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Alice Cooper

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The lowdown on Alice Cooper

The Alice Cooper group in 1970 were the sort of group that only Frank Zappa could love (which is presumably why he signed them to his label). Then they had the great luck to hook up with a young producer called Bob Ezrin who completely transformed their sound and sent them flying up the charts in the process. The material from this period forms one of the best greatest hits sets of the 70s (see below).

After splitting up in 1974, the singer took the name of the band for himself and since then has had a remarkably resilient solo career. He’s never really retired, and has been releasing albums pretty much every 2-3 years or so in that time.

The best place to start:

1974’s “Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits” does a flawless job at cherrypicking the Alice Cooper group’s string of albums from 1971 to 1974. All the hit singles are here, alongside strong album tracks such as “Billion dollar Babies” and “Desperado”. Future compilations add mid 70s AOR ballads and 80s metal to the mix, which distracts rather than adds to the experience.

The absolutely essential masterpiece(s):

1. “Billion Dollar Babies” (1973): Stuffed with hits (3 UK Top 10s: “Elected”, “Hello Hurray” and “No More Mr Nice Guy”), ambition and dark humour, this album seems to have more ideas than it knows what to do with, so it just crams them all in anyway and hopes the lid stays on. The big production’s strings and overdubs can blunt its rock edge sometimes, but you won’t mind too much as the tunes and ideas are just so good. Pick it up on vinyl, as it has one of the 70s best cover designs, i
2. “Killer” (1972). Killer is lean (30 mins or so) and has a less dense production than his subsequent 70s albums. This suits it fine, and its best tracks are straightforward rock songs such as “Be My Lover” and “Under My Wheels”. There’s a case for saying that the roots to Hair Metal are here, but don’t hold that against it. You won’t notice them too much.

Advanced listening/watching/reading etc.

Few groups have owed as much to their producer as Alice Cooper owe Bob Ezrin. The four albums that the group recorded with him from 1971 to 73 are all good: “Love it to Death” (1971), “Killer” (1972), “School’s Out” (1972) and “Billion Dollar Babies” (1973).

After Alice went solo in the mid 70s he released a series of concept albums, of which “Welcome to my Nightmare” (1975) and “From the Inside” (1978) are the best. The former, with its rock horror themes, set the template for much of his solo career. Like “Billion Dollar Babies”, it’s over the top, inventive, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and songs such as “The Black Widow” and “Only Women Bleed” still make his set list. “From the Inside” is a rock disco album written with Bernie Taupin. No wait! It’s surprisingly good fun, and has a nice, clean production that has aged well.

Albums released after 1980 should be approached with caution, if at all. There are a couple of exceptions.

“The Eyes of Alice Cooper” (2003) is an attempt to return to his early 70s sound with a new band that works pretty well. Alice (mostly) drops the horror schtick and the result is a straightforward rock album that is better than it should be.

“Da Da” (1983) is the strangest album in his catalogue and ended his relationship with Warner Bros, after it presumably sold less copies than that Kevin Rowland album. Alice was reunited with Bob Ezrin and the result was an album full of 80s synthesizers and drum machines. However, it holds together well and has a couple of neglected gems like “Former Lee Warmer” and “I Love America”.

Where others fear to tread….for completists only:

As mentioned above, you should approach albums released since 1980 with caution. In the case of 1987’s “Raise Your Fist and Yell”, you should not approach at all, unless you like clunky, uninspired 80s heavy metal played by a a band with a guitarist dressed up like Rambo. If you find yourself in its vicinity, keep calm, avoid eye contact and run like the clappers.

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Comments

    • Dick Wagner is the unsung hero of the Alice Cooper story. He was on all the 70s solo albums, and when he and Ezrin left at the end of the decade, the quality of the records dropped notably. At the same time, he does have writing credits on those records so at least he benefited from them.

      Actually, come to think of it, I think Wagner was playing more-or-less uncredited on the last few albums that the Alice Cooper group made too.

  2. I have a sneaking liking for career-threatening 1977 lp Lace and Whiskey. Alice takes on the persona of a film noir private eye called Maurice Escargot. There’s disco (No More Love At Your Convenience) ballads (You and Me), rockabilly covers (Ubangi Stomp) and generally the album though loosely a concept is in fact all over the shop. Could be I’m also fondly remembering the remaindered sleeve-cut copy I got from Yanks on Oxford Rd for probably a quid.

    • I like Lace and Whiskey too, but there’s a fair bit of filler on it as well as the good stuff. I think No more Love your Convenience is great fun.

      Fun fact! for a while Alice had the unenviable chart record of starting at the top and then having each hit being less successful than the last.

      1. School’s Out (No. 1)
      2. Elected (No. 4)
      3. hello hooray (No. 6)
      4. No More Mr Nice Guy (No. 10)
      5. Teenage Lament ’74 (No. 12)
      6. No More Love at your convenience (No. 73 or so)

      I remember this as a fact presented in the Guinness Book of Hit Singles that I had back in 1982. They obviously weren’t expecting him to have any comebacks. He spoiled it all with “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” in 1986.

    • “Muscle of Love” isn’t bad (I’ve always liked “Big Apple Dreamin'”), but it’s a significant step down from the four Ezrin albums that preceded it.

      I have a Japanese CD reissue of “Muscle of Love” that has a miniature cardboard sleeve AND a miniature inner sleeve AND a miniature fold-out thing that were all part of the original vinyl packaging. It’s a thing of beauty.

    • Oof! If you’ve got those three, you really should have Billion, Twang. It’s a bit like buying a Variety Pack and then eating all the others and leaving the Coco Pops!

      • Lovely piece, @Hawkfall, your enthusiasm is really infectious. I own the Killer and School’s Out LPs (and that’ll do me on Alice Cooper). Also have Lou Reed’s R’n’R Animal (my only Lou) with the Hunter/Wagner, you’d have to say project, a good, dynamic, twin-guitar-driven album.

        These records have been in my collection for 44 years. They’re friends. And I’m a well-read non-civilian. But never heard that before, that connection outlined above by @Junior Wells, hearing it for the first time ever. Like, you old codgers, Hawk and Junior, have known this stuff for that long, from your perspectives, since 1972-ish.

        Almost like a realisation about a family matter long, long ago.

        What I’m trying to say is, threads such as this can truly span aeons. Not literally. Like it.

  5. Good review but…….
    No mention of Halo of Flies from Killer which surely is his magnum opus??

    The first 5 albums in the Original Albums slipcase plus Billion Dollar Babies would include all of his best work in my book. A friend saw him live two years ago and she raved about his performance so he has clearly still got it.

    • “Halo of Flies” is great but I think it’s only his magnum opus if you prefer extended prog style work outs to hits. I’m quite partial to extended prog style work outs (*glances at Rush CDs on shelf*), but I don’t think it matches the swagger of “Billion Dollar Babies” or the raggedy arse of the “School’s Out” 7″, which still sounds exciting all these years on.

      I was pleasantly surprised to hear him play Halo of Flies when I saw him live four years ago. To be honest, I think they did it as a way for him to have a breather.

  7. Can I ask, given the kind of year it’s been, that if we title the blog post with an artist’s name and they haven’t died that we indicate that? I looked at the post title and swore mightily before I opened it.

  8. I picked up a minty original of Killer for a tenner or less a few months back. For me it’s the best of the lot, though in truth I’ve never heard the albums after Muscle Of Love.

  11. Great post!
    I have to admit a soft spot for “Raise Your Fist And Yell” though.
    I saw him on that tour (Sheffield City Hall 1988) and he played a fair whack from that lp and as it was my first Alice purchase I’m rather fond of it
    However, I do get your point about clunky metal and the Rambo guitarist (Kane Roberts) was a tit, and, compared to those 70’s albums,(which I subsequently bought), it’s a weak link in the chain.
    But for a 19 year old this was extremely exciting!

  12. Up arrow for Kane Roberts-era Alice. It is part of the big dumb smart-stupid rock concept Alice excels at, and which i think is the best kind of rock there is (see also: iggy, The Cult, Motorhead; AC/DC… Motley Crue are difficult – they sound right, but they are just dumb, and I don’t think there is much knowing irony or celebration of this). I saw Alice as a 14-year old, and as a 50 year old. Same set, more or less, same theatrics, same panache – this was rock as music hall, doing the same show to every theatre until retirement. The audience reliably loves it. The 1986/ 1988 tours had all the cheap staging a true Alice fan could want, and the Rambo imagery a useful antidote to the prissier 4AD 80s types with their lack of humour who soured the times with their seriousness.

  13. Some time around 90-91 we saw him at the Sydney entertainment centre, at which Alice wore a shirt saying ‘Die yuppie scum’. My mate and i turned to each other with exactly the same thought – ‘he means us, doesn’t he…’. Great show though.

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