Take It Off: KISS Truly Unmasked

Excellent book! Prato is one of the most under appreciated writers ever. All of his books are well written and very detailed with facts and references.

So glad there is a book dealing with a great era of KISS that doesn’t get as much attention. I’ve been a loyal KISS Army member since I was 6 and love every era of the band. This book took me back to my teenage years and I could picture myself in my room jumping around like Paul Stanley while Animalize played on my record player. Thank you for this book Mr. Prato. Well done.

I'm a lifelong Kiss fan and at 52 years old, the non makeup years is my "era" of the band. "Asylum" is the first album I bought as new, so it holds a special place in my heart. Like many fans of this era I went back and bought every Kiss album. The "original" of any band is usually what fans love the most because that's the version of a band that first hits it big. As much as I LOVE the original lineup, musically they were a better band in the 80's. The best album of the original lineup is probably "Rock and Roll Over", with "Destroyer" being a close second. "Creatures of the Night" may be the most underrated rock/metal album of the entire decade. How did this record not sell millions? "Lick It Up" is also an amazing record. There next few are good, not great, but still just as good as any metal/pop band around at the time. Motley Crue had a very good album with "Shout at the Devil", then garbage until "Dr. Feelgood" yet they were selling millions. Don't understand that. And I'm a Crue fan. By the time "Revenge" is released I'm now puzzled. This album is just as good, if not better, than anything Bon Jovi or Def Leppard has ever done. They had the heavy songs, the pop songs, an probably one of the best power ballads ever that if done by either of the aforementioned bands would have been #1 hits worldwide. Clearly what ruined this album is the rise of the music killing genre grunge, which lasted all of 3 years and will forever be known as the genre that FINALLY killed rock an roll. Music in general has never recovered from this abomination. Thank you for this insightful book on one of my favorite bands in the last great decade of rock and roll. Music will never be the same.

great book about a forgotten era of the band!

You will not be disappointed. Very insightful and well put together. Greg Prato is on top of his game. Buy it!

Some Good stuff but I was hoping for more on the tour detail and the album details like the album cover choices, etc. Some really good interviews and stories on the albums and some which are a but boring and repetitive. The people who were directly involved are the best stories, the others are just opinions. KISS had some great stuff in this period it’s a pity the band themselves (Paul and Gene really) do not readily acknowledge this. Credit to the writer for this work.

I attempted to read many books utilizing oral history over the years and never get too far before losing interest. The author of this book does a good job setting up each chapter to give background and details about the recording of each album or associated subject in advance of the oral history portions. The only thing I did not like was the input from Richard Christy...that guy is a dope.

As a fan that discovered Kiss during the Crazy Nights era this book is fantastic. Finally the 80's era gets represented. Love all the behind the scenes stories.