The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[TAC]

When I want to listen to Cooper, I firstly reach for Constrictor or Raise Your Fist and Yell.

Ditto - definitely those two and Raise Your Fist the most.    I sampled earlier stuff and have Billion Dollar Babies on tape but never got the impression that his early stuff was for me.  But then I struggle with a lot of 70's stuff ......I never enjoyed much pre British Steel from Priest and it's like that with most bands that straddled the 70's and 80's , with a few notable exceptions (VH , KISS etc..)

The last excellent Alice album was The Eyes Of Alice Cooper. Jason, I sent you What Do You Want From Me in your roulette. That album has a great garage band old school feel. I totally recommend it.

Welcome 2 was very weak, and the one before it, Along Came A Spider is unlistenable.

[TAC]

The last Alice album I listened to from start to finish is Hey Stoopid 

Hey Stoopid is awesome.

But even that has some suck tracks.

The lineup on that tour:

Vinnie Moore
Stef Burns
Greg Smith
Derek Sherinian
Eric Singer

 

Brent, give Eyes a listen. (you probably have..)

[TAC]

When I want to listen to Cooper, I firstly reach for Constrictor or Raise Your Fist and Yell.

Ditto - definitely those two and Raise Your Fist the most.     

Roses On White Lace is a TAC Top 10 Alice track.




Triple Post!!!

I can do this all night!!
ALICE!!!!!

[bl5150]

My 3 "go to" songs are Roses , Freedom  and Prince of Darkness.     Chop,Chop,Chop always got a laugh

[TAC]

Yeah, that's a great album. Some filler on Side 1, but Side 2 is awesome. Time To Kill

That was an awesome tour. Especially Chop/Gail/Roses. He also busted out Dead Babies/Killer too.

[bl5150]

Yeah - Time To Kill is cool too

[TAC]

Yeah - Time To Kill is cool too

It's also too cool.

[jjrock88]

Roses on White Lace is my top track from Raise Your Fist. I actually liked it more after I heard the cover from Icarus Witch. If you haven't heard that cover version, check it out. The whole album is great. I really like the Friday the 13th movies, so Constrictor and Raise Your Fist are basically soundtracks for those movies.

Tim you mentioned that Along Came a Spider was unlistenable. I've never heard the whole album but I've heard Vengeance is Mine, which I thought was very good. I remember I liked it so much I bought the single on iTunes. Is the album overall just a piece of junk?

[TAC]

I think so. Been a long time since I listened to it.

The story is awesome. It's about a guy that needs to kill 8 women to form a "spider". After he has 7 he needs one more, except he falls in love with the 8th victim. So there's the album's conflict.


It's literally been a few years since I've listened to it. Musically I didn't like it at all. Vengeance Is Mine is OK. the heaviest track on the album. But it's nowhere near indicative of the album's sound. Not even close. I pulled it out for tomorrow's ride to/from work.

[jjrock88]

Let us know how it sounds after not listening to it for a few years.

And I need to know which Frankenstein song is the most popular? Is it Teenage Frankenstein or Feed My Frankenstein? Tough question but I'll go with Feed My Frankenstein.

[TAC]

Will do.

Not sure if you, or anyone has heard this song. It's called Pass The Gun Around from 1983's Da Da album. This is the last album he did before he cleaned up and then resurfaced with Constrictor.

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

I think I used it in someone's roulette. Features an awesome guitar solo from Dick Wagner.

[Lowdz]

The last Alice album I listened to from start to finish is Hey Stoopid 

Hey Stoopid is awesome.

But even that has some suck tracks.

The lineup on that tour:

Vinnie Moore
Stef Burns
Greg Smith
Derek Sherinian
Eric Singer

 

Brent, give Eyes a listen. (you probably have..)

Vinnie didn't make it to the uk leg. I was so gutted that it ruined the first half of the show 😀. No internet to find these things out in those days.

Last AC album I could even tolerate was Last Temptation. That one is pretty good. But I love From The Inside, Hey Stoopid and Trash. Not a huge old school Alice fan, though most albums had some great stuff

[jjrock88]

I was just listening to parts of Coopers first band album, Pretties for You.

Not sure what the opinion of that one is, but there is a zero percent chance I would ever get into it or buy it.  Way too weird and out there.

[TAC]

I was just listening to parts of Coopers first band album, Pretties for You.

Not sure what the opinion of that one is, but there is a zero percent chance I would ever get into it or buy it.  Way too weird and out there.

So Pretties For You and Easy Action are the first two albums. They were made on Frank Zappa's label.

After those, they were picked up by Warner Brothers, hooked up with Bob Ezrin and released the 5 "Classic" Alice Cooper Band albums:

Love It To Death '71
Killer '71
School's Out '72
Billion Dollar Babies '73
Muscle Of Love '74

Ezrin did not do Muscle. But Alice did regroup with Ezrin for his first solo album, Welcome To My Nightmare.

Pretties and Easy are basically just noise to me. They are almost unlistenable. Love It To Death is so much better. Obviously it gave us Eighteen, Is It My Body and the great Ballad Of Dwight Frye.

To me, Killer and School's Out are the two "must haves" of the bunch. If all you know of School's Out is the title track, you're missing out on a great album. And Killer has three epics..Dead Babies, Killer, and the world's first Progressive Metal song, Halo Of Flies.

[TAC]

...and I would also like to add that the original Alice Cooper Band is the most underrated American rock band going. I mean, yeah, you hear Eighteen and School's Out on Classic Rock Radio. Maybe even No More Mr. Nice Guy.

But the deep tracks on those albums are breathtaking and incredible.


Oh, and @ Jason..I did give Along Came A Spider a spin today, and as usual, I found my self skipping into the next track halfway though the current one. That album blows. Musically it sucks. He does have some pretty obscure albums music wise, but you could always count on Alice's wit and character to shine through. Spider has none of that. It's not funny or witty. The subject matter, well I'm surprised Alice made this album TBH. Being born again, there are songs from his catalogue that he's said he won't perform. I'm shocked he made an album like Spider lyric wise. This album has nothing to offer. The only ..um redeeming track is Salvation.

Not counting Pretties and Easy, this is my least favorite Alice album. At least Dragontown gave us The Triggerman and Disgracedland.

[Samsara]

Along Came a Spider was sadly one of the most disappointing albums to me of that year. It was a release day purchase, and it just...it wasn't good. It certainly didn't resonate with me.

[jjrock88]

If Tim says that an Alice Cooper album blows, thats 100% the final verdict.

[wolfking]

I was never that big into Alice.  I only own a couple of his albums, but Hey Stoopid, Trash and Brutal Planet are three I really like.

[wolfking]

Primal Fear - The End is Near live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZCHe3_y3AE

Nice performance.

[TAC]

If Tim says that an Alice Cooper album blows, thats 100% the final verdict.

So as much as I love Alice, he's had a tough last 20 years, album wise.

Looking at his last 6 albums since 1994's Last Temptation (which is very good, BTW)

Brutal Planet ('00)  I love half of it, hate the other half. Real modern style heavy.
Dragontown ('01) Was my least favorite studio album by Alice until Spider. Same style as Brutal Planet. One Great tune (The Triggerman!)
The Eyes Of Alice Cooper ('03) This is a MUST HAVE. Total garage band sound.
Dirty Diamonds ('05) I enjoy most of this album quite a bit. I wouldn't recommend anything from it to a new fan. I think it's for Alice fans only.
Along Came A Spider ('08) BLOWS!
Welcome 2 My Nightmare ('11) SUCKS! Very disappointing.


So with all that said, you never know what you're going to get from the new Alice album. I have fairly low expectations, but if it was awesome, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I was never that big into Alice.  I only own a couple of his albums, but Hey Stoopid, Trash and Brutal Planet are three I really like.

One great, one very good, and one so-so. I can totally see you liking Brutal Planet. Not sure if you've given Dragontown a listen. But glad there's something you can enjoy from him.

[wolfking]

So obvioulsy my cd buying compulsion over the years has been a blur at times.  I just checked my cd log and I actually own;

A Fistful of Alice
Along Came a Spider
Billion Dollar Babies
Dirty Diamonds
Dragontown
Hey Stoopid
Killer
Schools Out
The Definitive
Trash
Welcome 2 My Nightmare

And some really old dodgy compilation thing.

Wow, I should go back and have a listen to these.

[TAC]

How do you not have Raise Your Fist And Yell?

You do know he has a hunky bass player on it, right?

[TAC]

 

[wolfking]

How do you not have Raise Your Fist And Yell?

You do know he has a hunky bass player on it, right?

Of course.  Don't own either that one or Constrictor.  Shame on me, Kip would feel betrayed.

I have The Nightmare Returns DVD though, so I can see him which is what matters. 

[jjrock88]

That's a very cool album cover from Accept! That album is guarenteed to rule!

I remember buying and trying to get into Welcome 2 My Nightmare, but it just wasn't happening. I remember there being a disco type song on there and a couple of others that left me scratching my head. The song "under my bed" stood out to me as being pretty good, but not much else. I would rank the album as a whole as blow worthy for sure.

Kade, go to Amazon and put Raise Your Fist and Yell and Constrictor in your basket.

[TAC]

I have The Nightmare Returns DVD though, 

So that very show was what got me into Alice to begin with. I remember MTV playing that around Halloween, and I was hooked. Saw him a few weeks later and it might be the single coolest concert experience I've ever had. I did a deep dive on his discog right after and that was that.

[wolfking]

Kade, go to Amazon and put Raise Your Fist and Yell and Constrictor in your basket.

haha, righto mate, I'll have a listen for sure.

That Accept album cover is fantastic.

[jingle.boy]

I can honestly say I don't own a single Alice Cooper album.

[TAC]

The wuss thread is that-a-way!

[Imaginos]

Will do.

Not sure if you, or anyone has heard this song. It's called Pass The Gun Around from 1983's Da Da album. This is the last album he did before he cleaned up and then resurfaced with Constrictor.

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

I think I used it in someone's roulette. Features an awesome guitar solo from Dick Wagner.

I actually love Dada. It's such a unique album and definitely the scariest album he ever made. Its gotten me really interested in the rest of his early 80s albums, so far the only other one I have is Flush The Fashion which I also enjoy quite a bit.

Regarding Pretties for You and Easy Action, I'm not too familiar with them, but Beautiful Flyaway is a pretty cool song (and it features Michael Bruce on vocals, which is kinda cool).

[Lowdz]

I can honestly say I don't own a single Alice Cooper album.

Try Hey Stoopid. I usually miss out the title track but there is a high great track quotient. Great production too.

[Lowdz]

I have The Nightmare Returns DVD though, 

So that very show was what got me into Alice to begin with. I remember MTV playing that around Halloween, and I was hooked. Saw him a few weeks later and it might be the single coolest concert experience I've ever had. I did a deep dive on his discog right after and that was that.

I had that on VHS. Great show. Great band.

[TAC]

I can honestly say I don't own a single Alice Cooper album.

Try Hey Stoopid.

Ah...the irony. 

[jjrock88]

 

[jingle.boy]

I can honestly say I don't own a single Alice Cooper album.

Try Hey Stoopid.

Ah...the irony. 

Well, the Jerk Store called, and they said you're ironic.