Some music listeners (born after the 1970s) don’t understand the early appeal of the original Alice Cooper Group. They had a unique sound and image (which like all great rock ‘n roll mortified our parents) that was very appealing to those of us born in the 1960s and were obviously quite cynical about just about everything that came out of that decade (hippies metamorphosing into yuppies). Yet listening to Love It To Death (first issued on Straight Records), one can still hear the sound of the band which Frank Zappa originally signed before Warner Brothers completely morphed them into the mainstream (leading to the original band’s eventual demise). The first clip, Sun Arise (Live), is somewhat choppy, but rare footage. The second, Black JuJu (Studio Version) is the one track I always recommend to anyone wanting to explore the true, real sound of The Alice Cooper Group (before Vincent Damon Furnier took on the band’s nom de plume as his own, and the self-parodying that followed the band’s break up).
Garage Rock ex excelsis! Also like Alice’s solo work though, Urbangraffito.
Certainly, Jamez, Alice Cooper had a lot of commercial success as a solo artist, still producing interesting work — if somewhat self-parodying at times — such as The Last Temptation and Along Came A Spider; but it’s that early sound that always draws me back again and again. If people just listened to a Greatest Hits collection, which too often is the case, some really fantastic tracks get overlooked.
I agree, early Alice is far too over-looked.
Especially the first two albums, which come off as something from System of a Down with harmonies… trust me, it’s better than it would seem.
If you liked those links, here’s a charming little outtake/demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRWMIHEBofY&feature=related
Very educating trhread. Thank you!!
I recall insisting that my first band play “Ballad of Dwight Frye” from LITD, after their insistence on playing “Under My Wheels” from Killer – as I didn’t want to do ‘pop’ Alice, but REAL Alice.
Heh-heh. I believe we also performed “Be My Lover”…
And it’s funny that I should recall this, as I – and that first band – really sucked and I had successfully – until now – blocked that time from my memory.
Thanks a LOT, ug ; )
Alice Cooper is important to me because I was born in the 60s. Killer is one of my all time favourites and on my regular playlist.
All the albums by the original Alice Cooper band (from Pretties For You up to – and including – Muscle Of Love) are of important significance in the history of rock music.
But the nucleus of their work are Love It To Death and Killer i.m.o.
M.
Muscle of Love is one of my Alice favs! I don’t know the details, but I know Alice was approached to write the theme for the next 007 film at that time – Man with the Golden Gun – after Lord Paul did so well with Live & Let Die.
It was a good track, would have made an excellent theme, but it didn’t get used. Anyone know why not?
The true story of Man With The Golden Gun, as found on http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/albums/a-mol.php
[quote]”Man With The Golden Gun” was written for the James Bond movie of the same name. Alice had seen the title at the end of the previous Bond film (a Bond tradition) and had come up with the song in hopes of getting the group name on one of his favourite movies (Alice loves Bond movies). The makers of the Bond flicks were concerned that Mr. Cooper’s image didn’t fit well with the movie and rejected it in favour of Lulu.
At the end of the credits of most James Bond films, there is a teaser that says something like “Watch for 007 next summer in ‘Never Say Never’.” Alice, being the Bond fan that he is, had seen one of these that said “Watch For ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’.” He figured, Hey, I’ll write a song with that title and they’ll be practically forced to use it! I think what he didn’t count on was that in 1973/74, the name Alice Cooper was still much to controversial to be attached to a mainstream project like James Bond. Better to go with someone safe like Lulu (!??)
(Renfield, November 1995)
Neal was all excited about doing ‘Man With The Golden Gun’ song. After he told me he mentioned not to tell anyone because they might not use it, but they were hoping it was going to be a hit and they would have to use it. In high school Neal and I played in a rock group called “The Laser Beats” we did some James Bond music in our set list. Also when Neal got his new Rolls Royce he had an 8 track installed, Cindy, his sister, said he had James Bond Theme music that he played when he drove it.
(Band friend Skip Ladd, June 1998)[/quote]
[quote comment=”3122″]Certainly, Jamez, Alice Cooper had a lot of commercial success as a solo artist, still producing interesting work — if somewhat self-parodying at times — such as The Last Temptation and Along Came A Spider; but it’s that early sound that always draws me back again and again. If people just listened to a Greatest Hits collection, which too often is the case, some really fantastic tracks get overlooked.[/quote]
What do you think of the ‘From The Inside’ album?
[quote comment=”3179″][quote comment=”3122″]Certainly, Jamez, Alice Cooper had a lot of commercial success as a solo artist, still producing interesting work — if somewhat self-parodying at times — such as The Last Temptation and Along Came A Spider; but it’s that early sound that always draws me back again and again. If people just listened to a Greatest Hits collection, which too often is the case, some really fantastic tracks get overlooked.[/quote]
What do you think of the ‘From The Inside’ album?[/quote]
Firstly, great album cover (remember the doors that opened on the actual cover?). As for the songs themselves, they certainly had the benefit of the late 70s studio “Toto” band as backing musicians. I definitely return to this album from time to time for a listen. Tunes like “Nurse Rozetta”, “Serious” and “For Veronica’s Sake” still really rock in my opinion, Jamez.
[quote comment=”3181″][quote comment=”3179″][quote comment=”3122″]Certainly, Jamez, Alice Cooper had a lot of commercial success as a solo artist, still producing interesting work — if somewhat self-parodying at times — such as The Last Temptation and Along Came A Spider; but it’s that early sound that always draws me back again and again. If people just listened to a Greatest Hits collection, which too often is the case, some really fantastic tracks get overlooked.[/quote]
What do you think of the ‘From The Inside’ album?[/quote]
Firstly, great album cover (remember the doors that opened on the actual cover?). As for the songs themselves, they certainly had the benefit of the late 70s studio “Toto” band as backing musicians. I definitely return to this album from time to time for a listen. Tunes like “Nurse Rozetta”, “Serious” and “For Veronica’s Sake” still really rock in my opinion, Jamez.[/quote]
I could imagine the Tubes doing ‘Serious’, as it vaguely reminds me of ‘Talk To Ya Later’ (same co-writers/producer i.e. Steve Lukather and David Foster). ‘Nurse Rozetta’ is also quite funky. The whole album in my opinion is an underrated classic.