Paul Stanley says that the bonus disc of Kiss re-recording their '70s and '80s hits included on the new Sonic Boom package was both a thrill and a challenge for the band. Sonic Boom, which is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart properties, costs only $12, features the new Sonic Boom album, along with a 2009 DVD concert featuring current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- as well as Thayer and Singer joining Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on the new re-recordings.

Stanley says that returning to the hits in the studio was a surreal experience: "That was really a lot of fun. It was kind of like revisiting where you once lived. As much as we thought we were true to the original recordings when we played the songs live, they had developed and changed over the years. We actually studied those songs, sometimes a line at a time, in terms of singing. And they're virtually indistinguishable, except sonically, a little different."

Got 'Sonic Boom'? These are the other 5 releases that you must own!

Get a full feature with Paul Stanley on the past, present and future of Kiss in this month’s Metal Hammer magazine - on sale now!

KISS
Casablanca, 1974
As far as debut albums go, they don' come more action-packed than Kiss' self-itled masterpiece. Most bands take whole careers to write songs as great as Black Diamond and Strutter, Kiss did it from the start.
BEST TRACK: Cold Gin

ALIVE!
Casablanca, 1975
The album that broke Kiss into the mainstream, Alive remains one of rock' landmark live albums. You wanted the best? Here it is, bitch.
BEST TRACK: C'on And Love Me

DESTROYER
Casablanca, 1976
Frankly, your record collection has a gargantuan hole in it if this isn' sat on your shelf. Almost faultless (even the most ardent of Kiss fans can’t defend Great Expectations), Destroyer is essential to anyone who claims a love of rock.
BEST TRACK: God Of Thunder

LOVE GUN
Casablanca, 1977
As well as giving the world one of the greatest title-tracks ever, Love Gun is the last Kiss album to receive universal acclaim from fans and critics alike. And, as everyone knows, a Kiss show can' fail when opened with I Stole Your Love.
BEST TRACK: I Stole Your Love

REVENGE
Mercury, 1992
Kiss may have been as relevant in 1992 as the cassette tape is now, but Revenge is a corker of an album. That the band recorded it shortly after the death of drummer Eric Carr only makes it an even more remarkable achievement.
BEST TRACK: Unholy

By Tim Grierson

KISS have been the godfathers of good-time rock for 35 years. Having unleashed their best album in years, they're still not ready to hang up their platform boots. Paul Stanley explains how they're showing the pretenders how it's done.

Paul Stanley is a man in perpetual motion. At 57, he and his bandmates in KISS are days away from the next leg of the group's seemingly never-ending Alive 35 tour, and he's so consumed with last-minute details that he had to postpone our initial interview in Los Angeles to focus on rehearsals before catching a flight to Detroit, where the band will kick off the tour. Later, relaxing in the band's Motor City hotel, KISS's venerable guitarist and vocalist takes a moment to reflect on the group's recent record-breaking concert tallies.

"In the last year," he says, "we played to about a million people. Our tour of Europe was our biggest and most successful ever. We did 30 shows in about three months and played probably to about three-quarters of a million people. And then after that, we did the stadiums of South America, playing to somewhere between 30,000 and 80,000 people a night. And then we went on to Canada and did 15,000 to 90,000 people a night. It's been a terrific year for us."

Their terrific year will end with another milestone -- the release of Sonic Boom, the band's first studio effort since 1998's Psycho Circus, an album that neither their fans nor KISS themselves recall all that fondly.

Check out this KISSONLINE EXCLUSIVE video clip of "Deuce" live from Saturday night's show in Birmingham!

Here's another KISSONLINE EXCLUSIVE video clip! Check out "Calling Dr. Love" live from Birmingham!

By Doug Cataldo

October has been a tremendous month for classic rock icons KISS. Their brand-new CD Sonic Boom hit the rock charts at #1 and they continue on a trek across America, unleashing their unparalleled rock and roll spectacle on the ears of the KISS Army. The CD was part of a huge merchandise blitz at Walmart Superstores across the United States. Stores nationwide received KISS Korners that were full of t-shirts, blankets, KISS M&Ms, KISS Mr. Potato Heads and KISS action figures. Those KISS Korners also include a special 33-card box set from Press Pass. Priced moderately at $10, there are three different collector boxes you can collect and each includes the complete trading card set AND a mini concert poster.

These collector boxes come on the heels of two extremely successful Press Pass releases - KISS Ikons and KISS 360. Both sets sold through, appealing to KISS fans and trading card collectors. They delivered the first ever KISS memorabilia cards and autographed cards to the hobby and secondary market prices on some of those limited edition autographed cards rival today's most popular athletes in price.

Hi KISS!

Here's a photo of my friend Scott Carretto and I at the park where the 1978 movie KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK was filmed in Valencia, CA.

Thanks,
Jim Frangella

LETTERS

By Roger McBain

The groom will appear as a leering, dagger-tongued figure with his hair in a topknot and his face painted in the grotesque mask of the Demon, rocker Gene Simmons' KISS stage persona.

The bride will wear the Starchild face paint used onstage by Paul Stanley, another founding member of the iconic rock band.

And the minister, a dyed-in-the-skin fan with band tattoos inked into his arms, will come as Catman, former KISS drummer Peter Criss' stage character, when he steps up to pronounce Anthony Yates and Lisa Harlen of Chandler, Ind., man and wife in a Halloween ceremony. The couple also are inviting the entire Tri-State KISS army to attend.

"All KISS fans are welcome to the wedding," Harlen said. They can come as band members, in other Halloween costumes "or however they want," she said.

Here's a KISSONLINE EXCLUSIVE video clip of "Lick it Up" live from Birmingham!

Check out this KISSONLINE EXCLUSIVE video clip of "Shock Me" live from Birmingham!

KISS Rocked Tampa...10th Row. This was my 5 yr old daughter's first KISS concert and she Loved it. Her exact words after the show was " Daddy, this was better than the Wiggles!" Can't wait to see them again.

Phil

LETTERS

Here's the cover of the upcoming CLASSIC ROCK. The issue also features a great interview with Paul Stanley!

We will post the full interview as soon as we can.

Tickets for four KISS Alive 35 concerts (listed below) go on sale today at 10AM (Local Venue Time) at all Ticketmaster outlets, or visit the KISS Ticketmaster page; with the exception of the Sault Ste. Marie show, which will be on sale at this link.

MARKET	VENUE	SHOW DATE
TULSA, OK	BOK ARENA	Tue, Dec. 08, 2009
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA	MID-AMERICA CENTER	Fri, Dec. 11, 2009
PITTSBURGH, PA	MELLON ARENA	Sun, Dec. 13, 2009
SAULT STE. MARIE	ESSAR CENTRE	Tue, Dec. 15, 2009

Hi Paul,

Thank you for a great show. I caught your pick!!! This was my first Kiss show ever. You guys are awesome!

Thank you for everything!

Yesenia Weaver (5th Row Center!!)

LETTERS

My daughter had a costume horse race and wanted to be Eric Singer from KISS. She just turned 4 years old.

The Demon Dale Torborg