Ace Frehley (album)


Ace Frehley is a 1978 solo album from Ace Frehley, the lead guitarist of American hard rock band Kiss. It was one of four Kiss solo albums released by Casablanca Records on September 18, 1978.

Background

The album was produced by Frehley and Eddie Kramer. It featured Anton Fig on drums. He later performed session work on the Kiss albums Dynasty and Unmasked, and became a member of Ace Frehley's band Frehley's Comet. Fig and Will Lee, who played bass on three of the album's tracks, later gained prominence as members of the World's Most Dangerous Band and the CBS Orchestra along with Paul Shaffer on Late Night with David Letterman and Late Show with David Letterman. In an interview with Loudwire, Frehley stated that some of the songs from his solo album were originally slated for the fifth Kiss album, Rock and Roll Over.

Critical reception

Greg Prato of AllMusic wrote that "of the four Kiss solo albums, the best of the bunch is Ace Frehley's", who "did not stray far from the expected heavy Kiss sound". Jason Josephes of Pitchfork concurred that it was the standout of the Kiss solo efforts, describing it as "a melange of riff rock, power pop, and just a little bit of soul". Canadian journalist Martin Popoff defined Ace Frehley as "the least pretentious, heaviest and best-selling platter of the Kiss' solo album quartet", describing the music as "solid, well-rounded simplified '70s metal".

Commercial performance

"New York Groove", which was first recorded in 1975 by British glam rock band Hello, rose to No. 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. This was the highest chart placement for any of the singles released from the 1978 solo albums. The album reached No. 26 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. It was certified platinum on October 2, 1978, and shipped over 1,000,000 copies. It is the highest selling of the four Kiss solo albums.

Track listing

Personnel

;Production

Album

Singles

Certification