Box sets & Collector's items

THE ORIGINAL WICKED LESTER SESSION (1971) KSWL (BOOTLEG)

Wicked Lester was the band Gene & Paul played in, before they formed KISS. One album was recorded, but never released. Several bootlegs have been made with the material, and this is supposedly the best one. I suspect that the band recorded 2 or 3 more songs, but I have still to find out if this is correct. Wicked Lester sounded nothing like KISS, and I don't know whom to compare them to. The flute reminds me of Jethro Tull, and Gene is very inspired by The Beatles, so maybe something in-between there somewhere gives you a pinpoint? "She" and "Love Her All I Can" later became KISS-tunes, and one other title was later on used for a KISS-classic ("Shout It Out Loud", title only, the songs have nothing in common). This is a cool collectors item, but only for the die hard fans.

Taken from Kiss Related Recordings:

"Sweet Ophelia" is a song originally released on Barry Mann's 1971 LP, 'Lay It All Out', and were covered the same year by Wicked Lester. While Barry did better as a song writer, usually with his wife Cynthia Weil, or Gerry Goffin, his own recordings didn't do so well. What is interesting, from the point of KISStory, is that the audio engineer at Electric Lady Studios, where the album was recorded, was one Ron Johnson, later the producer of the Wicked Lester album.
The Hollies song "I Wanna Shout" (covered by Wicked Lester as "We Want To Shout It Out Loud") closed their 1970 album 'Confessions Of The Mind', one of their more obscure albums.
Infinity recorded "(What Happens) In The Darkness" in 1972.

Killer tracks: She, Love Her All I Can, (We Want To) Shout It Out Loud

Official 8X10 promo photo from the 'Revenge' photo shoot

THE DEFINITIVE KISS COLLECTION (2001) ISLAND/MERCURY (BOX SET)

CD1: 1966-1975 Strutter (Demo) Deuce (Demo) Keep Me Waiting (Wicked Lester) She (Wicked Lester) Love Her All I Can (Wicked Lester) Let Me Know (Bell Sound Studios Demo) 100,000 Years (Bell Sound Studios Demo) Stop, Look To Listen (Paul Stanley Demo) Leeta (Gene Simmons Demo) Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll (Bell Sound Studios Demo) Acrobat (Live at The Daisy) Firehouse (Bell Sound Studios Demo) Nothin' To Loose Black Diamond Hotter Than Hell Strange Ways Parasite Goin' Blind Anything For My Baby Ladies In Waiting Rock And Roll All Nite
CD2: 1975-1977 C'Mon And Love Me Rock Bottom Cold Gin Watchin' You Doncha Hesitate (Original Version) Mad Dog (Demo) God Of Thunder (Demo) Great Expectations Beth Do You Love Me Bad, Bad Lovin' (Demo) Calling Dr. Love Mr. Speed (Demo) Christine Sixteen Hard Luck Woman Shock Me I Stole Your Love I Want You (Soundcheck Recording) Love Gun (Demo) Love Is Blind (Demo)
CD3: 1976-1982 Detroit Rock City King Of The Night Time World Larger Then Life Rocket Ride Tonight You Belong To Me New York Groove Radioactive (Demo) Don't You Let Me Know I Was Made For Lovin' you Sure Know Something Shandi You're All That I Want, You're All That I Need (Demo) Talk To Me (Live) A World Without Heroes The Oath Nowhere To Run Creatures Of The Night War Machine I Love It Loud
CD4: 1983-1989 Lick It Up All Hell's Breaking Loose Heaven's On Fire Get All You Can Take Thrills In The Night Tears Are Falling Uh! All Night Time Traveller (Demo) Hell Or High Water Crazy Crazy Nights Reason To Live Let's Put The X In Sex Hide Your Heart Ain't That Peculiar (Demo) Silver Spoon Forever (Single Mix)
CD5: 1992-1999 God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II Unholy Domino (Demo) Every Time I Look At You Comin' Home Got To Choose I Still Love You Nothin' To Lose Childhood's End (previously Unreleased Coda) I Will Be There Psycho Circus Into The Void Within I Pledge Allegiance To The State Of Rock And Roll Nothing Can Keep Me From You It's My Life (Previously Unreleased) Shout It Out Loud Rock And Roll All Nite (Live, Alive IV Version)

Like the title suggest, this is the Definitive Kiss collection. And for a band that these days releases more compilation albums than studio efforts, it's a good thing that at least one of them are made properly. This 5 disc box set includes everything a Kiss die hard could ever want. Packed in a black canvas box with red lining, and a silver and black logo-metal plate on the front, each disc represent a given time period, with separate cover art and pictures from this time period. You also get a 120 page color booklet, complete with a track by track commentary by the original members of Kiss. In total there are 94 tracks presented chronologically here, whereas 30 of them are previously unreleased demos, solo material, live recordings or outtakes. If you have some extra cash laying around, you could also buy the 'deluxe edition' that comes in a guitar case. But you would only be paying extra for the case it self, as the contents are exactly the same as in the "regular" box.

Disc One 1966-1975:

Probably the most interesting disc for all the die hard fans. 12 of the 21 tracks are previously unreleased. Sure, we all have bootlegs of the Wicked Lester (pre-Kiss band with Gene and Paul) stuff, and the demos they recorded before their first album. But it is still cool to have it in the best quality available, and with comments by Gene and Paul. The demos do sound different from the "final product", and if you ever wondered what Jethro Tull would have sounded like playing Kiss tunes, with flutes and French horns, then the Wicked Lester songs should help you out. We also get a song each from Paul and Gene, recorded even before they teamed up in Wicked Lester. I really like the first period of the KISStory. They were just this young and hungry hard rock band, taking on the world!

Disc Two 1975-1977:

This is where it all took off! 'Alive!' became the bands initial "hit" record, and they soon became a household name. 20 tracks, 8 previously unreleased. We hear a band coming from the streets, delivering their raw energy live, and moving to bigger stuff, especially with the grandiose production on 'Destroyer'. Notice the original  "God Of Thunder" demo, where Paul did the vocals, and "Bad, Bad Lovin'" that eventually was reworked into "Calling Dr. Love". The liner notes also let's us read about some of the various non-Kiss members that recorded on the bands demos, etc. This has always been sort of a mystery, and a curiosa that many Kiss fans want to know more about.

Disc Three 1976-1982 :

Disc three delivers the excess years. Kiss was big business by this time, and it almost became more about the merchandise then the music (hmm, doesn't seem like much have changed over the years....). Only 3 of the 19 tracks are exclusive to this box, and none of them are all that exciting. The live version of "Talk To Me" is sort of cool. Many people felt that Kiss was on the decline in the latter part of the 70's/early 80's, but I'm one fan that actually enjoy both 'Unmasked' and '(Music From) The Elder', so this CD is also pure gold to me. Of course this disc also represents the last period of the first of the make-up era. Apparently there is a mistake in the linter notes, as they state that "King Of The Night Time World" was recorded at the LA Forum in August, 1977. But since Kiss did not play this song during that particular tour, fans speculate, and Gene himself has hinted towards the fact, that it was recorded during a rehearsal, and that the crowd interactions have been mixed in in the studio.

Disc Four 1983-1989:

Enter the non-make-up era, and the many line-up changes. Again, only 3 of the 16 tracks presented are previously non-album tracks, or versions. At least 2 of those are songs that never made it to any of the bands albums, making them curiosities for us die hard fans. "Ain't That Peculiar" eventually became "Little Caesar". This demo version sees Eric sing and play all the instruments, minus the guitars. Bruce Kulick is handling those. "Time Traveller" is actually better than most of the songs that did make it to their albums! This it the era of Kiss that I am the least interested in, but I still find this compilation to be a good representation of the better songs from that period, although 3 songs off of 'Hot In The Shade' seems a bit too much.

Disc Five 1992-1999:

It would seem as if Kiss were always loosing their focus towards the end of every decade, only to ignite a new flame a short time into the new one. 'Revenge' was a return to form in my book, and I really wish they had stayed on that path a little while longer. The unplugged years are cool enough though, and the inclusion of "Got To Choose", originally only released on the vinyl version of 'MTV Unplugged', is a nice one. Some of the tracks from 'Psycho Circus' are included here in edited versions, without the liner notes saying anything about that. Especially "Within" is almost a minute shorter than the album version, and is said to have been scheduled for a single release that never happened. My favorite track on disc five must be "It's My Life". Gene wrote this track for the late trash rocker, Wendy O.Wiliams (Plasmatics) for her first solo album. It became a minor hit. I've always wondered what it would sound like if Kiss had recorded it, because I think it is a great Kiss-like anthem. So here I finally get my wish fulfilled. And it's great to hear Ace doin' one of the verses! We also get a live version of "Rock And Roll All Nite" scheduled for a 2002 release of 'Alive IV', that never materialized. It wasn't until 2006, when Kiss released the 'Alive!' box set, that we finally got this album, with the new title 'Kiss Alive: The Millennium Concert'.

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