Ace Frehley contains the cover hit single "New York Groove", which was originally written by Russ Ballard and recorded by Hello in 1975.

Fig and Will Lee, who played bass on three of the album's tracks, later gained prominence as members of the World's Most Dangerous Band and the CBS Orchestra along with Paul Shaffer on Late Night with David Letterman and Late Show with David Letterman.

In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, Frehley also recalled being inspired by an incident at a band business meeting before work began on his solo album: "I remember Paul and Gene made a statement to me in front of everybody that was kind of a dig.

[3] Jason Josephes of Pitchfork concurred that it was the standout of the Kiss solo efforts, describing it as "a melange of riff rock, power pop, and just a little bit of soul".

[5] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff defined Ace Frehley as "the least pretentious, heaviest and best-selling platter of the Kiss' solo album quartet", describing the music as "solid, well-rounded simplified '70s metal".