CHAPTER 4 - Ace Frehley pre-KISS

So far there are no tangible recordings from Ace Frehley’s pre-KISS period. What is known is that his pre-KISS band Molimo (pronounced: Moh-Lee-Moe) did partially record an album for RCA Records, but unlike Wicked Lester the recordings were apparently never fully completed. The recordings are certainly not currently known to exist in RCA’s vaults. There has been quite a bit of conjecture about how much of the album was completed, with Ace commenting that it had reached the halfway stage. Ace, who had been the last member to join the band, was apparently not involved in writing any of the material that the band would record. Other members of the band included vocalists Tom Ellis and Christine Murphy, Roy Singer (Piano), Barry Dempsey (Bass), and a drummer named Dave. Roy and Tom, who also played rhythm guitar, were the primary songwriters in the band.

According to someone who is alleged to have heard the material, possible song titles from the album, based of chorus structures, include “Singapore Sling,” “Face Down (Bourbon St.),” “My Way Or No Way,” “Dead And Gone,” “Street Coroner,” “Don’t Knock It, Until You Try It,” “Bitter End,” and “Soul Searcher.” In terms of sound, Molimo had a powerful psychedelic Jefferson Airplane / West Coast rock feel with loose free-flowing song structures and extended soloing with plenty of distortion. According to Ace’s brother Charley, “I went to see him at the Village Gate play with Molimo one time and it was a soft sort of band, kind of reminiscent of Spanky & Our Gang with a female lead singer. That poppy kind of sound. Paul would play lead on some songs; he would play acoustic on other songs. He was always into ballsy heavy metal. Zeppelin was the ultimate. That kind of thing you see with KISS, the punchy strong rock rhythms that he could play his wailing lead guitar to. So Molimo really didn’t cut it for him” (JG).

Apparently, the main song structure of “Getaway” is very similar to that used in “My Way Or No Way,” while the main riff in “Parasite” appears to have been used originally in “Dead And Gone” (NOTE; all of this Molimo information should be taken with a very large grain of salt, it’s not verified and may be completely false.) The date of any recording sessions would be around 1971.

04.01. Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter

The first song Paul Frehley would learn how to play on the guitar in 1965. The song was a hit by Herman’s Hermits.