Anomaly is the third solo album by former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, released on September 15, 2009.[1] It is his first album of new studio material since 1989's Trouble Walkin'. Frehley produced most of the album himself, with Marti Frederiksen producing the Sweet cover "Fox on the Run".[2] The album was dedicated to Kiss drummer Eric Carr, Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, and Les Paul. The album debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200,[3] number 20 on the Swedish album chart and number 52 on the German chart.[4]
Marketing
Frehley's official website and YouTube channel released a promo commercial for the album. In it, a boy is outside a sound studio, telling a girl that he has waited for the new album for over a year. Their uncle, sporting a mullet and a Trouble Walkin' T-shirt, tells them he has waited 20 years. Suddenly, from a thick cloud of smoke, Frehley appears on a Chopper. He makes a hitchhiking-like gesture (referencing the Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park film, when using his transportation powers), magically giving the trio copies of the CD. He lets out an "Ack!" (another reference to the aforementioned film, in which it was his catch phrase), then rides out.
The CD cover folds into a pyramid. Another version of the CD included a temporary tattoo. Anomaly has also been pressed on limited copies of vinyl records.
The track "Outer Space" is a downloadable song for the Rock Band series.
AllMusic reviewer stated that "the album remade a case for Frehley as one of rock's most potent, soulful axe slingers", who "surprised even longtime supporters with its forceful, confident performances and sharp songwriting."[5]Anomaly, wrote longtime Kiss supporter Geoff Barton, "is full of the Spaceman's signature charms: guitar playing that teeters on the brink of disintegration; gobby Bronx attitude; shout-it-out-loud vocals; songwriting skills that veer between brilliant and blundering. If Kiss's new album Sonic Boom is a slickly realised summation of the band's heritage, then Anomaly is the exact opposite: it's Ace at his most idiosyncratic, vulnerable, prankish, calamitous and, yes, cataclysmic."[7] Justin Crafton of Sleaze Roxx.com reminded how the release of this album marks Frehley's 3rd year of sobriety and "features Ace at the top of his game, mentally, physically and musically."[9]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Ace Frehley, except where indicated
