Kiss – Kiss and Ace Demos (1995) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection,… More

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Kiss – Kiss and Ace Demos (1995) – Album Review (The Kiss Bootleg Series)

I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.

This time around we have a German demo called ‘Kiss and Ace Demos’. And guess what, that is what is in on it, plus a lot of Wicked Lester tracks. The first 10 tracks are Wicked Lester (but not really). Tracks 11-15 are Kiss Demos (mostly) and Tracks 16-18 are Ace Frehley Demos (one of which I’ve never had before. Track 19 on the list is the radio commercial for Kiss – The Originals release. An interesting add.

Now, the track listing says you get 19 tracks, but that isn’t really true. Like most bootlegs, there are mistakes. Well, a couple errors in this case. First is that tracks 9 & 10 are not what they have listed as “We Want To” and “Shout it out Loud”. Nope that is actually one song called “We Want To (Shout It Out Loud)”. Th other mistake is “Ladies in Waiting” is spelled “Laidies in Waiting”…which I guess makes it take on a whole new meaning…or maybe fits the meaning of the song that much better. And there was a little bonus inside the booklet. There was the actual receipt when this album was purchased back April 12, 1995 (if bought in Europe, then it would be December 4, 1995…not 100% positive on either. But the price was rather high at 49.85 after tax. A little steep back in that day.

The album kicks off Wicked Lester demos and first is “Sweet Ophelia” which is a cover of Barry Mann’s song from his 1971 album “Lay It All Out” and was written by Barry Mann and Gerry Goffin. The song holds true to the original with a big exception in that an entire verse is missing. The song is so dated with that late 60’s, early 70’s vibe. It is psychedelic and has some massive hippie vibes and scary to think this is Paul on vocals as he feels right at home.

“Keep Me Waiting” which is one of three songs Kiss would release on the Kiss Box Set. The other two were “Love Her All I Can” and “She”. “Keep Me Waiting” is full of horns and a cool bass groove from Gene. Paul is on vocals and he sounds so young yet so confident. There is a whole 60’s vibe to this tune, but I like it.

“Ladies in Waiting” is up next, but it I think it is really “Love Her All I Can”. Paul admits that the opening guitar work was strongly influenced by The Who song “Can’t Explain” and the guitar & bass parts were taken from “Open My Eyes” by Nazz. A complete Frankenstein song that works. Another great track in its original form. Definitely not Kiss, but you could see a band that had potential. The song ends with some congos and such which is the start of another song then cuts off quickly. Obviously this was pieced together from various sources, but the sound quality of the album is sensational.

“Simple Type” I believe is up next, but not listed. It is an interesting track with Gene and Paul sharing vocals. Paul sounds normal, but Gene sounds like a totally different person. Pure 60’s vibe from Gene. There is a flamenco type sounding moment which is weird. The song is a little all over the place and then abruptly ends after some tape wobble and the next thing you know is you are listening to “She”. The song is so different than what the band recorded for the album ‘Dressed to Kill’ years later. It has a jazzy, funky feel to it and includes the most metal instrument, the flute. Jethro Tull did it, so why not Wicked Lester.

Up next is “Too Many Days”, but I believe really is “Too Many Mondays” is such a 60’s hippie song is the only thing I can think of. Paul sounds like…well more like Peter, Paul & Mary than Kiss. It is bloody awful. “In The Darkness” comes straight at you and blows your mind, not in a good way. There are a ton of backing vocals on the chorus. This feels so 60’s psychedelic craziness or something. I don’t know how to describe it. But it is still kind of fun. The actual title is “What Happens in the Darkness”.

“When the Bell Rings” is a more straightforward rocker with both Gene and Paul singing. Gene starts to sound closer to Gene rather than that dainty flower we heard earlier. It is an okay track, nothing write home about though. Then comes some Beatle style song called “Molly (Some Other Guy)” with Paul on vocals singing too softly. You can hear Gene’s bass prominently. Another 60’s vibe song and not that sensational. And lastly we get a cover of the Hollies “(We Want To) Shout It Out Loud” which would be the inspiration for a song with a similar song later. Gene sings this one and he is not really recognizable. It would’ve fit well on The Vault though. It is decent enough. Sadly, it suddenly cuts off as they jammed too many songs on one side of the vinyl and they ran out of space.

We now fall back to 1987 and to one of the coolest demos we can get and that is “Sword And Stone”. This was written by Desmond Child, Paul Stanley and Bruce Kulick and was a demo for the “Crazy Nights” album. They offered the song to Loverboy, but instead Paul Dean covered it for his own solo album. Bonfire also covered as well in 1989 on their “Shocker” album. This version is a little rough. Feels like a tape recording of a tape recording. Very hollow and muddy. But still such a good song. Then it is a song I hate. “Hide Your Heart” is off the 1989 ‘Hot in the Shade’ album. This demo also feels a little rough. But it isn’t that far off the final version. A version that was done by Kiss, Ace Frehley and even Bonnie Tyler all around the exact same time. I’ve always said this feels like a poor man’s version of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer”.

Then we get a live version of Paul Stanley singing “Rock And Roll All Nite” with him and an electric guitar. Don’t know when it is from, but sounds like maybe a radio promo or something like that. An interesting version. Then we get two demos from ‘Destroyer’ so that puts it around 1976. First is “Do You Love Me?” and man is it another muddied, hollow recording. Sounds very old and very muted…really quite. I love the way Paul actually delivers the lyrics it is very flippant and a little flamboyant. Over emphasis on a few words. Next is “Flaming Youth” and it feels and sounds like the previous one. Really bad sound quality…but it sounds like the final version if you listen really closely.

The last three demos are all Ace. First is “Commin’ Back”, but it is really “Back Into My Arms” which is almost a ballad. Very poppy and another one that isn’t too bad even if the sound quality isn’t there, the quality of the song is. Next is one I’ve never heard before and that is “Audio/Video” and what a cool guitar driven track. I wonder if the actual title is “Catch Me When I Fall”…who knows. I wonder why it didn’t end up on anything. Yeah, it needed a little work, but a nice riff and great drum sound on it. Oh well. The last Ace demo is “The Girl Can’t Dance” and after hearing this the girl probably jumped off the roof the dance hall this played in. Holy crap, Ace doing a pop, new wave dance song. Satan does exist!! It feels like a Duran Duran song…a bad Duran Duran song, but still Duran Duran. Then thrown on the very end is the radio commercial for The Originals set that was released with the first 3 albums included. I have a really beat to hell copy of it. Need an upgrade.

And that is all for this bootleg. I have a few releases with the Wicked Lester so that isn’t really the draw on this one for me. Actually, I have most of these on various bootlegs. For me, the draws are the “Rock And Roll All Nite” version with only Paul only and the Ace demo for “Audio/Video”, both I don’t have anywhere else. Outside of that, this isn’t a must have as there are better versions of a lot of these demos on other boots. Still, if you see it grab it as long is less than the $49.85 price Humphrey might’ve paid…well…somebody paid it! My Overall Score is a 2.5 out of 5.0 Stars.