Artist: Ace Frehley Title: “Anomaly” (Deluxe Edition) Label: eOne Entertainment Release Date: 10/6/2017 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 4.5/5
Back in 2009, the world was excited as all heck about the return to recording by the legendary Ace Frehley, the forever Space Man of the band KISS where he used to sonically shred us on the lead guitar. The album was called “Anomaly” and at the time came care of Rocket Science Records. I reviewed that release on the website and you can see that care of THIS LINK. However, now that the Space Ace has been signed to the fine folks at eOne Entertainment AND re-issued this album as a spiffy Deluxe Edition, I am rehashing my original thoughts about the album (since they are the same as they were back then) and then closing out with words on the newly added Bonus Tracks. Take a look.
“Has it really been 20 years since the last Ace Frehley solo record was released? Yes my friends it has because in 1989, The Space Ace would release his final album with Frehley’s Comet “Trouble Walkin’” and eventually find his way back to KISS for reunion shows in full makeup. From this he would return to his solo career and that brings us to the present and to his stellar new release – “Anomaly”. I know what you are saying and that is probably something like “Twenty years? This better be good” and you have a right to be concerned because Guns ‘N Roses took sixteen to put out “Chinese Democracy” and that album was uhm well, let’s move along shall we. The great thing is that the Ace record does live up to expectations and delivers on all counts that one could have hoped it would have. We have been finding ourselves in the year of the throwback release and this means that a legacy artist is returning to a form that made them so special to us in the first place and as far as “Anomaly” is concerned, I would have to say that this is the natural successor to the groundwork first delivered on his 1978 solo release and then on his debut with Frehley’s Comet for their self titled album with just a touch of “Second Sighting” tossed in for good measure. I realize that I appear to be putting it on thick but in truth this is no exaggeration which the listeners will quickly understand as opening track “Foxy & Free” opens up with its crunching riff and rock solid drums. The first single Ace put forth for the release comes up next with “Outer Space” which is a good tune but not one I would have opted to make my first listen. A slight sarcastic wit comes out during “Pain In The Neck” where Ace shows us how not all relationships are peaches and cream. We get a tasty rendition of The Sweet’s “Fox On The Run” that while bearing none of the familiar synthesizers or high pitched vocals is still a nice cover.” Continue reading “Anomaly” (Deluxe Edition) by Ace Frehley→
Artist: Ace Frehley Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY) Opener: The Biters Date: 10/25/2011 Label: Rocket Science Records
Tonight was going to be exciting and the simple reason was that former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was touching ground for not only one but two rocking shows at the legendary B.B. King Blues Club in Times Square. I somehow missed the last show that Ace did over at the Best Buy Theater so I was happy to have the chance to catch one of these sure to be amazing gigs by the Spaceman. Opening for the guitar alien would be the band The Biters and they would perform on each of the two nights. Based on my own itinerary I opted for the first show of the two and arrived just in time to catch the openers. The club was packed almost to the doors and here is how the night went down if you didn’t find yourself attending.
The Biters: Hailing from Georgia, The Biters were a new band to my musical senses and that left me slightly curious about how they might come across this evening. In the past the openers were not received well by this kind of fan support and I have seen bands like Queensryche given a cold shoulder when it came to a KISS music hungry crowd. I kid you not. Anyways, these guys were a whole lot of fun and delivered a set that was nothing less than Rock and Roll energy. Even though the club was packed solid, these guys were delivering a stadium quality fun time show. I don’t often think the openers are ready for the big time, but it seemed clear to me that The Biters were not going to settle for anything less. As I said, all of their music was new to me with the exception of their cover of Cheap Trick’s “He’s A Whore”. That classic band is actually a good type to compare these young upstarts to. They already have a couple of albums out and I think we have not heard the last of them. That is a good thing. I will definitely catch them again if I know that they are playing somewhere. Continue reading Ace Frehley @ B.B. King Blues Club (10/25/2011)→
Artist: Ace Frehley Title: “Anomaly” Label: Rocket Science Records Release Date: 9/15/2009 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 4.5/5
Has it really been 20 years since the last Ace Frehley solo record was released? Yes my friends it has because in 1989, The Space Ace would release his final album with Frehley’s Comet “Trouble Walkin’” and eventually find his way back to KISS for reunion shows in full makeup. From this he would return to his solo career and that brings us to the present and to his stellar new release – “Anomaly”. I know what you are saying and that is probably something like “Twenty years? This better be good” and you have a right to be concerned because Guns ‘N Roses took sixteen to put out “Chinese Democracy” and that album was uhm well, let’s move along shall we. The great thing is that the Ace record does live up to expectations and delivers on all counts that one could have hoped it would have. We have been finding ourselves in the year of the throwback release and this means that a legacy artist is returning to a form that made them so special to us in the first place and as far as “Anomaly” is concerned, I would have to say that this is the natural successor to the groundwork first delivered on his 1978 solo release and then on his debut with Frehley’s Comet for their self titled album with just a touch of “Second Sighting” tossed in for good measure. I realize that I appear to be putting it on thick but in truth this is no exaggeration which the listeners will quickly understand as opening track “Foxy & Free” opens up with its crunching riff and rock solid drums. The first single Ace put forth for the release comes up next with “Outer Space” which is a good tune but not one I would have opted to make my first listen. A slight sarcastic wit comes out during “Pain In The Neck” where Ace shows us how not all relationships are peaches and cream. We get a tasty rendition of The Sweet’s “Fox On The Run” that while bearing none of the familiar synthesizers or high pitched vocals is still a nice cover. Continue reading “Anomaly” by Ace Frehley→
Having been a KISS fan since a year that I no longer choose to disclose, I could not resist the chance to be up front and center as their former guitarist headlined the Nokia Theatre Times Square after being out of the limelight for so many years. The great show found the musician “Back In The New York Groove” and to read more just scroll past the logo. This would be a great way for me to spend PiercingMetal’s Third Anniversary of being a Metal Reporting website.
Artist: Ace Frehley Venue: Nokia Theatre Times Square (New York, NY) Opener: The Trews Date: 4/4/2008 Label: Megaforce Records
The song “Back In The New York Groove” would be the perfect illustration of this event as legendary KISS guitarist Ace Frehley returned to his home stomping grounds for a performance at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. Since his apparent final departure from KISS back in 2003, the musician has not really been heard from all that much and while his role in KISS had been filled by Tommy Thayer, you know that the hard core fans of the man were dying to see him perform once again. The chance for this would come at the annual Halloween party for radio personality Eddie Trunk in 2007 and the gig would be at the nearby Hard Rock Café. However, given the size of the venue only a few hundred of the faithful would get their chance to enjoy the show and with the amount of mid-sized venues in the immediate vicinity there were many who were finding this quite the shame. Fortunately he would announce a tour for early 2008 and be hitting some of the larger venues. Even better was the news that he would not be playing any new material until his album was released and instead be performing a lot of KISS classics and his best solo material. He had also assembled a top notch band of players that featured Derek Hawkins on guitar, Scott Coogan on drums and Anthony Esposito on bass. Here are some of the evening’s highlights. Continue reading Ace Frehley @ Nokia Theatre Times Square (4/4/2008)→
