Album Review: Ace – Five-A-Side (1974)

An underwhelming album, despite a few decent tracks from the yacht/soft/pop-rock group.

Formed of Phil Carrack (vocals, keyboards), Phil Harris (guitar), Terry Comer (bass), and Fran Byrne (drums), Ace’s Five-A-Side’s only obvious highlight is their No. 3 Billboard hit, ‘How Long’.

The rollicking country Sniffin’ About is not an awful start to the album, and has a well-rounded, full-band sound, even if it’s at the less interesting side of yacht-rock (which is really saying something). Rock and Roll Runaway sounds like it could be on one of the late 1970s Eric Clapton albums, if Clapton’s backing singers weren’t as capable, and the music was much more repetitive.

The only song that anyone would ever know on this album is How Long, which ends up being a real diamond in the rough, with a delightfully squidgy Rhodes sound, and smooth blue-eyed soul vocals. The competently played psychedelic guitar solo is played by guest musician Alan King, but you can see the aforementioned Eric Clapton play it with Ace vocalist Paul Carrack in Switzerland here. Carrack still sounds great, considering the 40-year difference between this and the studio version.

The Real Feeling is outstandingly inoffensive, and at times sounds like a less track on an ELO album. 24 Hours is background music at best, with Why picking up a bit with some slightly more experimental suspended chords, but it’s still nothing to write home about.

It’s a shame really, as Time Ain’t Long shows that they’re clearly capable musicians, but it’s just a very by-the-numbers record. And isn’t Time Ain’t Long an amazingly inane title?

Know How It Feels gives us a nice contrast, with a much slower tempo and an inventive chord progression, which builds up very well throughout the song. It’s also refreshing to hear more variation in range and melody from Carrack too. Sadly, it doesn’t last, as Satellite and So Sorry Baby are just pretty plain, generic soft-rock tracks.

I enjoyed ‘How Long’ on first listen, so I’m ultimately disappointed by Five-A-Side, and its generic, soft-rock offering. Would I recommend it? Sadly not.

Rating: 43/100

Standout tracks:

How Long

Know How It Feels