John's Disses

Ace Frehley was quoted in recent interviews as saying that when he drove around in his car listening to the final mixes of his new CD Anomaly, that the music gave him the same feeling he had just before putting out his first solo record in 1978. That is a BOLD statement, considering the fact that the KISS Ace Frehley album is one of the greatest musical achievements of the 20^th century. That album, released together with the rest of KISS’s solo albums, beat the rest of his band members’ records, undisputedly (even by Gene Simmons), both in sales and artistic merit.

Anomaly is perfectly timed as Ace’s ex-band is releasing a new one on October 5, sans Ace and Peter of course, called Sonic Boom. KISS fans are dying to see if history will repeat itself.

The skeptic in me didn’t believe that this new solo album, Ace’s first in 20 years, would be nearly as good as his first. I figured any self-produced album that a 50+ year-old Frehley recorded in a home studio would pretty much pale in comparison.

 But I was wrong. It’s obvious from the first notes of the opening track, “Foxy & Free” (with lyrical nods to Hendrix by referencing both “Foxy Lady” and “Voodoo Chile”), that Ace doesn’t own just any home studio, and that he’s not just any ordinary artist-turned producer. Of course the song isn’t as perfect as the ’78 album’s opener “Rip It Out”, which to this day sends chills down my spine every time I hear it, but it’s still Ace, and for some reason the guy just can’t sing a bad track. Delayed lead guitar on this reminds me of “I’m in Need of Love” (Ace always had a way of tying his visual Spaceman image in with his guitar and vocal styles, which is part of his brilliance). He also quotes early KISS on this one with the words “watchin’ you.”

Next up is the album’s first single, “Outer Space.” Not written by Frehley, although he did get a writing credit on it, the song was penned by Fresno musicians Jesse Mendez and David Askew, whose ex-manager now works with Ace. It’s a strong song and a perfect single for the Anomaly.

“Pain in the Neck” isn’t as strong melodically, but it’s close. The main riff is ultra-heavy for Ace Frehley, yet infectious. The song has the classic Ace charm when he sings

 I think you’re cute, you’re a pretty girl, that’s why we’re livin in sin

You always ask where I’m goin, or find out where I been

And lots of fun makin love girl, but now you’re makin me sad

No kisses or any sympathy, you make up for the past

Like he did on the first solo record with “New York Groove”, a song made famous in the UK by the glam band Hello (Frehley once told Rolling Stone Magazine that his unique take on the song was inspired by his experience with hookers in New York City’s pre-Rudy Giuliani Times Square), Ace includes a cover next; Sweet’s “Fox on the Run”, which is AWESOME. I gotta say, it’s a perfect song for him to sing. Or maybe Ace can just sing anything, I don’t know (the version of Rolling Stones’ “2000 Man” Ace sings on KISS’s Dynasty album is better than the original). It’s pretty faithful to the Sweet version. This is the one track Ace didn’t produce, but it blends seamlessly with the rest of the songs.

Genghis Kahn is largely instrumental. I read a review that said Ace should have cut out the vocal parts, but to me, the vocal parts are what save the song. I’m not a fan of rock instrumentals. It’s ok. Many of the riffs remind me of early KISS.

“Too Many Faces” sounds like vintage solo Ace. It’s quirky and has a bright quality similar to songs like “What’s on Your Mind” and “I’m in Need of Love”. I feel the same way about “Change the World”.

“Space Bear” is instrumental.  More early KISS-style slow pentatonic guitar riffs.

“A Little Below the Angels” is a quasi-ballad. “We’re just a little below, a little below the angels, and that’s alright, that’s alright with me”. He gets help from his daughter during a breakdown conversation (“Daddy, have you ever seen an angel?” / “Sure baby” / “Well, what was it like” / “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”), followed by her layered vocals singing the chorus, joined by “Daddy” as the song fades out.

On a recent episode of the Good Clean Fun podcast, Michael Butler and his co-host Jasper were laughing at this song. Michael made the observation that Ace is a lot like Dee Dee Ramone. I think that was probably the truest statement ever made about the guy. He has a certain charm, a style to his vocal delivery that allows him to say anything and pull it off.

“Sister” is good. I didn’t think so when I saw him play it live before I had the album, but now I like it. The delay effect used on the line “I can’t change (can’t, change) my ways (my ways)” is reminiscent of  ”Wiped Out”.

Frehley finds the funk on the intro and verses of “It’s a Great Life”. The chorus melody and lyrics here are CLASSIC solo Ace Frehley though, maybe the best chorus on the album:

It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken

I’ve paid a high, price for all I’ve done wrong

It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken

My daddy told me, so I wrote this song

My only real critique of this record is that there are two too many instrumentals (I’m including “Genghis Kahn” in this). I’d be happy with just “Fractured Quantum”, the 4^th installment of the Fractured Mirror series he ends each of his solo albums with. That one’s good. In fact, it’s less like the original “Fractured Mirror” than certain guitar parts in “A Little Below the Angels” are. There’s a nice electric guitar melody that really makes it.

My disappointment with the instrumental tracks stems from my belief that Ace is a great rock n’ roll singer. He’s better than he most likely thinks he is, and better than most other singers would give him credit for. But the fans know that he’s one of the most unique voices in rock n’ roll. The more songs he sings before he blasts off into retirement, or wherever it is that spacemen go when they stop rockin’, the better we all are for it.

But consider this: The first solo album had nine songs on it, including the instrumental “Fractured Mirror”. This one has 12 songs and three instrumentals (not counting the re-mix of “Space Bear” bonus track featuring re-recorded quotes from the now-infamous KISS-Tom Snyder Tomorrow show interview from Halloween 1979 dubbed over the music. I like this better than the album version, but it shouldn’t have been included on the actual album as it’s too comedic in my opinion). So, we get more vocal tracks than the original solo album. Once I put that together, Anomaly became alright with me.

Delete the instrumentals and there you have it; a perfect record. I never saw this coming and I couldn’t be more pleased. Ace should be commended, not only for his songwriting and vocal/guitar performances, but mostly for his skilled production. He produced this album the way Ace Frehley should be produced, which is much more difficult than it might seem. I don’t think anyone could have done it better.

I give Anomaly 5 stars, and I’m a hard fan to please. It’s not classic KISS, but it’s classic solo Ace for sure. Let’s see how KISS does without him this time around. I predict a sonic bomb, with a couple good Paul Stanley songs on it.