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After my early morning filled with lots of classic rock I decided to keep it going with Wicked Lester! If you dont know Wicked Lester was the foundation of Kiss before Kiss. It was the first band that Gene Klein (Gene Simmons) and Stanley Eisen (Paul Stanley) were in together. Wicked Lester got signed to Epic Records in 71, but the album was never released and the band fell apart. Gene & Paul recruited Peter Criss and played as a trio before adding Ace Frehley and the rest is Rock & Roll Kisstory!

In the mid 70′s Epic was going to release the Wicked Lester LP to cash in on the success of Kiss, but gene quickly bought the master tapes for $137,500 so they couldnt put it out. They were somewhat afraid that the proggy/folky/psych rock would turn away Kiss fans but the biggest fear was that Epic would include photos of Gene & Paul with no make-up on in the Wicked Lester artwork.

Only 3 Wicked Lester songs were ever released (on a Kiss box set) so if you’re curious about the roots of Kiss or you’re a fan of weird 60′s/70′s prog/folk/psych then pick up this bootleg LP which also includes some Kiss & Ace Frehley demos.

I have this same LP that elder* is selling and it always annoyed me that the artwork names no sense for the album! Oh well…

worldofautographsinc has an autographed photo of Wicked Lester from right before the transformation to Kiss. Its Gene, Paul, Ace & Peter with no make-up from about 1972 and its signed by all four. Pretty cool, but pricey!

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