Kiss: Ace Frehley (Remastered)

iTunes Review

Of the four Kiss solo albums, Ace Frehley’s was certainly the least baffling. While his bandmates became mushy in their solo ventures, Ace Frehley sounded more vital and electrified than Kiss’s latest effort. He got an invaluable boost from Eddie Kramer (Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix), whose production gives the album a fiery energy that is lacking in the other three solo outings. Bolstered by the playing of drummer Anton Fig and bassist Will Lee (both future members of David Letterman’s band), “Rip It Out,” “Speedin’ Back to My Baby,” and “Wiped-Out” are seething triumphs that hearken back to early Alice Cooper, and almost match 1978’s punk upstarts for pure fury. “I’m in Need of Love” and “What’s on You Mind?” both bear the influence of Cheap Trick, a band that all four Kiss members admired, but only Frehley could match. “Fractured Mirror” is a gift to the legions of fans who worship Frehley’s guitar playing, while “New York Groove” was the only single from the Kiss solo albums to crack the Billboard Top 20. While it’s impossible to experience the ferocious stomp of “Snowblind” and not wish that Gene Simmons were singing it, one can’t help but be happy for Frehley as he bests his better-known bandmates.