Pop Music Reviews : Kiss-Man Stanley’s Rocking Grab-Bag

Paul Stanley has been living down to expectations for a long time--it’s been 15 years since the first Kiss record surfaced. But at least the singer-guitarist’s current solo shows aren’t part of a shrewd game-plan to appeal to the baser instincts of adolescents.

Between Kiss albums, Stanley is playing smaller rooms, and Thursday’s performance at Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre gave the impression that he is doing it just for fun . Backed by a quartet of hard-rock hotshots (including slick-domed guitarist Bob Kulick, brother of Kiss’ fret-grinder Bruce), Stanley raced through a rocking grab-bag of Kiss songs, selections from his 10-year-old solo LP, an unrecorded tune and even a request or two.

This anything-goes musical approach also enabled Stanley (who also plays at the Palace tonight) to cover considerable ground thematically, from the usual Kiss crotch-rock treatises to more tender, shattered-romance sagas to hybrids of the two.

Thanks to the quartet’s full, forceful instrumental and vocal support, this all made for an energetic blast of rock ‘n’ roar. And it almost didn’t matter that Stanley’s voice is shot.