This week we take a look back at Scott Carr’s Pencil Storm KISS Unmasked Fantasy Album Draft LP from 2018!
Read MoreRating the KISS Unmasked Draft Albums - by Nick Jezierny
Click here for complete results of KISS Unmasked Fantasy Draft
(editor’s Note: On a 100-degree day in Boise, Nick decided not to ride his mountain bike like he does every Tuesday and chose to sit around in his Kiss boxers and rate these records. “Seems like a productive thing to do,” his wife said sarcastically.)
This is going to be harder than I anticipated – I’ve studied the albums, tried my own crazy formula to rank them (way too complicated and probably too scientific). I thought about ranking all songs from 1-71 and then scoring the records like a cross country meet.
That seemed like a lot of work, and since my love of Kiss sometimes means a song I’m not super-high on one day becomes a favorite the next, I’ve decided I’m just going to go with my gut and that means this: the best rule for unmasked Kiss – the fewer Gene songs, the better.
Let’s be honest. The Demon struggled mightily between the last makeup record “Creatures of the Night” and the last non-makeup record (at least in this draft) “Revenge.” He was making movies and the 80’s fashion trends didn’t suit him well.
So the record that starts with “Domino” and ends with “Lonely is the Hunter” and has a total of eight Gene songs is automatically eliminated. Not only does it have eight Simmons songs, but none of his best five from this era are included.
Thou Shalt Not
Secretly Cruel
Unholy
Betrayed
Fits Like A Glove
The highlight of this last-place record in “Silver Spoon,” one of my favorites.
Time to eliminate another record. Two others records have at least five Gene songs, but Gene songs are created unequal. The album that contains two of his epic duds – “Murder in High Heels” and “Any Way You Slice It” – among six Simmons offerings is the next on the chopping block.
While the Gene songs didn’t help — “No No No” is another stinker — it was the lack of great Paul songs that led to its demise. While “Exciter” and “Tough Love” are above-average, they aren’t enough to warrant this record as the winner. And it has “My Way,” which is “no way” in my book.
The next cut was difficult. It would be easy to take an album with five Gene songs, but I’m going a different direction. The album that starts with “Take It Off” and ends with “Carr Jam” is the next to go.
While this album featured a legitimate No. 2 pick in “A Million To One,” there wasn’t enough substance to follow it. I found myself wanting to rank this higher, but there are a lot of forgettable or blah songs, including “(You Make Me) Rock Hard,” “While the City Sleeps,” “Get All You Can Take” and “Who Wants To Be Lonely.”
This disc only had two Gene songs – “Not For The Innocent” and “Spit” – but those aren’t album killers, but they also couldn’t help it stave off elimination.
That leads us to the five-Gene song album that starts with “Unholy.” Between that hit and “Fits Like A Glove,” some of Gene’s best non-makeup work shows up. So does his worst: “Love’s A Deadly Weapon.”
There are some other strong picks – “I’ve Had Enough (Into The Fire),” “Heart of Chrome” and “Thrills in the Night” – but there’s too much filler to warrant a top-two finish. I consider “Reason to Live” like much of the “Crazy Nights” record – average at best. “I’ll Fight Hell to Hold You” is a forgettable tune and might be the worst second song on any Kiss record. (It’s worse than “Any Way You Slice It”!)
That takes us to the top two records. Both are strong records for different reasons, but I’m going to eliminate the record that opens with “Crazy, Crazy Nights” and ends with “The Street Giveth and The Street Taketh Away.”
This record had a lot going for it. “I’m Alive” and “Tears Are Falling” are very strong, and two of Gene’s best - “Thou Shalt Not” and “Secretly Cruel” - are as good as it gets from him in this era. I even like “Forever” enough to ignore “Let’s Put the X in Sex.”
What really sunk this record is the inclusion of “Hide Your Heart.” Back in 1989, when I was a senior at Ohio University, Kiss released “Hot in the Shade” around the same time as Ace Frehley released “Trouble Walkin’,” which as you may know, also featured a version of “Hide Your Heart.” I thought Ace’s version was vastly superior to the poppier Kiss version to the point where I dislike the Kiss version. So that was my tiebreaker – “Hide Your Heart” made this record worse than our champion.
Congratulations to the record that starts with the ultimate opening song from the non-makeup era, “King of the Mountain” and ends with perhaps my pick for the steal of this draft, the 11th-rounder “You Love Me To Hate You.”
In between, this record includes “Lick It Up,” “Heaven’s On Fire” and “God Gave Rock and Roll to You II” for hits. If you want some under-the-radar magic, you’ve got “Gimme More,” “Under The Gun” and a not-so-bad “Betrayed” as one of only two Gene songs on the mix.
We can overlook “Radar For Love” and “When Your Walls Come Down” and realize each of these albums has a dud – “Bang Bang You.”
So that’s it. I intentionally didn’t look at the names of the albums or who drafted them. I wanted to keep this on the up-and-up. Really, I’m jealous I couldn’t participate and would have liked to have included “Carnival of Souls” because there are five or six songs that would have been fine additions to some of these records.
Nick Jezierny is a former journalist who has seen Kiss 10 times on nine different tours and in eight different venues in six different states. He works as a Communications Specialist at Blue Cross of Idaho where he writes a Song Lyric of the Day each morning on the whiteboard in his cubicle.
The Gene Simmons Vault Experience Cleveland - by Scott Carr
The Gene Simmons Vault Experience Cleveland - by Scott Carr
It's been well over a decade since Gene Simmons first spoke of releasing a mammoth box set of unreleased demos spanning his entire recording career. When it was first talked about it had a working title of Monster. Gene claimed it would be the biggest box set ever and all Kiss fans know Gene knows how to hype a project, so when he said it would be big, we knew it would be something special.
As time went on the project seemed to hit some road blocks and went into a state of limbo, so much so that Kiss used the Monster title for their 2012 studio record.
Finally last year news started to break that the Gene Simmons box set was back on track and had a new name: The Gene Simmons Vault!
Gene also announced that he would be doing something that had never been done before, he wanted to hand-deliver the box sets straight to the fans. There would be no retail version of The Vault, Gene wanted to make it an "experience" and travel the world to deliver The Vault to the fans. The project became known as The Gene Simmons Vault Experience.
Gene teamed-up with Rhino Records and they developed a box set like no other: The Gene Simmons Vault weighs in at almost 40 pounds and it actually looks like a vault. Inside The Vault is a hard-back book full of text & rare photos and - more importantly - 11 CD's of unreleased Gene Simmons demos that date back to 1966. You also get the first ever non-makeup Gene Simmons action figure and other goodies.
The Vault website soon took shape and event dates started popping up, so purchasers could pick a city close to their home and make plans to attend The Vault Experience and receive their Vault directly from the demon himself.
Once The Vault dates started to appear I would casually check the event page to see if there were any close to my home of Columbus, OH, with no real thought that I would actually be able to attend one. I absolutely wanted to do it but I wasn't sure everything would fall into place to make it happen. I'm a working musician and have a pretty busy gig schedule, so the date would have to fall on one of my off days, and there aren't many of those. Beyond scheduling, how could I afford it? The Vault isn't cheap. Maybe I could sell a guitar? No, I don't have one that I could bear to part with. Sell of some of my prized vinyl collection? That definitely wasn't an option, I've sold off records in the past and have always come to regret it.
A date was announced for Cleveland Ohio on Saturday April 28th and it worked out that I had that entire weekend off. I had been stashing away money made from gigs playing with my band and I had managed to save the cash to buy The Vault Experience.
After several visits to The Vault website, I finally pulled the trigger and made the purchase.
A couple months later I found myself heading to the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to meet The Demon and get MY Vault.
I arrived in Cleveland the night before the event. I wanted to be well-rested and ready for my Experience. Of course I did not get any sleep the night before because I was so excited for my adventure that would be unfolding the next day. It was like Christmas in April.
Vault attendees were told to arrive at the Rock Hall around 10am the day of the event and wristbands would be given out to designate your place in line. Of course it ended up being a cold, rainy, windy day in Cleveland but Kiss fans are troopers and we didn't have to wait very long before being ushered into the Rock Hall.
Keith Valcourt from Rhino Records was on hand and he and his staff had everything rolling along very smoothly.
The first part of The Gene Simmons Vault Experience consisted of a "songs and stories" segment. All guests were in an intimate theatre on the fourth floor of the rock and hall and Gene entered with an acoustic guitar and basically played songs and told stories about how he writes and creates songs. Keith from Rhino kept this portion of the experience moving along and would ask Gene questions, and also fielded questions from the audience.
Gene during the songs and stories portion of The Vault Experience.
Gene with Keith Valcourt (Rhino Records) Showing off what's inside The Vault.
After the "songs and stories" portion concluded, Vault purchasers were taken in groups of 5 to a lower level of the Rock Hall to meet Gene and get their Vaults.
I was No. 7 in line, so my turn came up pretty quick. It was fun hanging out in the green room with other Kiss fans prior to meeting Gene. We were talking all things Kiss and comparing items that we were gonna get signed.
Finally it was my turn to go see Gene and get my Vault. I wasn't nervous but I was really excited. I had met Gene three times over the years and had always been really engaging and nice to me, so I knew this would be another special Kiss memory.
I entered the room and there stood The Demon and next to him was my Vault. This man is larger than life even without his monster boots. He welcomed me into the room and we just began chatting. There were other people in the room, including Rhino staff photographers and I was also allowed to bring a guest. Once I started chatting with Gene it was like everyone else disappeared....I was in my own little world with one of my childhood idols. I felt like I was 12 years old again.
We talked about music, we talked about our moms, we talked about The Vault and I was also able to give him some of my Kiss related writings I've done for Pencil Storm. He seemed genuinely excited to receive these, explaining that he loves to read about himself. Classic Gene!
Gene signed a few different items that I had brought with me, including my original 1978 Solo Album Picture disc, an original 1974 ad for the first Kiss album and also a picture of Gene and myself from 30 years ago. Gene really liked that picture and we talked a bit about how that meeting had occurred.
Lastly he signed the top of my Vault . He wrote "Only Got One Life, I'm Gonna Live It, yeah," which is a variation of a line from the song "Trial By Fire" from the Kiss album Asylum.
"Only Got One Life, I'm Gonna Live It" was kind of my motto for this entire Vault Experience.
A couple months have passed now since my event and I am still working my way through the music that is included in The Vault. It really is a 50-year journey through the songwriting evolution of Gene Simmons. It's a lot to take in. Although most people think the music is why fans are doing these events but the music really seems like a bonus. Meeting Gene and hanging out with the Kiss fanatics is what The Vault Experience is all about.
I've done a lot of cool Kiss related things over the years and seen Kiss in concert more than any other band, but I will have to say that the Gene Simmons Vault Experience ranks at the top of my list of Kiss memories.
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps andReturning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.
The Vault
Meeting The Demon!
Presenting Gene with some of my Pencil Storm articles.
Gene signing my Vault.
Gene and myself. I'm holding a pic we'd taken together 30 years ago.
Kiss Turn On The Night - My Kiss Record by Scott Carr
Eddie Trunk recently released a cool list of his top twenty KISS songs. But just before that moment, Pencilstorm held a fantasy draft of songs from the KISS Unmasked era. Click here for the full results of the draft . Below is the album selected by Scott Carr.. More albums from other owners coming soon. Enjoy!
KISS Turn On The Night - My Kiss Record by Scott Carr
Produced by Scott Carr with permission of the Pencilstorm Unmasked KISS Fantasy Draft. Number next to song indicates the round it was taken.
Side A
Take It Off
Who Wants To Be Lonely
Not For The Innocent
Spit
King Of Hearts
Side B
Turn On The Night
A Million To One
While The City Sleeps
(You Make Me) Rock Hard
Get All You Can Take
Carr Jam 1981
Thoughts on Side A:
Take It Off (Revenge) - I decided to start my record off with a Paul song from Revenge. It's always a good idea to start your record with a Paul Stanley song. Great uptempo rocker from the starchild. Classic Kiss vibe on this one complete with solid guitar licks from Bruce Kulick and plenty of cowbell. Speaking of cowbell , this is the only track on Revenge that newly seated drummer Eric Singer did not play on. Producer Bob Ezrin thought Singer wasn't quite locking into the groove and Eric had to leave the studio to go on tour with Alice Cooper, so Ezrin brought in Kevin Valentine to play drums on this track. Valentine would later provide drum tracks for the Psycho Circus album in 1996.
Paul claimed he was trying to write a strip club anthem in the vein of Lick It Up. I think "Take It Off" is the better of the two songs.
I was happy to get "Take It Off" in the third round. I knew the Revenge tracks would go quick and this was one I really wanted. "Take It Off" was almost the title track for my fantasy album but I figured it would have made for a better album title in 1983 when the band officially unmasked.
Who Wants To Be Lonely (Asylum) - A round #2 pick for me. Sadly my only pick from 1985's often overlooked Asylum album. I always thought Asylum was a much stronger album than the previous years Animalize and rocked a lot more than it's follow up Crazy Nights. "Who Wants To Be Lonely" is an 80's classic from Paul....great vocal and catchy chorus. Asylum had a lot of other contenders for me but these tracks got snatched up almost as quickly as the Revenge tracks,
Not For The Innocent (Lick It Up) - Gene's first appearance on what ended up being my very Paul oriented Kiss fantasy album. Gene had a very strong set of songs for 1983's Lick It Up and "Not For The Innocent" is one of my favorites from that record. Gene co-wrote this song with guitarist Vinnie Vincent who had joined the band during the recording session for the previous years Creatures of the Night album. I actually prefer the demo version of this song were Paul sings the chorus sections...I always enjoy hearing Paul and Gene sing together.
Spit (Revenge) - Cringe-worthy Spinal Tap lyrics aside, "Spit" is a great Gene track from Revenge. Not sure why I picked this one for my record other than I love all the cool guitar riffing throughout the track. Again Bruce Kulick shines on this track. Bruce really came into his own on Revenge, I just wish I had been awake enough during the draft picks to capture another Revenge track or two. I think at one point I was trying to sneak in a Carnival Of Souls track or two but the other guys weren't having any of that.
Some sections of "Spit" date back to a 1977 demo that Gene recorded with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry called "Mongoloid Man".
Kiss having fun during the MTV Unplugged sessions playing "Spit".
King Of Hearts (Hot In The Shade) - Side A of my fantasy Kiss record ends with a Paul track from 1989's Hot In The Shade. Oddly enough this was the first track I ever heard from Hot In The Shade. I remember it well, I was playing a gig with a band I was in at the time and the local rock radio station said they would be debuting a new Kiss track at a certain time that evening and the time happened to fall right when we were on a break. I tuned on the radio and this is the song they played, not sure why they chose this song over the albums first single "Hide Your Heart" but radio was a different animal back Then.
I always liked this song, kinda the same vibe as "Hide Your Heart". Paul claims he was trying to write a Bon Jovi type song but felt like he fell flat with this one.
Thoughts On Side B
Turn On The Night (Crazy Nights) - I always like when the band uses a song from the album as the title for the album. Kiss has had many title track songs that have went on to be classics including Hotter Than Hell, Love Gun, Creatures of the Night, Lick It Up etc. I thought I would use that as a template for my Kiss Fantasy album and call it Turn On The Night. I would make this my albums lead single because of it's catchy sing along chorus. "Turn On The Night" was actually the third single from Kiss' 1987 album Crazy Nights and it was a complete flop on the charts. I think it deserves another chance.
A Million To One (Lick It Up) - I will admit that going into the Kiss Unmasked Fantasy draft I had no real game plan in mind. The draft was held on a very early Sunday morning and I had played a gig the night before and had only a few hours of sleep when it was time to start the draft. I had all my notes in front of me but in my foggy sleep deprived state they made no sense. The one thing that was clear tho was that I had to have "A Million To One" on my album. I took it in the first round and was very happy with this pick.
I think "A Million To One" may be Paul's best song of the entire non makeup era. In fact I would place it in his Top 10 all time best.
Paul co-wrote all his songs for the Lick It Up album with new guitarist Vinnie Vincent and "A Million To One" is the best of the lot. In recent years it's been asked if Vinnie Vincent saved Kiss and the general response has been "YES!". With songs like "A Million To One", how could you argue this point.
While The City Sleeps (Animalize) - The weakest of the Gene songs to make it onto my album. I have no real defense for this except that it's not "Burn Bitch Burn" or "Murder In High Heels".
(You Make Me) Rock Hard (Smashes, Thrashes and Hits) - By the late rounds in the draft I will admit that my record kind of went off the rails. When I got this one my thought was at least it's not "Read My Body". Musically this one is pretty cool but those lyrics. Even Paul has suggested that it wasn't one of their finer moments and he didn't like it at all.
For some reason Paul decided to ditch his guitar for the videos from Smashes,Thrashes and Hits and just prance around in front of the camera. He seems almost as uncomfortable as Gene does playing his bass without a pick in all those Kiss videos over the years.
Get All You Can Take (Animalize) - I always thought this was a bit of a sleeper track on Animalize and never really got much attention. Has a cool Zeppelin-esque guitar groove with Paul doing a Robert Plant inspired vocal.
Carr Jam 1981 (Revenge) - My album wraps up with the instrumental "Carr Jam 1981". This song was included on Revenge in 1992 as a tribute to drummer Eric Carr who had passed away the year before.
"Carr Jam 1981" is a studio outtake from the (Music From) The Elder sessions and features a drum solo from Eric Carr in the middle of the track. Ace Frehely would eventually turn the track into a song called "Breakout" for his first Frehely's Comet record after leaving Kiss.
I like having "Carr Jam 1981" on my Kiss Fantasy album because it has a link to the makeup era and to one of my all time favorite Kiss albums The Elder. More importantly it has my las name in the title. No one else in the fantasy draft was gonna touch this one.
So there you have Turn On The Night, my Unmasked Fantasy Kiss album. It didn't quite turn out as expected but it's a fun listen. It's pretty unbalanced and all over the place but when you look at the unmasked era for Kiss that's a pretty accurate description. With that said I loved every minute of being a Kiss fan during the unmasked years and would defend them at every turn. For awhile I turned away from the unmasked records but in recent years I've been revisiting them and probably enjoy them more now than ever.
This was a fun way to look back at these records.
And, for the record, here is my ranking of the unmasked era Kiss albums. For fun I have included the live albums and Carnival Of Souls.
1. Lick It Up
2. Revenge
3. Asylum
4. Kiss MTV Unplugged (actually one of my favorite Kiss records period)
5. Kiss Alive III
6. Animalize
7. Crazy Nights (could have been higher with better production)
8. Hot In The Shade (could have been higher with fewer songs)
9. Carnival Of Souls (not a grunge record and I don't hate it as much as most people do)
10. Smashes, Thrashes and Hits (should be smashed)
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps andReturning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.
Kiss Rules The Month Of September - by Scott Carr
If you are a Kiss fan, you know that September is a very busy month in the band's history. Or if you will, Kisstory. The band has released more records in the month of September than any other month, followed closely by October.
The trend of releasing albums in September goes all the way back to the September 10th, 1975 release of the bands seminal career-launching double live album Alive! No question, if this album had not taken off, we would not be having this discussion today. The band's career was in serious jeopardy as their first three studio albums had been major duds in the sales department. Luckily for myself and Kiss fans around the world, Alive! became the bands first million seller and gave the band a second wind.
Next up in the September cycle of releases for Kiss came on September 18th, 1978 when the band released their individual solo albums. Each band member had their own full-length album but all were marketed under the Kiss name. Some would say it was one of the most brilliant concepts ever attempted in the music business while others say a complete fiasco. I wrote a detailed recap that you can read here.....
During the 1980's the September releases for Kiss really kicked into high gear beginning with 1983's Lick It Up, released on September 18, 1983. Lick It Up was the band's first studio record to feature lead guitarist Vinnie Vincent who had replaced original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley during the previous years Creatures of the Night Tour. Lick It Up also marked the first time the band had appeared on an album cover without their signature makeup. The official unmasking of Kiss happened on the same day of the album's release during a special appearance on MTV. Lick It Up was a solid record and brought the band back to platinum-selling status after the declining sales of their previous records, Unmasked and (Music From) The Elder.
A world tour followed the release of Lick It Up, but by the time September of 1984 rolled around Kiss had another new record hitting the shelves. Animalize was released on September 13, 1984. Animalize pretty much continued were Lick It Up left off and Kiss once again had a million seller on their hands. The band had also ushered in another new lead guitarist for this record. Mark St. John replaced Vinnie Vincent for the recording of Animalize. Shortly after the albums release Mark would be replaced by Bruce Kulick due to an illness that affected Marks ability to play guitar.
Another tour followed and by September 1985 Kiss returned to the record stores with Asylum. Released on September 16, 1985, Asylum became the third million seller in a row for Kiss. The band was definitely on a roll and for Kiss fans it was like Christmas every September. It's pretty amazing to think how quickly the band were delivering a new record. In today's market you are lucky to get a new record from your favorite band every five years and Kiss fans were getting a new record every year!
After three consecutive September releases there was a two-year gap before Kiss delivered their next album. Crazy Nights was released on September 18, 1987 and although it seemed like a lifetime between records Crazy Nights proved to be another hit for the band and their fourth platinum record in a row. Crazy Nights was a much more polished affair than previous Kiss releases but the album spawned several MTV hits including the albums opening anthem "Crazy Crazy Nights."
Kiss' next studio album Hot In The Shade arrived in mid-October of 1989 marking the end of their 1980's September juggernaut and also the string of platinum albums as well. Hot In The Shade only achieved Gold status.
Kiss would not release another album during the month of September until 1998. Psycho Circus was released on September 22, 1998 and claimed to be a reunion of the four original members of Kiss. While the band had been on a highly successful reunion tour since June of 1996 when it came time to record a new studio record the band brought in several outside players to perform on the record and contributions from original drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley were very few. The album received lackluster responses from critics and fans but still managed to go gold.
So there you have my round up of Kiss albums that were released during the month of September. A couple other items I will throw at you: Peter Criss released his first post-Kiss solo album Out Of Control in September of 1980 and Ace Frehley released his fourth post-Kiss solo album Anomaly on September 15, 2009.
.....and finally I will leave you with this: I saw Kiss on their Dynasty tour on September 10th, 1979 at the Huntington Civic Center in my hometown of Huntington, WV and then 37 years exactly to the day I saw them again in the very same venue. You can read all the details about those experiences here.....
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps andReturning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.
KISS SEPTEMBER ANNIVERSARIES
ALIVE! (SEPTEMBER 10, 1975)
KISS SOLO ALBUMS (SEPTEMBER 18, 1978)
OUT OF CONTROL (SEPTEMBER, 1980) PETER CRISS SOLO ALBUM
LICK IT UP (SEPTEMBER 18, 1983)
ANIMALIZE (SEPTEMBER 13, 1984)
ASYLUM (SEPTEMBER 16, 1985)
CRAZY NIGHTS (SEPTEMBER 18, 1987)
PSYCHO CIRCUS (SEPTEMBER 22, 1998)
ANOMALY (SEPTEMBER 15, 2009) ACE FREHLEY SOLO ALBUM
THIS MONTH IN 1987: ACE FREHLEY RELEASES HIS FIRST POST-KISS SOLO ALBUM - BY SCOTT CARR
In September, 1978 the four original members of Kiss simultaneously released solo albums during the height of Kissteria. General consensus over the years has put Ace's record at the front of the pack with Paul's following close behind, while Peter and Gene's records aren't really a part of the conversation. If you are one who judges success by the charts, Ace comes out the winner there as well. Ace's record was the only one of the four to generate a bonafide hit single, with his cover of the Russ Ballard song "New York Groove." which was originally record by the 70's glam rock band Hello. (Click here for Colin story about why Paul's album is the best)
Fast-forward almost a decade and we find Ace releasing his first post-Kiss solo album, Frehley's Comet and once again Ace proved that he could still deliver the goods.
The general public got their first glimpse of Ace without his makeup in these magazine ads.
Ace not endorsed by Gibson.....what gives?
Ace officially left Kiss in late 1982 and it took him almost five years to get his first post-Kiss solo record released. Ace put together the first incarnation of Frehley's Comet in 1984 and the band made their live debut on November 30th, 1984 at S.I.R Studios in New York City, performing Kiss classics and new material that the band had been demoing. The band eventually signed with Megaforce Records and released Frehley's Comet on April 27th, 1987.
Alongside Ace on Frehley's Comet were drummer Anton Fig, who had performed on Ace's 1978 solo album as well as Dynasty and Unmasked from Kiss, bassist John Regan and Tod Howarth on guitar and lead vocals. Ace also brought in producer Eddie Kramer to co-produce the album. Kramer had worked with Ace in the past producing his 1978 solo album and some Kiss records. (Click here for 12 Best Kiss stories you will ever read)
Frehley's Comet is classic Ace from start to finish. Ace has always had a great sense of who he is and what his fans want from him. Even though he had dropped his iconic Kiss face paint, Ace was still the Spaceman. The album opens with the autobiographical "Rock Soldiers," which tells the story of a near-fatal car crash that Ace was involved in and his struggles with drugs and alcohol. "Rock Soldiers" was the second single/video from the album and was a minor hit for Frehley, but it instantly became a fan favorite and also received steady airplay on MTV. "Rock Soldiers" is followed by "Breakout" which is a reworking of a song Ace had written with Kiss drummer Eric Carr during the sessions for (Music From) The Elder. Tod Howarth takes lead vocals on "Breakout" as well as "Something Moved" and "Calling to You," the latter being a rewrite of a song originally called "Megaforce" from Tod's former band 707. The Russ Ballard penned "Into the Night" was released as the album's first single & video and was a moderate hit. Other highlights include "Love Me Right," "Stranger In A Strange Land" and the quirky "Dolls." Ace closes the album with the instrumental "Fractured Too," a sequel to "Fractured Mirror," which was the final track on his 1978 Kiss solo album. Ace has recorded two more instrumentals in the "Fractured" series: "Fractured III" on 1989's Trouble Walkin' album and "Fractured Quantum" on 2009's Anomaly.
Frehley's Comet has a lot of the same elements that made Ace's 1978 solo album such a success and although it did not sell as well, it brought Ace back in a big way and has stood the test of time better than any of his other post-Kiss releases and definitely better than any post-1978 solo releases from the other three original members of Kiss.
Ace is currently putting the finishing touches on a new album of cover songs that will be released later this year. He is also out on tour and will be making a stop in Ohio on September 19th at Hard Rock Live in Northfield, OH.
While I'm at it I thought I would rank all the post-1978 solo albums from the original members of Kiss best to worst.....
1. Frehley's Comet (1987) - Ace Frehley
2. Trouble Walkin' (1989) - Ace Frehley
Ace reunited with original Frehley's Comet partner guitarist Ritchie Scarlet for this 1989 album. It was a bit of a return to form for the Spaceman and featured a great cover of ELO's "Do Ya." Peter Criss sings background vocals on the record.
3. Live To Win (2006) - Paul Stanley
Paul's only solo effort since the 1978 Kiss solo albums and it's not nearly as good. "Live To Win" suffers from being overproduced and Paul trying to hard to get a hit. With that said there are a few bright moments, with tracks like "Where Eagles Dare," "It's All About You," "Bulletproof" and the title track. Maybe one day Paul will make a proper follow up to his 1978 classic.
4. Out of Control (1980) - Peter Criss
Peter Criss was the first of the original members to release a solo album outside the confines of the band and he delivered pretty much what you would expect from the Catman: ballads and watered-down rock songs. Out of Control is slightly better than Pete's 1978 Kiss solo record, but still pretty much a snoozefest. I give the number four spot on this ranking because this is actually Peter at his best solo-wise and I give him credit for making the kind of album that he wanted to make and giving it his all.
5. Anomaly (2009) - Ace Frehley
Anomaly was Ace's first solo album after a six year reunion with Kiss and is a strong return for the Spaceman. "Outer Space" was released as a single and has all the signature Ace licks in it. This album also includes a cover of Sweet's "Fox On The Run."
6. Asshole (2004) - Gene Simmons
The best thing about this album is its title. Like Gene's 1978 Kiss solo album, Asshole explores many different musical styles but unfortunately for the most part falls flat. Gene's 1978 Kiss solo record was a varied affair as well but managed to remain cohesive. Asshole is just kind of a mess. As with his 1978 album the mellower songs seem to come off a bit more sincere, including "Waiting For The Morning Light," which was co-written with Bob Dylan. (editor's note: "WHHHHAAAAT?!?")
7. Second Sighting (1988) - Frehley's Comet
Ace's second post-Kiss solo record, but the first to be credited solely to Frehley's Comet. This record does not hold up as well as Frehley's Comet, and for me the main reason is that there is not enough Ace on the disc. Guitarist/singer Tod Howarth took on a larger role on the album and sings half the songs, which makes it feel less like an Ace record. Tod's songs are great, I just wish Ace would have contributed more to this one. It would definitely get a higher ranking if it had a few more Ace songs.
8. Space Invader (2014) - Ace Frehley
Kind of in the same vein as Anomaly but the songs are not as memorable. Space Invader became the highest-charting solo album from any past or present Kiss member, debuting at No. 9 on the Billboard charts.
10. Let Me Rock You (1982) - Peter Criss
Let Me Rock You will NOT rock you at all. This album was an import-only release and did not receive an official U.S. release until 1998.
11. Ace Frehley - Origins Vol. 1
A made up of cover songs from the Space Ace. Pretty solid, just not a fan of cover records. The highlight would be Ace's reunion with Paul Stanley on the Free classic Fire and Water. Now if Paul had sang on the entire record, I'm sure it would be a lot higher in the rankings.
12. Live + 1 (1988) - Frehley's Comet
Pretty much what it sounds like: a live E.P. plus one studio track.
13. Cat #1 (1994) - Criss
Criss was Peter's failed attempt at making his way back into the world of rock music. The CD was independently released and went mostly unnoticed unless you were a die-hard Kiss fan.
14. One For All (2004) - Peter Criss
I really don't need to hear Peter Criss sing "Send In The Clowns." (editor's note: In the larger sense, does ANYONE on the planet need to hear Peter Criss sing "Send In The Clowns?")
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps and Returning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.