Alice Cooper: Classic or Dud??

Codger, i mean, classic rock is full of tomfool old white guys on the far right. They're the ones who never got invited to play Jackson Browne festivals or No More Nukes. Skunk Baxter was another notorious guitarist to the far right of things. Someone in Montrose, don't remember if it was RM himself or Sammy Hagar, was a gold bug fiat money conspiracy theory kook all wound up
about the US going off the gold standard in 1971.

I don't understand how he could have created this amazing freak persona in the early 1970s and then everything he's said or done since then has been to disown that persona, trying to reassure us all that he's just a regular beer-drinking, golf-playing, prude, Bee Gees-enjoying, conservative family man. It smacks of some kind of guilt complex.

I caught part of Alice's radio show not long ago, and he went on this rant about how rock 'n' roll allows you to sing about whatever you want. OK, sure, but he underscored it by saying, "Don't listen to all those people who say, [adopts whiny voice] 'Let's write songs about flowers!'" All I could think was: who exactly is saying that, Alice?

Bobby Vinton?

Seriously, fucking Vinton has a stranglehold on popular culture right now.

everything he's said or done since then has been to disown that persona, trying to reassure us all that he's just a regular beer-drinking, golf-playing, prude

Well, I got the impression back then that he just wanted to be golf pals in Palm Springs with Bob Hope. And be on Hollywood Squares with Paul Lynde, Joanne Worley and Arte Johnson.

And he was a serious white knuckle alcholic, for a time using it as a de facto endorsement of Budweiser. There were lots of promo photos of him always with Budweiser and even one notably pic of him carrying an entire case as he walked across the runway getting off some tour plane.

Billion Dollar Baby, which I read, did communicate the image that behind the stage shtick, Vince and his bandmates were pretty square middle American guys. There wasn't any revolution on their minds. But Michael
Bruce and ol' AC together could write some catchy hard rock tunes Bob Ezrin was able to
develop on three and a half LPs, the debut on Warners, Killer, Billion Dollar Babies and a bit of Muscle of Love. Plus one classic single, "School's Out" on an album that was crap compared to the others.

The other claim to single fame is "I'm Eighteen." The first two Ezrin-produced albums are
about perfect.

would somebody cop this and tell me if it's any good or exactly what you might expect

http://www.metalmachine.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/AliceCooperW2MNFinalCover.jpg

Cooper’s widely anticipated new album, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, will be released September 13, 2011, by Universal Music Enterprises. Recorded with longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin, who produced the original multi-platinum Welcome To My Nightmare album in 1975, the album picks up right where they left off, with Alice trapped in his own warped mind.

The original release is an all-time rock classic that spawned a worldwide theatrical tour and pioneering U.S. TV special, and certified Alice Cooper as a visionary trailblazer whose influence persists today in rock, metal, pop, punk, theatre, television, film and much more.

More than 35 years later, Alice and Ezrin have resurrected the horror and humor for a new generation.

“This is Alice’s nightmare 35 years later,” explains Alice, “Bob and I created this character and we know how to write for him. I play the part but we’re not writing for me, we’re writing for Alice. We kept the first Nightmare album very personal to us, on this one we found more humor and we were more open. This was our world and we want to present it to the fans. The original album was my first solo album after all those huge hit records with the original band and now that nightmare is exposed, this one can be a little bit more open. The music crosses all sorts of boundaries; we went where the lyrics took us.”

There is an array of collaborators on the new album, including original Alice Cooper members Denis Dunaway, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith reunited on 3 tracks; global pop superstar Ke$ha, who affectionately calls Alice “dad”; and legendary Alice and Lou Reed guitarist Steve Hunter, who is part of Alice’s current touring band and featured prominently on the first Nightmare album.
Musically, the album ranges far and wide, from trashing disco to garage punk, pop balladry to a rocking number, very much in the spirit of the Rolling Stones. And then there’s the ballad “Something To Remember Me By,” described by Alice as “the prettiest song we have ever released.”

*groans* the title of this album has a faint whiff of 'naff straight-to-video low budget sequel to Hollywood blockbuster' about it. Part of me is excited (especially at the prospect of the original Alice Cooper band members on there), but mostly I'll be going into this one with caution.

especially at the prospect of the original Alice Cooper band members on there)

^my excitement at the original members is tempered by the inclusion of KeSha

Yeah, I can't deny I have similar feelings over that!

There are some great, great tunes on here, that filthy rock 'n' roll stuff he hasn't done since the early-'70s (the first half rocks), but this album really suffers from the lack of shock rock/psychodrama. It might quote "Steven" in the overture at the beginning, but there's nothing that goes in a similar direction as that song. But it's still his best album since Trash.

But it's still his best album since Trash.

ooh boy ;)

sampling on iTunes now...first track opens with some vocoder/autotune action that sounded awful but then it opens out onto...something that sounds like a left-out ballad from the last Ozzy album

it's safe to say from just a few samples that whatever underlings engineered this for Bob Ezrin have no vision at all, and that Bob Ezrin straight just doesn't give a shit what a record sounds like any more

I saw Alice a couple weeks ago at a small community theater in the town i live in. He was fantastic. he had three guitarists, including Hunter. Nobody from the original band however. It was essentially a greatest hits show, some stuff I didnt expect to hear like "Halo of Flies".

"Halo Of Flies", to me, is the crowning achievement of the original Alice Cooper band, and it's probably the best track Alice Cooper was involved in overall. Amazing track.

That song definitely rules.

i can't stop listening to this super extendo gravedigging version of "is it my body"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRHFIVJtqpc

pls post more awesome live alice cooper youtubes here

that screenshot is him stripping down from his silver hooded jumpsuit to a pink leotard and black tights

you know what's weird is i love "billion dollar babies" but have never bothered listening to any of his other albums. i probably should.

this one is from the same session apparently -- he's still wearing the leotard, but now he has a red hood and a pitchfork

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klbJQrguTV8&feature=related

bodies need rest
we all need our rest

here comes the cake!

speaking of which...
(3:45 onwards)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA3qo5L1eLE

apparently detroit was full of snakes in 1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yZmOpafga0&feature=related

Glad this thread was revived since I keep forgetting to do it ever since I got a fantastic Alice comp last Saturday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO7-RLbpjHA&feature=fvsr

beheading a mannequin
(some good shots of pre-veneered teeth here, coincidentally)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWU7FxQIsoM

identity cris-es

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--0vdeoudq8&feature=related

bwaaaa was just gonna post the i love the dead video

the silver jumpsuits are killing me

where do i get five

xp - oops that was supposed to say crisis-es
but this is a good opportunity to note that monster dog was written and directed by claudio fragasso, the mad genius who brought us troll 2

i had a leotard/tights combo like that when i took ballet in gradeschool

it was the required uniform!

man, "Identity Crises" sounds like confused early eighties New Pop.

this one is great too
like if the lawrence welk show was for awesome people instead of old people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaOV0XkXwvM&feature=related

want these

http://midnighttosix.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345d478953ef01310f3e6354970c-800wihttp://midnighttosix.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345d478953ef0120a8d7a680970b-800wi

ok these are so sick. love the guitar playing/sounds on these too.

What are those two things.

uh just for clarification my "these" was referring to the youtube videos, not to arby's things which i don't know about

The silver jump suits were made by Cyndi Smith, Neal's sister and Dennis Dunaway's wife.

A skilled designer, for sure!!

Alice Cooper is hosting Never Mind The Buzzcocks on BBC2 tonight at 10PM.

"What are those two things"

Following the link back, looks like a couple of boot DVDs, from a company specialising in such things:

http://midnighttosix.typepad.com/midnight_to_six_rare_vide/2010/03/alice-cooper-caught-in-a-dream-19691972.html

http://midnighttosix.typepad.com/midnight_to_six_rare_vide/2010/03/alice-cooper-is-it-my-body-19691972-volume-2.html

Have there been any plans to release remastered editions of the early material? I have Billion Dollar Babies as a deluxe 2cd but haven't come across the earlier 70s lps remastered since the late 80s/early 90s. Or at least not legit world catalogue. Have Flacs of some Japanese remasters but would love a decent cd of Love It To Death & Killer, possibly School's Out.
I know the first 2 of those are classic anyway.
I think the Straight lps were remastered a few years ago, possibly this side of the millenium.

Not been sure when he fell off/jumped the shark. But was pleasantly surprised by Killer which I listened to earlier. had mainly been looking out for a decent version of Love It To Death up til then.

I'd say welcome to my nightmare is the last you really need. a few decent singles after that but not many.

I really like Flush The Fashion, but I've never listened to anything from in between Welcome To My Nightmare and that one. Or anything after it really apart from Trash which was massive when I was at school.

xpost OTM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjrgZPhuL9o