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Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:55 pm
by shock rock
I echo the sentiments of most of the above,i was gravely disappointed .Its no wonder Ezrin turned down a sequel to ACAS.The only thing i find somewhat endearing is the lyrics "You look good in the trunk of my car...." and "I got a head full of faces....."

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:22 pm
by While Heaven Wept
I just tried to listen to the album and had to stop after track 3. It's just awful.

EOAC and Dirty Diamonds on the other hand still sound great to my ears. Certainly not his best albums, but there's some really solid songs on those 2 albums, inspired lyrics and great playing....things that were sorely missed on ACAS.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 5:11 pm
by In Chick
Well, you're all intitled to your opinion on this album, but I must say that I like it. Great conceptual album, like just Alice can do. As for the production, who I am to criticize a music album? Who am I to criticize what a rock icon, a legend has been doing all his life, and doing good?
Slash and Ozzy, did participate in this album.
Not exactly no names and beginners, right?
Anyway, it rocks, it has horror features, à la ''Silence of the Lambs''. To me, listening to good music is like listening to a good movie. ACAS... give a listen one more time. Maybe it will excit you, make you laugh, scare you, make you cry, make you angry or perplex, whatever... but it was a good album.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 5:58 pm
by Headbangers Ball
ACAS is ok. Vengeance and The One that Got Away are the only two songs that do anything for me. And TOTGA only appeals because of the opening lines 'I think you'd look good in the trunk of my car' - cause we all know someone we would like to lock in the trunk never to see the light of day again!

IMHO, the last decent album Alice brought out, was TEOAC, its one of my favourites that I still play.

As for Dirty Diamonds - absolute dross, total dross, and the most Un-Alice album I have ever heard.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:08 pm
by While Heaven Wept
I don't think the fact that Slash and Ozzy featured adds any weight to the argument in support of the album.

Also, Ozzy's contribution was minimal to say the least.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:26 pm
by wind_up_toy
Wake the Dead sums the album up to be honest. It could have been great but then... "shake my head, wake the dead"!?!? Enough said :(

Probably the best album cover though, top class!

I sincerely hope W2MN delivers otherwise it will be quite a run of mediocrity I'm afraid.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:46 pm
by While Heaven Wept
I agree, the artwork, imagery and presentation was fantastic, as was the promo video.

I wasn't too negative though as for me i personally blamed the producer for the poor album. I have high hopes for WTMN2, if its anywhere near as good as EOAC i'll be happy.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:36 pm
by Headbangers Ball
I have high hopes for WTMN2, if its anywhere near as good as EOAC i'll be happy.

I hope your right!!! I really think 'Eyes' was the last good thing churned out.

And while I think its a pipe dream to even expect anything close to the original WTMN kind of material - one can always hope??!

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:47 pm
by RemarkablyInsincere
While I got caught up in the euphoria of a new Alice release when it first came out, ACAS hasn't stood the test of time for me. I don't find myself wanting to listen to it which is pretty much the litmus test on how I ultimately feel about an album years later. There are a few good things on it, as with every Alice album, however much of the album feels like it's missing Alice's special something.

I agree that the two bonus tracks were better than much of what made the album, which is a head scratcher. I also think that one of the best pieces of music on the whole CD is "I Am The Spider". I think this would have been better served as a center piece to build the album around rather than feeling like an abbreviated after thought.

DD has some excellent stuff on it, but isn't quite as consistent through and through as TEOAC which is really a terrific Alice Cooper album from start to finish.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:44 pm
by ElectedPlus
Best thing about the album was promo material - found the photo's to be some of the most striking / sinister I've seen, the one featured as the cover of ToD DVD being the greatest.

Then the weekly teaser videos were well made and did a good job of building up anticipation (my fav. being the 'psycho' homage).

And of course the virtual pinball machine.

All brilliant promo material but the album itself I found to be rather dull (still do)...the lyrics mostly was a let down apart from a good few lines (opening of TOTGA as has been mentioned ... chloroform and handcuffs just for you being another). But overall had the impression that the idea of the album was more ambitious than the album itself.

The recordings that are out there of Vengence & Feminine Side performed live sound great tho. I wonder if more of the tracks would sound better when onstage.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:53 am
by Shoesalesman
I play it sometimes at work, in the garage while tinkering, it's a good album. I play it on a regular rotation, especially on road trips. Could do without the clapping though.

Good concept, some good guitar hooks, Alice's voice was pretty solid.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:51 am
by WickedYoungMan
In Chick wrote:Well, you're all intitled to your opinion on this album,
Thanks for the approval...
Slash and Ozzy, did participate in this album.
Not exactly no names and beginners, right?
Ozzy didn't really "participate" in the way you're probably thinking. As I understand it, his role (the harmonica intro) was left over from a demo that Danny Saber had several years ago (or at least the story is similar to that.)

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:54 am
by WickedYoungMan
shock rock wrote:The only thing i find somewhat endearing is the lyrics "You look good in the trunk of my car...."
It's ironic, since that was originally a "Saints of the Underground" song and so that lyric may not have been Alice's to begin with! (I'm really curious what the original version sounded like.)

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:16 am
by The son of Don Quijote
I also think that the album lacks the surprise element (Only surprising thing was weakness of the material) unlike many other Alice albums. Like for example on School's out album right after Street fight comes Jazz song Blue turk and on Goes to hell the extremely clever musical parody Give the kid a break comes out of nowhere.
But when you get to the middle of ACAS absolutely nothing surprising is waiting you behind the corner. I am hoping that WTMN2 is return to strange musical twists. I want something that attacks me behind the corner musically speaking.

And I agree the concept of the album is more ambitous than the album itself. I hope the WTMN2 lyrics are more along the lines of those extra verses that Alice added to Devil's food on Theater of death tour. They were great.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:44 am
by Gunner
I really think 'Eyes' was the last good thing churned out.
I agree with that.

WTMN2 features Mr Ezrin, it HAS to be good, the bloke is excellent!!

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:12 pm
by recoop
Re Gunners last comment..I agree Bob E can be excellent but even he can preside over some not so great stuff...although it all depends on opinions again..e.g.some people love stuff on Lace and W AND DADA which I struggle with..I am naturally hopeful that W2 will be good

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:39 pm
by While Heaven Wept
Bob Ezrin is a producer in the truest sense of the word....he doesn't just twiddle knobs and mess around with frequencies, he is a master at crafting songs and bringing out the dynamics.... something that the original WTMN had LOTS of!

ACAS had very little in the way of dynamics and i'm not just talking about the production (did i mention that the production is awful? Think i may have suggested that before).... the songs lack any real direction.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:31 am
by Darren
I liked ACAS, even though I was not initially impressed with "Vengence" lyricly (sounds great though) and yes, some of the production may not have been to my liking.I am never a fan of clapping in any song, I just think it cheapens it.

I loved the ballads even, I haven't liked very many of them since the 70s. I love killed by love.

Over all, I dig the album...it's classic rock,...not really any different then TEOAC and DD...So I'm not sure why some people dislike it so much and love the other two. It is the same style of 4/4 beat, with classic rock guitar playing.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:28 am
by A_MichaelUK
>So I'm not sure why some people dislike it so much and love the other two. It is the same style of 4/4 beat, with classic rock guitar playing.

Because not everyone has the same taste in songs. The "style" has nothing to do with it.

Re: ACAS- your view now?

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:18 pm
by playingwithtrains
while it is not my favorite AC album, I like it a lot more than some folks.

My only disappointment was that the story was not all that scary. Perhaps the bar has been raised so high on what constitutes "horror" in pop culture these days as compared to the '70s... can anyone truly "shock" anyone anymore?

Admittedly I'm not a professional musician, engineer or producer... but I don't think ACAS is all that bad of an album. To each his own, as has been mentioned... I like Dada a lot and plenty of fans don't like that one much, either.