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!

 

 

 

Reviews On Tap!

Here’s what’s coming up…..

Cd’s Courtesy of Tbone’s Sound Emporium!

Sonic Waves…Frehleys Comet/Live + 1

Check out the vid above as its a actual commercial plugging this release! Love the fact that you can see about 10 people infront of the stage if Ya watch closely! Hahaha….

1988 February to be exact and Space Ace drops a little mini Ep with his allstar backing band consisting of John Regan(Frampton ) Anton Fig (David Lettermen) and newbie guy Tod Howarth. This is the act that appeared on the debut Frehley Comets album one that had a bunch of hype attached to it as Ace basically disappeared from DEKEs radar for about 6 years until he finally issued the debut Comet album which in all fairness was pretty good except for that goofy track Dolls? So anyways I guess Ace was wanting to keep the momentum going so he issued this little firecracker of a Ep in which it was recorded In Chicago back in September of 1987.

Since Kiss was plugging Crazy Nights and making dumbo rock videos like Reason To Live,Ace decides to show em a little Rocket Ride could go a long way….

RIP IT OUT- yeah man one of my all time fav Ace tunes and Ace has the crowd in his pocket already. Ace sings this like he’s in space and the rest of the fellas lay it down. Fig drives the Frehley bus as he pushes the band and he’s the snappy little drummer boy pounding out fill after fill. Great opener!

BREAKOUT-Eric Carr did the cowrite and man the Comet is trying to break outta jail cuz the food here sucks! Yeah man tonight there’s gonna be a Jailbreak and not the Lizzy kind,but the Frehley Kind involving a Deloreon,prescription drugs,and a high speed cop chase wait a minute that did happen to Ace! Give Ace some street cred man. Ok well this song is topped off with a Fig drum solo and in case anyone’s wondering Ace tells us and the Chicago crowd that Anton’s the best!

SOMETHING MOVED- Newbie guy Tod Howarth does the honours hear and it’s a good track. A lot people criticize Howarth as he was the one to blame for the followup Comet album Second Sighting tanking. Second Sighting tanked quicker than TBone downing 8 beers and hot Mexican food at a old Chi Chi’s(Mexican ) restaurant back in  Winnipeg (early 90s! )Don’t blame Howarth peeps, I’m sure ol Ace had a say as did good ol megaforce records on the direction of  Second Sighting. On second thought maybe Ace didn’t have a say….

ROCKET RIDE- baby wants it fast baby wants a blast she wants a Rocket Ride….cool man Ace serves us a fastball down the middle of the plate and the Comet drives it over the centerfield wall! Ace dips into his Kiss catalogue and man he nails this song well he should it’s his man…..

WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH- the Comet borrows ZZ Tops synthesizer and pop out a studio track. This is the plus 1 of the program. In 1988 this was a song that was pretty good and basically sold the hype to me on the next Frehley purchase (Second Sighting,I was fooled)which may be a 3/4’s Filler story someday. Good song especially as Ace sounds out of it which is when he sounds best!

IN CONCLUSION- considering every Tom,Dick and Harry rock artist were putting out material in 1988 Ace was smart for just releasing a short little 25 minute Ep to hold the fort til the next release later that year. Too bad the Comet crashed and burned shortly after but Ace spaced us out one more time!