I have always liked what Ace Frehley has done musically. His compositions appeal to me and have generally been a bit “heavier” than those of his former Kiss bandmates. That said, he is not much of a singer, something he once again proves here. He is not exactly a master lyricist either, and there is quite a lot of repetition on several of the tracks.
At times it feels as though a song consists of no more than four or five lines repeated again and again, and such devices inevitably have to lower the overall rating somewhat. That said, one cannot help but admire the rather naked confession about his life that Ace delivers in A Little Below the Angels. Of course, it is hardly a secret that things around him have been — to put it mildly — somewhat turbulent, but it is still interesting to hear a bit of that reality expressed in his own words.
From a purely musical standpoint, things fare considerably better. There may not be an obvious wow factor, but there is absolutely no doubt that Ace knows how to play the guitar. The guitar sound is heavy and I like it, although the vocals sit a little too far back in the mix. Perhaps that simply proves that Ace is well aware of his own limitations, considering that he produced the album himself.
There is one exception, however: Fox on the Run, the old hit by The Sweet, which was produced by Marti Frederiksen. Ironically enough, it turns out to be the best track on the record.
Alongside it are ten original hard rock songs and one collaboration where Ace received assistance with the songwriting. The whole thing runs for roughly 54 minutes. Overall, there are no real surprises here — but no real disappointments either. You get what you get, and that is more or less exactly what one expects from the old Space Ace.
