SickthingsUK

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-co ... e-of-love/

Despite containing what are in my opinion 2 classic tracks Muscle of Love and Hard Hearted Alice and one good single Teenage Lament the album overall is a disappointment when compared to Alice's 4 previous albums.

Along with the first two, Muscle of Love is one of my least listened-to Alice albums. It never has clicked with me as a whole, though I love the title track.

Hunter

one of those albums i was dubious about when i first heard it (in too much of a juvenile blinkered "if it's not loud and heavy i'm not interested" persion), it's now one of my faves. aside from having my favourite AC track, Crazy Little Child, i love HHA, WUAS, TL74 and the title track the others are all pretty good too, MWTGG being last on the list though.

for a burned out band,not a bad effort IMO.

Agreed. It is my least favorite of the original band's albums, though Teenage Lament'74 is one of my favorite Alice songs ever.

From LITD they hadn't released a bad track and then came MOL and we had two on one album: Crazy Little Child and Woman Machine. Ezrin is missed as the album sounds very sterile. Like a lot of Alice's solo stuff this would have made a very good e.p.

When I originally bought it, I thought 'it's good, but ...'. Forty years later I think 'it's okay, but ...'. The biggest problem, for me, is that they ditched the menace and macabre of LITD/Killer, the brash anthems of SO, the gory glitz of BDB and replaced all that with, well, nothing in particular. Standing in the shadows of the Ezrin quartet MOL thus comes across as a very ordinary album.

I do actually like quite a few individual tracks - 'Teenage Lament' is an all-time favourite - but as a whole the album sounds unfocused and indifferent.

There ARE elements of greatness present, it's just they're not followed through. 'Hard Hearted Alice' chugs along nicely in an understated fashion and then, well, just continues to chug along; it's obvious who they're missing. I suppose it's kind of apt, as well, that the album ends with their worst ever track - the laughable 'Woman Machine'. The end of an era indeed.

I never cared much for 'Teenage Lament.' I know its a favorite for many here. Just never got me going.

always loved this album : big apple dreaming, perfect song while having to drive some distance, never been sold before , one of my all time favourites, even crazy little child sounds good to me..
and of course, teenage lament 74, that had some success if i remember well..

Muscle Of Love still rates high for me. My 1st full length ACG Lp. Bought the Teenage Lament '74 single w/Hard Hearted Alice on the flip. Got Grandma to get me MOL for my 14th Bday. Played it on an old Decca tube phonograph - blew the volume tube about once every week or so! Never Been Sold Before and Working Up A Sweat are my favorites, Woman Machine I could do without but the rest are good and propel the disc along even if they don't exactly mesh all that well together. A grand effort by a fractured band!

I never understood why NEVER BEEN SOLD BEFORE was not a single.
Great album and I would love to see this one being remastered.

It was 'Woman Machine' (for me the worst track on an otherwise really good album that contained some great songs) that caused Bob Ezrin to walk out.

Dennis Dunaway interview

"The band didn't vote for Bob's departure. This is what happened. We were rehearsing at Nimbus 9 studios in Toronto. We were happy to see Bob walk in because we had just worked out a song. But as soon as we started playing "Woman Machine," he stopped us to make changes. We hadn't even gotten past the intro! Michael confronted him over it, emotions escalated, and Bob got insulted and walked out. There was no vote and no reason to think it was anything more than a temporary flare up. But somehow, it turned out to be beyond our resolve"

I still love this album and although they were in a fractious state as Daggers and Contracts pointed out, think it's a fantastic album. Of course, not as good as the previous four, but still better than a lot of bands at this stage would put out.
Sort of how Aerosmith's DRAW THE LINE was better than it should have been, considering their state and it was following up TOYS IN THE ATTIC and the perfect ROCKS.
"Never Been Sold Before" is still in my top 5 ACG songs of all time and only weak track for me is "Crazy Little Child", but wise sage "The Igster" pointed out how they were trying something new so let's give them credit.
And, like Daggers and Contracts, My granny bought this and LOVE IT TO DEATH for Easter of 1976 when I was 14!-cue spooky music! My parents had separated and I was not a happy camper and those two albums cheered me up so much. Can only imagine what she thought when she first picked them up, though...

My second AC record, BDB being my first. Had already read the Bob Greene book before I heard the album, so I was familiar with the titles of the tracks but never heard the music.

My initial 12 year old boy reaction was "good but nowhere near as awesome as BDB". But many repeated listens onward it grew on me and became a real appreciated "other side" to BDB.

I have no issue with Woman Machine. I think there's a really cool lazy/heavy riff in there and Neal's parts are fantastic. An Ezrin treatment would of been interesting.

My only dislikes are small - don't care for the outro on Teenage Lament and didn't like the sweetener (horns) on MWTGG.

I like the fact that they didn't try to make BDB Part II but with hindsight, yeah they should of taken a break after getting off the road in June of '73. Release a deluxe live album for Christmas of '73. and come back sometime in '74, refreshed and worked out a better MoL album.

Still lots of love for MoL but the weakest of the "big 5" records.

Since my 1st listen to the entire album, I've always considered MOL to be possibly my favourite ACG album. So much diversity, especially on side 1, which I also think is considerably better than side 2 although MWTGG is one of my favourite songs on the album, along with BAD and HHA.

My least-favourite song on MOL could be WUAS or TL '74. I quite like CLC and WM.

Ted

Toronto Bob wrote - Still lots of love for MoL but the weakest of the "big 5" records.

I agree, but then again there was always going to be a weakest album. I still think it's a great album.

I was stunned at the blandness of MOL following B$B, it was like going from color to black and white. The aura of danger, outrage, and rebellion was nearly gone. The cardboard package was awkward and the nude wrestling concept was flat. There was potential here as always but of course we know there were problems within the band and no Bob Ezrin. The successful formula was broken.

I rarely listen to it either but I don't think it's a bad album so much as a mediocre one. I also like Hard-Hearted Alice, Muscle of Love, and a couple other songs were okay. Thought there was too much of this album on the box set and too little from SO.

"Teenage Lament '74" and "Muscle of Love" are as good as anything they ever did.

"Big Apple Dreamin'" and "Hard Hearted Alice" are excellent tunes.

The rest of it has it's moments and I dig some of the songs, but if I'm being honest, none of them are really A-level material.

I love that album. Crazy Little Child is hands down one of the best tracks AC has ever recorded. Impossible to skip. Other favorites include Big Apple Dreaming nad Hard Hearted Alice. I think I even prefer it over B$B.

old school vet wrote:Toronto Bob wrote - Still lots of love for MoL but the weakest of the "big 5" records.

I agree, but then again there was always going to be a weakest album. I still think it's a great album.

I'd agree, but while many of you find "Crazy Little Child" terrible, i've always loved it. "Muscle of Love" for me still stands out as one of the craziest, over the top arrangements and one of the most rocking songs they every wrote. I was thrilled when it popped up in the set of the first Alice concert i attended. The bass line on that song alone makes the whole album worth the price of admission, imho.