Track Listing

1. Live To Win
2. Lift
3. Wake Up Screaming
4. Everytime I See You Around
5. Bulletproof
6. All About You
7. Second To None
8. It's Not Me
9. Loving You Without You
10. Where Angels Dare

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23117 in Music
• Brand: Stanley
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
Live to Win is new the solo release from iconic KISS frontman Paul Stanley. The voice and songwriting force behind such KISS classics as "Detroit Rock City," "Black Diamond," Hard Luck Woman" and "Tears Are Fallin'," Stanley's career with KISS spans more than three decades and in excess of 100 million records sold worldwide.

Stripping all the legendary bombast away, what becomes starkly clear is that besides rocking relentlessly, the power of human emotion and conviction on Live to Win can rattle not only the walls, but also touch the heart and soul of the listener. "What I wanted to do on this album was sing about my life because my life is not that different than anybody else's," he continues. "The truth is, what we all deal with in life is pretty similar. You change the names and the story's the same."

"This album is purely a labor of love," says Stanley. "It is a labor of passion, and something where I was concerned with turning out the album I heard in my head, without regard for having glitz and star power from other sources. It was purely about making the album I wanted to make." While the heartfelt "Loving You Without You Now" was written without any outside collaboration, the remainder of the album reunites him with former KISS songwriting partners Desmond Child [Aerosmith, LeeAnn Rimes] and Holly Knight [Tina Turner, Pat Benatar], and introduces new collaborators including Andreas Carlsson [Bon Jovi, Britney Spears], John 5 [Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson] and Marti Frederiksen [Aerosmith, Faith Hill]. Seven of the ten tracks were co-written with Child and/or Carlsson, with Stanley and Child joined by John 5 on "Where Angels Dare" and Frederiksen on "Lift," and Knight teaming with the frontman on "It's Not Me."

Live to Win is self-produced by Stanley, who provides lead vocals, guitar and percussion alongside a studio core of guitarist Corky James, drummer Victor Indrizzo and keyboardist Harry Sommerdahl. Also performing on the album are former KISS bandmate Bruce Kulick and guitarist John 5.

"I've always believed that when you give somebody an album, it should be like a fresh newspaper, where you get ink on your fingers and it's today's news," says Stanley, who wrote and co-wrote the ten tracks on Live to Win specifically for the new release. "For me, this album is where I'm at now - This is where things are in my life, and my perspective on my music."

Amazon.com
It's taken a mere 28 years, but Kiss frontman Paul Stanley has finally followed up the, er, promise of his part of the band's 1978 quartet of post-Love Gun solo ego-trips. Yet he's mostly eschewed Kiss's fist-pumping histrionics and sonic clichés in favor of a darker turn into the melodic nu-metal of "Lift" and "Bulletproof," the pop-punk sheen of "Wake Up Screaming," and obligatory power ballads like "Second to None," "Loving You...," and "Everytime I See You Around." The latter sensibility belies the touch of popmeister Desmond Childs as co-writer with Stanley of most of the material. Yet Childs, who's been churning out similar, chart-ready slices of rock dramaturgy for artists great and small since the '80s, can hardly be blamed by the Kiss Army for turning their sassy, beloved Star Man into Bon Jovi. That honor goes to Stanley himself, who self-produced his own post-punk-inflected reincarnation as Big Rock Balladeer. "Where Angels Dare," indeed. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

We Have a Winner!
Outstanding solo effort by Paul Stanley. Live to Win is a batch of melodic hard pop-rock that delivers the goods. The songs are all catchy, maybe a bit cheesy at moments, but great none the less. You can tell this is a batch of fresh songs and not a bunch of old KISS demos that weren't good enough to make the cut on a KISS album. Paul enlists the help of some of the best songwriters in the business to help create a balance of great pop hooks with a hard rock edge. Highly recommend this one!

Infectious tunes that won't leave you alone
The first time I listened to Live to Win I wasn't particularly impressed. But for some reason I kept coming back to it, and this week it won't leave me alone. Particularly bothersome are "Wake Up Screaming," and "Everytime I See You Around." These melodies keep popping up again and again, like a bad case of hiccups.

Live to Win has some great songs and shows that Paul Stanley still has a bit of juice left in him after all these years. While he was always the strongest composer in KISS (Detroit Rock City, Love Gun, Hard Luck Woman), it never hurts to have a little help. Several cowriters lent a hand, most notably Desmond Child, who has written and produced some of the most memorable rock anthems of the past two decades, including Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," "Bad Medicine" and "Keep The Faith," Aerosmith's "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," and KISS' 80's hits, "I Was Made For Loving You" and "Heaven's On Fire."

Except for "It's Not Me," in which Paul eschews fame and stardom ("It's not me . . . . I'm not you're savior."), musically and lyrically Live To Win could have easily been the next KISS album. Yes, the sound is a little different than what you might be used to from KISS, but Stanley and Simmons have proven as adept at changing musical styles as they are at makeup and costumes.

If you're waiting for the next KISS album, you might like to pick this up in the meantime. Live to Win is a sold pop-rock album that just won't leave you alone.

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Good but not perfect.
I love Paul so much but this cd starts out good and then dies. Too many ballads. My favorite song is "Lift." Buy only if you are a die-hard Paul fan. It sounds recycled, not fresh.