Reuniting with legendary producer Eddie Kramer proved to be exactly what Ace Frehley needed to when he set out to record the follow-up to 1988's disappointing, Second Sighting. Armed with a batch of excellent material, Ace set up shop at Dreamland Studios in New York with the intent of recapturing the spirit of his '78 self-titled debut. If there was ever any doubt that Ace's 1978 solo piece was a fluke, Trouble Walkin' promptly squelches that theory. Bringing back long time studio drummer and friend Anton Fig works wonders for the band's dynamic -- re-focussing it into a leaner/meaner version of its 'Comet predecessors. Handling all the lead vocals himself, Ace comes up with his best songwriting in 11 years by teaming up with collaborator Richie Scarlet on a pair of classics, "Shot Full of Rock" and "2 Young to Die." In another winning move, the artist covers E.L.O.'s classic "Do Ya" and Paul Stanley/Desmond Child's terrific rocker "Hide Your Heart" (later resurrected on Kiss' underwhelming Hot in the Shade offering). In a side note, Kiss' own Peter Criss and Skid Row's Sebastian Bach, Dave Sabo, and Rachel Bolan all contribute additional backing vocals. One minor gripe is with Kramer's production itself is that, at times, its a little too hair rock for its own good. A must-own for any old school Kiss/Ace Frehley fan. ~ John Franck, All Music Guide
Larry Freemantle (Cover Design), Ace Frehley (Vocals), Sandy Slavin (Drums), Chris Laidlaw (Engineer), Peppi Castro (Vocals), John Regan (Producer), Dave "The Snake" Sabo (Vocals), Mike Reiter (Engineer), Sandy Slavin (Percussion), Sebastian Bach (Vocals), Peter Criss (Percussion), Scott Mabuchi (Mixing), David Cook (Engineer), Ace Frehley (Guitar), John Regan (Guitar (Bass)), Bob Defrin (Art Direction), Richie Scarlet (Vocals), Richie Scarlet (Guitar), John Regan (Synthesizer), Anton Fig (Percussion), Peter Criss (Vocals), Anton Fig (Drums), Ted Jensen (Mastering), Eddie Kramer (Producer), Eddie Kramer (Mixing), Frehley's Comet (Performer), Al Fritsch (Vocals), Ace Frehley (Producer), Eddie Solan (Engineer), Rachel Bolan (Vocals), Pat Sommers (Vocals), Brad Hitz (Photography), Eddie Kramer (Engineer)
The album peaked at #102 on the Billboard 200 chart. The lone single, a cover of Electric Light Orchestra's "Do Ya," did not chart. "Hide Your Heart," co-written by Paul Stanley, appeared on Kiss'sHot in the Shade, released the same month as Trouble Walkin'. Contrary to popular belief, Peter Criss did not contribute lead vocals to the song "2 Young 2 Die." Lead vocals were provided by lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Richie Scarlet. This rumor was established due-in-part to the fact that Scarlet's vocals sound reminiscent of Criss' early vocal contributions to Kiss. This along with the fact that Criss was thanked for his contribution to Trouble Walkin'. In fact, his contributions were limited to back-up vocals on "Trouble Walking, 2 Young 2 Die and Back to School."[1]
