Fractured Mirror

Ace Frehley

Ace's instrumental, setting the standard for his releasing one on each successive solo release. This track was the only one on the album to not feature Anton Fig on drums, with those duties being handled by Carl Tallarico. Bill Scheiniman performed the ominous atmospheric "bell" that appears at the beginning of the recording. According to Ace, "I used an old Gibson electric double-neck for that, a very rare one with a 6-string guitar neck and a mandolin neck. I don't think they make them anymore. On that intro I tuned the mandolin neck to open E and let it drone and resonate while I was picking the figure on the other neck. I don't think I've ever heard it on record before, that sound. We really got excited about that when I came up with it. I was also going through a Marshall stack that we were micing, so that's how we got a lot of the ambience" (Guitar Player Magazine, 1979).

Ace expanded on the natural effect: "I had a Marshall stack on 10; I stood just close enough to the amp so it wouldn't feedback, and I played the figure on the opposite neck, with the other neck's pickups on. And I had the strings on the other neck tuned to an open whatever key the song was in. What ended up happening is that the resonance of what I was playing was going through the wood and making certain harmonic sounds come out through the Marshall amp. I've never heard it anywhere else. It was just one of those flukes I just said, 'let me try this fucking idea'" (Fuzz, 1997).