© 1980, Casablanca Records & Filmworks.
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Eugene
Joe Renda, Ace Frehley
While not technically a demo, "Eugene" was Ace Frehley's first official work outside of KISS. The song was recorded with Ace co-producing and playing syndrum, an early electronic drum. The bassist on the recording was one John Regan. A childhood friend of Ace's, Rob Sabino also appeared on the full album. He later served as a keyboardist for Frehley's Comet. Another connection comes about through Crazy Joe: He had played in the band, the Country Cousins, which featured players who had recorded and toured with Chip Taylor, who'd later write with Ace Frehley. Joe had also produced material for Chip, in the late 1970s, and had recorded at North Lake Sound Studios (where Taylor, Renda, Ernie Rivellino, Alan Vinson, and John Voight were partners) who had Ace as one of their first clients (it's likely he recorded his "Dynasty" demos there in early 1979). Contrary to popular belief, the song is not about Gene Simmons. What Ace's contribution to the songwriting was is unclear, since Joe Renda had originally written the piece on his own in 1979 according to copyright documentation from the song's registration in March of that year. This song was first issued on an independent 1980 12" single (Mumbo CJ1183) with "Stranded In The Jungle" and "Little Puffies" on the B-side. The mix on the independent single was slightly different than the later PolyGram album version.
The Casablanca LP version of the song runs 4:00. This would be the only album that the Crazy Joe & The Variable Speed Band released. However, Crazy Joe tried to follow up the song with a "Eugene Goes To School" single in 1982 and "Wild Thing" (. Casablanca issued the title-track backed with "Madam Palm" as a single (NB-2298). They also issued a 12" extended promotional remix (Casablanca/PolyGram NBD-20233DJ). The remix simply makes the introduction to the song longer while transforming the "feel" of the song into a more extended disco style. The edit work results in a 5:17 track, some 1:16 longer than the original album version. The single didn't do very well, "bubbling under" for a few weeks in February 1981, reaching only #105 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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