Revisiting Ace Frehley's Trouble Walkin'

Ever listened to album you haven't heard in years recalling that you didn't like it much but then, all of a sudden, it sounds awesome? That happened to me today while doing my workout. I've been going through my collection of cassettes trying to cull out and, today, put on Ace Frehley's Trouble Walkin' from 1989. I got this album as a Christmas present near the time it first came out. I remember liking it sorta, but not a lot. My musical tastes were beginning to change. Ace seemed old and tired. He was no longer in Frehley's Comet (I had a crush on Tod Howarth), so it didn't seem as cool.

Well, I kept the cassette all these decades, so I never hated it, but do not remember it having so many awesome songs. Listening to it today, I dare say it is his best solo album (I've always thought his '78 solo album was overrated). In contrast, I revisited Second Sighting a few years ago and, despite it being one of my favorite albums back in the day, it didn't age well for me.

Trouble Walkin': "Shot Full Of Rock" is a good, solid opening number, though it becomes a bit overly repetitive at the end. He does a nifty cover of ELO's "Do Ya," but, when the music really moves towards excellence is the third track "Five Card Stud." That song just rocks and then, towards the end, the pounding drums really bring it home. I like his rendition of "Hide Your Heart" a lot. I always thought it was strange that he put out this song the same time KISS did. The guitar riff in "Lost In Limbo" really makes that song stand out to me.

Flipping to side 2, the title track is good, but my favorite is the rugged, street rocker "2 Young 2 Die." I like the build-up to the line "we'll kick down the f****in' walls." It would be even better if Peter Criss provided the vocals. It sure sounds like him but, according to Wikipedia, he just did some backing vocals. The next two tracks I'm not that crazy about, but they are not awful. It ends with Ace's traditional instrumental from his "Fractured" series. This one, "Fractured III," may be my favorite of them all. I'll have to revisit the other ones.

Anyway, just wondered what you guys think of Trouble Walkin' or Ace's solo albums in general. I guess, if there is a good discussion, this thread could be moved to the discography forum (if there is not one already for Frehley) but, I didn't post it there because I was just posting about one album.

I'll give it a go, Metal Lady. I liked Rock Soldiers.

I've met Ace Frehley in person and I can vouch for the fact that he does, indeed, have trouble walkin'. That dude was hungover as hell.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I've met Ace Frehley in person and I can vouch for the fact that he does, indeed, have trouble walkin'. That dude was hungover as hell.

Yeah, I read Into The Void...With Ace Frehley written by his former, uh, personal assistant, so I can see that.

I am a semi new fan of Ace Frehley, well I got really into his solo stuff when Anomaly came out, which was such a great album for me.

I have his Kiss 1978 CD, Frehely's Comet, Live + 1 and Anomaly I liked the song Rock Soldiers anytime I am in a music store I always look for the Ace stuff (whenever im in a music store Ace and David Bowie sections are looked through before anything else)

I read his book too, it was a bit of a slow start but it did get good.

is Trouble Walkin a good album?

I love TW, as well as any other Ace-related stuff. He is easily my favorite KISS member, as well.

And the '78 solo album overrated? Blaspheme.

I think Trouble Walkin' is a fantastic album. Much better than it's predecessor Second Sighting. And as for the '78 album being overrated....no chance !

I recall like the album but not being blown away by it. Thou "Do Ya' was a great cover, where he made it sound like an Ace then Ace merely covering someone else's tune.

I going to pull this disc out of my archives when I get home from work today and give it a fresh spin, it has been a few years since I have actually listened to this album, or any of solo albums in a long time.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I love TW, as well as any other Ace-related stuff. He is easily my favorite KISS member, as well.

And the '78 solo album overrated? Blaspheme.

AND...I think Gene and, especially, Peter's '78 solo albums are underrated.

80s Metal Lady wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I love TW, as well as any other Ace-related stuff. He is easily my favorite KISS member, as well.

And the '78 solo album overrated? Blaspheme.

AND...I think Gene and, especially, Peter's '78 solo albums are underrated.

You definitely go against the grain when it comes to those solo albums. Gene's album I can barely tolerate. I don't care much for his voice. There are a few KISS tracks where it works, but not many.

Peter's was the most disappointing to me. I love Hooligan. It's one of my favorite KISS tracks. Beth is whatever, overplayed, but still a nice song. So I was really excited to listen to Peter's when I started buying the solo albums. I can appreciate that he was doing what he wanted to, and not what Gene and Paul wanted to do. But I do not really care for the end product.

Along with Carnival of Souls, I would say the Gene and Peter solo albums are my least favorite KISS-related records. They are the only 3 that I do not consider worth owning.

80s Metal Lady wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I love TW, as well as any other Ace-related stuff. He is easily my favorite KISS member, as well.

And the '78 solo album overrated? Blaspheme.

AND...I think Gene and, especially, Peter's '78 solo albums are underrated.

I agree Ace's album is a bit overrated, but Gene's and Peter's still are

Love Trouble Walkin'! Anything Ace rules for me. I do agree that Second Sighting is probably his weakest, due to overly-glossy production qualities and obvious attempts at hit singles. However, even that album has some good songs.

I listented to the album last night, it was great, just good ole fashion kick ass rock n roll, no more, no less, then Ace style.

manny wrote:

I listented to the album last night, it was great, just good ole fashion kick ass rock n roll, no more, no less, then Ace style.

Glad you checked it out. I actually have an influence

I listened to Frehley's Comet today. I guess Ace was just going by his name then and not "Frehley's Comet," as that was just the name of the album. The first 4 songs are excellent! I had forgotten about "Something Moved." Wow, that song is really catchy. I've heard "Into The Night" many times because it is on my mp3 player, but "Rock Soldiers" and "Breakout" I hadn't heard in years. They still sound great. The album, for me, goes down hill from there. I thought "Dolls" was silly when I was a kid, now it just sounds creepy--especially since I saw a BBC documentary about men who have life size dolls as girlfriends (I watched it because I thought it would be funny, but it just ended up just being disturbing). "Fractured Too" is nice, though.

What I remember the most about ' Frehley's Comet' is going to the local record store every Tuesday to see if they had released the album yet, I used to read Hit Parader and Circus, it seemed like every few months they would have an article about Ace's new band, new album, I was so happy when it came out, bought it on vinyl.

I have not listened to this album in a long time but I still like it, even like the Alice Cooper like freak tune "Dolls". The lyrics to " Rock Solider' where cool considering it was based on one of his many misadventures. Russ Ballard seemed to enjoy a bit of high profile in the 80's, with Ace, Rainbow among others recording his tunes.

SpectreFate wrote:

80s Metal Lady wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I love TW, as well as any other Ace-related stuff. He is easily my favorite KISS member, as well.

And the '78 solo album overrated? Blaspheme.

AND...I think Gene and, especially, Peter's '78 solo albums are underrated.

I agree Ace's album is a bit overrated, but Gene's and Peter's still are

Now to defend Gene's solo album (Peter's album later):

Gene's 1978 solo album was the first KISS album I got my mom to buy for me (she was very resistant when it came to KISS). It was at a used book/record shop sometime in 1984. I still have that beat up old album with the $0.50 "Grocery" price sticker on it even though I eventually bought a much nicer copy with poster and Gene order form. It was definitely a strange introduction to KISS. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe something evil-sounding like "God Of Thunder," though I had yet to hear that song. The intro to "Radioactive" seemed to go in that direction. The intensity built up and I thought "Oh boy, here we go!" Then the dance riff started and I was left dumbfounded and disappointed.

Well, the album grew on me (some of my favorite albums are ones I didn’t like at first), except "When You Wish Upon A Star." That song still sucks and I remember my parents laughing when they heard it. The other songs, however, offer much variety AND quality. There are the pleasant, dare I say beautiful, numbers like "Man Of 1,000 Faces," “Mr. Make Believe,” "See You Tonite" (I used to play the tune of that song on the trumpet), and "Always Near You/Nowhere To Hide."

Then there are the rockers like "Burning Up With Fever" (I totally rock out to that song--I especially like the part: "Here's one thing you should know-ho, I won't, I won't stand in line for your love") "Radioactive" (that song grew on me) and "Tunnel of Love." I don't know how many times Gene's re-recording of "See You In Your Dreams" has run through my head, especially the awesome guitar solo. His version really brings that song to life. I remember thinking how stilted and boring it sounded on Rock And Roll Over because I was used to Gene's. A co-worker of mine hated "True Confessions" because of the repetitive gospel singing at the end, but there is so much more to it than that. I ended up really liking that song and it is one of the many songs on this album I sing along to. I've always liked "Living In Sin." When we went on vacation, I'd always want to stay at the Holiday Inn because of that song.

Anyway, there is so much to like about this album. Mostly, it is just a fun, happy album to me.

I recently listened to Fast Eddie Clarke's "It Ain't Over 'till It's Over" (1994) album, and now I know why I like it. It isn't so much of the Motorhead connection, but reminds me heavily of a lot of Ace Frehley albums, like Trouble Walkin'.

I bought the Trouble Walkin' album twice on vinyl, and once on cd.

Trouble Walkin' is an excellent Ace album and better than his weakest release, Second Sighting. If memory serves correctly, his record company wanted the album released as Ace and not Frehley's Comet as they thought it would sell better. Peter Criss does some BGV's on the album.