The Alice Cooper album of the Day: THE ALICE COOPER SHOW

[tuneylune]

Original 1982 review: This was about as big a disappointment as you could hope for. After the inadequacies of his last two albums, I was hoping he could redeem himself with this, but was I ever wrong. This is easily one of the worst albums, not to mention live albums that any major artist has made. Alice sounds bored throughout and the band equally so. "Under My Wheels" which was so powerful earlier is dragged through the mud, as is "I'm Eighteen" which goes on for far too long. "Sick Things" features Alice's best vocal on the record, but a 1:01 time span is just pathetic. "Is It My Body" fares rather well as does "Billion Dollar Babies" which helps a little. "School's Out" suffers particularly (considering it's his most powerful song) on this dismal affair as he doesn't even finish it. Instead he gives it a rather cursory run through and as the last song at that!
The ballads come off okay, but this is not Barry Manilow! If Alice decides to try again, I have a few suggestions...
1) Pick a locale other than Las Vegas, for God's sake! Record in Detroit which is your hometown and you will have some crazy kids there to psych you up.
2) Release old tracks as well as new ones. Include live recordings from earlier tours with the original band and tracks from more recent tours, which would be a better summing up of your career than this turkey. It has been done before...
3) Pick another time to record. Alice entered himself into a sanitarium for alcoholism right after the tour this music was recorded from. This could explain why he sounds so lackbuster.
Vince, just follow these suggestions, drop the lounge lizard act and the new live album will SMOKE... *1/2
Now: Twenty years after TACS came out, was visiting "Dapper" Dave, looking for CD's to borrow, knowing full well he would abscond with several of mine when he came to visit me. I was horrified when this was the ONLY Cooper album he had and I called him to task, basically saying to him, "Of all the albums he's recorded, you have THIS??"" He blushed and put the blame on his wife, saying she had gotten it because it had the hits. I decided to give it another listen and still think it's a terrible misfire. After getting more info on it via Dale Sherman and STUK, am amazed that some sort of compromise could not have been reached. If Warners really needed a live album at that time, you think they could have used some older shows (surely there were some in the archives) and surely Shep could have worked out a deal, considering that Alice had quite a enviable track record on the label ( or maybe Warner's was being spiteful since Alice put WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE on Atlantic for soundtrack purposes-which he did to with the TV special-and decided to play hardball). Also, as it says on the STUK album section, it IS odd that this was not a two record set, as was practically the norm at this time period. I was very excited when I got this, as ACGTH and LAW had not really rocked my world. Still like all the photos on the front and back, but just could not believe how bland the whole affair was (and how KISS ALIVE 2 and DOUBLE LIVE GONZO! by Ted Nugent stomped all over this). At 15, was ignorant of recording processes and I'm sure Ezrin did some editing to fit the whole record. The production is great and the band plays fine, but Alice just sounds whipped (News traveled slower in those days and almost a month after I got this is when I found out he had committed himself for treatment) and totally lacking in energy. In 2002, saw a copy of ALICE COOPER AND FRIENDS, the 1977 Anaheim show and was horrified to see him shuffling like an old man, especially after seeing him in concert a few weeks before and despite being 25 years older, he had energy to burn.
If someone ever decides to put this out on CD as a two record set with the full show, I might break down and pick it up. Until then, I look at this as a bad period personally and professionally for Alice (he has gone on record as saying he hates this) and be thankful he has generously come out with many more fine live recordings that erase the memory of this one. *1/2

[Diane D.]

Bad review....

[scotty]

I think this is one of the few albums Alice has publicly said he didn't care for..he was forced to record it basically! another thing that sucked is the fact that it was chopped up-where's "no more mr. nice guy"? and it would have been cool to hear "lace and whiskey" and whatever else he performed on that tour.

[SickThings]

I love the versions of "Go To Hell" and "I Love The Dead" on this album....

Hunter

[Shoesalesman]

This album is pretty decent in my books.

[VinceRaven]

It's undoubtedly a huge disappointment considering what could have been but I don't mind it at all. I played it a lot when I was a young fella completely obsessed by his music.

[Gunner]

I appreciate that this album is a bit 'flat' for a live one, and one does wonder what the 'deal' with it was, but I have never quite fully understood the amount of criticism this record has had! It's a live 'snapshot' and not the worst thing I have ever heard in the world. The cover is excellent I think!

[recoop]

I think the album recieved so much criticism because in the 70s live gigs were scrutinised heavily to see if bands performed up to their status/recordings.. Also as a live performer AC was near/at top of the pile..so a lot was expected...KISS had successful live albums and there was a bit of comparison going on...Alice sounded tired and it wasnt really a representation of Alice at his best live...for me, I bought the vinyl when it came out and have never replaced it on cd (same goes for Lace and W)..Cover good I think and I would agree its a live snapshot...just expectation was high and this single album didnt fully satisfy

[Gunner]

I accept all that, but still wonder why it is relentlessly slated. To me, it seems to be about what it should have been rather than what it was.

I don't consider it to be much poorer than say, Unleashed in the East by Judas Priest.

[unfinished sweet]

If I remember correctly, this concert was performed after the tour was already over. He owed the record company another album, or something like that, so he got the band back together one more time just for the live album.

[Toronto Bob]

TACS certainly has its' issues and could have been much more, otoh it's hard to find a better post-1973 version of 18 and the ILTD/GTH/WYWH medley is pretty cool too. Definitely had the feel of a half-hearted effort, look to the Saginaw recording for a more complete version of a similiar tour - albiet without the Hunter/Wagner combo. I certainly would buy an expanded version of this album provided they did it right.

[A_MichaelUK]

>If I remember correctly, this concert was performed after the tour was already over.

No. I think Alice remembers that incorrectly. There were other shows after that show.

[James1981]

I love this album. It will Probably never happen but a 2 disc version of the complete concert would be awesome. I wonder if some people are put off this album as Alice has said that he is not keen on it?

[RemarkablyInsincere]

Not one of my favorites. It feels cheap... from the fade in on the opening track... to the fact it's not a whole show... and the songs that are present aren't even in proper order.... and finally the production is underwhelming.

The highlights here are "Sick Things" and "I Love The Dead" as they come off much better live than on album.

[Gunner]

If I remember correctly, this concert was performed after the tour was already over. He owed the record company another album, or something like that, so he got the band back together one more time just for the live album.

I don't fully understand the significance of this statement.

I wonder if they could get the original tapes (or some others form gigs of the same tour) and re-work this? I liked this Alice Cooper era - he may have been pissed-up but it was less parodic than what we get today.

[A_MichaelUK]

>I wonder if they could get the original tapes (or some others form gigs of the same tour)

That would depend on whether any exist or not.

[Mr.Bluelegs]

Never had a problem with this LP. Liked it then and still do. Remember, after Frampton Comes Alive, every record co. was delivering live LP's in hopes of striking gold. Todd Rundgren even admitted that Bearsville was hoping for a "repeat of Frampton's success" with his Back to the Bars album. Warner Brothers was probably hoping for the same.

[cooperrocks]

While I prefer "A Fistful of Alice", I never understood why this one was so criticized either. I remember hearing years ago that it was almost gold in terms of album sales, but never heard anything else after that.

[Toronto Bob]

Never had a problem with this LP. Liked it then and still do. Remember, after Frampton Comes Alive, every record co. was delivering live LP's in hopes of striking gold. Todd Rundgren even admitted that Bearsville was hoping for a "repeat of Frampton's success" with his Back to the Bars album. Warner Brothers was probably hoping for the same.

For me that's a big reason why it fell short, I was comparing it to the fantastic live albums being released at the time. In the mid to late seventies, live albums were very popular and part of their appeal was their epic nature and being culled from tours where the artist or band was near or in peak form. Think of Double Live Gonzo, All The World's A Stage, KISS Alive!, The Song Remains the Same, Yessongs, Bursting Out, Frampton Comes Alive, Made In Japan.

What those albums did in varying degrees, was capture the best of what the artist/band had done up to that point with live versions that often surpassed the studio version. The Alice Cooper Show really didn't do that. For an Alice live album to accomplish what other great live albums did, they would of needed to record/polish/release a double live from either the B$B tour or WTMN.

[dadascot]

Once again I would like to thank tuneyloon for this series of reviews as it is making me look again at these albums. I played this album today for the first time in about fifteen years. I have heard nothing but bad things about this album for years, it was tired, it was weak etc, I must admit Alice's voice seems to me strong compared to, for instance. the madhouse rock tour just a couple of years later, certainly better than his voice on the montreux, having said that there certainly should have been a lot more to this album and it was at a time when Alice could have brought out a live album that would have shown the world just how talented he was. My summation, a missed opportunity.