Origins, Vol. 1

Origins, Vol. 1 is a covers album by American guitarist Ace Frehley, released on April 13, 2016 in Japan and April 15 in the United States. The album features guest appearances from Slash, Lita Ford, John 5, Mike McCready, and Frehley's former Kiss bandmate Paul Stanley. The album was announced on February 11, 2016.

Contents

• Personnel
• Songs
• References

In addition to covers of tracks by Cream and Thin Lizzy, Origins, Vol. 1 features newly recorded versions of several Kiss songs which were written but not sung by Frehley, such as "Cold Gin" and "Parasite", as well as a new version of the Kiss song "Rock and Roll Hell" from the Creature on the night kiss album, which he never perform on, as he was leaving the band at the time.

Ace Frehley Explains Why His ‘Origins Vol 1’ LP Includes a Cover of a Kiss Song He Never Played On,

Admitting he doesn’t remember whether he even played on the record, Frehley shrugged, “I’ve listened to that record, but not beginning to end. I’d listen to a couple of tracks and put it down. I don’t remember listening to ‘Rock and Roll Hell’ for a very long time, but when I heard it, I fell in love with it. I thought it was a great song, and I thought I could do a good version of it.”

Frehley’s “Rock and Roll Hell” marks the second time he’s covered a cut from a Kiss LP he wasn’t involved with. In 1989, he recorded a version of “Hide Your Heart,” a song co-written by Kiss co-founder Paul Stanley with professional songwriter Holly Knight, unaware that it was tabbed as the first single from the band’s Hot in the Shade LP.

“I had no idea they were tracking it, they had no idea I was tracking it,” he later said. “After I had recorded it and spent thousands of dollars on the production, [Gene Simmons] called up and said ‘Could you please take that off your record, because we’re putting that out as our first single.’ I said no way.”

The album entered the Billboard 200 chart at number 23 selling 16,113 in its first week, but totaling 16,386 copies including streams and tracks.

In a 2016 interview with The Pods & Sods Network, Ace describes other songs that were considered, recorded and plans for Origins, Vol. 2.