"I used to be a huge KISS fan and heard alive 2 lp and was blown away by ..."
I was at the thrift store and they had this lp on a turntable that they were selling and I heard all of side 4 lp and was blown away by the guitar playing especially since I play a lil bit....
side 4 all american man rocking in the u.s.a. larger than life rocket ride anyway you want it
1. "RE: I used to be a huge KISS fan and heard alive 2 lp and was blown away..." In response to Reply # 0
a few times in the past, Ive heard of KISS mentioning Prince in interviews especially paul and gene and personally with as extremely talented as Prince is and being black, I think paul and gene were jealous of him....
''Rocket ride'' is so dope that I don't care about the rest. I still enjoy the entire side though but ''Rocket Ride"? Dayum... A nice preview of Ace's stellar solo-album...
4. "That is exactly what "Rocket Ride" is" In response to Reply # 3
In many ways, his 1978 solo album is his equivalent of George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS, definitely the best of the four solo albums. Sadly, Frehley's solo work since then (with and without his Comet) have also been the equivalent of Harrison's solo career.
I think that Ace, just like George, had a bunch of cool ideas and riffs that were being pushed to the side by the leaders of the band and when it was time to make a solo, he had collected a bunch of strong songs. And I guess a classic Ace-penned Kiss banger like ''Parasite'' was his ''Taxman'' or something.
I must admit I never heard Frehley's comet (or Vinnie Vincent's invasion for that matter), I guess I just assumed it was on some 80's hair-metal steez; it was the wrong era for that type of hard-rock IMO, I don't like the records Kiss did then at all...
I have to say that Rocket Ride surprised me with the way it came on....now, Im going to have to go back and ask them to give me that record especially since it was a bit warped.
6. "RE: The problem I have with Ace's guitar work is it's very flashy" In response to Reply # 5 Sat Dec-29-12 09:09 AM by Strangeways
ace's flashiness is what attracted me to his guitar playing in the first place especially with the smoke coming from the guitar...nothing wrong with being flashy as long as you play very well...it just shows that you feeling what you are playing and even Prince was flashy throughout his entire career and ill put him above the people that you consider great especially with flashiness of "while my guitar gently weeps" with the traveling wilbury back in 2004.
7. "RE: The problem I have with Ace's guitar work is it's very flashy" In response to Reply # 5
in addition to ace's flashiness, I always thought that he also had good rhythm guitar playing and that is very important because it makes a solo so much better when a player plays rhythm very well.
9. "That can be said for a lot of electric guitarists" In response to Reply # 5
I don't remember who said it, but it has been said that the moment one added electricity to the guitar, anyone could be considered a hero. Volume, maximizing on limitations... Kiss weren't afraid to say they were "shit basic" but did so with an incredible amount of flash. They're really nothing more than a garage rock band with kabuki makeup, but they worked it very well.
11. "I never felt he was too flashy" In response to Reply # 5
''flashy'' to me is guys like Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve vai or Marty Friedman or whatever; by comparison, Ace was very basic, mainly sticking to reptitive pentatonic licks played straight as opposed to hammer-ons or pinch-harmonics or sweep-picking or whatever...
I tend to view him as one of the first ''action-rock'' lead-guitarists, mainly sticking to well-worn rock'n'roll cliches but pumping them up with aggression and weeding out everything fancy or whatever and just repeating the ''cool'' and rocking money-phrases. He's obviously not a genius or anything but an excellent *rock*-guitarist; I'd put him in the same category as Motörhead's Fast Eddie Clarke or the guys in MC5-nothing revolutionary or innovative but a total understanding of RAWK.
He was also a bit influential I think, I can even hear his influence on a record like ''Kill 'em all'' even if the music is very different. That fast repetition of scale-fragments-it's very Ace in spirit even if it's hyper and more metal...
Overall, I think a lot of musicians grew up idolizing Kiss when they were kids or teenagers and when they outgrew them and started to listen to stuff that was more complex or heavy or sophisticated or whatever, it was still in their bloodstream.
Generally, I think the impact/influence of the *music* of Kiss-as opposed to their image-is underrated; there are numerous things that made them different from the power-trio/late 60's rooted hard rock of Zeppelin/Sabbath/Mountain/Deep Purple etc., things that for better or worse pointed towards the 80's...
12. "RE: I used to be a huge KISS fan and heard alive 2 lp and was blown away..." In response to Reply # 0
I still cant get over how great all of this sounded on lp coming from an old record player at the goodwill that day. I just want this lp alone. I went back to see if this lp was still at the goodwill and it was gone.
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