PAUL STANLEY, LIVE TO WIN CD REVIEW ON ROCK N ROLL UNIVERSE

When the four original members of Kiss released their solo albums in 1978 I felt Paul Stanley’s album was the closest sound to what Kiss had been releasing at the time(R & R Over & Love Gun).Here it is 28 years later & Paul Stanley has returned with his 2nd solo album”Live To Win”.’Live To Win’ only sprinkles a bit of Kiss flavoring over pop sounding rythyms with a rock edge over inspirational lyrics.Paul uses a few slick studio musicians on the CD most notably drummer Victor Indrizzo & guitarist Corky James whom both did work with Hillary Duff & Avril Lavigne.Indrizzo’s resume is a bit longer having also worked with Scott Weiland,Macy Gray,Sheryl Crow,& Brian May to name a few.The production & sound is great throughout the CD but if your expecting a balls out rocking album think again.The album seems more heartfelt & inspirational than anything else.The title track is probably the best track on the CD which has Paul Stanley wrap pop sounding 80’s vocals around a mid 90’s style heavy rythym as guitarist Corky James rips an ear bleeding solo.Other stand out tracks on the CD is the inspirational”Lift”which lyrically is phenomenal,”Bulletproof” which is the only song I can actually see making it to a Kiss album as it sounds like it would be right at home on ‘Hot In the Shade’(great guitars on this track),”It’s Not Me”,& “Where Angels Dare”.Overall,I feel ‘Live To Win’ is a good album but it’s been almost 30 years since his first solo album & all we get is 10 songs that clocks out at under 35 minutes.On a scale of 1-5,I give ‘Live To Win’ 3.5 smashed guitars.