Ace Frehley - Ace Frehley

Digitally remastered Japanese reissue of the KISSguitarist's 1978 & top 30 solo debut in a miniaturized LPsleeve limited to the initial pressing only. Nine tracks,including the top 20 smash 'New York Groove'. 1998 MercuryRecords release. Album Description

The Best Of The Solo Albums!

Regardless of who's solo album sold more, (Gene Simmons will go to great lengths to point out HIS sold the most copies) the fact remains that Ace Frehleys was the best. These albums were supposed to give fans a glimpse of the individual people behind the masks, and this album proved to everyone that Ace was the rocker! I am a little biased though...I love albums with just guitar, drums and bass. Ace did this all himself in his own studio with 2 other people. What was recorded is a perfect example of how LESS is MORE! I can put this album on and not have to worry about using the skip button like I do on the other KISS solo albums.

Other albums I bought that sound like this are: Sloopjohnd , Frehley's Comet and Point of Entry December 2, 2008

amazing.

This is an amazing album.
Not only was it the best sounding and best written of the solo albums, it was also the best selling.
every track is killer and the production is so good that even now, 30 years later, it sounds amazing.
worth the $$$ November 28, 2008

Rock On, Spaceman

Ace has always been THE man in KISS. When he left they plunged headlong into mediocrity. The man is one helluva guitar player. He's got the goods and then some and this disc proves it. November 15, 2008

THIS IS THE ACE !!!

Ace's 1978 solo album is a high! I've loved it since I first heard it back in 1981 and it has grown stronger since. I had a go at it yesterday just to find it as convincing as ever! God, the thrills of Ozone, Snow Blind, I'm In Need Of Love, Rip It Out, Fractured Mirror do it for me. He never overdoes it and his guitars are from some place else. ACE RULES! Plus his band - when there's one since he nearly played it all by himself apart from the drums - couldn't sound better. This is a lost gem of seventies' rock. If you haven't heard it or got it, you are definitely missing out. Just can't wait to listen to his new solo album since he's been saying he looked back on this album for inspiration. Long live THE ACE!!! And please let's forget about that other guy wearing his make-up. Nobody but Ace is worthy of it.
October 19, 2008

Better without KISS

I'm being serious about this. If he isn't better, he's at least just as good by himself. I feel that without Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley definitely had more creative control with this album. He probably had just about all of it, and the creative control that he didn't have, he probably offered freely.

Back in the late sixties, when Ace Frehley first heard Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced? album, he would carry it wherever he went, under his arm. If I was alive and around the right age back then, that would be what I'd be doing. Instead, I just copied the album onto my iPod.

As I said, I think that it's much better than the stuff he's done with KISS, as much as I love their stuff. He does all of the guitar playing on it, a lot of the bass playing on it, and all of the lead vocals. Anton Fig was also a great help for him.

Ace Frehley wrote songs for KISS including the classic "Cold Gin," as well as other instant classics such as "Parasite," "Strange Ways," "Getaway;" he co-wrote other classics including the instrumental "Love Theme From KISS," the unrecognized, but thanks to MTV Unplugged, incredible tune known as "Comin' Home," the well-known "Rock Bottom," and "Flaming Youth." However, he had only been heard doing lead vocals for two songs, when this album came out; the first one was "Shock Me," from the legendary Love Gun album, which I highly recommend, and "Rocket Ride," one of the studio tracks from Alive II, which he co-wrote with Sean Delaney.

Although that equals up to being exactly an entire KISS-albums worth of songs, Gene Simmons had participating in writing more than half of that amount of songs, and Paul Stanley had participated in writing more than three times that amount; Peter Criss might have not had as much input in songwriting as Frehley had, Peter Criss had done much more lead vocals for KISS, including their biggest selling hit, "Beth," which Criss had written. Where the spaceman had been commonly noticed with KISS was with his guitar solos.

The original plan was for KISS to do a movie and to release a big double album, which would probably include the best tracks off of each of these albums performed by KISS, but for obvious reasons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss wanted to do solo albums. Although a lot of people dislike the other albums, and from the tracks I've heard from them, I can somewhat understand why, especially in comparison to Love Gun, Alive!, and the other KISS albums that had been released at the time.

This album has the guitar playing that Ace Frehley was known for, and the singing and songwriting that people were a bit more curious about. Each song on the album is a real treat to listen to. I can't really say which song is a highlighting point because they're all highlights. However, the instrumental "Fractured Mirror" definitely stands out in that it's softer than the other tracks, and it's an instrumental tune. "New York Groove" was the hit single, so when hearing the album, one would expect it to heavily stand out, but I noticed it, having heard it, yet it went perfectly well with the rest of the album. "What's On Your Mind" is also great, "Rip It Out" is another one I love, "Ozone," "Snowblind," and I really can't single out any specific track and say it was the highlighting point. This is an actual album.

Ace Frehley's guitar playing, his singing, and his compositional work (songwriting) really make this album fantastic. Paul Stanley himself commented that he really liked Ace doing songs because Ace was really good. I still don't understand why he didn't do more, if Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley said that they weren't egotistical, they just wanted the best. They probably were a bit egotistical.

I don't like to favor members of bands, but I can't help but favor Ace Frehley over the rest, so I found it a bit weird that my favorite KISS album was Creatures of the Night. However, the fact that I find this album just as good, if not better than Creatures of the Night makes up for it. Well, at least I hope it does. October 4, 2008

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