Frehley's Comet (album)

Frehley's Comet is the second solo release by American musician Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of Kiss. Frehley also named his band after the title of this album, and in this way, it is also considered the self-titled debut album credited to Frehley's Comet, as opposed to a Frehley solo release. It was the first album that Frehley released after leaving Kiss in 1982.

Frehley's Comet
Studio album by
Frehley's Comet
ReleasedApril 27, 1987
Recorded1984–1987
Studio
GenreHard rock, heavy metal
Length41:31
LabelMegaforce, Atlantic
ProducerEddie Kramer, Ace Frehley, Jon Zazula
Frehley's Comet chronology
Ace Frehley
(1978)		 Frehley's Comet
(1987)		 Second Sighting
(1988)
Singles from Frehley's Comet
  1. "Into the Night"
    Released: 1987

Background

Frehley formed his solo band in 1984. He went on tour to perform his Kiss classics and some new material, which was recorded with his new band. The original Frehley's Comet lineup consisted of Ace Frehley (on lead, backup vocals and lead guitar), Richie Scarlet (on lead, backup vocals, lead and rhythm guitar), John Regan (on bass guitar and backup vocals), Arthur Stead (on keyboards), and Anton Fig (on drums). Fig also played drums on Frehley's 1978 Kiss solo album, as well as Kiss's Dynasty and Unmasked albums. In 1985, Richie Scarlet left the band to focus on a solo career. Scarlet's departure led to another lineup change with Arthur Stead being dropped and Tod Howarth joining the band, handling the rhythm guitar, lead and backup vocals duties. The original Frehley's Comet lineup recorded various demos and songs around 1984 and 1985, and many of them were performed live; however, the songs from that era are still officially unreleased, and only a few of them made it to the final recording of Frehley's Comet. Notably, "Breakout", "Into the Night" (which was a cover of Russ Ballard), "We Got Your Rock", "Love Me Right", "Dolls", & "Stranger in a Strange Land" are the only songs on the record which were previously performed live in the band's early career and finally made it to the album.

Songs

"Rock Soldiers" Ace Frehley wrote this with Chip Taylor. Among the other hits Chip Taylor has penned are "Wild Thing" and Angel Of The Morning". Frehley explained to American Songwriter magazine March/April 1988 how their collaboration worked: "Chip wrote most of the lyrics and I wrote most of the music because I've known Chip for years and he was aware of the incident that went down in the summer of '83 when I had the car accident and he thought it would be a great idea to write a song around it."[1]

"Breakout" was co-written with Kiss member Eric Carr around the Music from "The Elder" recording era. The song, however, was not used on the record and was later released by Kiss on their Revenge album, with the title "Carr Jam 1981". The instrumental part of the song was written by Frehley and Carr; however, the lyrics of the song were written by Richie Scarlet, as this was one of his vocal performances on the Ace Frehley shows before he left the band in 1985. Scarlet confirms this in the 2019 book "Partners in Crime" by Alex Bergdahl and Carl Linnaeus, stating that Frehley's only lyrical contribution to "Breakout" was the line "The food here sucks, I am not about to wait".[2] The band recorded a demo of the song with Richie Scarlet on lead vocals, and Frehley sharing the lead guitar solo parts with Scarlet. On the Frehley's Comet record lead vocals are handled by Tod Howarth with all the guitar solo parts handled by Frehley. Whenever Frehley performs this song live, he dedicates it to Carr.

"Into the Night" was a minor hit single for Frehley, reaching No. 27 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1987.[3] The song was originally written and recorded by Russ Ballard (on his 1984 album Russ Ballard), who also composed Frehley's Top 20 single "New York Groove".

"We Got Your Rock" was originally written in 1983 by Marty Kupersmith of Jay and the Americans (a band with ties to Paul Stanley´s early band Uncle Joe via drummer Neal Teeman[4]) as a follow-up to Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll". It was previously recorded in 1985 by ex-Steeler bassist Rik Fox´s band SIN. The SIN demo also had Kiss connections as it was produced by Dana Strum (who later played bass guitar with Vinnie Vincent in Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and whose post-Vinnie Vincent Invasion band Slaughter opened Kiss' 1990 Hot in the Shade Tour), and featured future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer on backing vocals.[5]

"Calling to You" is a re-write of a song called "Mega Force", originally recorded by the band 707 in 1982. Tod Howarth had been a principal member and songwriter with 707 and likely brought the song with him when he joined Frehley's Comet. Originally recorded as the theme to the motion picture Megaforce, the song had been 707's biggest chart achievement (No. 12 on Billboard Rock Tracks). The "Calling to You" version by Frehley's Comet features altered lyrics, with Jonathan Cain's writing credit removed and Frehley's added. The Frehley's Comet album was released on Jon Zazula's apparently unrelated Megaforce Records.

Videos
  • "Into the Night" - (filmed on location in San Francisco, California).
  • "Rock Soldiers" - (shot in Toronto, Canada).

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[7]

Greg Prato of AllMusic wrote that "Frehely's Comet is just as good (perhaps even better) than Kiss albums from the same era like Asylum and Crazy Nights but is a letdown when compared to 1978's far superior Ace Frehley", because "Ace was often swayed into replicating the then-flourishing keyboard-sweetened pop-metal (which) reigned supreme in 1987" instead of retaining his robust "guitar-fueled heavy metal" sound.[6] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff judged positively the recording and described Frehely's Comet as "an extremely likable hard rock/metal album", "well-produced, big league, but warm and varied."[7]

In 2016, Eddie Trunk selected the album as his one of the album's that "changed his life", for the TeamRock website.[8]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Rock Soldiers"Ace Frehley, Chip TaylorFrehley5:05
2."Breakout"Frehley, Eric Carr, Richie ScarletTod Howarth3:38
3."Into the Night"Russ BallardFrehley4:12
4."Something Moved"HowarthHowarth4:02
5."We Got Your Rock"Frehley, Marty KupersmithFrehley4:12
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
6."Love Me Right"Frehley, Ira SchickmanFrehley3:54
7."Calling to You"Frehley, Howarth, Kevin Russell, Jim McClartyHowarth4:20
8."Dolls"FrehleyFrehley3:28
9."Stranger in a Strange Land"FrehleyFrehley4:02
10."Fractured Too"Frehley, John Regan(instrumental)4:14

Personnel
Band members
Additional musicians
  • Robert Sabino – keyboards
  • Gordon G.G. Gebert – synthesizer, samples and sequences on "Breakout", "Something Moved", "Dolls"
  • Chay Lentin, David Spinner, Frank Simms, Lara Kramer, Monique Frehley, Tom Ayers – background vocals
Production
  • Eddie Kramer – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Chris Bubacz, Corky Stasiak, Mario Rodriguez – engineers
  • Scott Mabuchi – mixing at Rightrack Studios,
  • Jeff Abikser – mixing assistant
  • Stephen Innocenzi – mastering at Atlantic Studios
  • Bob Defrin – art direction
  • Jon Zazula – executive producer

Charts

References
  1. https://www.songfacts.com/facts/ace-frehley/rock-soldiers
  2. https://www.jpsmedia.se/2019/05/31/alex-bergdahl-carl-linnaeus-skriver-en-bok-om-deras-forhallande-till-kiss/
  3. "Billboard Artist Chart History - Ace Frehley". Retrieved June 8, 2009.
  4. "KISSMONSTER - Interviews - Neal Teeman". kissmonster.com. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  5. "Kiss Related Recordings; TOMMY THAYER : Rik Fox - SIN (mach II) demo Early 1985". www.kiss-related-recordings.nl. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  6. Prato, Greg. "Ace Frehley - Frehley's Comet review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  7. Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  8. Prato, Greg (November 15, 2016). "Eddie Trunk - The 11 Records That Changed My Life". Classic Rock. Loudersound.com. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  9. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 119. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  10. "Ace Frehley - Frehley's Comet (Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  11. "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 46, No. 12, June 27, 1987". Library and Archives Canada. June 27, 1987. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
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