For Origins Vol. 1, former KISS guitar legend Ace Frehley goes back and recreates some of his favorite songs by his early guitar heroes, as well as revisits songs he wrote while with his former band but didn't sing lead vocals on them until now. So, you might be saying, "another covers album" ? Truth is, yes, this is basically another covers album, and none of the versions here offer anything groundbreaking, but in the hands of Ace, it's actually a lot of fun from start to finish.
The guitarist adds plenty of meaty wah-wah licks to the Cream classic "White Room", though Ace's strained vocals don't work quite so well trying to mimic the late Jack Bruce's high pitched wail. The Jimi Hendrix classic "Spanish Castle Magic" works out much better, as Ace's almost spoken word vocal matches up with with Jimi's original, and the guitarist shares some scorching solos alongside the always impressive John 5. Old KISS mate Paul Stanley shows up to handle lead vocals on a stirring rendition of the Free classic "Fire and Water", and Slash saddles up next to Frehley for a hard rocking take on Thin Lizzy's "Emerald". Led Zeppelin's "Bring It on Home" rocks quite hard, and I'm not sure who's singing lead vocals here but he sounds very close to a young Robert Plant. Ace and Lita Ford team up for "Wild Thing", and John 5 again pops up in a crushing version of the Hotter Than Hell classic "Parasite", complete with Frehley handing all the lead vocals, as he also does on "Cold Gin", alongside Pearl Jam's Mike McCready on second guitar.
Add in some covers of The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and Steppenworlf ( a spirited "Magic Carpet Ride"), and you have a fun, honest, though somewhat 'by the numbers' release by Ace Frehley. It's apparent how much these songs mean to him, and though it might have been nice to see him change up some of the arrangements a bit, if you want to hear Ace's faithful renditions of some rock classics, this is an enjoyable listen for sure. My guess is Vol. 2 won't be far behind.
Track Listing
- White Room (Cream)
- Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones)
- Spanish Castle Magic (Jimi Hendrix) *John 5
- Fire and Water (Free) *Paul Stanley
- Emerald (Thin Lizzy) *Slash
- Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin)
- Wild Thing (The Troggs) *Lita Ford
- Parasite (KISS) *John 5
- Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf)
- Cold Gin (KISS) *Mike McCready
- Till The End Of The Day (The Kinks)
- Rock N Roll Hell (KISS)
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