W2MN .. REVIEWED

[revinkevin]

I just got it yesterday and I think it's fantastic. I think it weaves textures from the first nightmare into this one and is a brilliant release on it's own. The Underture blew me away. Especially the recognizable signature guitar sound of Steve and Dick. That gave me chills. I usually prefer singular music styles on my albums but the array of styles on 2 just works so well. I also dislike heavily produced albums and this album is heavily produced. I prefer a raw sound in the studio but when Ezrin is the guy, you trust his past history and go with it. It works here.

I'm Pain. Good for you. You are entitled to your point of view and personal tastes. By not liking this release does not make you a lesser fan in my book. Here's hoping the Nightmare tour rocks out and maybe the next release will be to your style. Cheers.

[Devon]

I'm sorry.. I'll use the correct term if you give it to me

Squarewave.

[Miller]

[Quote]I'm Pain >The cover art is even absurd..[Quote]


Why is it absurd?

[I'm Pain]

I'm almost frightened to continue this..

Miller* The original cover was a beautiful and effectively creepy painting.. Alice in top hat and tails welcoming you into his world from bug scattered wallpaper.. Fantastic logo.. Just a real cool package altogether.. Look at the new cover - Welcome to my photoshop Nightmare. Very fake(blood)looking with Alice giving a cartoonish spooky face.. It's kind of right there with the album covers for Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell..

Goat Herder* Thanks for the info, as I did ask for it..

RevinKevin* Thanks. Looking forward to catching the Coop on tour as he ALWAYS puts on a kick a** show with his touring band! As for being a fan, yes.. I've bought all of Alice's releases since From the Inside - when it was released many, many years ago.. If I like it - I say so.. If I don't - I have no problem giving my opinion.. I respect others and I'm glad so many of you dig it.. I hope it sells tons.. Really.. Just not my thing..

[steven_crayn]

here is my review

'Welcome 2 My Nightmare', I think you're gonna like it.

There is a magic when Alice Cooper and his George Martin; that other legendary record producer Bob Ezrin, get together and create.
That magic is in plentiful supply on this sequel to their 1975 work of art.
This one is as instantly addictive as a Hammer House of Horror and will keep you awake, as there isn't a bad song on the album.

The variety and quality that the Coop served up on the albums of his 1970's heyday has returned to the menu, just as rock n' roll got too homogenized.
The genius of this record saves the music industry from the endless mundane rock releases of this century, quite simply this is the best work Alice has recorded since the sounds of the seventies when he was King.

From the haunting piano references to 'Steven' woven into a tapestry of a new nightmare, 'I Am Made Of You' sets the scene, sounding fresh and current with auto tune used for effect, but unlike Cher's 'Believe' this is also old school and believeable, as original Nightmare gunslinger Steve Hunter plays a guitar solo like there is no tomorrow.

'Caffeine' has more hooks than AC/DC and as 'The Nightmare Returns', 'A Runaway Train' takes the senses for a ride as the co written Dennis Dunaway offering sees him, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce reunited on record with the man who took the name of the greatest American band of the early seventies.
The chemistry is there for all to hear on the other two classics they all play on; the Smith co written 'I'll Bite Your Face Off' which could make it onto a Stones album and the disturbing nightmare of abuse, 'When Hell Comes Home', the Bruce contribution that reminds us what a great tunesmith he is.

'Last Man On Earth' emphasises that Alice is not afraid to throw a curve ball as he has done in the past, with the likes of 'Some Folks' and 'Crazy Little Child' and there is also a Jim Morrison feel to this one.

'Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever' and 'Ghouls Gone Wild' add that Alice Cooper light hearted yet twisted sense of humour in some sort of Disco Nightmare, but brilliant all the same.
There is even a tip of the hat to the King of Pop himself with the strong musical reference to 'Beat It', the Ke$ha collaboration on 'What Baby Wants', but Jackson went to Vincent Price after Alice, so it's pay back when this is surely released as a hit single?

The King of Shock Rock still delivers a ballad that only he and other original Nightmare guitar hero Dick Wagner could have come up with, 'Something To Remember Me By' was around years ago, but is now the 'Only Women Bleed' and 'I Never Cry' of this decade.

'The Underture' is the perfect ending to a great album, an orchesteral tour de force of both Nightmares, that sees both Hunter and Wagner on guitar on an Alice Cooper record again.

A great piece of work mixing old and new and bringing to the fore the emerging talent of Tommy Henriksen, a major contributor to the album.

Alice Cooper Welcome 2 My Nightmare, how are you gonna follow this?

Steven Crayn September 2011

[ThePainAddict]

"Dennis Dunaway offering sees him, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce reunited on record with the man who took the name of the greatest American band of the early seventies.
The chemistry is there for all to hear on the other two classics they all play on"

I believe just Dunaway & Smith played on all 3 songs, and Bruce joined them on When Hell.

[Si]

No, Michael is credited as being on that song as well.
All the song credits are on the album page. Ueful as in honesty you can`t really read them in the CD booklet as the type is so small!

[A_MichaelUK]

>I'll use the correct term if you give it to me

If you read at least one very recent post, you'll see "the correct term" has already been used.

[A_MichaelUK]

>I also dislike heavily produced albums and this album is heavily produced. I prefer a raw sound in the studio but when Ezrin is the guy, you trust his past history and go with it. It works here.

This is not an attack on you and this isn't a court of law, but these are incredibly misleading statements, even if they weren't meant to be. If, for example, you don't like the "Billion Dollar Babies", "Welcome To My Nightmare", "Alice Cooper Goes To Hell", "Lace And Whiskey", "From The Inside", "Dada", "Hey Stoopid", "The Last Temptation" and "Along Came A Spider" albums, that's absolutely fine, but those albums were also "heavily produced". If you do like them though, your statement is flawed. Also to refer to "past history" in the way you do is misleading because that "history" is part of Alice's "history" as well, including three of the albums I just mentioned. It's not like the gentelman in question was chosen because of "his past history" with other artists, or something.

[I'm Pain]

>I'll use the correct term if you give it to me

If you read at least one very recent post, you'll see "the correct term" has already been used.

Like I said - thanks.. I was going by the information I've read in the reviews of the album which all have mentioned "auto tune." I feel just awful about this, though I'm quite amused at the same time.. At some point, when I have the time, I will go back and make a list of the reviews I've read which mention "auto tune" and send them to you (there were about 6 or so) and you can correct the reviewers as well.. Squarewave - got it..

[Si]

You don`t seem to get it yet, so I will explain.

Regardless of what other sites or reviewers may say, the correct name for the effect is apparently "Squarewave".

You came here and called it "auto tune" which was fine, except that it had already been said that it was not an "auto tune". You may have not bothered to read the thread but even that is okay I suppose.

I believe you then asked what the actual effect was called, which was definitly fine (I don`t thinki the actual name had been mentioned so it was a good question), and Devon told you.

You then continued calling it "auto tune". Why?

It's really no big deal, but after being corrected you seem to have taken it personally. Surely knowing the truth is more important then being right (especially when you are wrong).

The fact that other sites are wrong isn`t really our problem. This site however is here to try and provide the *correct* information, and so when incorrect information is posted it gets corrected. I don`t see why it has become such an issue.

The really weird thing is that your last response was to AMichaelUK, who had obviously not seen you thanking Goatherder (Devon) for the info a few post previously or he wouldn`t posted what he did.

[revinkevin]

Production wise I prefered TEOAC and DD. A stripped down raw approach in the studio that transfers better when those songs are played in concert. I was not a huge fan of The Last Temptation or Dada. I acknowledge the briliance in the song writing but felt the recordings were on the cold side to me. When Alice played a couple of songs in concert from TLT in the late 90's, I thought that is how it was suppose to sound on the record. Just came off a lot harder and more aggressive. I really liked ACAS but it suffered production wise with too many chefs in the kitchen. If that album was done like TEOAC I think it would have been better. In 73 when BDB came out it was a slicker sounding album. To recreate those songs live I believe the Alice Cooper band needed to take on a extra guitar player and a keyboard player for the tour. I would have prefered to see the band record things that they could reproduce live on their own. I loved the first Nightmare, not as much with GTH but both were slick albums too. Especially when you compare it to the old bands release of Battle Axe, which IMO had the older feel of the early AC albums.

My reference to Ezrin's past history is in regards to the Nighmare 2 release. When he is your producer I think you can expect a heavy hand in the production and his career in the music business has born that out. That is neither good or bad, it's his style. When it was announced he was going to produce the 2 album I was excited but as for the final product, I was not really expecting it to sound like DD or TEOAC in the production dept.

[revinkevin]

And thank you for reaffirming the small print on the credits.I needed my readers and a magnifying glass to see what was going on. Felt older than stone.

[I'm Pain]

You don`t seem to get it yet, so I will explain.

Regardless of what other sites or reviewers may say, the correct name for the effect is apparently "Squarewave".

You came here and called it "auto tune" which was fine, except that it had already been said that it was not an "auto tune". You may have not bothered to read the thread but even that is okay I suppose.

I believe you then asked what the actual effect was called, which was definitly fine (I don`t thinki the actual name had been mentioned so it was a good question), and Devon told you.

You then continued calling it "auto tune". Why?

It's really no big deal, but after being corrected you seem to have taken it personally. Surely knowing the truth is more important then being right (especially when you are wrong).

The fact that other sites are wrong isn`t really our problem. This site however is here to try and provide the *correct* information, and so when incorrect information is posted it gets corrected. I don`t see why it has become such an issue.

The really weird thing is that your last response was to AMichaelUK, who had obviously not seen you thanking Goatherder (Devon) for the info a few post previously or he wouldn`t posted what he did.

You've asked me why I continued to use the term "Auto tune" after being corrected.. I don't see where I've done that.. Go back and look for yourself..

I've been repremanded for not reading past posts (in rererence to Squarewave) yet my reply to AMichaelUK (who has not read a previous post - which was fine with you) was seen as some "really weird thing" on my part..

[I'm Pain]

Si.. Sorry this has gotten a bit silly.. Can we drop it.. We're kind of all in the same camp here..

[Si]

I've been repremanded for not reading past posts (in rererence to Squarewave) yet my reply to AMichaelUK (who has not read a previous post - which was fine with you) was seen as some "really weird thing" on my part..

Only weird as in your response was to *his* error, not yours.
He had obviously not seen your previous reponse to Devon (it was only one line in the larger post) but you went on about other sites etc. I wasn`t repremanding you at all, just thought it was a little over the top haha

[Si]

Si.. Sorry this has gotten a bit silly.. Can we drop it.. We're kind of all in the same camp here..

Sure

[A_MichaelUK]

>who had obviously not seen you thanking Goatherder (Devon) for the info a few post previously or he wouldn`t posted what he did.

No, I was referring to the post some days ago that had the information on it before I'm Pain asked the question.

[A_MichaelUK]

>Production wise I prefered TEOAC and DD. A stripped down raw approach in the studio that transfers better when those songs are played in concert.

That is reasonable but that is still a pretty large swathe of albums you suggest you don't like (or like as much).

>In 73 when BDB came out it was a slicker sounding album.

Yes. Do you like it though, despite that? My point is you claim you dislike "heavily produced albums" but you do like this new offering which you admit has that feature and I guess what I'm also getting at is that you're better off not sticking so rigidly to those kind of rules. You are just likely to like something for exactly the same reason you dislike something else (as you demonstrated).

> To recreate those songs live I believe the Alice Cooper band needed to take on a extra guitar player and a keyboard player for the tour.

That is also true but it's also true to say that even despite that, they didn't exactly turn into The Electric Light Orchestra all of a sudden.

>I would have prefered to see the band record things that they could reproduce live on their own. I loved the first Nightmare, not as much with GTH but both were slick albums too.

Again, another reason not to impose rules on yourself when it comes to something like this.

>Especially when you compare it to the old bands release of Battle Axe, which IMO had the older feel of the early AC albums.

So did "Along Came A Spider" but you didn't like that either. Again, all these rules are meaningless. You either like something or you don't.

> When he is your producer I think you can expect a heavy hand in the production and his career in the music business has born that out.

I know. It's just that your post made it sound like he came in without any previous connnection to Alice Cooper or that there was no history that they share.

[A_MichaelUK]

>It's called personal preference. I think that would be a resonable thought for most people.

Yes but my point was that I identified almost a third of the back - catalogue that meet that critieria. My point was that it's rather a large proportion.

>Uh, no, not really. You can like bits and pieces and when added up they may be greater than what you dislike about something.

You seem to take a very scientific approach which seems very restrictive.

>As far as Bob Ezrin goes, I thought his history with Alice would be a given with the members of this board.

I wouldn't make that assumption!