Pretties for you! Your thoughts!

[The son of Don Quijote]

I have recently bought Rhino remasters of both Pretties for you and Easy action. Because nobody has started a topic about Alice Cooper's debut album, I decided to do so. When I ordered these two albums I had pretty low expectations and I was pleasantly suprised when they turned out to be pretty strong releases. Pretties for is much better album than Trash, Constrictor or The eyes of Alice Cooper in my opinion.

I will make a few observations about Pretties for you but not a detailed anylysis.I think Pretties for you is the most psychedelic Alice album ever. It's a psychedelic rock album with some hard rock touches. It is the album that even many hard core fans don't own and radically different from almost any Alice album released after it. While it may sound bizarre today I think it was a logical album to make in the late sixties when psychedelia was very popular and some of the weirdest albums of entire rock history saw the light of day. Even Rolling stones made psychedelic album in the late sixties.

I think on Pretties for you there are clear influences of Zappa, early Pink Floyd and the Beatles. Alice's vocals sound suprisingly much like Paul McCartney on some songs, especially on Living. The guitar playing is very wild and quite inventive but not yet as tight as on later Alice Cooper records. But Alice's harmonica work is definately at its best on this album. I think intro Titanic overture is a great way to open the record. There are some songs like Fields of regret and Sing low sweet cheerio that I rank as Alice Cooper classics. Maybe a bit uneven in some places (Apple bush, Earwigs to eternity) but I like spontaniety of this record. So what do you think about Alice's debut album? And what are its highlights?

[Nick]

I personally struggle to listen to any of it.
imo easy action is much better, and i don't really rate that album either.
pretties sounds to me like a bunch of guys who didn't really know what they were doing.

[The son of Don Quijote]

I have to admit that I am personally a huge fan of weird music. Captain Beefheart's Trout mask replica from the same year is one of my all time favourite albums and is often cited as the least accessible album ever. Frank Zappa is my favourite artist right after Alice. And Primus is one of my favourite modern bands.

[Maurice]

Back in 2003, (after the general invitation from Brian via this web-site), I - and many others - wrote 'Liner Notes' for the 16 Warner/Straight Alice albums.

My chosen albums were in fact the first four (PFY, EA,LITD & Killer). This gave me an opportunity to listen perhaps a little more closely than I might otherwise have done, and so I can fully appreciate the 'weird' comments, as much as the 'struggle' to listen comments, although it is true to say that I have not re-visited that album since then.

That fact alone speaks volumes to me, and is of course personal choice.

Clearly, at the release of PFY, the band were not - as yet - the 'cohesive force' they were to become, suffering an abundance of good ideas from each of them within the band with, seemingly, little clear idea of the direction they needed to go in. For this reason I choose to define this album as 'experimental', perhaps with some significant onus on the 'mental' suffix (joke!).

There are many, many influences - if you take time to listen for them - not limited by any means to those stated in preceding posts; but in summary, they were so loud and raucous, (on this album and live), they were The Sex Pistols of their day, markedly making the difference from the summer of love thang, and the psychedelia that had gone before.

Maybe it is time for me to play it again?

CD or LP, hmm, now there is another question!

[Parish]

Pretties For You is an experiment in both musical discoveries and listener sufferance and stamina. You can smell the novice but also glimpse the genius that was to arrive a few years later with Love It To Death.

[TeresofBlood]

I personally think Easy Action is an excellent album. Below Your Means = AWESOME!!! But every song is good - Mr. and Misdemeanor, Refrigerator Heaven, Laughing at Me, Return of the Spiders. It truly is a great album.

Pretties on the other hand is a mixed bag - and I am a HUGE Alice and HUGE psychedelic fan. I am actually a psychedelic aficionado. Sing low Sweet Cheerio, Changing Arranging, (especially) Fields of Regret are awesome. The studio cut of Levity Ball is awesome and should have been on the album. The live version included sucks. Nobody Likes Me is also a great song and should have been on the album. If those two songs were included in their proper forms, the album would have been a more solid listen. All in all it is about 1/3 classic 2/3 dispensable.

EDIT: A while back, I actually made a "fan-edit" of the album. I took the studio cuts of Levity Ball and Nobody Likes Me (from the Life and Crimes Boxset) and inserted them into the album. I of course deleted the crappy live cut of Levity Ball and placed Nobody likes me after Levity Ball (just as it was sequenced in the live show and surely how it would have been if the song was included). Overall, there is much more about the album to like and much more to want to revisit. Try it!

[Parish]

I personally think Easy Action is an excellent album.

Totally agree...excellent

"Mr. and Misdemeanor"
"Shoe Salesman"
"Still No Air"
"Below Your Means"
"Return of the Spiders"
"Laughing at Me"
"Refrigerator Heaven"
"Beautiful Flyaway"
"Lay Down and Die, Goodbye"

and just one year later...brilliant

"Caught in a Dream"
"I'm Eighteen"
"Long Way to Go"
"Black Juju"
"Is It My Body"
"Hallowed Be My Name"
"Second Coming"
"Ballad of Dwight Fry"
"Sun Arise"

[The son of Don Quijote]

I agree that Pretties for you is somewhat incohesive and pretty badly produced album. And inexperience shows clearly. But on the good side there seems to be a lot of attitude (Many will probably disagree with this), great harmonica playing and ambitious yet naive spirit and I think Pretties for you is pretty dynamic too.

It doesn't quite match quality heights of Captain Beefheart's Trout mask replica and Frank Zappa's Uncle meat from the same year or Killer and School's out from a couple years later but I still found more enjoyment from Pretties for you than Muscle of love. I don't think Muscle of love is bad, just one of my least favourites from Alice discography.

And if you think this album is undynamic mess, listen to Pink Floyd's Ummagumma also from 1969 and you notice that the things could be a lot worse. I was a bit suprised that my father liked this album too. He is not even nearly as big a weird music fan as I am.

[The son of Don Quijote]

I also think Easy action is a better album with more Alice sounding vocals. The band had more experience and album is a lot more cohesive. I also agree that the live version of Levity ball sucks.

[TeresofBlood]

And if you think this album is undynamic mess, listen to Pink Floyd's Ummagumma also from 1969 and you notice that the things could be a lot worse.

Hahahaha. I know. That album sucks horrendously, but the live disc is awesome and worth the price.

I quite enjoy the live show at the Whiskey. The performances there were better than most on the album. There was more vivacity and cohesion in the band.

[Maurice]

I quite enjoy the live show at the Whiskey. The performances there were better than most on the album. There was more vivacity and cohesion in the band.

I wholeheartedly agree; just a pity there is not enough of it. It was something of a surprise to discover that the LP is played at 45 rpm!

[pitkin88]

I don't believe the Rhino re-issues are re-masters.
That said, Pretties is very hard to listen to. It would have made a half decent ep but that's about it.

[The son of Don Quijote]

I knew that Pretties for you is a very disliked album but I'm suprised that I seem to be only one who actually likes the album. For me Constrictor and Special forces are only Alice Albums that I would rate as bad. And I would state that You want it, you got it and You're a movie are worse than anything on Pretties for you. But that's just my opinion.

And by the way I don't know if my copies are re-issues but both are from Rhino and at least my copies of Easy action and Pretties for you have a text on a back cover that says Re-mastered by Bill Inglot. And if you don't believe me, I can send you a photo of those back covers.

[Dave Conway]

Hmm, I got PFY and EA really just to complete the collection of studio albums. I wasn't really expecting much, and really found PFY hard going, and only gave it a couple of spins before putting it on the shelf. Initial impression was that it sounds like a bunch ok kids messing about in a garage (which may not be too far from the truth!).

I agree there is a lot of attitude, creativity and experimentation there, but that does not make it pretty to listen to! I think my take on it, is that its an important historical document and records where the band where at, during that time frame, and from where they developed to LITD.

EA is a much better album in my view, shows they where mastering thier instruments and developing a specific sound.

[Baz]

I wonder if this album was served up to the label execs today , would it get released, maybe not, but back then they seem to have been left to do their own thing, with not too much direction from anyone, and it shows.

Personally, I like quite a bit of this album, but only when i haven`t heard it for 12 months.

[Parish]

Personally, I like quite a bit of this album, but only when i haven`t heard it for 12 months.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/images/applause.gif

[Baz]

Been waiting for that chance all day , haven`t yer.

[Parish]

Been waiting for that chance all day , haven`t yer.

Yeah, what took ya

[Shoesalesman]

I love Pretties For You. I hunted around for the vinyl for years before Hot Wax in Calgary got a copy and I drove three hours from Edmonton to pick it up.

I love it as much as Easy Action.

[daytripper]

I love the old garage sound. Im really fond of things live and out of order. I like the sound of Alice's voice and I love the live version of Livety Ball. I think I like more on Easy Action than Pretties For You. Im just an Alice junkie.