Now that Ace Frehley is reunited with the original line-up of
Kiss, it’s easy to forget or discount his solo career of the late
’80s. Spanning four albums (including one EP), Frehley – first as
“Frehley’s Comet” and then under his own name – never quite reached
the level of superstardom that he did as the lead guitarist for
Kiss, but he did prove that he was by no means a washout.
But to discount Frehley’s solo career is to do the man a great
injustice, as the best-of disc
12 Picks proves. Taking six tracks from his solo output and
adding six live tracks from a 1989 show in London, Frehley shows
often not only that he had the talent to succeed as a solo artist,
but that his sound was as much Kiss as the other three members.
Just the track “Hide Your Heart” – featuring members of Skid Row
on background vocals and one Peter Criss on percussion – shows how
much Frehley brought to the table in Kiss; this track could easily
have been on one of their albums. Frehley’s level of confidence
never sounded higher than on this track, as if he was finally
comfortable with what he was doing as a solo artist. (Too bad the
album it came off,
Trouble Walkin’, was commercially ignored.)
I’ll always have a fond spot in my heart for the tracks “Rock
Soldiers” and “Into The Night” from the
Frehley’s Comet album, two tracks that are certain to lock
you in with their addictive beats and guitar fretwork. “Rock
Soldiers”, a tale about Frehley’s confronting the demon of alcohol
abuse he fought (and almost lost his life to) is still a powerful
track, and has lost none of its edge even 12 years after the album
came out.
One sad note, though – I would have loved to have heard
“Fractured Too” on
12 Picks. An instrumental that was both gentle and powerful,
it was an incredible display of Frehley’s power as a guitarist, and
should have had its moment in the sun on this album.
The live tracks give an idea to the listener of how powerful
Frehley’s Comet was on stage, though the tracks often don’t live up
to their studio counterparts. There are exeptions, of course; it’s
interesting to hear Frehley take over the lead vocals on “Cold
Gin,” a track that Gene Simmons leads with Kiss. I thought that the
version of “Rip It Out” on
Live + 1 was cleaner, and I’ve never been able to get into
the track “Rocket Ride,” but these are still fun to listen to
overall.
12 Picks is a collection that dares to highlight a point of
Frehley’s career that some people might not know a lot about, but
for those of us who followed every note of that period, this will
bring back a lot of good memories. Even if all you know of Frehley
is his work with Kiss, this is one you’ll want to search out.
