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.

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, Richie Scarlet, John Regan, Arthur Stead, and Anton Fig. 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", "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

"Into the Night" was a minor hit single for Frehley, reaching No. 27 on Billboards Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1987. The song was originally written and recorded by Russ Ballard, who also composed Frehley's Top 20 single "New York Groove".
"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 probably written by Richie Scarlet, as this was one of his vocal performances on the Ace Frehley shows before he left the band in 1985. 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.
"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. 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.
"We Got Your Rock'" was originally written in 1983 by Marty Kupersmith of Jay and the Americans 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, and featured future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer on backing vocals.

Videos

Greg Prato of AllMusic wrote that "Frehely's Comet is just as good 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 reigned supreme in 1987" instead of retaining his robust "guitar-fueled heavy metal" sound. 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."
In 2016, Eddie Trunk selected the album as his one of the album's that "changed his life", for the TeamRock website.

Track listing

Personnel

; Band members
;Additional musicians
;Production

Album

Singles