that it was truly a special place with special people and a great vibe. After all, a club that once hosted bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, The New York Dolls and Spirit had to be pretty great. Not to mention Mother’s Finest, a great band that gets a lot of love from Anders in his book. I was especially entertained by Tex’s sto-
ries about the bands, including the time when the club was just getting going and he was ap- proached by Alan Walden about booking a band out of Jacksonville called Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band played for a week for only $600. Amazing. By the way, the door charge at Losers was one dollar. Obviously, The Los- ers was a real winner. I won’t give it away here, but there’s a
great story about Ronnie Van Zant picking up a young lady at the bar that turned out to be, well, not what he expected. This book is a celebration of the fun and the
music and great memories at Losers. It is also bittersweet in its revelation of how disco crept in as we moved into the 80’s and put a knife into the heart of rock and roll - for the mo- ment, anyway. If you are looking for a slick, mass-market style tome, this ain’t it. But if you want true stories from the good ol’ days of Southern rock and roll, told by the ones who were in the middle of the war zone, this book just might be for you.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Nothin’ To Lose The Making of KISS (1972-1975) Ken Sharp, Gene Sim- mons and Paul Stanley (It Books)
This period, from for-
mation of KISS through the Alive! success of 1975
is by far my favorite time in all of KISStory. It
harkens back to my High School days and the feeling I had when I saw them on ABC TV's In Concert and went out and bought the first album the next day. (On 8 Track, of course) Weighing in at over 500 pages, this oral
history, told by the original four band mem- bers, along with managers, roadies, friends, fans and more, is loaded with historical facts and great stories from the days when the band was young and hungry. These were the days before they got so big that they became a parody of themselves. There are actually pictures in the book
that I had not seen before. That’s quite a lot to say, coming from an old-school fan like me. Now, some of the photos on my copy are pixi- lated, as it is not a final edition but a review copy- nor have I seen the color photo pages, as they were not ready when the publisher sent us the pre-publication copy. But judging what I do see, I feel sure the remaining pho- tos are quite acceptable. The interviews really paint a clear pic-
ture of the birth and demise of Wicked Lester, and while I have read about this a zillion times, Ken's interviews dig deep and present some excellent detail. I could really sense both Paul and Gene's excitement as they re- counted stepping underground into Electric Lady Studio for the first time, recording in the same space utilized by Jimi Hendrix. For KISS fans, Nothin’ to Lose is an in-
despinsible addition to your never-ending li- brary of all things KISS. For the casual rock and roll history lover, it stands as a very inter- esting account of the formative, pre- “Beth” years of the greasepaint rockers. A real door stop of a book. Big, like everything KISS does. But also quite good.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64