Killer vs. BDB

[HORRORHOLIC]

[quote="HORRORHOLIC"]I might even like Schools Out a little more tooquote]
Ok now that I think about it no lol I like Billion Dollar Babies more then Schools Out

[steven_crayn]

Yesterday a friend of mine came home for dinner (a big ACG fan) & we listened to the live LP from the Old School box set - he of course just loved it ! And we talked a lot about the ACG's albums, including about BDB.

I love "Killer", which is still, with LITD, the best studio album Alice ever has done, I think : gritty sound and atmosphere, musically theatrical, dirty-sounding yet precisely produced, clever choices of arrangements, great mix showcasing all individuals talents, great lyrics and vocals....and GREAT MELODIES !!!
My views on music are based only on the musical result; so, for me, the fact that BDB (or any other album) was a huge commercial success (and it would be the same thing in case of a commercial failure) isn't something that I especially care for. An artist's bank account is not my business. Now that I know well all of the ACG studio albums, BDB sounds to me the least interesting of them all. I'm not crazy about how the way the guitar solos sound, kind of acid but not really edgy : artificially acid in fact; nor do I especially like the way those solos are played - especially at the end of the title track, the fast playing of the guitar solos verging too much on Heavy Metal for me. The compositions are not urgent nor atmospheric, the melodies are tame and sometimes dull (Raped & freezin' - which has such a weak refrain it's rather embarassing-, Elected, Sick Things) or even childlish (Unfinished Sweet). The production is energetic but sterile, nothing dirty-while-diverse like School's Out was, soundwise. Unlike SO again, there is no attempts at including other musical roots, like Jazz, Psychedelia (Luney Tune, My Stars), Rhythm & Blues (Public Animal n°9 !!), as displayed on SO.... listen to Alma Mater : surf-folk (if I may invent the term )for the verses, and soul for the refrain; all flowing perfectly, with a REAL crunchy production !!! Thus, having instead a parody of a cabaret song (Mary-Ann) for the diversity aspect of BDB leaves me a bit hungry compared to previous albums. When I listen to Sick Things and I Love The Dead, I have the impression I'm listening to a group of comedians (happening to also be good players in terms of music) whose goal was to mock the ACG by making parody songs about them. Like : "yeah, who are we gonna make fun of next.... Oh I know ! - Hey guys, you know, that band, Alice something, they have songs like "Dead Babies" and so on, let's make a parody of them !!" And on with the glossy production, so that a maximum of people can listen to it and enjoy when played on their favorite TV-show....
All the A-side seems to be a collection of 45 rpm A-sides, all of them seeming to have been designed as potential hit-singles, and turning out to be indeed what they were planned for : OK songs, nothing special, and more radio-friendly than ever before, thanks to the removal of the hard edge and previous raw rock feel. Generation Landslide is, by far, the best track, since it's the most "lively" musically and also melodically- thus the most interesting. It seems this track was not so much touched by the icy and stiff production. More tracks of this vein would have done a great deal of good to that album I think.

Lately I've been reading again the thread that was set a while ago by Gunner, called "Did BDB kill the band ?". And I think I understand what he meant then.

Just the other day I listened to three Alice Cooper LPs : Easy Action, Billion Dollar Babies & Muscle Of Love. While I had a great time listening to EA & MOL, it was an akward feeling listening to BDB... just an OK album to me, not among the best AC albums.

Choosing my words very carefully, as I know how sensitive some people are on here when their opinion is challenged, when the above poster says of Billion Dollar Babies:

"OK songs nothing special"

I'd be interested to hear how many people agree with his low opinion of the likes of Elected, No More Mister Nice Guy etc...

Do others find the melodies described by Steven Lee Cooper as "tame and dull"?

Do you share his opinion that Raped and Freezing is an embarrassment?

Are you too not into the guitar playing and production on the album?

Do you think as he does, that the album isn't among Alice Cooper's best?

[Si]

Do others find the melodies described by Steven Lee Cooper as "tame and dull"?

Personally, no.

Do you share his opinion that Raped and Freezing is an embarrassment?

No, far from it.

Are you too not into the guitar playing and production on the album?

No

Do you think as he does, that the album isn't among Alice Cooper's best?

No, it's one of the best albums ever released by anyone.

[Parish]

No, it's one of the best albums ever released by anyone.

What Si said..........x 1,000

[ThePainAddict]

While I believe B$B, like any album, could have some criticism, I thought the negative comments were so outlandish that they needed no reply.
While I generally tend to rate LiTD & Killer a tad higher than B$B, that is on the basis that I feel their weak points are much stronger than those on B$B, but conversely, the highs on B$B are second to none. I feel the same way about SO, great highs, but some weak spots. Those four lps constantly rotate places in my top 4, but none of them ever drop out.

[DIMMA]

I love B$B! The songs are great, the performances by Alice and the band are excellent and the production is second to none.
And the packaging....WOW!

Definitely one of Alice´s best ever albums.

[James1981]

I love B$B and I would say it's in my top 5 albums of all time but to me Killer has to be the greatest album in the history of music ever!! I could listen to that album on repeat non stop and never get bored of it.

[Railwayman]

Depends what kind of mood I'm in really.
Killer - raw, threatening and brilliant
B$B - polished, a confident band and producer at the top of their game and brilliant.

It's slick v raw. For me, I'll always gravitate to the ACG stuff as I just prefer the music. After having firstly been exposed to Alice singing SO on TOTP I travelled back in time and got Killer and it just blew my mind. Nothing will ever have the same impact as the first time I listened to that masterpiece in my bedroom with my parents telling me to turn 'that god awful racket' down.

Daft as it might sound I find B$D is the easier listen but strangely not quite as satisfying as Killer.

[The son of Don Quijote]

I'm in the minority but in my opinion BDB just doesn't match the quality of preceding four albums School's out, Killer, Love it to death and Easy action. I was never crazy about Billion dollar babies. I actually prefer live version of those songs over their studio counterparts. Even though I have a very wide taste of music, Alice has so diverse musical career that I inevitably prefer some styles in his music over others.

To these ears BDB sounds way different than School's out or Killer. One thing that I really like about Billion dollar babies is the great musicianship. Arrangements and playing on it are very dynamic indeed. But it just doesn't grab me emotionally like Killer or School's out, it leaves me a little bit cold. It isn't a bad album but I wouldn't rate it in Alice's top 5 or top 10 or even top 15.

Black Sabbath's Sabbath bloody sabbath, Elton John's Goodbye yellow brick road and Yes' Tales from topographic oceans are much more important albums for me from that year.

[The son of Don Quijote]

I think it needs to be pointed out that many people who are passionate about collecting music and supporting their favourite bands may sometimes have opinions (about albums or songs) that are very different, maybe even polar opposite of what a great audience and major music press thinks. And we can all peacefully disagree and even challenge those opinions and avoid personal attacks (I don't claim anyone doing that right now) and insults.