An average pop-quizzer would be hard-pressed to recall more than the title track from Ace’s output: not because they weren’t good at what they did, but perhaps because they didn’t stray too far from their formula. Happy mining the 70s soft rock imported over from the US, they hit upon the Paul Carrackpenned How Long; yet, despite plenty of well-crafted output spread over a handful of albums, they never found another song with a hook equal to the hit.
Largely working with a laidback bed of guitars and keyboards that added tasty, unobtrusive licks, Poco’s Rusty Young augmented Does It Hurt You with steel guitar, while Twenty-Four Hours was one of a few muted nods towards funk. Drifting into Eagles territory on more than one occasion (but without the lyrical imagery or memorable cuts), Ace leave a lasting impression of easy-on-the-ears harmonic pop. The market would shift focus in the late 70s but, today, this reissue delivers a pleasant memory.
