Cherry Red Records Five-a-Side

Ace was formed in December 1972 in Sheffield as ‘Ace Flash and the Dynamos’, but this name was quickly abbreviated to just Ace. The members were assembled from various other professional bands, and were all competent musicians. Carrack and Comer had previously played with Warm Dust, and King with Mighty Baby, whose antecedents were the 1960s band The Action.

Before the recording of their debut album, Five-A-Side, ex-Bees Make Honey drummer Fran Byrne replaced Witherington. The single How Long? (a song about one of the members leaving for another group) was taken from this record, and was a significant chart success, achieving a Top 20 place in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching number three in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
These reissues of the long out of print albums come with a new updated booklet and notes by Michael Heatley and contains unreleased on CD BBC sessions from the time as well as a bonus track, only ever released before in Japan.