I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Ace Frehley (1978).

Unlike Peter’s album, Ace’s solo album is probably the most Kiss-like of the four, and I think that most of the songs on here are better than Ace’s Kiss songs.  I also liked that his had his cool autograph on the back.

“Rip It Out” opens with some great rough guitars and a supremely catchy chorus.  His voice also sounds much more assured than it had on the Kiss records.  “Speeding Back to My Baby” is a bit too “rock n roll” for me as well (I don’t like all the backing vocals on the choruses) but the guitar is absolutely on fire in this song–the solo is noisy and insane.  In fact, he really highlights his melodic soloing skills on this disc.  This song always bothered me because he clearly says “maybe I should turn around maybe I should stop” and then second later proceeds to sing “speeding back to my baby and I don’t mean maybe.”  Very confusing. 

The guitars on “Snowblind” are jagged and very cool (and the drums are really techno and a little silly but they sound cool and spacey).  And of course, there’s another great solo.  “Ozone” is a wonderful guitar workout, showing off what Ace does best.  Lyrically it’s a bit of a nonentity, but it is fun to say “O-zone” over and over again.  “What’s On Your Mind” is a poppy little number with a super catchy bridge (although again, a lot of “maybes” in this song).

“New York Groove” is such an anomaly.  A top-40 hit, and I’m not sure why exactly.  It’s so simple, with kind of a funky guitar.  But I guess that super catchy simple chorus could win anyone over.  The spoken word part in the middle cracks me up, his accent is so strong: “Here I am.  In the city.”  “In Need of Love” has an odd feel to it, kind of sinister, but that guitar solo–wow.   “Wiped Out” is wonderful from start to finish.  The crazy cackle in the beginning, the wonderful slippery bass, the cool guitar solo that precedes each chorus and the fast, fun-to-sing verses.  It’s just a great song (it’s probably the most successful flirtation with disco of all four solo albums).

The album ends with the magnificent “Fractured Mirror.”  It starts off as a simple enough guitar picking song.  But it keeps building.  And building.  And then a solo comes in.  And it builds more…until it ends like it began.  It’s a masterpiece of guitar overdubbing.

This album is pretty darn awesome.

[READ: October 8, 2011] “Off the Shelf”

There were four one-page pieces in this week’s New Yorker under the heading “Sticky Fingers.”  Each one was about theft in some way (this being the money issue, that ‘s a nice connection).

When the New Yorker groups four essays under the same heading, the first one really sets the tone for the others.  So it came as no surprise to me that Patti Smith was going to write about shoplifting too (frankly, she was punk goddess, how could she not have shoplifted?).  But her story is quite different and it was one that I found incredibly moving.

Her story concerns the time she stole an encyclopedia.  Not the whole thing (she still weighs less than a whole set), but the first volume, from the grocery store.

I recall the days when you could but the first volume of an encyclopedia for $1.00 at the grocery store (if you bought like $10, you could get World Book Volume 1 for $1 or so–at least that was the price Patti cites from circa 1957).  But Patricia (I know that’s here real name but it’s so funny to hear her called that in this essay) and her mom were poor.  And they couldn’t afford the extra 99 cents for the encyclopedia.

When Patti went back to the store the next time and there was one volume left, she coveted the book so much, that she spent her whole time there reading it.  And, inevitably, eventually she slipped it into her windbreaker.  Unfortunately for young Patricia, she apparently did it in front of all of the security guards.  She was caught and they scared her straight.

The ending brought me to tears.