SickthingsUK

I've given this black sheep a serious chance recently... and it's quite good! Not amongst the very, very best albums but well worth a listen. I, for one can't see where the hate for (No More) Love at Your Convenience comes from... it's a very well crafted disco/pop thing but it's still unmistakably Alice. Also, I like the foreboding tone that lingers in many songs here. I feel sorry for Alice and his family for going through this period (with the drinking etc.) but the sad fact is that many artists make their best stuff when they're in some kind of turmoil IMO.

I think there was another thread on this not too long ago but i will say it again, i love this album. Its something different for Alice, he is maybe experimenting a bit but it works really well. I also think the Alice Cooper show live gets unfairly dismissed, i love it!!

I think it's an album that might be a bit better now, but if you bought the album around the time it came out - it was an embarrassing flop.

Coming off of WTMN and Goes to Hell (which is still one of my faves) this album didn't have any home runs on it nor the catchy hooks and nothing sinister or evil. He actually sounds like a man who has given up his old ways and resigned to a life of TV watching.

Side One starts off well enough with IHT, L&W and RR but trails off with a mediocre Damned if You Do and You & Me was the sappiest of his string of ballads that were released as singles (OWB, INC, Y&M, HYGSMN). Side Two shows promise with KOTSS but doesn't gain momentum, in fact kind of falls over a cliff. Ubangi Stomp would of made a funny B-Side, No More (LAYC) sounds like something that would be played on 92.1 Soft Rock with your Host John Tesh. I Never Wrote Those Songs sounded like an apology for his past work, and the album closer provided an apt phrase for what I was thinking after listening to the album, as in "My God - what the hell became of Alice Cooper?"

Looking back, I like it more now than back in '77 and I think L&W biggest problem is the production. Too glossy sounding, no grit and sandpaper. The mix sounds distant at times and as I said before - nothing sinister and demonic but I believe he was trying to escape his past so I can't fault him for that - I may not like it but I'll give him and the album some of it's due and recognize it was an attempt at something new. Which is one of the things I was always drawn to with the Coop. Back then, a new album from AC always seem to offer such new possiblities. Every release sounded just different enough to keep it interesting. An element that has been sorely lacking for the past 4 albums.

I think Toronto Bob makes a good point about the perception of the album within a certain era. At the time, KISS were taking over the planet from where ACG left off whilst Alice was playing golf with Hollywood celebrities, going on mainstream talk and quiz shows and putting out some 'cheesy easy listening' music that left most of his fans scratching their heads. Personally, at the time, I thought the album was good but 'out of focus' at the time in terms of his career. Now, I just think it's a good rock album, I ALWAYS LIKED NMLAYC and never understood the hatred for it (particularly from Alice himself!) - in fact, the first time I heard it on the radio, I didn't know who it was but liked it. 'My God' is very powerful - especially the intro right up until the vocal (which is nicely multi-layered).

It's a decent album, but a poor career move at the time in my opinion - I would draw parallels with Queen's 'Hot Space' in that respect. I prefer it to 'Go to Hell' though, I never really rated that.

He just sounds out of gas on this one. I don't love it but I don't hate it. It is the first album that contains a few songs that I just loathe. No More Love, Damned If Yo Do and Ubangi Stomp I just don't get. I like My God very much. Most of the album is good imo. And You & Me was my wedding song so it can't be too bad. It's amazing how many people know that song but don't know it's Alice. The production was just OK. I thought Peter Gabriel's first album had similar production. Slowburn and Here Comes The Flood would fit pretty good on L&W. Maybe it's just Steve and Dick doing there thing. Anyway, this album overall was just Ok. IMO.

to me its a Album where Alice experiments in different musical genres. He does well with most songs but they aren't very Alice Cooper.Most Albums have 1 or 2 songs like this. It's a full album in this case

i bought it when it first came out and i don't remember hating it. It was Alice. Analizing it now, perhaps not one of his greatest, but definitely easy to listen to, unlike some of his mid eighties albums, Raise Your Fist for one.

And one of my fav songs is actually No More (LAYC), ALice must have thought so too, cuz he did a video for it...

Admittedly, it's not one of my all-time favourite Alice records, but it still gets the odd "Spin", when I'm in the mood to do a bit of Ironing.....it was, at the time ( for me, anyway) a WORLD away from what was happening elsewhere musically ( Punk, new-wave, etc)....and I totally HATED Damned if you do, and Ubangi stomp). I sort of got the "Joke" with NMLAYC, and still think it's ok.( I used to play it when I DJ'd in bars, as a "Pop quiz" type of thing....it confused some people, but someone once guessed right, and won a free drink...).

I want "My God" Played Loudly ( with lyric sheets provided for the millions of mourners) as the curtains close at my cremation ( Which should be fun, as I am "Flame resistant" ...).

DaveJay wrote:
I want "My God" Played Loudly ( with lyric sheets provided for the millions of mourners) as the curtains close at my cremation ( Which should be fun, as I am "Flame resistant" ...).

haha, genius!

> ALice must have thought so too,

He was very drunk at the time, of course.

wonder if My God, should become a hymn.

Its hot tonight, Lace And Whiskey, Road Rats I LOVE if the album had 5 more songs in this rock vein with a couple of ballads it would have been an amazing alice album.


To me half of the album sounds like b-sides or half finished songs mashed together.

King of the silver screen starts off awesome dont know what he was thinking with the second half, would have been another classic song without it,

wonder if My God, should become a hymn.

That's quite a good point actually, it's close to one isn't it?

Somwhere In Auckland wrote:King of the silver screen starts off awesome dont know what he was thinking with the second half, would have been another classic song without it,

It's the second half of KOTSS that makes it for me - Alice channels Gene Wilder.

I have always liked that album as well. It would be interesting to hear Lace and Whiskey and the four early 80's Alice albums with better production.

>and the four early 80's Alice albums with better production.

Unfortunately, Alice would agree.

I think L&W , Da Da , Goes to Hell etc reflect the coops eclectic music tastes . In My view they are some of the best coop albums , very diverse and full of emotion .

Its a shame the coop has never in my view gone out on a limb since Da Da ( He has played it all very safe ). But Since the coop is running a business its understandable that business plans and marketing research are king . No label wants a artist in there stable that is nt selling units .

Love this album. It is Alice expressing himself in differnt ways. This album gets worn out in my ears...cause I never heard anything like it before by a rock artist. Still love it.

"Its a shame the coop has never in my view gone out on a limb since Da Da ( He has played it all very safe )."

I totally understand what you mean, and do agree to a large extant. However, an argument could be made that he went "out on a limb" by embracing the metal/hair band sound in the 80s and then to the nu metal of BP & DT.
While, clearly none these broached the experimental elements of DaDa, they did assimilate to the contemporary sound, much like FtF & SF also did.

>However, an argument could be made that he went "out on a limb" by embracing the metal/hair band sound in the 80s and then to the nu metal of BP & DT.

I think criss is saying the opposite. Those could equally be considered to be examples of Alice playing it safe, as criss put it.