Founding KISS guitarist and 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ace Frehley has debuted an all new single titled Gimme a Feelin’ exclusively through
Rolling Stone today (May 29th). The new effort serves as the first single from his all new LP Space Invader slated for a summer release via eOne Music.
Gimme a Feelin’ is available for purchase on iTunes and Space Invader is available for pre-order via Amazon.
Widely known as the original “Space Ace” and founding guitarist for 16 cumulative years (over 2 tenures) of the multi platinum selling rock band KISS, Frehley is demonstrably the most popular original member. In addition to having the best selling solo album career (vintage or current) among the original foursome, Frehley’s self titled Ace Frehley, released in 1978, went on to sell over one million copies, producing the only Top 40 single, New York Groove, from any of the legendary KISS solo albums; (peaking at #13). The massive hit was most recently featured in an episode of cult show Entourage and was also KISS’ second best selling download in 2012, besting such KISS Army anthems as I Was Made For Lovin’ You, Beth and Calling Dr. Love even after 36 years.
Since departing from KISS, Frehley went on to release four more solo albums and one live EP including his most recent effort, Anomaly in 2009, which debuted at #27 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and received a welcoming response among critics.
You can catch Ace Frehley accepting his award at the 29th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction Ceremony on May 31st at 8pm on HBO.
96 Responses
Damn nice guitar tone!
Anomaly was a good album, kind of 50/50…half of it was awesome, the other half not quite as good. I did notice that he was starting to experiment a bit with his vocal style on certain songs with that record, I get the impression that he’s doing that again with this new song. I don’t think it’s age changing his voice.
Ace is back in 2014: looking great, singing great, and playing great. The classic Ace Kiss sound is there with great album cover to match. I predict this will be his highest charting album debut yet. No wonder the cover band didn’t want to jam with Ace and Peter at the HOF. Ace is firing on all cylinders like this, Peter’s jamming with Rob Zombie, while working on a new solo album of his own, and then you have the cover band hitting an all time low on American Idol of all places. If I were a guy like Stanley in his 60’s still trying to rock a studded-bra tanktop and sounded like I had terminal laryngitis, struggling to sing Love Gun for the millionth time in a bad wig, I wouldn’t want to have Ace and Peter show me up at a gig like the HOF either. And to think this was the guy that referred to TMS as Wayne’s World. Paul should be glad Eddie would even consider having such a subpar musician from a cover band on his show at this point when he’s had all these legends that still have it on his show like Tony Iommi, Steve Harris, and Brian Johnson that are in bigger bands than Kiss today. Ace rules and it’s time for Paul to replace himself in the cover band before he embarrasses himself further; there’s only so much Def Leppard is going to be able to make up for trying to carry these guys this summer.
I love the song; I listen to it non-stop. It really sounds more like Kiss than Kiss does – such is the ACE-SOUND a part of the History of the band ! It’s got that same vibe. The mix is great, it’s very full sounding and Ace’s voice sounds better than ever. It almost has a “live” feel to it. The riffs are okay…but to me it’s Ace’s solo and lead playing that shine. NOBODY has that ACE TONE ! So – if the rest of the CD is like this single – we have a Winner !!
Agreed, much of the classic sound and feel to the Kiss songs was because of Ace’s and Peter’s approach to their instruments, be they mediocre or what; while many others were and are much better technically, they sounded unique. people came to love the whole package of instrumental aspects and songs and the make-up and stage show spectacle. Together with the personas of Paul and especically Gene they so created the legend. Listening to Ace’s solo work it becomes clear that his guitar sound was essential to the classic Kiss sound, this new song is proof. This is Ace, he can do no more, no less. Love it or leave it. So as Kiss has moved on to live on the past while no longer able to muster up their former power and energy, giving the fans an ever sadder impression every year, let us be glad Ace puts out new material and look forward to see him in concert again.
Oh boy–
Here we go again. You said, “So as Kiss has moved on to live on the past while no longer able to muster up their former power and energy, giving the fans an ever sadder impression every year…”. WHAT???
What bothers me is how you present this opinion as if everyone is supposed to agree with you. You conveniently ignore the fact that Sonic Boom and Monster are great albums, they continue to sell out arenas, and have more than 12 million fans on facebook. Do you think you speak for everyone? That’s the impression your giving me with many of your statements. You are not the teacher–you are a fan of old KISS and don’t support the new KISS. That’s fine, but like I said, don’t expect not to be challenged when you make these declarations. AND I am not picking on you. Just countering your argument where there would otherwise be no challenge to your claim that KISS is weaker or diminishing or something. You remind me of the Roger and Ebert of rock or something. I just had a startling thought–is this Jan Wenner? Dave Marsh? I’m just kidding about that, but maybe the reason most people on this site are not catching on is because they agree with your position. I would appreciate a more objective argument from you instead of these dogmatic statements.
Oh dear, Mike why do you get so upset? Why objective? That would be boring, would it not? Would you really come here to read a scientific report on a rock band? What has that got to do with rock’n roll? Can YOU be objective? No one can, in fact, and it is not necessary as we are talking about fans and fandom and heroes and stuff, objectivity has nothing to do with that. Being objective would not have made us love the band in the first place. – Why do you think or presume as fact that I would be speaking for everyone? Of course everyone her speaks for themselves. You are just trying to get back at me because I do not share your opinion. Calm down. I have seen Kiss in various formats, and I can honestly say they do not kick ass anymore like they used to. It is because a lot of aspects, one maybe being that Tommy is just copiyng and does not feel it like Ace does feel his own licks, maybe becaue Paul’s voice does not convince anymore, maybe because G an P are not physically able any more to run from left to right etc etc. Btw – They do NOT sell out arenas by themselves anymore. Why would they share the money 50:50 with Def Leppard or Aerosmith or Motley if that would still be the case?? They might be able to still sell out 15.ooo seaters in Europe like they did last time in 2010 because they haven’t dead-ridden that tour horse over here, but they went to tour the US every single year in the last decade, which reduces the excitement a lot, I think. Plus ticket prices are constantly going up while the economy crises takes its toll. The amount of “friends” on facebook does not mean anything. It is just a click of the button, does not really tell us anything about what people REALLY love. But back to me: Now buying a ticket for every Kiss how in the last ten years here in Europe makes me a non-supporter the new line up?? You didn’t know that? Ask me before YOU insinuate what you do not know. Also, i did not say SB and M were bad albums. I own both and I like them. I prefer to lsiten to Ace’s work but that does not mean SB/M is bad, there are good songs and good guitar work. It is just not the sdame as the classic sound. I would actually love to hear more of the last two cds in a concert but, yes, they stick to classic songs 90%. Why? You know why. Unfortunately over here we are not familiar with one Roger & Ebert etc., enlighten me on that.
schocoman,
Okay, I feel better now. Thanks! I guess I had the wrong impression about you.
Regarding the Roger and Ebert joke–they were movie critics that had heated discussions between one another.They would call thumbs up and thumbs down on different movies and they disagreed a great deal of the time. My reference to them was not supposed to be an offensive joke–and I wasn’t serious.
Actually, I don’t get upset with you. Its more about maintaining a sense of balance on this forum. I feel like a minority on this site. Opposing viewpoints are healthy and because of my point of view, I seem to be stirring up a debate on some of these issues instead of resorting to name calling and insults. I just disagree with some of your statements and also the way you present them sometimes–maybe its a cultural difference in communication? Having had THIS conversation with you, I will back off a bit knowing you are not trying to play professor or come across condescending and tell me that I’m wrong based on statistics and proven research, etc…That approach denies people the right to disagree with you. However, once again, I see that you are not intentionally coming across that way.
In my opinion, KISS continues to “kick ass” even though they are getting older. I think we will have to disagree with each other on this point and a few others. After all, music is subjective. As I said, Monster in my opinion is the best album since Revenge. I would hate for Paul or Gene to call it a day just because of their age or certain challenges. If you disagree, that’s fine.
Don’t get me wrong Ace lovers, I’m rootin’ for him big time but the song seems just ok to me. The guitar playing is unquestionably Ace (I agree with other reviewers hearing bits of Let Me Go Rock and Roll) but not a particularly memorable song or one that I need to hear more than a few times. I would say it is a “safe” song for Ace to release – one that doesn’t stray too far from what most people would expect. Hey, he’s putting out an album so its just one song and I’m sure there are going to be some very interesting tracks on the rest of the record. I hope it works out for him.