Pretties for you.... Easy action........

[evil syd]

Your feelings about Coop's first two albums?
What are your favorite tracks? ("Nobody Likes Me")

[Inmate]

I rarely listen to these two. I listen to "Easy Action" a lot more than "Pretties". Favorite songs are Reflected and Mr. & Misdemeanor.

[Toronto Bob]

I like these albums a lot. Garage Rock mixed with psychedelic. Their obvious Zappa/Floyd/Doors imitations played at a garage band level of talent led to afun and interesting two albums that hinted at a greater potential with lots of room to grow.

ROTS
BYM
LDADG

FOR
LB
CA

[Desperado22]

Not too fond of many of the tracks on either album. I do like Levity Ball and Reflected though.

[tim10cc]

I hardly listen to Pretties for you but don't mind Levity Ball and No Longer Umpire...

On Easy Action I like many tracks,,,Shoe salesman ,,,Mr. Mr. And Misdeameanour, Below your means, and Beautiful flyaway, Laughing at me, Refrigerator heaven.

Whats funny SBI karaoke site has Alice Cooper's Mr. And Misdeameanour available to sing on karaoke!!!! http://www.sbikaraoke.com/site/search/results/Cooper


If the Rock N Roll Word had a section called "B Movie" albums...I would put Easy Action in this category.

[sumorider]

Sorry for my poor English.

Now I rarely listen to these albums.

In Japan, In mid-80's, it was extremely difficult(or impossible) to get a copy of Pretties For You, Flush The Fashion～DADA era records. Even at record collector's area (west Shinjuku), there was not a copy of them. To get a copy of Easy Action, Lace And Whisky, From The Inside was also difficult.

So I often listened to Easy Action and Ladies Man (bootleg) to understand pre-Love It To Death days.
I loved Shoe Salesman, Laughing At Me.

I think Pretties For You is mostly influenced by Arthur Lee&Love's "Da Capo"
"Da Capo""Forever Changes" were Alice's most favorite records.

By the way , Here is great cover of "Shoe Salesman"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl1K_pfjFac

[Inmate]

Sorry for my poor English.

Now I rarely listen to these albums.

In Japan, In mid-80's, it was extremely difficult(or impossible) to get a copy of Pretties For You, Flush The Fashion～DADA era records. Even at record collector's area (west Shinjuku), there was not a copy of them. To get a copy of Easy Action, Lace And Whisky, From The Inside was also difficult.

So I often listened to Easy Action and Ladies Man (bootleg) to understand pre-Love It To Death days.
I loved Shoe Salesman, Laughing At Me.

I think Pretties For You is mostly influenced by Arthur Lee&Love's "Da Capo"
"Da Capo""Forever Changes" were Alice's most favorite records.

By the way , Here is great cover of "Shoe Salesman"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl1K_pfjFac

Thanks for the link.

[guilty65]

I know that I am going to get a lot of flack for saying this. But IMHO...
These are the worst 2 LPs I have ever heard. Unlistenable. I have tired for years to find something of value. But to no avail. I have been a fan since 1971.
Love it to Death is the first album Alice ever put out (for me)...Sorry

[evil syd]

I know that I am going to get a lot of flack for saying this. But IMHO...
These are the worst 2 LPs I have ever heard. Unlistenable. I have tired for years to find something of value. But to no avail. I have been a fan since 1971.
Love it to Death is the first album Alice ever put out (for me)...Sorry

It's cool, Alice doesn't get any flack for it, so don't you worry LOL! I like them but my favorite song from that era is "Nobody Likes Me" and that is a demo, or should I say that there are a few.

[A_MichaelUK]

>Love it to Death is the first album Alice ever put out (for me)

He would agree.

[recoop]

My thoughts..the leap from these two albums to LITD in terms of songwriting, music, storytelling etc is staggering...I only bought these two a few years ago as when I first heard the various tracks (on School Days I think-great cover and liner notes I seem to recall) I decided never to listen to them again...now they are sort of curios to me and I have listened to Mr and MisD..Levity Ball.. and Reflected occasionally-sound a bit better in retrospect but I am probably looking at as developmental stuff- AC going through puberty (no that was MOL) or emerging from a cocoon like a Butterfly in full colour on LITD-off to lie down as I am remembering some of the other tracks on EA and PFY

[ReGorLaTroy]

These two albums have really worked their way up my personal favourites list over the past couple of years.

I think the song, "Living" from "Pretties For You" is just brilliant.

[While Heaven Wept]

I love both of these albums, really adventurous and worth listening to with headphones in a darkened room.

I have a friend who is massively into early psychedelic prog and pop. He states that these 2 albums are quite highly revered in the psych 'circles'.

[patrick]

bought schooldays after litd and BDB : no need to say i could hardly believe my ears.
but the cover was alright, one of my favourites
lateron learned to love easy action and especially in Mister and Miss Demeanor, I could hear that typical Alice voice.
Pretties for you is too experimental for me..only a few songs I like.

[tuneylune]

Have grown very fond of PRETTIES, but could not believe my ears the first time I heard it. But, considering how green and undisciplined they were, it's not bad. Like all except "Ten Minutes Before The Worm", "Today Mueller" and "B.B. on Mars" and think "Nobody Likes Me" would have been a better fit. The least of their recorded work.
Now, EASY ACTION is another story. Liked it from first listen and was relieved how much better than PRETTIES it was. You can hear them become tighter and the "Alice" voice is beginning to be heard, especially on "Mr. and Misdemeanor", "Still No Air" and "Return of the Spiders". Although LOVE IT TO DEATH and the rest of their work stomp all over this, still have a lot of love for EA.

[GNDM]

I would not find it at all amazing that younger Alice Cooper fans would find both of these albums a little "hard to grasp". PFY and EA are products of their times - both musically and developmentally for the band. For someone in their 20's and 30's, listening to these albums, will take a mind-set they may or may not possess. If you listen - you do hear what is coming for the bands future. Yet, I admit that the jump from these two albums into the Ezrin era is a large one. PFY really sank in for me when I started to listen to the 'Live at the Whisky' CD. The rawness of the band, for me, is tantalizing. I can re-imagine the late 60's very easily listening to these early endeavors. But I do understand that for those expecting some sort of water-downed versions of either the bands early 70's hey-days, or post WTMN songs, there will be some mystification. [Sort of like me, listening to my parents big band music of the 30's and 40's.] You have to 'work a little' to get the enjoyment and 'flow' of the music and the times.

[recoop]

Interesting point of view GNDM- I started with LITD in 71 and heard these two in 74-can see as a developmental process and I understand the times- I was brought up listening to my brothers Zappa albums and many other curious acid sounds-but when I heard these at age 16 I couldnt make the leap backwards as such to understand-see the points your making but for me the songs were unfinished although there is something classy there- I couldnt have predicted where they would have gone too with LITD, Killer, SO and BDB but glad they did!-5 very talented individuals who thankfully met a very talented producer who could see a lot of potential-thats my tuppence worth

[ThePainAddict]

I really like both lps and not sure why more Alice fans don't get into EA. I do not think the jump from EA to LiTD was that huge. It is obviously missing the Ezrin touch, but the arranging of the songs was becoming much closer to the Alice sound. A huge leap from the much more experimental PFY.

[cooperrocks]

PFY has one or two decent songs, but that is about it. Easy Action is a big improvement. I would love to hear "Return of the Spiders" live.

[Mr. Misdemeanor]

Pretties for You:

Cool cover. I like "Reflected" quite a bit. Maybe even more than "Elected." I also think "Living" is ok. The rest of the album can be a tough listen. The mixing seems to be "make everything louder than everything else." I suppose the weird cacophonous sound is probably what they were going for but it's not my cup of tea. I think "Changing Arranging" could have been decent if the weirdness had been turned down a notch and the volume hadn't been at Blue Cheer levels. Oh, and "Nobody Likes Me" should have absolutely have been on the album.

Easy Action:

"Mr. and Misdemeanor" is decent. "Below Your Means" would have been ok with some polishing. I prefer PFY overall.


"Hard Hearted Alice" is one of my favorite tracks off of Muscle of Love. I wonder how some of the songs off the first two albums would have sounded if they had been more in the style of HHA. Still a little psychedelic sounding, still with a bit of an edge, but more musical.