We wish you a merry Kiss-mas

All I wanted for Christmas was Kissology. For those of you who don't know (and more still who don't care), Kiss - those masked men who never met a marketing opportunity they didn't like - have been putting out a series of boxed sets compiling a chronology of the band from the lean years to the bloated years all they way through to the "he let's get back together and make more money" years.

So for Christmas this year, I got the second installment, which I like to call "the awkward years." This is the real goofy stuff that true fans and those that like to poke fun and the Kiss juggernaut will appreciate.

Kissology Vol. II features the strange lineup changes of Eric Carr, replacing original drummer Peter Criss, with The Fox persona and Vinnie Vincent, replacing Ace Frehley, with the persona of The Egyptian (or so I'm guessing. To be honest, I don't know what the heck he was.

But the best part is the non-make-up phase, where the guys try and keep up with the hair metal movement - terrible outfits, terrible guitars and terrible songs and albums - and yet all wonderfully odd and awkward.

Though there are the few gems ... take for example the "international" version of "Kiss Meets the Phantom of The Park" a made-for-TV event in the states was an actual theatrical release in Japan and abroad. It's funny in the way that "Urban Cowboy" and "Grease 2" are funny, which is to say by accident.

It's truly a gift that keeps on giving.