Background- After about two years of rumors and runarounds former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was finally set to release his first post-KISS solo album. Frehley's Comet came out on Megaforce and Atlantic records. It certainly got a big push as this cover was on ads in all the metal magazines.
Review
1.Rock Soldiers-Opener begins with a simple drum beat followed by a basic guitar riff. This one largely relies on the vocals. Ace proudly proclaims his new found (and unfortunately short lived) sobriety. Very catchy song though and a nice way to start things off.
2. Breakout-I think that's the Flintstone's sound effect at the beginning. Well, it comes on with a nice big thick sound. Kind of reminds me a little of KISS around Lovegun. I love where they are just peeling off guitar licks and drum rolls.
3.Into the night-This is medium paced song that works out very nicely. Just solid and straight up rock. Another memorable song.
4. Something Moved-Plenty of squealing guitars all over the place here. It's a good change of pace at this point and very energetic.
5. We Got Your Rock-It's a big, simple anthem and despite some corny as hell lyrics it's pretty good.
6. Love Me Right-Very tight knit track that just flows extremely well.
7. Calling To You-Just a strong rock track with some fantastic melodies.
8. Dolls-Okay, yes, I am probably the only person that likes this song. Silly? Perhaps, but that's part of the charm of this album is that it never pretends to take itself too seriously. Somehow this remind me of something that Alice Cooper might have done in the mid-1970's.
9. Stranger In A Strange Land-This is medium paced, but for me tends to be not very memorable. Not bad, but just kind of bland. It's never really clicked for me.
10. Fractured Too-We get an instrumental that's a sequel of sorts. I like it and I think it's a little different than Ace's typical style. Good way to close the album.
Verdict/ Final Word-A very simple album in some ways that doesn't break a lot of ground. However, it's memorable, fun, well executed and in my book it only has one average song while the rest are good to great. I think Ace came back with a truly solid release that still clicks on all cylinders even now. Will it make the top ten for the year? I am not sure, but it certainly deserves some consideration. Probably one of the best hard rock albums of 1987 for sure.
***Next month's twenty year old album review will be Dio's Dream Evil.
I never heard that album. but I did buy the the Frehley's Comet Second Sighting album. I saw it on sale somewhere and his name rang a bell somewhere in the back of my mind. Only found out later he used to be in KISS. I liked the Acorn is spinning song on that album, but the rest of the album didn't impress me much at that stage. Unfortunately (in one bold stupid move) I sold all my old LP albums when I went over to CD's so I can't give it a listen again... and haven't seen any of his stuff since.
ReplyDeleteAndre-Second sighting isn't nearly as good as this album. I found the second album to be very plain. Ace also did an album called Trouble Walkin' in 1989. It's just listed under his name rather Frehley's Comet. It's decent and better than Second Sighting, but not close to this first album.
ReplyDeleteI have the three albums you've mentioned, and the first one is the only one I listen to regularly.
ReplyDeleteAnd this album, I agree, is VERY good. It's a solid, straightforward rock album that does just about everything right. Only two downsides for me: I thought Fractured Too could have been much better, it just plods long; and Dolls is painful. But I see what you mean about Alice.
-- david
Thanks for the GREAT album review. Has it really been 20 YEARS???? Wow...
ReplyDeleteI remember back in the day, we all had a catchphrase from that album. Whenever anyone would say "why?" to anything, one of us inevitably would go "cos Ace is back and he told you so" . I know...lame, but, hey, we were young!
I admit that I was really disapointed with Fractured Too. I LOVED Fractured Mirror from the first Ace solo album from back in the KISS days, but "Too" just didn't do it for me.
It makes me want to listen to this album again. Alas, I had it on cassette and have NO idea where it might be now.
thanks for the memories!!!
I saw Ace open up for Iron Maiden on the Seventh Son tour. It a suprisingly good show. He played "Shock Me"!
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to Kiss nonstop for the past few days since I've been watching the Kissology DVD over and over. They killed in the 70s. Nothing compared to their stage show. I think that only Iron Maiden come close to such an awesome stage show.
I was so excited when this album came out! In the long drawn out saga that is KISS, I seem to always side with Ace and Peter based on what I've read.
ReplyDeleteSo when this album came out I was hoisting the ACE flag for all to salute. I was a dedicated ROCK SOLDIER in the Ace Army (which was probably just me...)
Yes, I think you are the only one who enjoyed the tune Dolls...LOL!
I think you are right on in saying that this album didn't break any new ground.
It was back in the summer of '83, there's a reason I remember it well... Great tune!
I never even knew Ace put out a solo album.
ReplyDeleteSteve~
The first cassette I ever remember buying with my own cash. Ace had such an impact on me. Along with Angus Young he is the reason I first picked up a guitar.
ReplyDeleteI never bought this album, but I am very fond of Ace Frehley's solo rechord. I thought it was the best solo album out of the four.
ReplyDeleteHey...I know I haven't been around much (or at all) recently...but I just had to weigh in here.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see lots of other people have fond memories of this album...I always thought it was better than anything KISS was doing at the time. Of course, I believe that this was the same year that KISS put out "Crazy Nights," so that ain't saying much!
By the way, Mark, I always felt the same way as you about "Dolls." I always thought there was something wrong with me for liking it...
David-I actually listened to Trouble Walkin today and it's better than I remembered it being.
ReplyDeleteRobert-There were some corny lines on this album, but they were presented well.
Fred- I could see Ace being good live at that time.
Rockdog-As far as 1987 went this one beat the crap out of KISS-Crazy Nights.
Steven Novak-Consider yourself enlightened.
Captain Corky-Yes, it was easily the best of the four KISS solo albums. Paul's was okay and Gene's and Peter's were just downright bad.
Strutter-Welcome back. I am glad that I am not all alone in liking Dolls.
This albums is one of my favorites from 1987 for sure. You and Strutter are not the only "Dolls" fans. Both my wife and I rolled down the road once singing it loudly together and she asked me to play it again twice. She didn't care about the rest of the album.
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely a Hanna Barbera soundbyte if not simply The Flintstones. I agree with your analysis of this album and "Stand Up and Shout" is the weakest track, though I know Tod Howarth was pretty proud of it judging from his comments in my interview.
I just can't get over the fact Anton Fig played on this album and he was one of the driving forces of the band. Now that he's in Letterman's crew, it's just so surreal. He spoke very, very little of Frehley's Comet in our chat, which I wasn't sure why.
And Fred, I've been watching that Kissology DVD too...
As the KISS die-hard, I was glad to see Ace release this album back in '87. Ace basically disappeared for 5 years and then he was back, 'cause he told you so. I was 15 at the time and I played the heck out of the cassette, to the annoyance of my friends.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, I believe I read an interview about why Ace didn't release any solo material after leaving KISS. The reason was because he was still a full time partner in the KISS business, still getting paid for KISS business, same with Peter Criss. I believe Ace settled in 1984 with Gene and Paul but, if he had released an album, Gene, Paul, & Peter would get a slice of the pie.
Anyway, I think a big reason Ace had any post-KISS career was due to John Regan (bass). He wrote and played on all the Ace solo records and he even managed Ace's business for awhile. Even though he was solo, I always thought that Frehley's Comet was a stepping stone for the Ace to re-join KISS.