Ace Frehley Archives - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Apr102014 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Listening Booth — Kiss New York City Loft Rehearsal, 1973

Well, today's the big day. After years of waiting, and a whole lot of politics and gossip in the meantime, Kiss is finally being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And so I felt it only appropriate to publish the first edition of the Listening Booth in more than a year. And this one should be a real treat for devoted members of the Kiss Army. Today's offering is a bootleg from the earliest days of the band, before they even had an album out. Hell, when this was recorded no one outside the immediate New York City area even knew who Kiss was. This recording, my friends, was reportedly made by Gene Simmons while the band played for an audience of no one in their New York City rehearsal loft (located at 10 East 23rd Street). What you will hear on this is a band still gelli...

Dec52012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Cross-Pollination: Five Musical Autobiographies I Want to See (on Popdose)

Blogstuff

When Popdose Grand Poobah Jeff Giles asked me to write a list article for his site, I couldn't say no. The only question I had for him was, "what content restraints am I working under?" He said, "none." I'm sure he'll come to regret that answer in the coming weeks, but hopefully not now. For today my chosen topic is music autobiography, or musiphy as it's known in the industry. We've seen some great ones in recent years -- Mötley Crüe's The Dirt, Ace Frehley's No Regrets, and Bob Dylan's Chronicles just to name three. But what about all the legendary musicians we haven't heard from yet? Like James Hetfield of Metallica, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, or... well, you can read all about that on Popdose.

Oct102012 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 15: Vintage Halloween Costumes

Vintage Photo Wednesday

The internet is full of pictures featuring vintage Halloween costumes, so do we really need another gallery? Yes, yes we do. OK, so maybe this last one stretches the definition of vintage a bit. But hey, it's Kiss and that's good enough for me. I only wish there were existing photos of me when I dressed like Gene as a kid -- with actual face paint no less! Related articles Halloween Costumes From Yesteryear Let's Look at Some More Vintage Halloween Ads A Gallery of Vintage Beistle Halloween Decorations, Part 2 Vintage Photo Wednesday, Vol. 14: The Kitchen of Tomorrow (Life, 1943)

Oct192011 by Andrew RatliffNo Comments

Why The Hell Should I Like… Kiss? (The Rebuttal)

Music

Why the hell should I like… ?” is an experiment of sorts between Popblerd and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. What we’re going to attempt to do is to pick 10 songs from our favorite artists — one for which the other has professed dislike or disinterest — and show them why they’re wrong. I'm a fairly simple man. I like unique, intricate, interesting music, sure, but I'm also a tenacious advocate of the simple, three-minute pop song, and a staunch defender of the notion that, sometimes, a fistful of chords and a catchy chorus is the stuff pop music glory is made of. With that in mind, I'm not sure why I've never found it in my heart to appreciate Kiss. It's not that I grow weary of their party-hearty, sex drugs and rock n' roll mentality: I'll defend to the death the early career

Sep222011 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Listening booth — Kiss, “Escape From The Island”

Listening Booth, Music

Legend has it that before the album that became Music From "The Elder" turned into Kiss's half-baked attempt to imitate Genesis, it was supposed to be a straightforward hard rock LP. But then producer Bob Ezrin (fueled by massive amounts of cocaine) and Gene Simmons (fueled by massive amounts of ego) thought that what Kiss fans really wanted was a concept album with a threadbare "plot" and lots of orchestra. Oops! We'll never know if Music From "The Elder" would have sold more in 1981 had it contained more songs like Ace Frehley's kickass instrumental blast "Escape From the Island," but it sure would've been less reviled. And fans might have gotten more than one album out of the fairly potent Simmons/Stanley/Frehley/Carr lineup. Related articles 10 things you probably didn't kn...

Aug32011 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Kiss

Jun282011 by Chris Holmes3 Comments

Listening booth — Kiss at the Cow Palace, 1977

Listening Booth, Music

As the Fourth of July approaches, I felt it only right to dedicate an edition of the Booth to one of my favorite all-American bands -- Kiss. This show captures the original foursome during a stop on their Love Gun tour, August 16 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Fans will note that this setlist is nearly identical to that found on Alive II. A few noticeable differences are the order of the songs and the fact that Peter Criss's "Hooligan" is in this set. Oh yeah, and this recording wasn't completely doctored and fabricated. I'd say that Kiss was still firing on all cylinders at this point, although history tells us that the end wasn't too far away. Although Alive II continued the band's hot streak later in 1977, they were just a year away from the commercial fiasco of the four solo al...

Dec232009 by Chris Holmes2 Comments

2009 – The year in recorded musical performances

Music

I swear that each year I have less and less time to spend listening to new music. It seems like a losing battle anymore to keep up with all the new albums coming out, but I have to keep trying. So rather than pontificate on the albums of the past year - as I've been known to do - I'm going for brevity in an attempt to get more done. And I'm adding one new feature to this year's year-end music wrapup (and future releases as well), by introducing a grading system. Here's the rundown: Dig It - You can safely part with your hard-earned money for this and not feel like a sucker. Download It - Still worth a listen, but you'll probably want to just download it and cherry-pick the best tracks. Ditch It - If you can find something of lasting value, you're a better person than I. Got

Sep272009 by Chris Holmes2 Comments

New release roundup (Ace Frehley, Muse, and more…)

Music

Man, I take a short break from updating the site and, just like that, I'm buried under a pile of new music releases. Not to mention, of course, the Beatles remasters. So with no big preamble, let's get right into it... Ace Frehley - Anomaly (Brooklyn Born Records) Peter Criss couldn't do it, Paul Stanley almost did it, and who the hell knows what Gene Simmons was trying to do. I'm speaking, of course, about original Kiss members putting out a solo album this decade that even approached their best work from previous decades. So how does the Spaceman fare on his first release since George Bush Sr. was president? Pretty decently, by and large. Sure the album art is...well, it sucks. It's just bad. But who even notices such things anymore? The music's the thing, and Ace acqu

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