Ace Frehley (album)
| Ace Frehley | ||||
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| Ace Frehley's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
September 18, 1978 |
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admission |
June and July 1978 |
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| Label (s) | Casablanca Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
36:38 |
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Eddie Kramer , Ace Frehley |
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Studio (s) |
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Ace Frehley is a solo album of 1978 by the then Kiss - lead - guitarist Ace Frehley .
History of origin
Between 1974 and 1977, Kiss had released a new album on average every six months, and with Love Gun and Alive II they had reached the peak of their work to date. In 1976, the group had renewed their contract with Casablanca Records , and this provided that the record company could require each member of the group to release a solo album, with the release of two solo albums equal to the release of one Kiss album. So four solo albums meant that the group would have fulfilled two more studio commitments from their contract. The idea of recording solo albums at all came from manager Bill Aucoin and Casablanca boss Neil Bogart and was included in the contract at their request.
In June 1978 the four members of the group went to different studios to record their respective solo albums.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were not particularly convinced of Frehley's quality as songwriters , although he had already written several songs for Kiss. Simmons pointed out that Frehley had more often been listed as the sole composer of a Kiss song, although he had not written the song Cold Gin alone, for example . The doubts of his band mates spurred Frehley to commit to his solo album.
Frehley initially tried to produce the album himself , but after he did not achieve the result he had hoped for, he engaged Eddie Kramer , who then produced the album. Much of the recording took place in the Colgate mansion in Sharon, Connecticut . As with the Kiss album Love Gun , Kramer used the acoustics of the different rooms to record different sounds. Further recordings were made in the Plaza Sound Studio in New York .
In addition to his own compositions, Frehley also recorded the title New York Groove , written by Russ Ballard and released by the group Hello on their album Keeps Us Off the Streets in 1975 . Kramer modernized the song and made it a single suitable for the disco -influenced time , which reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed in the charts for 21 weeks . New York Groove was the only single of the Kiss members’s four solo albums to hit the charts; at the same time the title is still Frehley's most successful song as a solo artist.
Ace Frehley also featured an instrumental title that concluded the album: Fractured Mirror. The song had a total of three acoustic sequels, namely Fractured, Too on the debut album by Frehley's Comet (1987), Fractured III on Frehley's album Trouble Walkin ' (1989) and Fractured Quantum on Anomaly (2009). The song was also covered by Panteras Dimebag Darrell and John 5 .
Participating musicians
- Ace Frehley : vocals, guitar , guitar synthesizer , bass
- Anton Fig : drums , percussion
- Will Lee : Bass on Ozone, Wiped-Out & I'm In Need of Love
- Carl Tallarico: drums on Fractured Mirror
- David Lasley, Susan Collins & Co .: Backing Vocal on Speedin 'Back to My Baby, New York Groove & What's On Your Mind?
- Larry Kelly: Backing Vocal on Rip It Out
- Bill "Bear" Scheniman: Bell on Fractured Mirror
- Bobby McAdams: Power Mouth on New York Groove
Cover
All of the Kiss members' solo albums had a cover showing the masked face of the respective artist. The portraits had been drawn by Eraldo Carugati . Each portrait had its own background color: Peter Criss was highlighted in green, Gene Simmons in red, Ace Frehley in blue, and Paul Stanley in purple. Each album came with a poster that was shaped to match one of the other three posters, so that when all four albums were purchased, a large poster was created that showed all four members. In addition, each album was accompanied by an order form for merchandise items.
publication
The solo albums of all four Kiss members were released on September 18, 1978 in the USA , the circulation was four million albums, one million albums per member of the group. All four albums were awarded gold and platinum on October 2, 1978 , Frehley's album reached number 26 on the Billboard 200 , and the single was the most successful of the four solo albums.
The release of the albums was a financial fiasco for Casablanca Records, as most fans simply couldn't afford to buy all four albums at once. Since Casablanca had offered retailers a 100% return policy , what had happened to the label in 1975 was repeated: the returns were enormous.
Casablanca Records released the solo albums as Kiss albums, so members of the group are happy to use them for the total number of awards the band has won. In addition, the albums were all provided with the band's logo. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on the other hand, does not recognize them as band albums, but lists them under the names of the respective artists, so that they are actually not counted towards the awards for Kiss.
Track list
- Rip It Out (3:39 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley, Larry Kelly, Sue Kelly)
- Speedin 'Back to My Baby (3:35 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley, Jeanette Frehley)
- Snow Blind (3:54 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley)
- Ozone (4:41 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley)
- What's on Your Mind? (3:26 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley)
- New York Groove (3:01 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Russ Ballard )
- I'm in Need of Love (4:36 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley)
- Wiped-Out (4:08 min; vocals: Ace Frehley; text and music: Ace Frehley, Anton Fig)
- Fractured Mirror (5:25 min; Music: Ace Frehley)
literature
- Julian Gill: The Kiss Album Focus - Kings of the Night Time World, 1972-1982. 3. Edition. KissFaq.com 2008, ISBN 978-0972225373
Web links
- Official website of Ace Frehley
- Cover illustration Ace Frehley ( Memento from June 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Poster of the album
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c Dale Sherman: Black Diamond - The Unauthorized Biography of Kiss ; Collectors Guide Publishing Inc., 1997, ISBN 1-896522-35-1
- ↑ Curt Gooch & Jeff Suh: Kiss Alive Forever - A Complete Touring History. Billboard Books, 2002, ISBN 0-8230-8322-5
- ↑ David Leaf & Ken Sharp: Kiss: Behind the Mask. Warner Books, New York, 2003, ISBN 0-446-53073-5
- ↑ Dale Sherman: Black Diamond 2 - The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Kiss. Collectors Guide Publishing Inc., 1997, ISBN 1-896522-36-X
- ↑ Spacewalk - A Tribute To Ace Frehley. Triage Records, 1996
- ^ Art of Malice. 2010
- ↑ Database of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)