The Ben Maynard Program

EP. 106 RIP ACE FREHLEY....MY TRIBUTE TO THE SPACEMAN!

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The news hit like a power chord: Ace Frehley, the Space Ace who helped launch KISS into legend, is gone at 74. We didn’t plan this show, but some losses demand a pause, a story, and a stack of records. So we pulled the vinyl, opened the gatefolds, and traced how one guitarist turned curiosity into devotion—from hearing KISS Alive for the first time to wearing out Love Gun on a summer wall with a boombox and friends.

We walk through Ace’s DNA as a player and writer: the early cuts he penned without singing, the moment Shock Me revealed a new voice, and why his solos feel like mini-songs with their own arcs. The mystique mattered too. Before social media, you learned through magazines and rare TV glimpses, like the infamous Tom Snyder interview where Ace’s cackle and timing stole the night. That mischievous, kind spirit made the myth human, even as the guitar stayed larger than life.

There’s hard truth here as well. We revisit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame no-performance debacle and the now-impossible Kennedy Center moment, reflecting on what happens when time runs out before fences are mended. Still, the music kept coming: Origins, Space Invader, Anomaly, Spaceman—proof that Ace never stopped creating or touring. We share a recent live memory that captures his charm and flaws, and then roll out a definitive top 10 of Ace-sung tracks, from Into the Void to Ozone, Fractured Mirror, and the always-electric Shock Me.

If you grew up with KISS, this will feel like opening a time capsule. If you’re new to Ace’s catalog, it’s a map to what mattered: tone, feel, humor, and heart. Press play, share your first Ace memory, and spin those records loud. If this moved you, subscribe, rate the show, and tell a friend—then drop your must-include Ace track so we can keep the tribute going.

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SPEAKER_00:

Hey there. Welcome into the Ben Maynor program. Thanks for being here. Um, before we get started on what is really um a special episode, let's put it that way. Okay, one that I was uh definitely not planning on doing, but uh we're doing it anyway. And uh before we get into that, let's take care of some housekeeping. As you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts. Wherever you stream them, just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there, and just go with it. Um, but in doing that, please subscribe to it. Okay, subscribe to it, and um, leave me a five-star rating as well, okay? But subscribing to it, uh, the the advantage of that is anytime a new episode drops, you'll get a notification. All right. Uh, then next, um, if you can't resist some of this right here, I almost said if you can't stand it. Well, maybe if you can't stand it too. Uh, and you're watching on YouTube, thank you very much. I appreciate that. But please subscribe to the channel and hit the notification bell. Again, when new episodes drop or as they drop, then you'll be notified and you can check them out. You get then you have to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. All right. You know, I I reply to your comments. So um uh let's see, then uh last but not least, you can follow me on Instagram. If I'm a little bit like all over the place, please forgive me, okay? Please forgive me. But uh last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word, or you can follow me on the TikTok. All right, it is the Ben Maynard program. That's the handle over there. All right, so there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And um with that, we're gonna just jump right into it. You can see here on the uh on the table that I've got my Ace Fraley solo album out. I've got my little Ace Fraley bean, um uh what I think it's a beanie baby. And um, yeah, like I started to say I had no idea that I was going to be doing this episode today, no plans on it. Um, but we heard the news just a few hours ago. I remember where I was, that uh that Ace Freely, legendary founding member and league guitarist of one of my favorite bands of all time, KISS. Uh passed away today at the age of 74. Now, some of you may or may not be aware, but it was about two weeks ago Ace was in the studio at home, and he has a recording studio at home, a lot of musicians do these days. And he um he had taken a fall in the studio. Now, um, he was okay after that fall, all right. But apparently, a short while after that, and maybe just uh within days after that, he had taken another fall. And the second fall, he had hit his head. And um apparently he was uh then taken to the hospital. And he's he was on life support from that from that moment on. It was really, I mean, there there was really nothing they could do. He had suffered, apparently he had suffered a severe brain bleed. And um I think his family made the decision today that they would um that they would take him off of life support and um let him go. Um very sad to hear that, especially for those of us who are not just music fans, but but big KISS fans. And for me, I know I've told the story several times. I won't tell it again, I promise you, I'll spare you that. But you know, I've always been a music lover since I mean, ever since I could could remember. And and then I really got hooked when I had heard the Beatles Let It Be. That was like the moment that I was hooked on music. I mean, just that was it. I won I needed to consume it. Um, and I remember um I think the first three albums that I had bought with my own money were um, I bought three of them. I'm trying to remember the third. I oh wait, I bought Uriah Heap Demons and Wizards. I bought the soundtrack to the Rocky Horror show, not Rocky Horror Picture Show, but from the play, from the Roxy Play, which by the way is way better. Um what was that third album? I can't recall what it was. I don't remember if it was Uriah Heap Live or if it was a KISS album. But but I do remember I was about the fifth grade, sixth grade, I heard kids talking about this band, Kiss. And I remember my uncle Scott, he had the Kiss a Live album. Uh, we just talked about that one a couple weeks ago, turning 50 years old. He had that album, and that was my actual first exposure to Kiss. And man, just not only seeing the cover of the album, reading the the the gatefold inside, uh seeing the picture book and and and listening to that that record, listening to to that just this band, just the energy in uh on the that live recording is just absolutely amazing. Um I just had to have more. And I and I do remember that the first album, first kiss album I bought was Kiss Alive. And and then I remember going back, uh I think the second one I bought was uh Dress to Kill, or not Dress to Kill, but um uh Destroyer. Sorry, starts with a D. And then I started to go back in the catalog, and and I've told it before, so I'll keep this short. Uh, but I remember hearing those first, those first uh, especially first two albums, the The Debut and Hotter Than Hell, and dropping the needle on those. I was like, whoa, what is this? It doesn't sound like doesn't sound anything like Kiss Alive, you know, the versions of those songs. Um but that was my band. That was that was my band. And at that point, I couldn't even, I mean, I just almost couldn't even let any other band into the fold. You know, almost every other band was a threat to my KISS fandom. And I had the posters all over my bedroom walls. And I I remember the summer of 77, I got the cassette tape for Kiss Love Gun right when it first came out. I think it maybe had only been out a couple of days. And what was cool, what not only it was just a cool album, and it was a cool Kiss record. Um, and and there was a small group of us that used to hang out on this wall, a little short block wall. We hung out every day during the summer, and I had a portable cassette player, and we wore that cassette out over and over and over and over. Um and I was just in love with this band kiss, kiss everything. Um, and to that point, up well, just before Love Gun, of course, Ace had never had a lead vocal on any of the albums previously. And and story has it that he wasn't real confident in his singing voice, especially taking a lead, uh taking a lead on any tracks. Now he had written stuff, he had written stuff on uh the debut album, uh Cold Gin. Um, I'm thinking off the top of my head if there was anything else. Let me look at the track list here. No, I don't think there was anything else off of the debut album that he wrote. But then off of Hotter Than Hell, let me, I got it right here. Let me check it out. Let me move this real quick. Um, off of Hotter Than Hell, he he wrote Parasite, great song, sung by Gene. Cold Gin is sung by Gene as well. And then he wrote uh Strange Ways. I think those are the only two songs he wrote on Hotter Than Hell. Just thinking off the top of my head. Let me let me just say this. There's absolutely zero prep time in putting this episode together, okay? I I actually tried to get someone, uh, a buddy of mine to come on. Uh he's just a tremendous kiss geek. And uh we go back to high school. And um, yeah, I tried to get I tried to get my buddy Greg on, but you know, when you're when you're talking last minute and everything, people have things to do, and and that's okay. That's all right. It's not not a big deal. But I tried to get someone else on here because I just want to have some feedback. And and I mean I could tell my stories, but let me tell you about Greg. Greg is actually friends with the guys in KISS, okay. Has been for many years, and so I know he would have and he does have some absolutely dynamite stories. Um, but um, I digress, so it's just you and me tonight, okay? But but you know, um so so Ace, you know, he wrote, but at that, like I said, uh at this point, you know, two albums in, still not taking on a lead vocal role. And then uh dressed to kill, I think he wrote Getaway, which was sung by Peter, and then backing up to Hotter Than Hell, Peter also sang Strange Ways. Now that that is an absolute dynamite song, dynamite song. It it's it's one of my favorite songs off of the Hotter Than Hell album. And if I were to do a kiss top 20, it might be in the top 20 as well. But um, it's just and it's a heavy song, and it's so good for an album that I've described it before. It's like you're it's like you're trudging through mud. But let's get back to Dress to Kill. So Ace, I believe he did write Getaway. And um, that one, of course, like I said, sung by Peter. And I think that he he has a co-write on Rock Bottom with Paul Stanley. Um but I think those, I think that's it for the first three albums. And then um, if memory serves me correctly, he didn't write anything on um destroyer or rock and roll over. Let me check. Hang on a second here. I've got rock and roll over right here on the bookshelf. Let me see. Let me see the track listing. Yeah, I don't think so. But like I said, no show prep at all. So it's not like you know, it's not like I didn't uh didn't, you know, didn't take the time. I didn't have time to do this. Yeah, no, no, no writing credits on um rock and roll over. Let's just put this one right back here. So um then, of course, in 77 on Love Gun, Ace makes his debut, and everybody is like so stoked about that. It didn't matter if Ace was your favorite guy in the band or not. And I'll tell you this at in 77, actually for many, many years, Gene was always my favorite in the band until much later on, and then and actually then Paul became my favorite in the band, maybe just because he kind of was the lead singer, even though there was a lot of you know co-lead stuff. But um, yeah, so everybody was just stoked to hear Ace and what did he sound like singing lead, and then you hear shock me, and I'll say it again, so good. Um what a great song. And um yeah, you know the the the thing about Ace was that uh you know he wasn't um he wasn't like a classically trained uh guitar player, musician, and he was self-taught. Um and he um basically he just had his own style of playing. And his his lead his his guitar solos were were almost like songs within the songs and very hard for anyone to just like replicate. Um just tremendous and and what an absolute tremendous influence on many other musicians, guys who came up during my or guys who were kids at the same time I was, and then went on to become musicians. Ace was just an absolute tremendous influence, uh not just for the look, but just for the way he played, who he was. Um and for those who are much younger than me, you have to remember in the 70s, there was no social media, we didn't have cell phones. Um you got your information uh uh you know you uh on your on your your favorite bands, you got your information from if they happened to make the newspaper, um, or you got it from Circus Magazine, Hit Parador, Cream, and some of the bands, especially ones that appealed to like a lot of teenage girls, they you might get some information in a magazine called 17 or uh Tiger Beat, stuff like that. And that's that's that was it. That's how you got your information. And uh so there was so much mystery to Kiss because you never saw them in public without makeup, of course. Nobody knew what they looked like, you barely knew what they even sounded like, uh, because for so long they weren't really doing interviews. I think the very first appearance, public appearance or television appearance, I should say, was I think it was on like the the um was it the Mike Douglas show, I believe. I think it was just Gene, too. Um I think if you have one of the one of the Kissologies, that that segment of that show was was on, it was a part of that. I don't remember, probably first kissology. But you didn't see them. And then if and when they were ever on television, a small news clip, um what was that, entertainment tonight and stuff like that, it would just be a very, very short segment. But man, for you know, a 12-year-old kid, you were just right glued to the television and couldn't wait to hear from your favorite band. And then you heard them talk, and um ace sounded the funniest, of course. And he was, he was probably he was just the biggest cut-up. He was he was he was the prankster in the band. He was the cut up, he was the funny guy in the band. Um I remember in 79 after the release of the Dynasty album, he did a um well, the band did a an interview with Tom Snyder. Tom Snyder was a television guy. He had a show called Tomorrow, and which it was tomorrow because the show came on at like midnight, one o'clock in the morning, something like that. And the band was on, and of course, even back then, Paul and Gene were really like the main spokes guys of the band. They did most of the talking. But apparently Ace had had Ace had tied one on before they had, you know, um, before they had gone out for their interview, and Ace stole the show. Stole the show, cackling and cracking up. And I remember I think it was Tom, Tom was introducing the band, and he's going down the line, you know, Paul Stanley, blah, blah, blah. Gene Simmons. Um, oh, wait, wait, no. He says he Peter Chris, then then, then I think he introduced Gene Third, I think, and he called Gene Simmons the bass player and not the bass player. And the guys start kind of like cracking up a little bit and they correct him, and then he turns to Ace to interview Ace, and you know, and this is Ace Freely, and then Ace cuts in and he says, I'm the plumber. And, you know, and he's just cracking up. And you can tell that he's probably so drunk, but he was cracking up, and he had Tom rolling during that interview. Um, such good stuff. And you could you could totally see it on Gene and Paul's faces that they were mad, they were not thrilled with Ace, because like I said, he stole the show. He was the highlight of that interview. So he was stealing their thunder, he was taking their spotlight, you know, and oh, it was just great stuff. And I believe that interview you probably find it here on YouTube or something like that. But but uh if you have the kissology, uh any of the kissologies, what is there, like three of them, four of them, I think. I think it's three. It's on one of those. I have them all, but I haven't seen them in many moons because I don't have a DVD player any longer. But um just Ace is just a kind-hearted guy from my perspective, okay? I have no personal stories of Ace. I didn't, I never had any interactions with him, never personally met him, anything like that. So I'm I'm gonna come at you strictly from a fan's perspective. Um he was just he was just a cut up. He was just a cut up. Um, and he inspired so many young guys my age to pick up a guitar and become a musician. And I think I'm gonna butcher this. I'm gonna so butcher this, but he had said something one time, somebody had told him that, you know, hey, there's you inspired a lot of guys. Um, you know, a lot of a lot of other players really look up to you, and it's because of you that you know, they picked up a guitar and he said something to the effect of, well, had I known that I was gonna inspire these guys or I was gonna they were gonna look up to me like this, um I I probably would have practiced more. So Ace even knew that that that you know he was not the classic, the classically trained guitar player, but his style was called or considered like sloppy. And no two, I don't want to say no two solos, but but there was a lot ace would wear bracelets, wrist jewelry and rings and that kind of stuff. And you could hear that, you could hear his his jewelry hitting the strings from time to time, and or his rings maybe hitting the pickups, whatever. Like I said, there are the strings. And so it like I said, nobody could replicate his guitar solos. Ace was just one of a kind. There will there wasn't a uh anyone like Ace before, and there will never be anyone like Ace afterwards. Um, and it's just a shame. It's it really is. And I mean, I've I've told you all before, I mean I'm 60 years old, and Ace was 74, but when you get to, you know, when you start getting into like your late 40s, early 50s, a lot of your heroes start passing away for one reason or another. Sometimes it's tragic, sometimes it's old age, uh, whatever. Uh and it's sad. It's sad when it happens, when it happens and you stop and you you just start thinking about that person, what it is that they meant to you, or um, you know, when did they when did they enter your periphery, you know, and and uh at what age or what stage of your life, that type of thing. And um, you know, I have so many great memories uh with this band Kiss. And um it's just yeah, it's it's it's terrible. Um it's sad, but um yeah, it I just sorry, sorry about this. I told you there's just no prep work, no prep work at all. So I'm just going off the top of my head. But I did kind of want to uh celebrate Ace uh in this tribute a little bit, and I actually put together, I think, I think it was oh I I think I put together a top 10 ace songs. I threw it together in like five minutes, and I'll get to that in just a minute. But let me go back. This is this is so stupid, but but this is me at being like 11 years old. Uh I I know without without a shadow of a doubt, I know that I was in the very first KISS tribute band. I know it because it was in the 70s. It was in 77, somewhere around there. The band was uh it was called Kiss Junior, of course. Yes. Uh and it um its members were my my my buddy John, uh, who was a drummer at the time. He I remember his parents got him a drum kit. Oh, it was great, so good. Uh, but he was Peter Chris. My brother Chuck, younger brother, was uh he was the Ace Freely because Ace was his favorite member of the band. Of course, I was Gene because Gene was my favorite member of the band. And the kid across the street, Will, he was Paul, Paul Stanley. He took on the Paul Stanley role. Yeah, we never played one gig. We never even had one rehearsal. We broke up after like a couple of months. But you know, just dumb stuff. But see, I was a member of the first kiss tribute band, and I know it was. I know it was. There was not such a thing as a tribute band way back then in the 70s. So uh just just you know, you know, fun stuff. I remember wait, I remember like my son Jake, his favorite, his favorite member of the band was always Ace. And um KISS was the second concert I had taken him to, his his second concert ever. And that was on the uh KISS Reunion Tour in 1996. And it was uh, I think it was right after that because we went and saw them in August of '96. And I think it was that that fall for Halloween. I made him an Ace Fraley costume. And uh it was it was uh circa love gun. So it was, I I thought I did a pretty darn good job. It was I I know I have pictures somewhere, and I got him the wig, I put on, I did his makeup and everything, and and I know I did a pretty good job. He was, I think, 11, uh how old was he? No, he was like nine. That's right. And um yeah, yeah, that was that was some good stuff. I know, I guess I know I have pictures somewhere, and I had I took I took pictures of him posing. He was doing like the Ace Fraley pose from like the um the love gun, the Alive 2 photo uh um photo sessions, um, like when they would, you know, the the guys were standing on these um clear plastic cubicles and they would do certain poses. And so I had Jake pose in that way. And it was good stuff. Yeah, good stuff. So Kiss has been an influence um throughout my entire entire life and you know, my kids' lives. Um, I felt I did a pretty good job of parenting because I exposed my kids to all the music I grew up with. And uh in fact, it was it was uh my son Jake. I'd already known the news about about Ace, but uh he sends me a text. I just left work and he says, Is it true? Did Ace die today? And uh so I had to call him and we talked about it a little bit. And yeah, it's just just terrible. But um so my my um and if I if I think of some more stuff, I'll come up with it. But this is my ace tribute, so this doesn't have to be a forever in a day episode, nothing like that. I don't need to keep you here forever, but I just want to share some stuff with you and give you my Ace Fraille top 10 songs, songs that he sings on, okay, not doesn't include anything that he wrote and didn't perform on or didn't sing on. And it and it only includes this top 10 only includes his Time in Kiss. So none of his um Fraley's Comet or the Ace Fraille solo albums uh in the late 80s or uh any of the stuff that he's done in the last 10 years. Uh that's something else. Wow, that is something before I get into it. Ace is the he was the only member of the band that was still putting out new music. Ace had Ace has been putting out new music for, I don't know, like the last 10 years or so, and uh on a fairly regular basis, whether it was his his origins album and at the time that he fell in the studio, he was actually working on Origins volume four. So who knows if that's gonna see the light of day? Um, because I I don't, I mean, it's not reported of you know where he was in the process of it. So it may never ever um be completed. But you know, his origins albums, um, Space Invader, Anomaly. Oh, geez. Um what was it? A spaceman, what was the other one? Uh um, I don't know, it'll come to me. Whatever. But very prolific. Still out there writing, recording, and touring. Touring on a regular basis. I was fortunate enough to see Ace about two years ago, three years ago. Saw him at this club close by to the house here. And he was dynamite. He was dynamite. Um and he was typical Ace. You know, and at that time he's, you know, 70, 71, whatever it was, you know, early 70s. Um, and Ace was never known for having the greatest singing voice. So he was, you know, but but he was ace. Ace was ace. And it was so funny because, you know, he had such a great band as well, such a great band playing with him. And those guys would take turns uh doing lead, uh, lead vocals and stuff. And but but ace would when when he was singing, he would uh, you know, he would he would be singing and he walk away from the microphone in between lines, and then he would be so far off the mic that you know he'd be he it was too late coming up to the microphone for the next line. Probably did that a half a dozen times, but it was great. It was great. I didn't care. Um, because it was just so good, and just those solos. The only bad part, there's only one really one bad part about the whole thing, is that he didn't play enough of his songs, you know. He he like he would play rock and roll all night, and he'd play um, I think Detroit Rock City, um what else? Um gosh, uh maybe Love. No, I don't I don't think they did they do Love Gun? I don't recall. I don't recall. But uh I just would like to hear more ace stuff, especially off of the 78 solo album, or um even the stuff that that he wrote and didn't sing on during his time in KISS, some of that stuff, I mean, just would have been great, would have been absolutely killer. But uh I kind of know why, you know, you have to you have to kind of play to the to the fans. And you know, you have to you have to give them something that the casual fan can relate to that they can grab a hold of. And uh everyone knows, you know, Detroit Rock City or Rock and Roll All Night, or I don't know. There's a few others that like the even the most casual fan knows. So you got to do those to keep those people interested so they don't, you know, go to the bathroom or go grab a beer or whatever. But anyway, so uh just man, it's so it's just so it's just so sad. And and you know, like I was on socials earlier, and there's so it just it's great the outpouring of of love from people, fans, other, other um, other musicians in other bands. I um you know what I grabbed a I grabbed a screenshot of a couple of things. So let me just kind of well this one this one was uh a statement put out by um I guess this was on Kiss Online. Um and it says, We are devastated by the passing of Ace Freeley. He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative, foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of Kiss's legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique, and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world. And that's from Paul and Gene. So let's see. Oh yeah. So I saw this one. This is from Peter Chris. Come on. No, no, no. Let's get done with that and let's move that down. Thank you. With a broken heart and deep, deep sadness. My brother Ace Freely has passed away. He died peacefully with his family around him. My wife and I were with him to the end as well. That's great because I know I know that him and Peter did not live very far from each other. I love you, my brother. My love and prayers go out to Jeanette, Monique, Charlie, and Nancy, and all of Ace's extended family, bandmates, fans, and friends. May the Lord comfort you at this difficult time. As a founding member of the rock group KISS and in Ace's solo career, Ace influenced and touched the hearts of millions of people. His legacy will live on in the music industry and in the hearts of the KISS Army. At this time, I ask all of you to please be respectful to Ace's family and allow them to grieve privately. To the KISS Army and Ace's Rock Soldiers, my heart is with you all. Broken. God bless Peter Chris. Um then I saw this one from C.K. Lent or Christopher Lent. Some of you may not know who that is. Um he was a tour manager for the band. He began working for the band in 1976. He um and he worked, I think he worked into the late 80s with the band, but he wrote a book. Um, what was it called? Kiss and Cell. Great book, great book. Such in-depth information. So he wrote on socials today, very saddened to learn of the passing of Ace. I traveled with Ace on tour with KISS from 1976 until 1982 when he left the band. On stage, Ace was an electrifying performer and musical innovator. His explosive guitar solos, both literally and figuratively, became a signature of KISS' shows. Legions of fans idolized him, and for many he defined the Kiss sound. Offstage, he was generous, kind-hearted, unpretentious, and oftentimes hysterically funny, I told you. His cackling laugh was both unmistakable and infectious. He was always the life of the party. Ace will be sorely missed. My sincere condolences to his family. And I think this is the last one I have. This one was posted by uh Gene Simmons. Our hearts are broken. Ace has passed on. No one can touch Ace's legacy. I know he loved the fans. He told me many times. Sadder still, Ace didn't live long enough to be honored at the Kennedy Center honors event in December. Ace was the eternal rock soldier. Long may his legacy live on. So just a few things. Um obviously, this is all within the KISS family, so that's why I kind of grabbed those and and uh wanted to share those. But it just, my goodness, from fans, from musicians in other bands, it was crazy on social media. Um and that thing with the Kennedy Center honors, that reminds me, that just brings this to mind. This is this is why it's Ace's passing today makes the whole um night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame loom so much larger as far as being an absolute not just missed opportunity, but it a an uh a complete and utter disaster in the fact that when KISS was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I think that was 2014, the band didn't play at all. They didn't play at all. And the original members didn't play, so no Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter, and then the current lineup of the band at that time didn't play. No one played. And um, you know, all four members, all four original members of KISS, of course, were still alive at the time and were still in, we're still healthy enough to where they could have played two, three songs together. Uh, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go down that path right now. It's not the appropriate time to get into why that didn't happen. If you're a KISS fan, you know why it didn't happen. Um, but that's that's what makes us such an utter travesty because uh that was the last time all four original members stood on the stage on a stage, not just the stage, stood on a stage together. And they would have, I don't think they would have stood on a stage, but they certainly would have all been together in the same room coming up in December at the Kennedy Center honors. Um, because you don't, the bands that are honored or the artists that are honored there, they they don't get up and perform or anything like that, they watch somebody else do a tribute to them. But they would have at least been in the room together, sitting together. Um, and now that's not gonna happen. And this is why forget about business, but this is why in life you gotta forget all yeah, you're gonna get mad at your your business partner, um teammate, bandmate, family member, whatever. You're always, I mean, you're always gonna have not always, but you know, from time to time you're gonna have a a um uh a disagreement, uh, even a an R an argument or something. But but it's a shame that that guys have known each other for so many years for most of their actual adult lives, that something can't that that they they can't get rid of that stuff, they can't push the crap aside, get past it, and and just you know kiss and make up, no pun intended, um, and just you know, move on and still be able to you don't have to be in a band together anymore, and they haven't been in a band together in a long time. But are you kidding me? Come on. This is why it's so imperative that that this that like bands that that should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and are not, all these bands that have been snubbed for so many years, you know. Fortunately, KISS got in before any original members passed away, but there's so many that haven't. And coming up on they were gonna have this Kennedy Center honor. Uh what a I mean, just a great honor. I mean, the president of the United States is gonna be there. Um, and now one of the founding members of the band is gone. It's just an absolute tragedy. Some is sometimes look, we do it in our own lives, so it's not just you know celebrities and big-time people or anything like that. We do it, we we all do it. But we need to learn from it because you only have so much time, and when you run out of time, there is no more of it, they don't make any more of it, and then it's too late. Um, so I won't be too preachy. Uh, all right. So let me get into this um this top 10 Ace songs. And uh, like I said, these are only songs that Ace sang on. Sang lead, I should say. Okay. So um let me see. Oh uh yeah, I got that right there. All right. Now so it's gonna count the 78 solo album, and then really it's not not a whole lot of albums to choose from. So it's really gonna be Love Gun, Dynasty, Unmasked, and the Ace 78 solo album. Oh, I'm sorry, and uh Psycho Circus also. So five albums to choose from and to pull 10 songs, but that's okay. I did it, I made it happen, and it was it's this is good, this is good stuff. All right, so I'll I will uh start this thing off at number 10, and that would be from the Dynasty album. That is Save Your Love. I like that song. I like that song a lot. Um yeah, it's just it's it's a good song. I I think that the the three songs that Ace did on Dynasty are actually really good. I like them a lot, even though one of them was a cover song. And speaking of cover songs, at number nine, again off of the dynasty album, 2000 Man. Um, then at number eight, we're gonna go right here to the 78 solo album and What's on Your Mind? Uh number seven, again off of the 78 solo album, another cover song, New York Groove. And for those of you who don't know, Ace did not write that song. That song was written by Russ Ballard. I think we talked about that a few weeks ago. Um I don't know, I don't know if Russ Ballard had had recorded a version of that song at all. And I think for a long time he didn't even know Ace had recorded that song. You know, a lot of times songwriters they just record songs or they just write songs and then uh they send them out, you know, or people uh who are looking for songs, they just I whatever the bank is that they have to go to, whoever it is that they have to speak to, whatever publisher or anything else, whatever, they have to talk to, and they just go get songs if they need songs or they're interested in something. And sometimes the writer doesn't even know, they just see that they get money in the in the mailbox. So anyway, so New York Groove, really, really, really good song. And um I remember seeing um I remember seeing that song performed live in 1979. Um and Ace did a great I I loved it because when he says uh to start the course, he says, I'm back, there's a big reverb and or an echo or reverb, and it just keeps going and it was awesome. So it's so much better than the studio version. And of course, when you are 14 years old, it just I mean, you're wetting yourself. So um, all right, so at uh number six, we're up to number six now. Again, that would be off of the 78th solo album, and that is Snowblind. Absolutely dynamite guitar solo in that song. It's I mean, great work, great, great work on the entire album. That solo there on uh Snowblind is so, so good. All right. Then at number five, this one's gonna fool you, or this one's going to surprise some of you. But the last song on this right here album, the 78 solo album, Fractured Mirror. I just love it. I from the first time I ever heard it in 1978. From the first time I ever heard it, I just loved that song. It's just so good. Such a just a uh tasty instrumental. So good. Uh then at number four, this is crazy. This is crazy. We've got one, two, three, four, five. Yauza. Number four. The opening track on the 78 solo album, Rip It Out. So good. So good. I think I think they did. I think that I think Ace performed that one when I saw him. I think he did. I think he may have opened up the show with that one. All right, at number three, my favorite song off of the 78 solo album, Ozone. And we've talked about it before. When I did the uh when I ranked the Kiss solo albums, we talked about that. So we don't need to go into it again. But uh, yeah, that's just such a killer song. So, so good. I'm gonna get t-shirts made with so good on the back. You watch. All right, number two. You might be surprised, you might be surprised. Shock me at number two. Ace's debut lead vocal performance. Yeah. So killer. And the the version on Alive 2, man, that is great. That is great. And I love the extended guitar solo at the end. That is, man, that is great. Um, and this one might shock you all. Oh, you know, oh my goodness, I forgot one. Oh, it's gonna have to be an honorable mention. But because it's dynamite. But my number one song is off of Psycho Circus Into the Void. Again, just from the moment I heard the song, I was like, oh, this is so totally an ace song. This, this is an ace freely song. This is a dynamite song. I love that song. So good. And uh they actually performed it on the Psycho Circus tour. And uh, it's just so good. So good. Um, and yeah, I guess I don't like honorable mentions, but I'm gonna have to put it in as an honorable mention. I totally forgot about it until I until I started talking about Shock Me. And that's Rocket Ride off of side four of Alive 2. Completely forgot about that one. And actually, it probably will have replaced one of these songs here. Um, you can see I didn't put any songs off of Unmasked. Torpedo Girl, I'm sorry. You can like it if you want, I think it's horrible. Uh Two Sides of the Coin is okay. It's okay. And talk to me, it's okay. But it wasn't going to replace any of these. It not even at number 10. I'd rather hear Save Your Love than the three songs on Unmasked. So anyway, um, I think, oh, you know what? Before we get out of here, I did want to mention that uh I was lucky enough to to see um Kiss at 14 years old, my very first concert, uh 1979, at the at then it was called the Fabulous Forum in LA with my uh childhood friend Patrick Sorelli, who was just as big a KISS geek as I was, and his dad, his dad took us. And I remember uh Patrick was looking in the New York Times calendar section, and he had seen that tickets were going on sale for what was called the return of KISS. And I believe that on the ad mat, it was let's see, I'm pulling this out of the dynasty album here, even though it's not a sophisticated cover. I kind of like that cover though. The the dynasty album, I kind of like that, it's kind of cool. Um, but I believe that the ad mat was this, which was the poster inside of Dynasty. And let me open that up for you. It's so big covering everything up. Hope you can see it, guys. There it is. There it is. Yeah, so good. I think that was the ad mat. But him and I we rode our bicycles to uh what was the ticket agency? It was it was a you know uh uh uh what do you call it? Not scalper, but uh anyway, basically a scalper though, but it was a ticket agency, and we rode our bicycles, and I think our tickets were like 17, 1750, and um we were in the Loge section, and uh I guess it was okay, but boy, the show was tremendous. The show is tremendous. That was the first time I'd seen KIS. And I've seen the original lineup several times. The unfortunate thing for me, as a tremendous KISS fan, like I am, never ever did I see them during the non-makeup era. That's crazy. Just never happened. But um anyway, I do like all lineups of KISS. I do. I'm not just an original guy, but a very original guy right here, Ace Freely. Passed away today. Rest in peace, Ace. Rest in peace. Uh with that, we're done. So uh as you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts. Just search the Ben Mainder program. Boom, it's right there. Please subscribe to it, even download it, okay? Downloading the episodes on the streaming services is tremendously helpful. Uh so download it. Uh, and then give me a five-star rating as well. Um, but if you're watching on YouTube, thanks. Greatly appreciate it. Subscribe to the channel, hit the notification bell, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. All right. I will reply to your comments as long as they're not derogatory, okay? Uh, let's see. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word, or on TikTok at the Ben Maynard program. All right, so we're done. Um thanks for being here. Thanks for listening to this. I hope that uh what I covered this evening uh will send you uh on a trip down memory lane, and uh you'll start running through all the Kiss and Ace Freely stories in your head. All right. Uh this is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.