Alice Cooper

Vaughan · August 8th, 2012, 09:56 AM

So, any fans of Alice Cooper's early stuff here?

My musical tastes shifted from rock some time ago, and I mainly spent my time on various kind of Jazz. That has itself shifted a bit in recent months, with most of my time spent with Classical music - which I'm still enjoying immensely.

I had been planning a big life change which I won't into here, but one of the things on my agenda was a cull of my rock music collection (CD's all). There's a lot of rock that I'll never play again, it's time to get rid either by selling boxing up and putting aside. The thing is, I never play rock partly because I have so many discs of things I'm not interested in to sort through. I decided to scoop up the cream of the rock, and just have that to hand.

Which leads me to Alice Cooper. I became a fan back in 1973 when an older neighbor introduced me to Billion Dollar Babies. Then it was Love it Death, Killer, Schools Out. After these Coop continued with the classics, Muscle of Love, Welcome to My Nightmare, Goes to Hell. The monster that was From the Inside hit, before the great tunes really began to dry up. Lace and Whiskey was the last album I got, and that ones a bit of a disappointed. There was also a (poor) live album in there, and two pre-Love It To Death albums Pretties for You (weird) and Easy Action (actually good).

Welcome to my Nightmare sticks in my mind, because my sister bought me a copy (on vinyl of course) with her first pay check.

I had all these on CD, and few of them have been done justice on CD. Warners just threw out rubbish masters in the 90's and never bothered to update them. Sound was merely okay, and the packaging second rate. A few got the Audophile treatment and a gold pressing - but the cover art was horrid, and only select titles were released.

Ah, the cover art! Who can forget the controversy on the Love It To Death cover (Coop with his finger through his fly). The hanging calendar that came with Killer. The vinyl of Schools Out that shipped with not a white inner bag, but a pair of panties instead. Billion Dollar Babies with the gate fold, the push out cards, the One Billion dollar bill, the inner bag with the lyrics and the crying baby. The cardboard box cover for Muscle of Love and all the inserts. The lyrics to Welcome to mt Nightmare.......... They knew how to do things then.

And they do today too! Special releases for the Japanese market for all these titles include a 2011 remaster job, and reproductions all all the covers and inserts! They cost a lot - a fortune really. Silly money. Unjustifiable.

But I'm getting that nagging pulse in the lizard part of my brain. True remasters. Complete covers. Some great music - I'm Eighteen, Is It My Body, Halo of Flies, Desperado, My Stars, Generation Landslide, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Only Women Bleed, Some Folks, Big Apple Dreaming, Teenage Laments '74, Wish You were Here............. to skim the surface......

But will I honestly play Alice again? More than once or twice I mean? My musical world has shifted considerably, but these titles are stuck in that lizard part of the brain. And it itches with this music. The blues/jazz inflection on the Schools Out album is fantastic, the grandeur of Welcome To My Nightmare.....

Talk to me! Anyone here fans of early Alice? Or am I losing it in nostalgia?

Vaughan · August 10th, 2012, 05:04 PM

Wow, not s single Coop fan?

Listened to School's Out today - and what a great album that is, beside the anthemic title track, that is. Lots of blues and Jazz leanings, which didn't really surface again until Muscle of Love.

Come to think of it, my interest in Jazz started with a combination of this record, and Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombone.......

I ordered the two boxes from Japan - don't know how long they'll take to get here, but I'm looking forward to it.

princeplanet · August 12th, 2012, 08:23 AM

did those early records feature production by Bob Ezrin? I thought his stuff was great. Some of the players on those cuts were good too, could they have included Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner ( who also player with Lou Reed for a bit)? Coop put out the odd classic ballad too, like "Only Women Bleed".....

Heart&Soul · August 12th, 2012, 09:06 AM

I still have the Muscle Of Love lp. I wish I'd seen him in concert back then.

Vaughan · August 13th, 2012, 08:31 AM

Yeah, they did a lot of stuff with Ezrin.

Wagner etc. started to play once the Billion Dollar Babies album sessions begun, since by then the lead guitarist, Glenn Buxton was unable to get it together any longer. I'm not sure that he plays at all on Muscle of Love.

Every Alice album up to From the Inside is stellar, imo.

I'm still waiting for those boxes to arrive. It's shocking how badly Warners have treated the Cooper catalog. The only remasters were done by Rhino - Warners simply don't seem to care enough to do anything with them.

But have Muscle of Love in the cardboard packaging - except a mini-version - is a real treat I'm looking forward too.

Marcello · August 13th, 2012, 07:42 PM

I saw Alice Cooper a couple of times back in the day. The first time he was the opening act for Dr. John on New Years Eve in Toronto.

But I'll always love Alice Cooper for "Only Women Bleed", because Carmen McRae does a killing version of it on "At the Great American Music Hall", which has never been release on cd in this country.

http://www.audiophileusa.com/covers400/11842.jpg

Vaughan · August 14th, 2012, 03:58 AM

Huh, didn't know she'd covered that. I only know the (awful) Julie Covington version. Coop wrote some great ballads actually - How You Gonna See Me Now, I Never Cry etc.

Shame he hit an 80/90's malaise. I sat and watched some video from his Special Forces material last night - it's all kinds of bad. Not so much the music, but him. His makeup had changed, and he's stick thin. Just shameful.

Marcello · August 14th, 2012, 05:20 AM

Carmen actually covered it twice: a studio version (which is so-so) and the fantastic live version mentioned above.
I believe that Etta James covered it too.

MatthiasYoung · August 16th, 2012, 10:29 AM

I Never Cry - love that song.

Vaughan · August 17th, 2012, 09:18 AM

My Alice Cooper arrived! The packaging is amazing.

blotchy · November 9th, 2012, 04:58 PM

Had an older sis who luckily got me into the early Cooper -- songs that stuck with me
my whole life, even in some long gap before i started replacing vinyl with CDs.
I got Billion Dollar Babies, School's Out, and Love it to Death replaced fairly early.

After my wife got a Best Of, i was reminded to finally get Killer.

Plenty of GREAT songs on these 4, and great musicians as well. That drum
beat on Public Animals #9 stands out as one of those rhythms i'd like to
learn (knowing very little drums). And plenty of good piano as well.

On the downside, i got the album with "We're All Clones" and it was a dud.
Tried one of the much newer ones that was more of a concept album (about
a serial killer), and couldn't get into that one, either. Sounded much more generic,
or just too modern a rock sound for me, i dunno.

Vaughan · November 12th, 2012, 10:12 AM

Yeah - sadly you made the mistake of wandering into Alice post Goes to Hell territory, a dangerous place to go.

I hate to write off the guys music of the last 20 years, but it's unavoidable. Hit and miss doesn't begin to describe it. But he DID give us all that great 70's music - so applause for that.

August 8th, 2012, 09:56 AM	#1
Vaughan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,481	Alice Cooper So, any fans of Alice Cooper's early stuff here? My musical tastes shifted from rock some time ago, and I mainly spent my time on various kind of Jazz. That has itself shifted a bit in recent months, with most of my time spent with Classical music - which I'm still enjoying immensely. I had been planning a big life change which I won't into here, but one of the things on my agenda was a cull of my rock music collection (CD's all). There's a lot of rock that I'll never play again, it's time to get rid either by selling boxing up and putting aside. The thing is, I never play rock partly because I have so many discs of things I'm not interested in to sort through. I decided to scoop up the cream of the rock, and just have that to hand. Which leads me to Alice Cooper. I became a fan back in 1973 when an older neighbor introduced me to Billion Dollar Babies. Then it was Love it Death, Killer, Schools Out. After these Coop continued with the classics, Muscle of Love, Welcome to My Nightmare, Goes to Hell. The monster that was From the Inside hit, before the great tunes really began to dry up. Lace and Whiskey was the last album I got, and that ones a bit of a disappointed. There was also a (poor) live album in there, and two pre-Love It To Death albums Pretties for You (weird) and Easy Action (actually good). Welcome to my Nightmare sticks in my mind, because my sister bought me a copy (on vinyl of course) with her first pay check. I had all these on CD, and few of them have been done justice on CD. Warners just threw out rubbish masters in the 90's and never bothered to update them. Sound was merely okay, and the packaging second rate. A few got the Audophile treatment and a gold pressing - but the cover art was horrid, and only select titles were released. Ah, the cover art! Who can forget the controversy on the Love It To Death cover (Coop with his finger through his fly). The hanging calendar that came with Killer. The vinyl of Schools Out that shipped with not a white inner bag, but a pair of panties instead. Billion Dollar Babies with the gate fold, the push out cards, the One Billion dollar bill, the inner bag with the lyrics and the crying baby. The cardboard box cover for Muscle of Love and all the inserts. The lyrics to Welcome to mt Nightmare.......... They knew how to do things then. And they do today too! Special releases for the Japanese market for all these titles include a 2011 remaster job, and reproductions all all the covers and inserts! They cost a lot - a fortune really. Silly money. Unjustifiable. But I'm getting that nagging pulse in the lizard part of my brain. True remasters. Complete covers. Some great music - I'm Eighteen, Is It My Body, Halo of Flies, Desperado, My Stars, Generation Landslide, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Only Women Bleed, Some Folks, Big Apple Dreaming, Teenage Laments '74, Wish You were Here............. to skim the surface...... But will I honestly play Alice again? More than once or twice I mean? My musical world has shifted considerably, but these titles are stuck in that lizard part of the brain. And it itches with this music. The blues/jazz inflection on the Schools Out album is fantastic, the grandeur of Welcome To My Nightmare..... Talk to me! Anyone here fans of early Alice? Or am I losing it in nostalgia?

November 9th, 2012, 04:58 PM	#11
blotchy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 9	awesome stuff Had an older sis who luckily got me into the early Cooper -- songs that stuck with me my whole life, even in some long gap before i started replacing vinyl with CDs. I got Billion Dollar Babies, School's Out, and Love it to Death replaced fairly early. After my wife got a Best Of, i was reminded to finally get Killer. Plenty of GREAT songs on these 4, and great musicians as well. That drum beat on Public Animals #9 stands out as one of those rhythms i'd like to learn (knowing very little drums). And plenty of good piano as well. On the downside, i got the album with "We're All Clones" and it was a dud. Tried one of the much newer ones that was more of a concept album (about a serial killer), and couldn't get into that one, either. Sounded much more generic, or just too modern a rock sound for me, i dunno.

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August 10th, 2012, 05:04 PM	#2
Vaughan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,481	Wow, not s single Coop fan? Listened to School's Out today - and what a great album that is, beside the anthemic title track, that is. Lots of blues and Jazz leanings, which didn't really surface again until Muscle of Love. Come to think of it, my interest in Jazz started with a combination of this record, and Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombone....... I ordered the two boxes from Japan - don't know how long they'll take to get here, but I'm looking forward to it.

August 12th, 2012, 08:23 AM	#3
princeplanet Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 660	did those early records feature production by Bob Ezrin? I thought his stuff was great. Some of the players on those cuts were good too, could they have included Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner ( who also player with Lou Reed for a bit)? Coop put out the odd classic ballad too, like "Only Women Bleed".....

August 12th, 2012, 09:06 AM	#4
Heart&Soul Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Oregon Posts: 115	I still have the Muscle Of Love lp. I wish I'd seen him in concert back then.

August 13th, 2012, 08:31 AM	#5
Vaughan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,481	Yeah, they did a lot of stuff with Ezrin. Wagner etc. started to play once the Billion Dollar Babies album sessions begun, since by then the lead guitarist, Glenn Buxton was unable to get it together any longer. I'm not sure that he plays at all on Muscle of Love. Every Alice album up to From the Inside is stellar, imo. I'm still waiting for those boxes to arrive. It's shocking how badly Warners have treated the Cooper catalog. The only remasters were done by Rhino - Warners simply don't seem to care enough to do anything with them. But have Muscle of Love in the cardboard packaging - except a mini-version - is a real treat I'm looking forward too.

August 13th, 2012, 07:42 PM	#6
Marcello Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 1,685	I saw Alice Cooper a couple of times back in the day. The first time he was the opening act for Dr. John on New Years Eve in Toronto. But I'll always love Alice Cooper for "Only Women Bleed", because Carmen McRae does a killing version of it on "At the Great American Music Hall", which has never been release on cd in this country. http://www.audiophileusa.com/covers400/11842.jpg

August 14th, 2012, 03:58 AM	#7
Vaughan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,481	Huh, didn't know she'd covered that. I only know the (awful) Julie Covington version. Coop wrote some great ballads actually - How You Gonna See Me Now, I Never Cry etc. Shame he hit an 80/90's malaise. I sat and watched some video from his Special Forces material last night - it's all kinds of bad. Not so much the music, but him. His makeup had changed, and he's stick thin. Just shameful.

August 14th, 2012, 05:20 AM	#8
Marcello Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 1,685	Carmen actually covered it twice: a studio version (which is so-so) and the fantastic live version mentioned above. I believe that Etta James covered it too.

August 16th, 2012, 10:29 AM	#9
MatthiasYoung Registered User Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 3	I Never Cry - love that song.

August 17th, 2012, 09:18 AM	#10
Vaughan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,481	My Alice Cooper arrived! The packaging is amazing.

November 12th, 2012, 10:12 AM	#12
Vaughan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,481	Yeah - sadly you made the mistake of wandering into Alice post Goes to Hell territory, a dangerous place to go. I hate to write off the guys music of the last 20 years, but it's unavoidable. Hit and miss doesn't begin to describe it. But he DID give us all that great 70's music - so applause for that.