruce Springsteen model.

During Bruce's legal morass, unable to release albums, he kept on writing and recording in prolific fashion. Then he trimmed down the catalog for his eventual albums. (In trimming, song like "Fire" went to Robert Gordon, as so on.) Bruce knew: Just because you can record it, doesn't mean you release all of it. Double or triple albums only work in the rarest of circumstance (e.g., The Beatles). Of "Appetite for Destruction," Axl said he wanted to "bury it." Sadly, he thought quantity instead of quality would achieve that goal. Bigger isn't always better.

In the case of the KISS solo albums: there's ONE incredible album spread across those four albums. KISS could have done a double "White Album" (well, "Black Album," you know, like Spinal Tap!) with one side of four solid songs (from the eight or so on each album) for each member. The castoffs could then appear B-Sides to the eventual singles: more if they did a 12" single-version. Sure, "New York Groove" and "Rip It Out" turned up on KISS tours . . . but wouldn't it have been cooler if they were KISS songs instead of just Ace songs? (Yes, I feel his album is the strongest of the four albums. As the other commenter stated: I do not remember any songs from Gene's or Paul's, or Peter's for that matter, as I do Ace's. Then, again, "The Elder" and "Unmasked" grew on me; they're not that bad, really. Eh, so what do I know!)

Again, wonderful work. I enjoyed it!