Episode 13: Ace Frehley New York Groove year 1978 English Version

00:00:00 - Welcome to my postcast, classic rocks all over the world, welcome to my postcast, classic rocks all time. You can choose between Google Up and Cast, Spotify, Amazon Music and Spreaker.

00:00:49 - Today the history of New York groove, that song originally recorded by the group Hello, which was later recorded by the spaceman in 1978 for his solo album.

00:01:11 - KISS was going through a crisis due to egos and personal jealousy.

00:01:15 - This situation put the group out of control.

00:01:17 - The solo vinyl edition arrived, A.C.E.'s was remarkable.

00:01:34 - British glam rock band Hello was the first to record the song in 1975 for inclusion on their debut album Keeps us off the streets.

00:01:43 - The song was the first hit for the band and figured in the top 10 in the UK.

00:01:53 - Ace Frelly included his version of this song on his self-titled solo album, although it was officially released as a KISS album in 1978, despite this, technically no other member of the band participated in the recording.

00:02:07 - Frelj, like the rest of his fellow Kiss members, recorded and released his own solo album.

00:02:17 - This single, peaked at 13th on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, the best chart score for any single released by Kiss's solo members.

00:02:26 - The band played New York groove on their 1979 and 1980 tours, as well as on Frelj's tours during his solo career between the 1980s and 1990s.

00:02:37 - It was also included in the tour that brought the band together in 1996.

00:02:42 - In the Japanese version of the 1996 compilation You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best.

00:02:47 - A live version of New York Roove recorded in Sydney, Australia in 1980 can be found on one of the few live recordings released by Kiss with his drummer Eric Carr.

00:02:57 - New York Roove is Ace Freyly's personal anthem.

00:03:01 - The track is as synonymous with the X-Man from Kiss as his silver superhero suit and smoke and sick string.

00:03:07 - Frally was born and raised in the Bronx, so the Big Apple is his city.

00:03:12 - And New York Groove is his kind of song, even though he didn't actually write it.

00:03:16 - Yet when Ace barks the line it's going to be ecstasy.

00:03:19 - This place was for me above that.

00:03:21 - Footstep pace, you can feel native pride shivering down his spaceman spine.

00:03:26 - A lot of people think I wrote New York Groove.

00:03:30 - It is not a myth that I have perpetuated, but it is so.

00:03:33 - However, I wish I had written the song.

00:03:36 - I would have made a lot more money with that, Frally laughs at his inimitable style.

00:03:42 - The great Kizz guitarist tells us about the recording of his solo album.

00:03:46 - I play lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer and bass.

00:03:54 - I did all the lead vocals and half of the background vocals.

00:04:00 - A guy named Anton Fig, who as you heard is pretty incredible.

00:04:05 - It's really funny, I like to say that.

00:04:08 - When I told people that I'm playing every instant I'm record just about doing all the vocals and some background vocals to my own voice.

00:04:17 - They say, wow, that must be really hard.

00:04:19 - The other situation is that when you're playing against your own rhythm tracks, you know them better than anybody else does because you're open and it's really, I find it a lot easier to play against my own recordings than playing against somebody else's because I know exactly what I did prior to the overdrive.

00:04:39 - Most accomplished guitar players that can play rhythm and lead can usually play bass without any problem.

00:04:45 - I was in groups where I used to have to teach, you know, the guy had a play bass, you know, he couldn't figure it out so I had to figure it out for him.

00:04:53 - I was always very well acquainted with bass guitar.

00:04:57 - I think it'll expand their views.

00:05:01 - I certainly think I've expanded my musical horizons just a little, you know, on this record.

00:05:08 - I think it'll be, you know, I hope that, you know, people say, wow, you know,

00:05:12 - I didn't think he could do this or do that or he could sing like that because you know

00:05:16 - I did a lot of different things with my voice that I've never been able to do up until now

00:05:21 - And you know, I also got a couple of interesting guitar sounds. I've never you know reproduced before. I'm wrecking

00:05:28 - Really happy with the way it turned out

00:05:30 - Well, I have a really big guitar collection and a big amplified collection all old amplifies

00:05:37 - You know thing back to the 40s and 50s and you know up until now

00:05:41 - Now, you know, whenever we did Kiss Albums, you know, a lot of times we were on a very hectic schedule as you very well know with touring and everything, and a lot of times we didn't have as much time as we wanted to, you know, to do records, and especially guitar solos, you know, it was always the kind of thing where I'd come on and you gotta do a solo, and you know, you have eight hours to do it, or whatever, and that's the way we, you know, we'd whip them out, but you know, in this case of the solo albums, you know, we took two, I took two months to record

00:06:10 - It was the kind of thing where I brought all my guitars and all my amplifiers to the studio.

00:06:16 - You know, sometimes we just spend the whole day on a guitar solo.

00:06:19 - You get the right sound.

00:06:21 - I didn't think it shows.

00:06:23 - I think it wasn't very different working with Eddie with Kiss as it was with the solo album.

00:06:33 - It's just that I just saw another side of him and he saw another side of me.

00:06:36 - You know, we worked a lot closer on this product than we did in the past, because it was just me and Eddie.

00:06:41 - He didn't have to worry about three other guys.

00:06:44 - It was just me and Eddie basically, and Anton.

00:06:47 - Anton supplied the percussion, and I supplied just about everything else.

00:06:51 - And it was just like the three of us went up to a mansion in Connecticut.

00:06:55 - We took it over, and we cut all the basic tracks up there.

00:07:02 - And it was really fun, it was just me and Eddie.

00:07:03 - We started with basic rhythm tracks, just rhythm guitar and drums, and we started layering everything on top of it.

00:07:10 - Right, put the bass on.

00:07:11 - And then after we got all the basic tracks, we came down to Manhattan and Plaza Sand and did all the most of the guitar solos and the vocals and stuff, synthesizers.

00:07:22 - So it came out, you know, basically we kept on schedule and everything turned out basically the way we wanted it to, so I really don't have any complaints about the record.

00:07:31 - Well, for a while I was very dormant.

00:07:34 - I think, you know, when the Alive one album hit, and I was, you know, bogged down with traveling, and, you know, I decided to get married, you know, around that time, and it was so much going on in my life.

00:07:47 - My creativity kind of went down.

00:07:49 - And if you check the records, you know,

00:07:52 - Destroyer or the one, I think I only wrote, maybe one song on, you know, those albums.

00:07:59 - But this is probably the first product where I really came out of my shell, so to speak and you know wrote all the songs except for one and I think now that I've you know realized what my abilities are I think I'll probably be doing a lot more in the future because I'm sure each of the albums are gonna bring out one side of all of us that none of us never knew we had I think this is gonna make us all better as one unit I could yes that was the

00:08:34 - I'll never forget the first night when we did that tour and the guy said, you got to shock me alive.

00:08:42 - And I was really nervous.

00:08:43 - We had to get up in front of 20,000 people and sing lead and I never had before.

00:08:48 - But I, you know, I just tried not to think about it and it just happened, you know, it became natural.

00:08:55 - I would say I'm more confident now as a singer and a guitar player than I have been in my life probably. A lot of the insecurities have gone away that I've had in the past.

00:09:08 - Everybody's insecure in the world. Well, see, I'm never satisfied with what I do.

00:09:14 - You know, I'll say it's good even though I do do some good guitar, but I always want to strive for a higher level. A lot of times I can't. A lot of times playing live.

00:09:26 - All of us have to give up a little musicianship for jumping up in the air and doing a flip or whatever.

00:09:32 - And it's, you know, I'm sure I could play more proficient live if I still never had to do any choreography.

00:09:43 - But you know, you get to give a little and it's a give and take situation.

00:09:49 - It's like everything. You got to give up something to gain something else.

00:09:54 - Oh yeah, most of the English rock invasion affected me in a very positive way.

00:10:04 - I really thought that they had the right idea. Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Peter Townsend was a big influence on me.

00:10:13 - I saw that it was first New York Appearance at the Merida Case Show.

00:10:20 - I was there with my friend, I was 16, 15 or 16 years old, and he threw his guitar 20 feet in the air court and the smoke bomb went off.

00:10:27 - I said, this is the most unbelievable thing

00:10:29 - I've ever seen in my life.

00:10:31 - I want to do the same thing.

00:10:33 - I really did.

00:10:34 - In fact, it was that point in my life where I was kind of,

00:10:37 - I'd always been, wanted to be a commercial artist.

00:10:40 - You know, I designed the Kiss logo and I designed other things for people.

00:10:46 - You know, my specialty is logos.

00:10:49 - I'm into lettering and all that kind of stuff and layout work.

00:10:53 - And when I was around 16, you know, that was the point in my life where I said, well, what am I gonna do?

00:10:59 - Am I gonna go to art school and really seriously become a commissioner?

00:11:03 - I was told, do I wanna be a rock and roller?

00:11:06 - And after seeing, you know, the whole art, they really made the decision.

00:11:10 - It's pretty inspiring, that type of...

00:11:16 - Theatrics mixed with rock and roll always excited me the most, you know?

00:11:20 - I mean, good rock and roll is good rock and roll, but when you can mix it with theatrical show and make it that much more exciting, that's what really, that's probably the whole thing that makes kiss work.

00:11:36 - Well, the antidote is obvious.

00:11:39 - I mean, some of it has to rub off, you know.

00:11:42 - Even if you try to block out your mind,

00:11:44 - I mean, we're becoming an institution at this point.

00:11:47 - And, you know, even subconsciously when I write material, you know, sometimes it comes out, well, you know, I'm a rock and roll, you know.

00:11:58 - Kisses rock at all.

00:12:06 - Many years since I was here, on the street I was passing my time away

00:12:28 - To the left and to the right

00:12:32 - Building towering through the skies at a sight

00:12:36 - In the dead of night

00:12:40 - Here I am, in the city

00:12:44 - With all this bullet dollars

00:12:47 - And baby, the better believe

00:12:49 - I'm back, back in New York

00:12:54 - I'm back, back in New York

00:12:58 - I'm back, I knew you'd be on the move

00:13:04 - And I knew you were bruised

00:13:07 - And I knew you were bruised

00:13:14 - In the back of my Cadillac

00:13:19 - You'd lay there somewhere on the side, say you were a weed

00:13:24 - Stop with the hurting party, breathe

00:13:27 - Exit to the night, and it's gonna be ecstasy

00:13:31 - This place was meant for me

00:13:36 - Feel so good tonight

00:13:40 - Who cares about who I am?

00:13:42 - So baby, you better believe me

00:13:45 - I'm back to New York

00:13:46 - Back in the New York

00:13:49 - I'm back to New York

00:13:51 - Back in the New York

00:13:54 - I'm back to New York

00:13:56 - I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back

00:14:06 - I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back

00:14:16 - I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York, I'm back in New York

00:14:46 - I'm back!

00:14:48 - I'm back!

00:14:50 - I'm back!

00:14:52 - I'm back!

00:14:54 - I'm back!

00:14:56 - I'm back!

00:14:58 - I'm back!