Alice Cooper Albums (32)
'Along Came a Spider'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 11
Label Steamhammer
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Throughout his long career, Alice Cooper has taken full advantage of how concept albums allow for more ambitious songwriting and memorable, layered characters who get more than one song to tell their stories. They're always tortured stories with social outcasts rebelling against turbulent childhoods or other traumatic whatnot, but this time the stakes are much higher. Along Came a Spider tells the story of an eccentric serial killer who suffers from the exact opposite of arachnophobia and lives by the spider's code of "You trap, you kill, you eat." How he got there and why he chose spiders is a story better heard from Alice -- that is, if you're an undying fan of his less accessible concept piece From the Inside or his phantasmagorical horror show Welcome to My Nightmare. Spider has as few hooks as Inside and more than twice the sinister moments found on Nightmare, all delivered with a post-Rob Zombie attitude that allows things to get a little more brutal, more alt-metal. While the casual fan will feel that some of the less gripping songs are just here to move the story along, fanatics will gush as Alice once again acts as host and narrator and revives the character Steven, the young boy who broke all his toys on Nightmare. With a serial killer as lead and titles like "(In Touch With) Your Feminine Side" and "The One That Got Away," Alice fills his lyrics with clever and gruesome wordplay, but the winner here is the only plausible single, "Wake the Dead," which shockingly and shamelessly borrows the bassline from the Chemical Brothers' "Let Forever Be." Guitarist Slash, Kiss drummer Eric Singer, and background vocalist extraordinaire Bernard Fowler all make appearances, while Renaissance man Danny Saber handles the production with co-producer Greg Hampton, which appropriately sounds soundtrack big. An easy recommendation for fan club members and/or serial killers. Everyone else has two or three better Cooper concepts to devour first. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
By the late '90s, Alice Cooper wisely decided to start incorporating more and more uncommon and/or rarely played songs from yesteryear back into his live set, to the delight of longtime fans. A show at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Cantina from this era shows Cooper just starting to dig up some old nuggets, as evidenced by Live at Cabo Wabo '96. Strangely, though, instead of releasing the album shortly thereafter to signal the Coop's return back to basics, the album didn't hit record shops until almost ten years later, in 2005. Kicking things off with the song that he'll always be best known for, "School's Out," Cooper and his band churn out faithful, heavy metal- esque readings of the classics "Under My Wheels," "I'm Eighteen," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," and "Elected." But the tracks that will appeal most to hardcore enthusiasts will be the previously rarely performed "Desperado" (rumored to be a tribute to Jim Morrison) and "Teenage Lament '74." Also included are several then-newer tracks, which can easily be skipped over ("Lost in America," "Poison," "Feed My Frankenstein," etc.). With the overabundance of Cooper live albums,videos, and DVDs on the market, Live at Cabo Wabo '96 isn't exactly a necessary release, but it does signify that Cooper and co. were rocking hard in the '90s. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
When the big fat advances from big fat record companies dried up, Alice Cooper pared down his sound and came to terms with his inner garage on the nearly overdubless The Eyes of Alice Cooper. The album was worthy redemption from the big-money blandness of his mid-'80s recordings and a nice return to form after flirting with the industrial-flavored metal that defined his late-'90s material. Dirty Diamonds stays the course, and while it's not Killer or Love It to Death, it at least sounds like it's from the guy who was responsible for those classics. Fortunately, Alice is well aware of his age, and without teen angst as his focus, he turns to hedonism, sexy women, and sly, sicko humor played bar band style by one of the tightest crews he's ever fronted. Delivered in an exaggerated Johnny Cash style, "I'm in jail in a Texas town/In my sister's wedding gown" opens the bizarre "The Saga of Jesse Jane," a tale of a trucker who drives his rig all night listening to Judy Collins. It's inspired, as is the cover of the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina" (harpsichord, flute, and all), the reckless party tune "Steal That Car," and the slinking "Six Hours," which smells a lot like Cooper during his Bob Ezrin heyday until the dramatic bridge comes along and makes the likeness uncanny. The album is filled with surprises, but recalling his Flush the Fashion era with the robotic snarl on "Your Own Worst Enemy" takes the cake for Cooper fanatics. The catchy "Perfect" is a worthy single and the filler is clearly marked "bonus track." Ending the album with the Southern-fried, horror show "Zombie Dance" would have made more sense, since "Stand" with rapper Xzibit -- lifted from Unity: The Official Athens 2004 Olympic Games Album -- is silly and forced. Those are traits the rest of this fine album avoids like they were poison, or for that matter, "Poison." ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'The Eyes of Alice Cooper'
Release Date 9/22/2003
Tracks 13
Label Spitfire
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Give him points for persistence: Alice Cooper just won't quit. He's seen it all from the bottom to the top -- and done the trip more than once -- but still continues on his merry-morbid way, punching out albums like a spry young'un. The first thing one has to say about The Eyes of Alice Cooper is thank Jehovah and all his witnesses that the Mascara'd One has grown out of his metal/industrial phase. That look just never took. Discs like Brutal Planet (2000) and the somewhat better Dragontown (2001) offered little to his legacy or his legion of fans -- aside from nascent headbangers discovering the Coop for the first time. Eyes harks back to Alice's overly maligned early-'80s discs Special Forces and Flush the Fashion -- albums that suffered by comparison with his landmark '70s releases but remain far more musically appealing than the aforementioned new-millennium fare. It takes a couple of listens to "get it," but there is some very good material here: largely derivative, yes, but energetic and entertaining nonetheless. And the old sneer-and-wink is back and comes through in lyrics that, unlike the sonics, are distinctive. The punkish "Man of the Year" is a tragicomedy rip on button-down-collar types who climb life's ladder only to end up putting a gun in their mouths. "Novocaine" (the very word brings back memories of Billion Dollar Babies and "Unfinished Sweet") has, believe it, a Bruce Springsteen guitar sound. The best rocker of the pack is "Detroit City," a quasi-anthemic, mid-tempo grunter fuelled by a slapping, tom-tom beat and a fist-pumping chorus. (MC5's Wayne Kramer adds an extra axe on this one.) The classically Cooper-esque ballad "Be With You a While" is another scene-stealer ("I wish I could tell you/Something you didn't know/I wish I could give you/Something you didn't own") and shows that the ol' snake-twirler still has a sensitive side. The most autobiographical moment comes with the second track, "Between High School and Old School." To wit: "I'm stuck somewhere between high school and old school." Ah, but was it not always thus? For more than three decades Alice has been everyone's favorite grown-up in teens' clothing. And that's why he's loved. Alice being Alice. It's tried and true and it works again here. Not exceptionally, but more than acceptably. In the sweeping context of his legendary career, one could say that The Eyes of Alice Cooper is far from his best album and just as far from his worst. ~ Adrian Zupp, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Dragontown continues the assault of Alice Cooper's gift to the new millennium that was Brutal Planet. Considered a third chapter of a trilogy initiated by 1994's The Last Temptation, this shadowy production plays like hardcore in slow motion. There is no one identifiable song like "Gimme" or "Brutal Planet" from the last episode, but the production values are high and the innovative riffs consistent. This work stands on its own, chock-full of the dark prince of pop's nasty humor. "It's Much Too Late" is supposed to be for John Lennon, but the Beatlesque backing vocals sound like Carole King's hit from Tapestry on hard drugs. There are references to the sacrilege spread out over Lennon's work from Plastic Ono Band to Imagine, but here Alice takes off the gloves and gives the church the finger: "I'm sending you all to hell/I'm tired and I'm wired here...." Continuing the dismal discourse of the previous record, Cooper takes Ray Davies' advice in a way the Kinks' leader never could -- A.C. actually gives the fans what they want. "The Sentinel" is some creature of the devil out there harvesting souls -- possibly the souls of dead rock & rollers. The ode to Elvis Presley is a bit more unnerving: "Disgraceland" is metal rockabilly with blazing guitars -- "Went to the pearly gates/Said I'm uh here to sing/And Peter said, 'Well son, you see we already got ourselves a king.'" If you don't think Alice Cooper is the Bob Dylan of nastiness, you clearly haven't followed his pernicious poetry over the years. (Hasn't everyone tried too hard to like Bob Dylan's Love and Theft? Do you really think it will have a place in history as solid as "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Ballad of a Thin Man"?) Where Mariah Carey goes through the motions and wonders why no one cares, Alice Cooper proves that he still does care. This might not be as platinum as Trash or as explosive as Killer, but the older, wiser Alice Cooper devastates with subtle intensity and venomous lyrics. The 12-page booklet inside the very Halloweenish cover contains print that is much too small, but the great photos are exactly what the fans crave: Alice showing the world he was Freddy Krueger long before that character came to life. "Every Woman Has a Name" is a beautiful evil ballad, a throwback to the days of "How You Gonna See Me Now," only Cooper's vocals are even better years later; he is a great singer, the Perry Como of hate. It's too bad the songs are so utterly negative -- at ten minutes shy of an hour, this album succeeds in going further down into the depths and would be a perfect horror movie soundtrack. If you can't figure out who "I Just Wanna Be God" is about you haven't read your Bible. "I'm the omnipresent ruler of the human race...I was born to rock/I was born to rule." Alice Cooper narrates from the first person, the Devil's frustrations are the angst that punks, metal heads, and rappers are floundering around looking for. "I Just Wanna Be God" is rap in slow motion -- a loud, sludgy dirge. It explodes after the ballad and disintegrates into "The Sentinel." If St. Peter stands by the pearly gates, then Alice Cooper is putting in his nomination to be the guardian of hell's entry point. He should be careful what he wishes for. From the blitz that is "Triggerman," which opens the album, to the crunching conclusion, this album is so good that it appears Alice has already landed the job. Listener beware. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For the Alice Cooper fans who feel his output was spotty before and after the 1989 classic Trash on Epic, Brutal Planet is a cause to rejoice. It is a solid hard rock offering. Cooper is in great voice, and he sounds mean and spirited. The title track would be a blessing on radio today. It has great bottom, sizzling guitars, and wonderful backing vocalists. The most impressive thing about this album is Cooper's lyrics. "Sanctuary" could be Lou Reed meets Deep Purple in their heyday. Back in 1987 Cooper performed with an unruly band all over the map. It was very uncomfortable and a far cry from his heyday of "I'm 18" and "Under My Wheels": guitars too loud, and an artist obviously struggling with his personal demons. This disc rocks hard with hooks galore and is delivered with the intensity of a Mike Tyson punch, double entendre fully intended. "Wicked Young Men" continues the thump thump brigade of this fine album. Cooper is now being a bad boy with sophisticated lyrics. "I am a vicious young man" sounds like the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange II: the aforementioned street lingo of Reed and Springsteen turned up a notch. "I've got every kind of chemical pumping through my head/I read Mein Kempf daily just to keep my hatred fed/I never ever sleep, I just lay in my bed/dreaming of the day when everyone is dead." Cooper is ready to exterminate everyone and everything. And though listeners who love Alice Cooper know it's all tongue in cheek, the bigger picture is that a known artist has created a very studied, very calculated, and very electric compact disc. It works on so many levels, and how many listeners had written Cooper off? There may be no song here that will brand itself into the consciousness as "School's Out" or "Elected" did, but those were different times. This is more powerful than most rap. It is direct. It is hard hitting. It is Alice Cooper at his most absolute sinister. Burt Reynolds said that "nothing plays as good as an old Stradivarius" and Alice Cooper proves that saying true. He has created a splash of cold water that could rip radio wide open if given the chance. In "Blow Me a Kiss," Alice sings "blow me away... I'm in my room... I'm Dr. Doom... I'm not me, I'm someone else." Where has Cooper been hiding these lyrics all these years? ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Alice Cooper never considered his first live album, 1977's The Alice Cooper Show, to be an adequate representation of his capabilities as an entertainer, which is one of the reasons he invested so much energy in the 1997 live album Fistful of Alice. Cooper envisioned the record as a blowout, not only showcasing his stage show, but also featuring cameos from such superstars as Slash, Sammy Hagar, and Rob Zombie. While his abilities as a performer and vocalist had declined somewhat by 1997, Fistful of Alice is remarkably potent, capturing Cooper in good form. It didn't matter that his notoriously bloody stage show had faded away in the 20 years between the two live records, since the album relies on the music, not the visuals. And this time out, the music is much better -- it's tighter and harder, and Cooper's vocals are better than those on Show, where he suffered from too much substance abuse. Fans of Cooper's classic period will miss the Billion Dollar Babies band, but hardcore fans will find the album to be an unexpected delight. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Though Alice Cooper's 1989 comeback gave him his first hit album in over a decade, the Trash record left some diehard fans disappointed, as did 1991's Hey Stoopid. Many listeners felt that Cooper had sold himself short, now completely focusing on sleazy sexual anthems, making him just another face in the heavy metal crowd. By the time The Last Temptation was released in 1994, the hair band fad that had fueled Cooper's return was dead, and Cooper was obviously aware of its downfall -- the album sounds almost nothing like its two predecessors. Instead of relating to such albums as Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood, Last Temptation seems more similar to Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears. Thematically, the record returns to mostly conceptual songs, such as "Nothing's Free," "You're My Temptation," and "Cleansed by Fire." Though the album still has a few goofy interruptions, such anthems as "Lost in America" nonetheless boast more originality than anything off of Hey Stoopid or Trash. Far surpassing anything Cooper recorded in almost 20 years, The Last Temptation is unquestionably some of his best work. ~ Barry Weber, All Music Guide
