Released to coincide with Kiss' successful 1996 reunion, 12 Picks contains six highlights from Ace Frehley's late-'80s solo albums, plus six live tracks featuring the guitarist running through Kiss classics with Frehley's Comet. It might be a ripoff collection -- after all, a compilation that baits casual fans into believing that it contains the original hit versions is just as bad as one that baits fanatics into purchasing material they already have by adding new, previously unavailable live tracks -- but it nevertheless consititutes the best, most consistent album in Frehley's solo catalog, since it captures all of the fire of his work with Kiss and distills the best of his solo albums to a manageable collection.