Not to be confused with the pre-Kiss band Wicked Lester, this is an 80s era Sunset Strip outfit who re-recorded 20+ year old demos (never an actual release) when a label came a-knocking. So these are updated versions of their glam heyday "classics". Like many starry eyed bands, the core trio relocated from Illinois to Mississippi, then on to LA in ’91, as grunge swept the city clean. Right place, wrong time! Actually, the band was probably too heavy, closer to something like Ugly Kid Joe than the swagger of Poison, Guns or even Motley, although ‘Shot To The Head’ seems more malevolent than the average glamster and the closing ‘Get Back M.F.’ (which stands for what you think it does) utilizes words that would definitely have been banned from radio play. ‘Ways To Be Wicked’ steals from Cinderella and ‘In Need Of Love’ is a dated, simplistic leftover of a bygone era. Think third tier ‘Summertime Girls’.

Vocally, Shane Tassart at times recalls Heaven Edge’s Marc Evans. Was the era of power ballads, so ‘Champagne In The Rain’ is their acoustic tearjerker. ‘Hollywood Slide’ offers some tasty guitar in the normal (or perhaps a little heavier) LA context of the time. Probably the type of "never was" that Rocklahoma should have been booking (to keep the initial momentum going), rather than opting for this year’s crop of rehashed 90s alt-rockers. 25 years ago, lost in the mix, now, a nice nostalgic novelty.