Tag: Fractured Mirror

The Collection: Ep. 78 – Ace Frehley: The Albums Ranked

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With the passing of my first guitar hero last week, I thought it was appropriate this week to honor his memory and do a ranking of his solo albums. He had 10 albums and I have to say I do enjoy all of them so it isn’t a worst to first, more like a least favorite to most favorite. We include the Kiss solo album from 1978, the two Frehley’s Comet albums and the rest are his actual solo albums that he has done over the last 40 years. Ace was one of a kind and will certainly be missed. That boyish laugh to that Chesire grin, he was his own unique self and I think the music world is all the better for it. He influenced so many guitar players over the years and he is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and soon will receive the Kennedy Center Honor that is so richly deserved.

So go check it out as it will air tonight, October 20th at 7pm on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Kiss – ‘Ace Frehley’ (1978) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

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When we think of the Kiss Solo albums, we really only have Ace to blame.  Ace was not happy with the band and he wanted to do a side project, but to keep the peace, the idea was floated out there that each member of the band do a solo album and they were all to be released under the Kiss moniker and all on the same day.  A feat never done again by Kiss or any other band and there is a reason for that.  No one can afford all albums at once and not every band member is created equally as Ace proved here.

Ace Frehley’s solo album had the best producer of the four, Eddie Kramer, and it was the one that sounded the most like Kiss.  In the case of the solo albums, this is a Win-Win for Ace!  Ace didn’t deviate from the Kiss sound at all.  In fact, I think he refined it and made it even better.  This would only boost his confidence even more and drive that ego to hit the stratosphere as problems would continue from here on in for Ace and Kiss.  Between his issues and Peter’s, things were about to get dicey.  Enough about that, and back to the solo albums.

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My Sunday Song – “Fractured Mirror” by Ace Frehley

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For My Sunday Song #121, we are going to explore the instrumental classic by Ace Frehley called “Fractured Mirror”.  For the next 10 posts, I am going to go through 10 of my favorite instrumental songs.  I figured I would start with the first instrumental song I ever got into.  The song is from Ace Frehley’s 1978 Kiss Solo album and it was the last track on an album that made me wish I could be Ace Frehley and a guitar god.

“Fractured Mirror” was actually the first instrumental that Ace would release would end up being a total of 5 pieces released in total on most of his solo records. You have “Fractured Too”, “Fractured III”, “Fractured Quantum” and finally “Quantum Flux” on his latest release.  For me, they are usually the highlight of the albums.

On Ace’s 1978 solo album, Ace showed he could be the frontman, he could survive on his own and do songs just as good or better than Kiss.  It was the start of things to come.  With “Fractured Mirror”, Ace showed that he was a technical guitarist and that he had the chops to hang with the best.

From the opening bells of the song, the opening guitar riff and throughout the beautiful melodies he created to the ending of that same opening guitar riff, Ace delivered a masterpiece that all his other instrumentals would be compared against.  Sadly, all were good, but none were this good.

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