“The First Noel 1988 to 2008” cover feat. Bruce Kulick and Douglas Blair available for free download

“The First Noel 1988 to 2008” cover feat. Bruce Kulick and Douglas Blair available for free download

W.A.S.P. guitarist Douglas Blair has released a cover of the traditional Cornish Christmas carol “The First Noel 1988 to 2008” which also features ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick. The song gets the ’80s rock ballad treatment and is available for free download via CD Baby until December 25, 2018.

The CD Baby website states (with slight edits):

“In 1988, Blair, then the lead guitarist for East Coast rock trio RUN 21, recorded and mixed “The First Noel” at Courtlen Studios in Hanson, MA — Extreme’s home base studio. The recording utilized cassette, 2” and 1/4” analog tape — along with early computer-automated mixing — yet was never officially released.

Thirty years later, Blair, now the longest-tenured lead guitarist for W.A.S.P., teams up with Kulick, arguably KISS’s consummate former lead guitarist, who recently recorded an “unplugged-style” magical counter-melody to Blair’s long-lost analog masterpiece. Kulick’s acoustic session was done at Robby Krieger’s (The Doors) studio in Glendale, CA, and engineered by Brian Virtue (Jane’s Addiction).”