Album

Timeline

Lyrics

The first and original 'Greatest Hits' album nicely closed the era of the original Alice Cooper group with a round up of the best known songs, some in slightly different forms to their album versions, and remixed, all wrapped up in a classic cover.

August 1974

I'm Eighteen - Love it to Death, 1971 [3:00] Is It My Body - Love It To Death, 1971 [2:39] Desperado - Killer, 1971 [3:25] Under My Wheels - Killer, 1971 [3:26] Be My Lover - Killer, 1971 [3:15] School's Out - School's Out, 1972 [ 3:26] Hello Hooray - Billion Dollar Babies, 1973 [4:14] Elected - Billion Dollar Babies, 1973 [4:05] No More Mr. Nice Guy - Billion Dollar Babies, 1973 [3:05] Billion Dollar Babies - Billion Dollar Babies, 1973 [3:39] Teenage Lament '74 - Muscle of Love, 1973 [3:53] Muscle Of Love - Muscle of Love, 1973 [3:45]

The Album

I think Bob Ezrin did a little re-mixing on some of the songs just for the heck of it.
(Renfield, February 1996)

The only songs I notice any significant remixing is the three from "Killer," including "Under My Wheels," "Desperado,"and "Be My Lover." The original recordings were a little harsh, and some of the individual lines tended to be obscured, almost like a live performance. On "Under My Wheels" Alice's voice is brought more to the fore and one of the rhythm guitar tracks is cut way back. Similar alterations on the other songs.
(Sickthing Andy, February 1997)

The Cover

The cover for this album is truly a work of art. Painted by Drew Strutzan, it contains a great amount of detail. .

On The Back/Front Cover, left to right:

1. Humphrey Bogart
2. Robert Taylor
3. Clark Gable
4. Edward G. Robinson
5. ?? (John Barrymore, or more likely William Powell?)
6. Jean Harlow
7. Peter Lorre
8. Glen Buxton
9. Dennis Dunaway
10. Alice Cooper
11. Michael Bruce
12. Neal Smith
13. Groucho Marx

Inner Sleeve:

1. Groucho Marx
2. Jean Harlow
3. Joan Crawford (?)
4. Errol Flynn
5. Clara Bow
6. William Bendix
7. Edward G. Robinson
8. Lillian Gish (?)
9. Marilyn Monroe
10. Gary Cooper
11. Judy Garland
12. Alan Ladd
13. Basil Rathbone
14. Tallulah Bankhead (or maybe Gretta Garbo (?))
15. Humphrey Bogart
16. Boris Karloff
17. Michael Bruce
18. (Dwight Frye in background)
19. Bela Lugosi
20. Glen Buxton
21. Veronica Lake
22. Alice Cooper
23. Clark Gable
24. Neal Smith
25. Dennis Dunaway
26. Betty Grable
27. Marlene Dietrich or Carole Lombard
28. Dick Powell
29. Jean Arthur
30. Tyrone Power

The first five persons on the left of the LP inner sleeve are missing in the CD version of the inner sleeve.

If anyone thinks the above are wrong and has any firm evidence of it then let me know.

Other things of note on the cover:
Note the 'Billion Dollar Babies' mags on the front. And the 'School's Out' on the newspapers. The '18' on the door. The garage is called Al's place.

The people on the magazines in the upper right hand corner of 'Greatest Hits' are no one in particular - just atmosphere images to add to the 1930s look of it all. A couple of more identities inside the scene at Big Al's garage - Veronica Lake (famous hair dip over her eyes), Bela Lugosi looking straight at Karloff, Marlene Dietrich over to the right. And for you young ones out there - the artwork of the 5 gunmen (obviously the A.C. guys) that is at top where the title "Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits" logo is - depicts the famous "St. Valentines Day Massacre" in Chicago which was a big gang hit back in the 40's [actually February 14th 1929, A couple of Capone thugs dressed as cops killed 7 of Bugs Moran's gang. Bugs was late, and got away. No one was ever convicted] The advertisements for the album used the slogan - 'Alice Cooper: The Hitmen of Rock'.
(Brian Nelson, June 1995)

The magazines in the upper right look like they might be reproductions of actual period covers. The one on the bottom looks like Clara Bowe, but that's just a guess. The one in the middle looks a lot like Norma Desmond, the actress that's the main character in the play "Sunset Boulevard." But that's -really- a guess! the top one rangs no bells at all. I thought the letters on the hubcaps might be a clue as to they type of car it was, but they're the signature of the artist... I'm don't know enough about cars of that period to make more than a guess. Looks like a standard Ford or something like it, Model A type.
(Sickthings June 1995)

The artist who did the front of 'Greatest Hits' (and 'Welcome To My Nightmare') is now a BIG time movie poster artist and has done some of the most famous posters in history including a bunch of Spielberg stuff like 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'
(Brian NelsonJune 1995)

In 2008 the original Greatest Hits album was reissued on CD in a replica of the original vinyl sleeve.

The Definitive..

Warner Brothers/Rhino put together a remastered version of Greatest Hits in 2001 which was expanded with extra tracks. It was called "The Definitive Alice Cooper"(UK: 8122735342) and featured following, many of which are the original single edits:

1. I'm Eighteen 2. Desperado 3. Under My Wheels 4. Halo of Flies 5. School's Out 6. Elected 7. Hello, Hooray 8. Generation Landslide 9. No More Mr. Nice Guy 10. Billion Dollar Babies 11. Teenage Lament '74 12. Muscle of Love 13. Only Women Bleed 14. Department of Youth 15. Welcome to My Nightmare 16. I Never Cry 17. You and Me 18. How You Gonna See Me Now 19. From the Inside 20. Poison 21. Hey Stoopid