SickthingsUK

This is one of these albums I've had to tackle over and over as it is so "out there" and it doesn't "rock". After some really thorough listening, this is almost a sequel to FROM THE INSIDE as it's full of references to alcohol (the shots in "Pass The Gun Around" could be Stoli that is needed in the morning to erase sickness) and mental illness. We all know Alice was seriously ill at this time with his health, marriage and career in freefall and the album is full of charecters who he could encounter in a mental facility (the dirty family secret in "Farmer Lee Warner", an amorous runaway Santa in "No Man's Land", two man eating sisters "Scarlet and Sheba" and the blood drinker in "Fresh Blood")
The opening track to me sounds almost like the aural equivalent of delirium tremens with the out of kilter voices and the thudding noises which would be awful for someone suffering from a hangover (As Gunner and Tim CC's have previously pointed out, this would be great to play on the PA before a concert) and it's creepy the way the little girl's voice opens and closes the album.
Despite the disturbing content of this, there is the usual Cooper humor like "Enough's Enough" (although his mention of a rough year could be referring to alcoholism), "No Man's Land", "Dyslexia" and "I love America" reminds me of an overcaffienated used car salesman, especially in the 4th of July sale segment. It's always nice to see Prakish John back, if briefly and as mentioned on numerous posts, Dick Wagner plays very well on here, especially "Pass The Gun Around"-a scorching solo and the blast at the end is truly jarring as has also been brought up (can't remember who posted it-sorry!-and I even looked too!
Certainly a favorite for many here and a sadly overlooked album that will probably remain so as it takes a lot of listens to absorb all of it, being as subtle and disturbing as it is. ***1/2

For me, Dada is on the Top tier of albums along with WTMN, FTI. The opener is so atmospheric, the classic line "I don't have a girl I have a boy, a boy" A boy called Alice! Former Lee Warmer is a truly disturbing song. Pass the gun around is superbly produced, great vocal as so full of despair. The humour of 'I love America'. For me the only week track is Dyslexia. I know that the absence of real drums has grated on some people but I love the music on this. This was the end of the creepy, Norman Bates type Alice before he morphed into the slasher/Jason Alice of Constrictor and RYFAY. To my mind this character is far more interesting with a lot more shading and subtlety.

I really liked this album (still do). Bought it the first week of its' release, saw the Fairlight drum credit and was a bit wary but just loved the creepy opening, the humourous tracks and that it was being totally ignored by rock radio. Coop was too good for them back then.


In retropect, it's the last authentic Coop record and what I mean by that, is it's the last record to try and conquer new ground, everything after that is too self conscience in it's attempt to recapture past glories.

The last two posts perfectly capture the way I feel about Dada. Perhaps my favorite Alice album...great cover...dark atmosphere...disturbing lyrics. Dada is the end of the line for real life, drunk (and/or on drugs), artistic Alice. This is the Alice that is most interesting to me and when Constrictor came out I knew things (artistically speaking) would never be the same again.

my absolute favourite alice cooper album. this encompasses alice cooper at his best in a nutshell...dark, twisted, humorous, experimental, abstract...substance abuse may have been destroying alice physically, but ironically he didn't suffer artistically. although nobody seemed to notice or care since it was a total commercial failure. years later, after cleaning up, he releases a "safe", by-the-numbers hair metal album in constrictor (not trashing the album totally, it has it's place) and he's a pop culture icon again. go figure.

>he releases a "safe", by-the-numbers hair metal album in constrictor (not trashing the album totally, it has it's place) and he's a pop culture icon again. go figure.

I don't think that was the main reason. I think it's more because having become sober, he went back out on tour and that made him more visible to the media and the public and that counts for a lot more than most people realise.

A_MichaelUK wrote:>he releases a "safe", by-the-numbers hair metal album in constrictor (not trashing the album totally, it has it's place) and he's a pop culture icon again. go figure.

I don't think that was the main reason. I think it's more because having become sober, he went back out on tour and that made him more visible to the media and the public and that counts for a lot more than most people realise.

yes, very true. although you would know more than me about this and i may be wrong, didn't the special forces and flush the fashion tours, around the same period, fail to capture much in the way of mainstream success for alice. he certainly toured those albums (in a poor state to be fair)
i'd argue that he fit back into the whole pop culture thing because his albums became less personal, less experimental, less abstract and intead when he cleaned up his vices he plugged directly into the whole late 80's slasher film vibe/hair metal theme. he became the freddy krueger/jason vorhees alice and that ironically made him "safe" by the standards of kids listening to music in the day. the deep, dark, twisted alice was gone for better or worse. i love all eras, but the slightly off kilter alice of the dada period is my favourite. i could be wrong about my interpretation.

Great album. I adore the solo in Pass The Gun Around.

>he certainly toured those albums (in a poor state to be fair)

Yes he did and that's a fair point but those tours didn't have the same level of promotion and impact that "The Nightmare Returns" did.

>became the freddy krueger/jason vorhees alice and that ironically made him "safe" by the standards of kids listening to music in the day.

There's a bit of truth to that but there was still some picketing going on and right - wing Christians that wanted him banned if I remember correctly, so he was still considered something of a 'threat', believe it or not.

The promotions for Alice's Constrictor comeback were effective and much of it was based on the "return" of the classic Alice character. MTV played "He's Back" in their rotation and that helped too. I hated it; didn't like seeing Alice's persona reduced to a one-dimensional slasher guy, but was glad he was returning to the rock scene with a vengeance. I remember he did a radio talk show on a classic rock station in Cleveland, a whole evening of Q and A with Alice. Sounds great but it was bad. All he talked about was slasher movies and I'm sure this didn't endear him with classic rock fans that wanted to hear stories about his career and music.

For me Dada was the great album that preceded this "selling out" era of sober Alice.

darkmenace wrote:For me Dada was the great album that preceded this "selling out" era of sober Alice.

Yet some would say Alice sold out in the mid-to-late 70s.

Never have cared for Dada and always amazed at how many love it so dearly. I find ZCS to be its equal. I think is return to prominence was increased by a return to the class Alice persona which was clearly missing on the FTF & SF tours. Also, absence hcan sometime have a way of endearing you to fans.

class = classic

I really like Dada too, but sometimes I feel the praise is bit over-the-top for what really is an uneven album.

While "Former Lee Warmer", "Fresh Blood", "Pass The Gun Around" and even "I Love America" are all brilliant... we also get significantly lesser tunes in "Scarlet and Sheba", "No Man's Land", and "Dyslexia".

In my opinion, the preceding three albums are far more consistent across the board if less ambitious.

Dada is a great album. It's a shame that Former Lee warmer will never get the true recognition that it deserves, only being heard by Alice fans and not a wider audiance - pure class...

I love the album. Fresh Blood is one of AC's best songs imo.

The only track that doesn't do anything for me is I Love America.

Scarlet and Sheba or Fresh Blood would be GREAT live. Probably will never happen though.

Former Lee Warmer is another fantastic track. One of his creepiest, most clever songs.

When Dada came out, I did not particularly like it. I personally liked Constrictor and RYFAY I liked even more. It really wasn't until the mid to late 90's when Alice was taking a break from recording (for the most part) that I went back to the early 80's period and found that I really liked Special Forces and the Dada albums. Now, Dada would rank in my Top 10 Alice albums ever. The only song I don't like is "I Love America." It would be awesome if Alice did "Former Lee Warmer" live.

The lyrics in No Man's Land are some of the best Alice has ever written.

Scarlet and Sheba is creepy and the musical intro is great.

The best songs on Dada are fantastic and the ones I don't like have something interesting about them...except for Dyslexia. I feel like that was added in the unrealistic hope of a song that could get radio airplay.

Dada is my favorite album, except for Dyslexia.

It was many years before I could I see what made this album worth listening too. I hated that Fairlight keyboard thing going on throughout the album. I wished the guitars and drums were more in your face. I felt the songs needed a little more teeth. I kept coming back to it only to shake my head and wonder what the hell were they thinking and then one day about five years ago I put it on again. Only because a friend kept pestering me about how she couldn't believe I didn't like this album. That's when I started to get into it a little. Then after a few more listens I said, "Wow I'm actually really digging this album now." I think it was just the wrong album at the time. Constrictor (like it or not) was the album he needed to make. All those "metal"bands in the 80's were completely influenced and inspired by Alice. It was time. Going heavy on the horror helped put him back on the map. And Trash launched right back full time. Thank God for that. Would have hated to see him on game shows for the rest of his life