Frehley's Comet (album)

Background

Frehley formed his solo band in 1984. He went on tour to perform his famous 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). Anton Fig, who played drums on the album, also performed 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 his own solo career. Scarlet's departure led to another lineup change with Arthur Stead being dropped out 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 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.

Notable songs

"Into the Night" was a minor hit single for Frehley, reaching #27 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1987. 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."

"Breakout" was co-written with late 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 (#12 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. Interestingly, 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 (a band with ties to Paul Stanley´s early band Uncle Joe via drummer Neal Teeman) 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-VVI band Slaughter opened Kiss' 1990 Hot in the Shade Tour), and featured future Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer on backing vocals.

"Breakout", "Something Moved", "Dolls" synthesizer, samples and sequences by Gordon G.G. Gebert.

Videos

Legacy

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

Personnel

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)