This will be the third Ace Frehley album I have done a review on. My review of Spaceman created quite a flurry, but I'm brave! I'll go again.
If I'm being honest, there's no scenario that comes to mind where I'd be less excited to listen to this. His last album was a train wreck and the previous LP was the first covers record, which would have made a great EP.
Upon hearing about this one...many of the same guests, doing songs by many of the same artists, and well, Ace's vocals have deteriorated to nearly unlistenable. The single for Space Truckin though... it was quite good.
Then we found out this track was recorded during the Anomaly sessions. My personal opinion is the inclusion of this track made Ace to leave his "is that good enough" attitude at the door.
All signs pointed to this album being his Ghostbusters II, but instead he turned in The Empire Strikes Back.
Well, that's overstating it a little bit. This isn't an A+ record, but he certainly outdid his first covers record. What were wasted opportunities in the first, John 5 playing second fiddle and doing THREE Kiss tunes, he has John 5 ripping his balls off.
The song selection is much better as well. Instead of Spanish Castle Magic by Jimi, he picks Manic Depression.(featuring Bruce Kulick)
Instead of Street Fighting Man, he went with Jumping Jack Flash (featuring Lita Ford, again.)
The Cream song he chose, Politician, works better with his voice and he's able to sing the all of it rather than White Room being buttressed by his drummer.
It can't be forgotten that Robin Zander turned in an amazing vocal performance on 30 Days In The Hole. This is a great thing. This track comes on the backside which is about when my ear grows a little weary of hearing Ace singing for so long.
There's no metric for me where Ace doesn't improve on every single aspect of the first album. Better guests, better usage of the guests, better playing, and better song selection. His version of Lola by the Kinks is particularly inspired.
The final track, She, is interesting. Yes, it's another Kiss tune, which I decried in earlier paragraphs, but this time it sounds great. There are some questions about much Ace played on it, but his doing the vocal harmony instead of singing it solo...that's awesome.
Considering that Ace Frehley is the last member of Kiss to be actively working on new music, I couldn't be happier that he has come out with a damned fine album.
It's not perfect, but after his previous effort, I thought Ace had used up all of his magic. Hopefully, he'll feel inspired to put out one more kicking rock record before he hangs it up for good.
Rating B Preorder
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