Frehley’s Comet(1987)

 

You know the hype with this album(well in my noggin that is) was pretty huge back in the year of good ol 87!

That Year KISS with its members  Gene Simmons/Paul Stanley  were hard at work on there Heart Tribute sounding  album called Crazy Nights while ex drummer Petey Criss was doing..ummm who knows what he was doing while Space Ace Frehley was finally coming out of his AceCave in Connecticut and unleashed onto the world his debut album Frehleys Comet. 

Once I started to read in magazines that Ace got a record deal I was stoked as Ace’s KISS solo album from 78 was an absolute scorcher of a record that no one thought he could pull off and tack on after that 2 more great tracks from the Dynasty album in 79 Frehleys contributions were huge as the SpaceMan  had a slick cool rock voice mixed with his solo’s should be a huge recipe of coolness right?

Well Kinda….

After Ace left Kiss in 1982 he kinda disappeared  for a few years and the only time I would hear any news it would be about the trouble he would get himself into…

So when the Mags around early 1987 started  printing adds for the upcoming release it was wild to see he scored Drummer Anton Fig as Anton was the drummer on Ace’s 78 solo album so I knew the drumming would be top-notch! Ace also enlisted Peter Frampton Bassist John Regan and some dude who I had never heard of Co Lead Vocalist/Guitarist Tod Howarth.

My own hype on this album was huge as I was still trying to get over the silliness of that Uh All Night track  that Demon and Starchild were pushing on me…..

So April 1987 in the midst of Bon Jovi  mania came The Comet!

	TUNE AGE	wRITER	DA siNGER
1.	“Rock Soldiers”	Ace Frehley, Chip Taylor	Frehley	5:05
2.	“Breakout”	Frehley, Eric Carr, Richie Scarlet	Tod Howarth	3:38
3.	“Into the Night”	Russ Ballard	Frehley	4:12
4.	“Something Moved”	Howarth	Howarth	4:02
5.	“We Got Your Rock”	Frehley, Marty Kupersmith	Frehley	4:12
6.	“Love Me Right”	Frehley, Ira Schickman	Frehley	3:54
7.	“Calling to You”	Frehley, Howarth, Kevin Russell, Jim McClarty	Howarth	4:20
8.	“Dolls”	Frehley	Frehley	3:28
9.	“Stranger in a Strange Land”	Frehley	Frehley	4:02
10.	“Fractured Too”	Frehley, John Regan	(Instrumental)	4:14

The only copy I ever had of this was on cassette so basically this review is going to be done on memory from 30 years ago! Yikes!

So Space Ace tells the tale in the opening track Rock Soldiers about his drinking n driving slipping n sliding in Delorean’s automobile. Autobiographical is this song if you had no idea and Ace opens his Eddie Kramer produced album with huge drums from Anton and some slick like Ace riff’s and Ace is back and he told you so! (how many times has that last line been used in reviews?)

Breakout is a great track and new boy Howarth handles the lead vocal and look there’s a co write with Kiss drummer Eric Carr. (My money is on the fact that Gene and Paul were probably not amused by Carr and Frehley dabbling together). This tune has a nice hard rock swing. Like the mashup of drums and  guitars in this tune. Great Ace solo as well…..

Into The Night was the single it’s an ok track. Kinda like mid 80’s REO Speedwagon track. Russ Ballard the fella who wrote Ace’s 78 hit New York Groove wrote this track so I guess the record company was hoping just hoping that 9 years later another Ballard track would push the Comet into the Hitsville…..Nope/Nada…..

Another decent slab of Hard Rock and that’s Something Moved which is another Howarth sing-song and a track written solely  by him. Nice riffage during the verses and once again another slick solo by Ace !

Calling To You I think may have been another single but if were keeping tracks of singles they should have released this before Into The Night. Just saying….This one has a little more oomph than the Ballard track and come to think of it Into The Night may have hurt some sales as it sent the wrong message to the  Ace Fan Base who weren’t invested as much in this album as I was…..

Dolls. ?? Has to bee the goofiest Frehley song  ever. Big Dumbo Rock Lyrics are littered throughout this track. Did Ace and Sam Hagar have a contest between who can be more goofy in the lyric department between Sam’s Source Of Infection and Ace’s Doll’s? This song is just a plain out creeper track if there ever was one!

Buried at the back-end of this album is a fantastic track titled Stranger In A Strange Land.  Ace pulls out all the stops on this track. Slick like verse’s. Cool rock voice. Catchy chorus. Cool Solo. Well you get the point right? Crank the video posted below….

The album ends with the instrumental  Fractured Too which is the followup up to Ace’s Fractured Mirror from 78’s solo album. Kinda ok but really no point here in why he did this…

So if you’re wondering why the tracks We Got Your Rock and Love Me Right weren’t scribbled about well that’s easy. I don’t remember them and I wasn’t going to cheat so I guess they were duds on my radar back in 87 …..

Frehleys Comet was ok. This album actually comes close  at times with some Filler but my problem was Ace set the bar way too high(ha) with the 78 solo album. My expectations were huge. I was kinda disappointed by this album, well half of it.

Ace though stuck out a 5 song EP in 1988 which I reviewed a ways back which was mostly live and one studio track so it restored my faith in him. Did it?

Check back at some point  when I review the Second Sighting album and the online email  brawl that started between a Comet and an Blogger! (depends on if I get a cease and desist order)

Bam!