Kiss - Playlist Your Way (2008)

In Kisstory, 2008 will go down as the year of uninspired, poorly named compilations. The year had already seen the release of three-disc Playlist Plus along with the Canadian single CD Best of Kiss: Green Series which came with eco-friendly packaging and a slightly better track list than this one. Save "Uh! All Night," the songs on Playlist Your Way are popular favorites with two of the biggest tunes -- "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Shout It Out Loud" -- acting as bookends. Legendary rocker "Detroit Rock City" is here along with the big hit ballad "Beth," and the non-makeup years are represented well enough, although "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You, Pt. 2" is sorely missed. The compilation's whole reason for being is the digital download card bonus which includes a code that gives the buyer access to an exclusive podcast. The podcast is an 11-minute narrative covering the band's story with no Kiss music or Kiss interviews and just a little bit of revisionist history (critics were hardly "divided" on the disastrous Music from "The Elder"). Can't blame Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons for any of this since they have declared all these 2008 comps the record company's doing. On the other hand, you can't deny that these tracks are almost all larger than life, so big that even poor packaging and clumsy concepts can't topple them.