Covers albums are normally at their best hit and miss, essentially there’s two kinds – the ‘tribute’ type album that relies on your love of a particular artist and contains covers by multiple bands some of whom you might connect with, others you might hate and some might open your eyes to discover new stuff by them. This is the other type of cover album – the one by an artist you love who covers the songs they love.
Of course a lot of artists have done this before with varying results, I think my favourite collections being the Tesla ‘Reel to Reel’ records – where they got the balance just right – choosing great songs, not just well-known ones and adding something of their own to the selections. Ace of course has done this before too and pretty well too on Vol .1 considering that even as a fan I have to admit his vocals aren’t his greatest asset. That being said they do certainly compliment his own music and as long as he chooses carefully again, this should be an enjoyable ride.
Just scanning the selections here I think we’re safe – there’s no ‘Immigrant Song’ or similar vocal dynamics in sight, you could even say this collection is primarily guitar-driven. Opening with Zep is usually a no-brainer and ‘Good Times Bad Times’ is a song that actually really does suit Ace’s idiosyncratic vocal delivery. The Mountain track ‘Never in My Life follows, it’s honestly great to hear something other than ‘Mississippi Woman’ and if you’re a fan then nice to see Ace spread the word for a rather underappreciated great. Again it’s another that allows Ace to re-mold the vocal in his own image.
Interestingly it’s the rather more familiar single ‘Space Truckin” that took me a few listens, though of course its a song that does have the wonderful ‘Space (Ace)’ imagery it must have been impossible not to slot in here. It’s interestingly one he’s had in the bank for a while:
‘’Space Truckin’ was recorded years ago, and then I just re-recorded some parts and changed it a little. We never ended up putting it on a record, so it was just sitting around. It turned out very well. Rob Sabino is a very accomplished studio musician, and we actually grew up in the Bronx together, so we go way back.”
If you like what you’ve heard so far then you’ll probably love the rest – there’s a nice rocking version of The Beatles ‘I’m Down’ that’s got some lovely guitar; and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ with Lita Ford on vocals is wonderful given an ‘early Kiss-style’ makeover! Definitely one of my highlights.
After a decent stab at Cream’s ‘Politician’ (featuring John 5 who also appears on ‘I’m Down’) the only slight misstep for me is ‘Lola’ by The Kinks – it’s just one of those songs that is so damned hard to cover and I can think of a dozen other Kinks songs I’d love to hear Ace’s take on. Another iconic song Humble Pie’s ’30 Days in The Hole’ fares much better with the help of a wonderful cameo by Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander.
Hendrix’ ‘Manic Depression’ also sees Ace recruit another ex-Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick and closing the album out we get a nice take on ‘Kick’ by Paul Revere & the Raiders, who I know were one of the first bands Ace saw as a kid,but who I’m guessing are the most obscure band covered here for the average Rock fan.
All that just leaves us with the often-covered ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’ made famous by The Animals, but originally intended for The Righteous Brothers by writers Barry Mann and Cyntha Weil who had previously written ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’ for them. It’s a song you really can’t go wrong with and again sounds great here.
And to close proceedings there’s a Kiss cover ‘She’ (written by Simmons and Stephen Coronel pre-Kiss) and like all of Ace’s cleverly chosen Kiss covers this is another winner. Very enjoyable indeed. But even better news is that a new studio album is planned for 2021 with two additional releases to follow.
7.5/10
Track List:
1. Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin)
2. Never In My Life (Mountain)
3. Space Truckin’ (Deep Purple)
4. I’m Down (The Beatles)
5. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones)
6. Politician (Cream)
7. Lola (The Kinks)
8. 30 Days In The Hole (Humble Pie)
9. Manic Depression (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
10. Kicks (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
11. We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (The Animals)
12. She (KISS) [Bonus Track]
Pre-orders are available today at www.acefrehleyorigins.com — which includes an exclusive 180g Opaque Gold Double LP variant (limited to 1000 copies + download card).
