Ace's distinctive, almost Steve Winwood-style vocals can be heard on The Move's first album and hit singles from their debut 'Night Of Fear' onwards.
During a Move tour with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Pink Floyd, Ace experienced the beginnings of severe depression, suffering serious panic attacks which ultimately drove him out of the group in 1968 and blighted his life for more than 30 years.
Immediately advised by The Move's notorious but brilliant manager Tony Secunda to start a solo career, Ace went into Trident Studios during May - July 1968 with producer Tony Visconti and began sessions for an album. As sessions for the final track drew to a close, Ace suffered a breakdown and walked out on the project. The recording was abandoned and tapes were lost, remaining a myth until their discovery in 2003.
Six tapes containing sessions recorded onto four and eight-track machines were recovered, though one tape containing two further songs remains missing. Many of the songs were unfinished and all would probably benefit from additional instrumentation and backing vocals (as originally intended) but with Ace's blessing, the songs are presented as they were left in the studio in 1968.
There is a raw beauty that shines through all the performances and some excellent playing from the musicians involved, especially Jimmy Page on 'Save The Life Of My Child'. Ace's soulful and passionate vocals are especially evident on 'Oh Girl' while his protest song 'White Mask' reveals a range of emotion and lyrical content sadly still relevent 35 years after originally written.
When sessions for the album collapsed, Ace embarked on a tragic odyssey of drug abuse, suicide attempts, incarceration in mental institutions, divorce and estrangement from his children. During these traumatic times, Ace made great efforts to get his career back on track.
The Ace Kefford Stand (featuring Denny Ball, Dave Ball and Cozy Powell) released two singles on Atlantic. A rare and previously unreleased session tape, saved by Denny Ball from Polydor Studios in 1968 shows just how unrestrained and powerful the band were. Also previously unreleased is a stereo mix of first single 'For Your Love', the master tape having been found only this year.
The Stand's follow-up 'This World's An Apple' featured John Bromley on piano but was released under the name Big Bertha and also used the same b-side, 'Gravy Booby Jamm' as their debut. Master tapes for these and two 1976 Kefford-penned songs for his Rockstar project (with Tony Weir, Sean Toal and John Grimley) were lost and have been restored from the rare vinyl singles.
Despite excellent performances and enthusiastic support from the music press, both groups collapsed within a short period of time.
Ace's highly-regarded psychedelic classic 'William Chalker's Time Machine' was originally written for The Move. Though it would have fitted well with their repertoire at the time, the group decided against recording the song. It was left to Parlophone Records' The Lemon Tree to record their own excellent version, produced by Trevor Burton with Andy Fairweather Low from Amen Corner.
Over the last few years, Ace has successfully battled his illnesses and finally overcome his addictions to regain his health and strength and in his own words, "live life one day at a time".
Returning to the studio in August 2003 to mix the original multitrack tapes, Ace has overseen every aspect of the Ace The Face production and compilation. As a result of working on this album, Ace has rediscovered his enthusiasm for music and has already written many fine new songs. Expect to hear more from this enigmatic survivor in the near future.
- Rob Caiger, London, 2003
