Paul Stanley: Face The Music - A Life Exposed immediately differentiates itself from Gene Simmons KISS and Make-Up and Ace Frehley's book in a few ways. For starters, Face The Music is actually a book about self analysis, reflection and empowerment. I've literally been following Paul's career for pretty much my entire life and this book was an eye opener in how candid and revealing he was when it came to talking about the fact that he was born without a right ear, leaving him deaf on that side. He goes into great detail about how he chose to hide that from pretty much everyone for years. He also talks about his home life growing up and why he eventually became a rock star as he was looking to fill a void that he wasn't getting at home. Not a happy home life for sure. Whatever you may think of KISS or Paul Stanley, reading the book does offer something for everyone. I found that I related to a lot of what he has been through and for that, the book was worth it.

With that out of the way, of course Paul is going to talk about KISS and the members that have made up the band for 40 years. He does dish on everyone, but it's not as salacious as you might think it would be, or hope it to be. He does have his harshest criticism for Peter Criss. If there was anyone in the book that got bashed the most, it was him. He literally paints him as a sad, illiterate loser that can't do anything right but complain about anything and everything. Gene and Ace also get into Paul's cross-hairs, and was very open in his disappoint in Gene taking advantage of Paul just to promote the "Gene Simmons Brand".

The book is not perfect and the main reason why I couldn't give this book a full 5 Stars is that it felt like Paul was holding back (possibly saving the real dirt for a follow up book. I know I would). I bring this up because the book is over 450 pages long and I still felt like there was a lot of stuff left out of the book, especially stories regarding Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr, the two things I was look forward to the most regarding KISS-related stories. They were kind of just glossed over. The other thing that knocked the rating down was that by the tail end of the book, it kind of loss steam, much like Ace's book (No Regrets). Speaking of Ace, Paul may have called him lazy a few times and a wasted talented, but I think he got off light compared to Peter, which leads me to believe that Paul may in fact be handling him with kid gloves in the event that Ace does rejoin KISS at some point, even if Paul states in the book that the current version of KISS is the one he wants to retire with. For me it's a Buy, for the music lover or one looking for a good read, it's definitely worth a Rent.

Man, this really is damn funny!!!!! Was not expecting to laugh as much as I have been. Paul is AWESOME!

This came into my YouTube feed this afternoon and had to watch this as well. It's not a fan Q&A in the same sense as the previous video. This is more typical of a standard Book Q&A with a moderator in front of a live audience. Paul is just as funny and the crowd is definitely into it. It's both a Book review as well as hitting on other topics not associated with the book. It's a great hour of hearing someone dishing on everything. He talks about growing up as a kid, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame debacle as well as stories about Gene, Peter and Ace. This one is a keeper. Not sure Gene could get away with doing something so intimate because he is always playing a caricatures of Gene Simmons and I'd feel we wouldn't get the real person behind the persona. In this one, it's definitely the real Paul Stanley.