When Ace Frehley declared on his Frehley’s Comet track ‘Rock Soldiers’, that The Devil said “Hey Frehley, Frehley, let’s not be silly, There’s a life out there to steal” he maybe didn’t perhaps mean that the Space Ace would be stealing from his own past life. On his latest release, Space Invader (eOne Music), Frehley is re-treading his work from Kiss, his early ‘Kiss’ solo album, and Frehley’s Comet, but that’s not always a bad thing. However, too often on this album the retro-feel misses a mark that could be hit by adding some more contemporary touches.
The first four tracks from Space Invader offer a promising taste of what the Space Ace can achieve. Title track, ‘Space Invader’ ‘Gimme a Feelin’, ‘I Wanna Hold You’, and ‘Change’ all nod to the past, while at the same time have Frehley’s flourishes. ‘I Wanna Hold You’ in particular has a garage band feel, while the mid-paced ‘Change’ has subtleties buried within, nodding to Frehley’s Comet days. But the rest of the release is patchy, with ‘Immortal Pleasures’ not containing the pleasures promised by this slowed down track. Equally ‘Inside the Vortex’ flops around without the direction and arrangement that could have boosted its sound. By contrast the next track ‘What Every Girl Wants’ has the right balance of cheesiness and catchy choruses and chest-out verses.
Just as Kiss occasionally dabbled in cover versions, Frehley turns in a nice version of Steve Miller’s ‘The Joker’, a relief after his voice struggles on ‘Past The Milky Way’ and ‘Reckless’ bores its way to boredom. The saving grace throughout the album is Frehley’s ability on his beloved six-string, no better exemplified than on closing instrumental ‘Starship’.
Throughout there is a feeling that Ace could have done with an ‘Ace’ collaborator. He wrote almost all of the tracks, played guitar and bass on most tracks (Matt Starr and Anton Fig are on drums and Chris Wyse takes a turn on ‘What Every Girl Wants’ and ‘Starship’). The single-mindedness of Frehley’s vision on Space Invader is both its saving grace and its downfall. The guitar work is superb throughout, with minimal use or effects, and a clear tone. But the patchy nature of the album suggests that it could have done with an iron hand in writing and production to get the Space Ace into orbit on Space Invader.
6.0/10.0
JONATHAN TRAYNOR