Just a year after writing his book “No Regrets,” Ace Frehley is at work on another — as well as an album of new songs.
No word on the focus of his new musical project, or who will appear alongside the former Kiss guitarist. It would be Frehley’s first album since 2009’s Anomaly. As for the book, Frehley says deadlines forced him to rush “No Regrets” to publication, and there were additional stories to tell.
“At this point I think it’s just going to be an extension of ‘No Regrets,'” Frehley told I Heart Guitar. “There’s so much I left out because of the deadline, but after talking with so many different people I’ve got so many stories that have eluded me over the years. And there just wasn’t enough room to put them into ‘No Regrets,’ and I was past the deadline as it was. But I think I’m going to come out with something in the effect of like a ‘No Regrets II.'”
Frehley, who was with Kiss from its inception in 1973 through 1982 and then again from 1996-2002, is the creator of the band’s iconic logo. After his celebrated 1978 self-titled solo debut, Frehley was very active in the late 1980s — issuing 1987’s Frehley’s Comet, 1988’s Second Sighting and 1989’s Trouble Walkin’ — but then didn’t issue another album until Anomaly. The project, which debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, was dedicated to Kiss drummer Eric Carr, Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, and Les Paul — who had just passed.
Brookvale Records recently announced that Anomaly will be reissued on silver vinyl in April. The double album set, which will feature special gatefold packaging, will be numbered. The label is only printing 1,000 copies.
Also, independent British author and film maker Seb Hunter has approached Kiss management for their endorsement of a new movie treatment of Kiss’ (Music From) The Elder. A new book on the 1981 concept album — titled Music from the Elder: The Unauthorized Story of the Most Spectacular Failure in the History of Kiss, written by Matthew Wilkening — is also set for publication later this spring.
“There are a lot of good things on the horizon,” Frehley enthuses.
Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on Ace Frehley and Kiss. Click through the titles for complete reviews …
NEW YORK GROOVE (ACE FREHLEY, 1978): Everybody had their disco song, back in the day. Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, even Frank Sinatra. And, yes, Kiss. The beat is there, as is the chanky-chank riff — and, of course, the lyric: about a pretty lady in the back of the limo racing toward some night of debauchery amidst the towering skyscrapers. This being Ace Frehley, though, he sings with the kind of blissed-out somnambulance that only comes from too many women and way, way too much booze. That adds a more sinister feel to the Russ Ballard-penned “New York Groove” — something beyond the party anthems of the day, something that sticks with you.
FORGOTTEN SERIES: KISS – REVENGE (1992): There is one non-makeup Kiss record that certainly belongs in the conversation with the band’s best work. Released in 1992, Revenge came on the tail of two snoozers — 1987’s Crazy Nights and 1989’s Hot in the Shade — that were completely lost in the keyboard-laden, ballad-heavy 1980s radio rock sound. Revenge, though, was a different beast. There were still plenty of mindless sex and party anthems. It wouldn’t be a Kiss record without those. But there was a darker, heavier edge to the album, which was loaded with Gene Simmons’ gruffer vocals.
SOMETHING ELSE! FEATURED ARTIST: KISS: News that Kiss is back in the studio, working toward the 2012 release of a new project called Monster, got us scurrying back to our old album collections. And not just because of those fond memories of playing air guitar with former guitarist Ace Frehley during Kiss Alive. Bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons said something interesting about the sessions: “This new record feels heavier than (2009’s) Sonic Boom. It feels like a connection between Destroyer and Revenge. Those were but two of the favorites we discussed here.
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