At the height of hard glam-rockers Kiss‘ tongue-flicking chart success in 1978, each respective member released a solo album simultaneously on September 18th. If you’re being charitable, one could say that their quadruple album offering was the result of an overflow of creative energy that just had to get committed to vinyl rather than languishing as a studio outtake or B-side curio.

Knowing the dollar signs rolling in their eyes and the kerching cash register noise that follows every one of their licencing decisions, from official pinball machines, ‘Kiss Krunch’ breakfast cereal, and even a range of condoms, a cynic would argue that flogging four albums at once just meant four times the dosh.

While even the most committed Kiss hater may express a sheepish affection for ‘Strutter’ or ‘Detroit Rock City’, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss offer nothing for even the most devoted fan. Stanley presents a mostly tepid dirge of syrupy love songs, Peter Criss wallows in a tuneless dirge of disco meets Demis Roussos, and the excruciating cover of ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ as Gene Simmons’ album closer simply baffles.

This leaves us with guitarist and spaceman Ace Frehley. Sticking to Kiss’ trusty formula of hard-party rock and good-time glam, Frehley decided just cut more Kiss and ended up offering the better album of the bunch. ‘Rip It Up’ genuinely kicks the record off as well as any of their classic albums, and ‘Snow Blind’ sincerely wriggles inside your inner bag of earworms with its tacky skulk and strutting riff. However, the album’s biggest hit, ‘New York Groove’, was written by prolific English songwriter Russ Ballard.

Fronting keyboardist Rod Argent’s successor band post-Zombies and producing future Kiss hit ‘God Gave Rock and Roll to You’, Ballard left in ’74 to make it as a songwriter for hire, penning stadium monsters Journey’s ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and Hot Chocolate’s ‘So You Win Again’. On a flight to New York to assist on a Roger Daltry solo album, Ballard jotted down the seeds of ‘New York Groove’, inspired by his anticipation for the Big Apple’s special energy at that time.

Ballard recalls: “In 1975 I’d just finished producing Roger Daltrey’s solo album, Ride A Rock Horse. I got it cut in London but Roger said to me: ‘People say Bob Ludwig’s cuts are louder at Sterling Sound in New York. Do you fancy flying out and doing a cut there?”

Originally recorded by British glam rock band Hello in ’75, Frehley’s is the most remembered version, but he took some convincing to record it. With some arm-twisting from co-producer Eddie Kramer, its release as a single yielded a Billboard number 13 and became a staple of subsequent Kiss tours throughout their run of dates between 1979 and ’80, plus making an appearance for Frehley’s ’96 ‘reunion’ sets. Frehley confesses: “A lot of people think I wrote New York Groove. It’s not a myth that I’ve perpetuated, but that’s the way it is. I wish I would’ve wrote the song, though. I would’ve made a lot more cash out of it!”

Ace Frehley and Kiss were as New York as it could get, yet, as we know with Simmons’ well-known love for pop universalism, the Kiss space man knew when to embrace a good tune.