The one Kiss album Ace Frehley hated with a passion: “Wasn’t going the distance”
By the end of the 1970s, it looked like the Kiss that most hard rock fans got acquainted with wasn’t going to go the distance. Things always have an end, and the incarnation of the group that had dominated so much of the rock scene, now looked set to fall.
After rising to prominence on their live album Alive, the second half of the decade was dominated by each band member at each other’s throats, including a wilderness period in which each of them made their own solo albums. As soon as disco reared its head, though, both Ace Frehley and Peter Criss knew that it was time to leave.
Criss had been slowly finding himself out of step with the rest of the group. Though he may have sung their proto power ballad ‘Beth’, Criss’ solo album was looked at as one of their worst and sessions ground to a halt when he didn’t show up. For most of Dynasty and a majority of the album Unmasked, Criss’ drums aren’t being played by him at all, with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons getting Anton Fig to play in his place.
After giving him second chances, Stanley talked about grappling with the decision to let Criss go, saying in Kiss Beyond the MakeUp, “It was the first time where we all realised that the original lineup wasn’t going to go the distance”. Since Stanley and Simmons were both the leaders of the group, Frehley started to frequently find himself outnumbered in band decisions.
Despite finding a new drummer in Eric Carr, the next phase of Kiss was going to be much more conceptual. Outside of making songs about partying all night, Music From the Elder was a grand concept album about The Chosen One’s search for some sort of salvation. In both versions, the songs fell flat on their faces, as Kiss found themselves in a creative tailspin during production.
Though Stanley and Simmons were completely sold on the idea, Frehley would have no part in it, often playing his leads from his home studio and sending them the tapes through FedEx. Frehley’s assessment that they were making a lousy record was shared by the fans, with most jumping off the bandwagon and moving towards heavier acts like Van Halen.
Although Frehley’s face would appear on the cover of their next album, Creatures of the Night, he would not play on it. After pleading with him to stay in the group, Stanley and Simmons were rejected again, with Frehley moving on to a solo career.
Making such a bold decision often requires closure. Otherwise, a longing to understand ‘what if’ can often plague one’s mind. When hearing the final version of Music from the Elder, Frehley knew he made the right decision, saying, “That was like the icing on the cake when I quit the group. I got the record, I listened to it, and I threw it against the wall”.
Frehley would still have his place in the history books, though. Without the guitarist, there is no chance that the band would have achieved the kind of world domination it did. The guitar-wielding musician would bring a sense of rhythmic danger that the other members weren’t capable of delivering.
Granted, Frehley did say that the band worked better on the next album, saying that had he worked on Creatures of the Night, he might have stuck around for a few more records. Despite coming back for a reunion in the late ‘90s, Frehley left again after not wanting to put up with Simmons and Stanley’s dictating any longer. Kiss may have tried their hardest to keep themselves as a family unit, but The Spaceman had already moved on to other planets.
