October 1981: Escape from The Elder

Early in 2023, I started writing a book about Ace Frehley. Though it has been shelved for the time being, I promise I will return to it someday. Before pressing 'pause' on the project I actually got quite a few chapters written. Until such time as I am able to finish the book, here is a sample chapter.

-rh, 10/26/23 * October 1981: Escape from The Elder "What is this shit?"

Ace could not believe what he was hearing, even though it was exactly the overblown piece of shit he warned them it would be.

Work on Music from The Elder had barely even started when Frehley began to extricate himself from the project. Early demo sessions at his home studio in Connecticut had sounded to all like a good start. Not too long ago, in the days before he got himself bounced from the band, their original drummer Peter Criss still lived nearby. But Gene and Paul grew weary of their 90-minute commute from Manhattan to Ace’s place. As was so often the case now with many of the decisions facing the band, more often than not Ace found himself outvoted 2-to-1. And so, with producer Bob Ezrin's late arrival, the entire recording project had relocated to Ezrin's home studio in Toronto. Simmons and Stanley already treated Ace like some kind of court jester sideman. Even when he brought several new songs to the sessions, he was usually relegated to just one slot on the album. He felt he’d already proven his worth beyond a shadow of a doubt in 1978 by producing a solo album far above and beyond what his bandmates expected of him. In fact he had been the only one of the four to have a hit single with “New York Groove”. What no one knew at the time was that Ace’s LP would be the one to be held in highest regard by many fans for years to come. Now, having built a million dollar state of the art home studio in his basement, Ace had tripled the value of his Wilton mansion. But he believed his bandmates had lost the plot, by pursuing some half-baked sci-fi concept album in Canada. Even the new boy, drummer Eric Carr who remained a salaried employee and had no vote, held no sway in band negotiations, had indicated in no uncertain terms his belief that this concept album they were working on with Ezrin was simply not the right direction for the band at this crucial juncture. Just as Gene and Paul had refused to continue working at his chosen recording facility, Ace walked away from theirs after just a few sessions. Granted, he had, in that short time, contributed no fewer than three songs that would make the final track sequence on Music from The Elder. The highlight of which all agreed was a smoking instrumental jam called “Escape from the Island” that Ace had cooked up with drummer Eric Carr. After settling in back home in Connecticut, Ace did contribute a number of guitar tracks from his home studio. But, in the end, very few of those would be used on the finished LP. Funny how Gene and Paul were so openly scornful and condescending about his drug use and alcohol consumption. While at the same time they followed every silly suggestion from the lips of the almighty Bob Ezrin, he who hoovered up enough mountains of booger sugar to make Ace look like an amateur.

In retrospect, it's difficult to fathom how Ezrin was seen by Simmons and Stanley as the golden ticket to their next million seller based on success the band had enjoyed five years earlier with him at the helm for their Destroyer album. When in fact the entire band, their families, entourage, and record company all knew full well that the LP's success had been a total fluke based on one Canadian DJ playing the flipside of the "Detroit Rock City" single, sending "Beth" of all things skyrocketing up the charts. And far more recently, not to belabor the point, it had been Ace's solo album that had outperformed the others in more ways than one.

"So why the fuck aren't they listening to me now?"

*** Years later, so much good and bad has been said and written about Music from The Elder. But there remains only one perspective on the entire project that really holds true to this day and that is this: Ace knew it was a bad idea, the wrong record at the wrong time, he tried to tell Gene and Paul it was a mistake, but they didn't listen. After Dynasty and Unmasked, this was a guaranteed career killer. It's a miracle that we are even still talking about them today. It absolutely should have been the dead stop no future gravestone for KISS. As a 13-year old fan at the time I was onboard through it all. I have followed them like a sick puppy ever since those lean years and how they survived it I will never know. * Here's a couple of unreleased 1981 demos from the sessions at Ace's home studio:

It ain't exactly Shakespeare but it's a damn sight heavier than what we got on the official release of Music from The Elder. There is of course no guarantee that sessions at Ace's home studio would have necessarily resulted in a "better" album. But I think it's safe to say it would have been more like a typical Hard Rock KISS record. For whatever reason, controlling forces in and around the band were not interested in taking these sessions in that particular direction.