Wicked Lester: The Beginning Of KISS

There are several originals on this recording 2 would show up later on ‘Dressed To Kill’ & 2 others would be “Live Staples” throughout 1973, as well as 2 Barry Mann songs, a ‘Hollies’ song, a song by ‘Griffin’ & a song by Austin Roberts. There is 1 out-take known to exist titled “Long Long Road” sung by: Paul. The original cover art intended for the LP can be found on ‘The Laughing Dogs’ 1979 Columbia LP #JC-36033. Upon hearing the finished record, Don Ellis @ Epic Records, announced he “Hated the record & had no intention of releasing it” Klein & Eisen, decided it was time to move in a “New” direction, so the 2 changed their names to Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley respectively, then on 31 Aug 1972, Peter Cris (the drummer mentioned before) ran an ad in the “East Coast” edition of “Rolling Stone” which caught the eye of Gene & Paul. There was a meeting @ Electric Lady Studios & 2 auditions, before Cris was hired.

Only a few months later the band records a 5 song demo, of these 1st versions of these songs, most notably different is “Cold Gin” & “Strutter” both clocking in @ the 5min mark. Many years ago I heard an early recording (maybe 1972-73) of “Black Diamond” where Paul sang the entire song himself without Peter, however I cannot seem to locate this version as of late. Here’s the track list for the demo:

13 Mar 1973 Tues
Electric Lady Studios; NYC
Produced By: Eddie Kramer
Deuce
Cold Gin
Strutter
Watchin You
Black Diamond

I feel it’s worth noting, “Nothin To Lose” has different lyrics & clocks in @ 6min while “Firehouse” has a totally different arrangement & clocks in @ the 5min mark as well, “Life In The Woods” runs almost 8min & will never be recorded in the studio, “Acrobat” is a 3 part song containing parts of “Love Theme From KISS” the intro to “Detroit Rock City” & “Much Too Young” the song is by & large written by Simmons, & “She” is being performed live but will not see release until 2 years later in ’75 & remarkably “Go Now” a cover tune the band used to perform as far back as their ‘Rainbow’ days.

‘KISS’ sign a management deal with Bill Aucoin (29 Dec 1943; Ayer, MA. – 28 Jun 2010 Aventura, FL) in Oct ’73, Aucoin then gets the band a record deal with Neil Bogart’s newly formed ‘Casablanca Records’ the band’s 1st LP out on 18 Feb 1974 on Casablanca Dist. By: WB with 9 songs. In an unusual move full song writing credits were not given, for example: “Cold Gin” was actually Frehley- Simmons, for the song “Let Me Know” the ending Coda was written by: Frehley but not given credit & “Deuce” was Simmons- Stanley, while “Black Diamond” was actually Simmons- Stanley. A total of 3 singles were released from this LP “Nothin To Lose b/w Love Theme From KISS” in Feb ’74, followed by: “Kissin Time” (a 1959 Bobby Rydell song which is recorded in Apr ’74) in May ’74 & the 3rd was “Strutter b/w 100,000 Years” in Aug ’74.

If you did not know I was a staff member on a book published on “KISS: Alive Forever” 2002 Billboard Books & you may or may not know I am in a “KISS Tribute Band” which covers the 1st & 2nd ‘KISS’ Tours thus I am writing this article, to help those understand what it is we are portraying, should you decide come to see us “Live”. By the way the is a Brand New Book out titled “Out On The Streets” by ‘KISS’s’ Original Road Crew: JR Smalling, Peter Oreckinto, Rick Munroe& the late Mick Campise, I haven’t read it yet, but I do hope to get 1 from Santa Claus (hint hint)