Seasons change and together comes along a change in habits. 20-25 years ago, I used to go the nearest record store, buy the cassette (later vinyl…later c.d.) and enjoy the whole listening of it in my room. Now, I am sitting on my chair and listening to the brand new studio album by Ace Frehley from the I-Pool of Season of Mist. That doesn’t mean that I won’t rush in a few days to a record store and buy the physical product. That cannot be changed!
20 years after the release of “Trouble Walkin’”, the original KISS guitarist offers “Anomaly” and leave us with mixed emotions. On the one hand, we are glad that Ace is back (…and he told us so…) but on the other hand I cannot hide my slight disappointment regarding the level of the compositions themselves. I won’t beat about the bush: This is the weakest Ace Frehley record of them all! If we take aside “Foxy & Free”, “Outer Space” and “Sister”, all the other songs are below par and most likely won’t stand the test of time. Only those three songs have that Ace stamp, that familiar (almost) street vibe of his writing style and I cannot add to the list the instrumental “Fractured Quantum” as it is based on the 1978’ “Fractured Mirror”. I could live without the rest of the songs and maybe if we were talking about some other artist, I could have been more mild…but not when it comes down to Ace!
Highlight: I surely missed those wonderful guitar solos…hope that the future brings far better compositions.
Sakis Nikas
Ace Frehley, the ex-KISS axe man, who in my opinion is an underrated player, rarely included among the best guitarists in relevant polls, despite being greatly influential for loads of them. Not that this matters anyway. If you asked the late Dimebag Darrel, if Ace was a good guitarist, he would simply have shown his Ace tattoo.
Ace, along with Peter Criss, were the rebel spirits, and the swagger in KISS, opposing to Simmons – Stanley who were keeping the discipline, and were more focused, and also responsible for the huge artistic, and mostly commercial success the band had. He was always the cool guy, although kind of alienated from the others, and the less spectacular on stage than the lot.
So, that was what I expected from “Anomaly” 20 years after his last album (“Trouble Walking” – 1989). And, that’s what Ace delivers, but the problem lies on the compositions. The album contains some great songs, but the rest is very poor. I don’t know if we should have expected something better from Ace in 2009, or even KISS, who are also releasing a new album after 11 years (“Psycho Circus”, their last studio album was released in 1998). Because, making an album is totally different from playing live, especially for veterans.
Anyway, the good thing about a new album is that you have to go on tour to promote it, so pack your bags, and book a ticket for the nearest Ace Frehley gig…
Yiannis Dolas