In the past twelve months, KISS has come back in a huge way. October’s Sonic Boom earned high praise all around (including from this site) and the band is set to begin an epic summer tour in a couple weeks. So what better time for a few early demos to mysteriously slip out?
The tunes are “Smoke” and “Mistake,” both nuggets from the band’s golden years. “Mistake” aims for the classic ballad sound, weeping slide guitar and all. “When I’m with you, live is a heaven / When you leave me, life is my hell,” Paul Stanley sings in typically tightly-crafted lyrics. “Smoke”, well, it’s pretty much “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” with new lyrics. No wonder they didn’t release it; the only thing more powerful than Gene Simmons’ tongue is the Rolling Stones’ legal team.
Various sites report that these songs were cut in 1976, which would put them in the Rock and Roll Over sessions. No one is citing sources for this info though, which makes us wonder if someone misinterpreted the “Copyright Disclaimer…1976” at the bottom of both videos (this refers to the Copyright Act of 1976, but doesn’t mean the songs were necessarily copyrighted that year).
Regardless, they certainly come from back in the day. The sound quality is about the level you’d get recording a band play in the apartment next store, but it’s enough to make you hope they bust these out on tour.
“Mistake”
“Smoke”
