Artist: Ace Frehley
Title: “Greatest Hits Live”
Label: Megaforce Records
Release Date: 1/24/2006
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 3.75/5
As a lifelong KISS fan I obviously also have a strong sense of loyalty to the one and only “Space Ace”, Mr. Ace Frehley, and while this release came out a few years ago, I finally picked myself up a copy and wanted to offer the folks at home some thoughts about it. It’s entitled “Greatest Hits Live” and is a collection of the cream of the crop from Ace Frehley’s repertoire as delivered in the live sense. Ace’s two and a half releases were issued on Megaforce Records and since that was the case we find the album focusing on this tenure of his career. For the most part there is an equal split of the material offered up as half of them were tunes that he would deliver with KISS and the other half are songs from his fully solo years. Initially I had thought we would find the entire EP of “Live + 1” being presented but that album’s “Something Moved” would not be a part of this release. So if you have that album somewhere in your archives you can plan on keeping it for awhile. It’s important to note that none of the material here is completely new to the purchaser and as a matter of fact if you already own the two compilation pieces “Loaded Deck” and “12 Picks” then you probably don’t need this one at all. What “Greatest Hits Live” manages to accomplish is that it puts any of the live material found on those two releases and puts them onto one release for easier digestion. We also get two studio tracks that were nothing to write home about and probably would have been better left off or found an unused live track in its place. In 2006 the CD medium was now in full sway and hidden tracks and unreleased gems were everywhere to be found. Oh well, I guess this is why I am not on any committee putting albums together. My favorites on the release fall to the classic KISS stuff and the tunes that came off the solo album of 1978. I will admit that after the first Frehley’s Comet release I was not all that keen on the commercial direction the group seemed to be taking.
There is a booklet that features three large and two small photos of Ace and his band members and outside of those images and a page of liner notes with an opposing track listing and credits there is not much to speak of. It would have been nice to find a more comprehensive gallery of live photos since this was a comprehensive live release right? No such luck here my friends. The players include Anton Fig (drums), John Regan (bass/vocals) and Tod Howarth (guitar/vocals) and it’s a nice way to remember an interesting project that really probably had a lot more to say musically before its end in 1988. If you are a diehard Ace fan then perhaps this is a necessity for your collection but since the material has been issued before in other fashions you don’t need this if you own those other albums and are not much more than the casual fan.
Track Listing:
1. Rip It Out (live)
2. Breakout (live)
3. Cold Gin (live)
4. Shock Me (live)
5. Rocket Ride (live)
6. Deuce (live)
7. Strangers In A Strange Land (live)
8. Separate (live)
9. N.Y. Groove (live)
10. Rock Soldiers (live)
11. One Plus One
12. Give It To Me Anyway
Official Website: www.acefrehley.com