SickthingsUK

This is probably the most least liked live album from Cooper and for one obvious reason, at least for me, is that a lot of the songs are edited. Some people say that his vocals are terrible. I've heard worse from him. In fact they are kind of good. I admit that I don't like the version of "Only Woman Bleed" at all. It sounds kind of rushed, no emotion to it. Anyway, this album was released when live albums were very popular and I guess Coop felt obligated to release one. Why didn't they just release a two record set, like most artists did at that time, and the songs could of been in their fully restored state? Maybe they could find the original uncut tapes and rerelease it with some extra tracks. I wonder if it is possible?

Didn't he do this album out of an obligation to the record company? I can't remember the specifics but I do recall Alice saying he was utterly exhausted for this show but he had to do it.
I don't choose to listen to it very often myself, but not because of the edits. I've been tempted to get the miniLP version of it to see if any improvement to the sound will increase my enjoyment of it.

ElectedPlus wrote:Didn't he do this album out of an obligation to the record company? I can't remember the specifics but I do recall Alice saying he was utterly exhausted for this show but he had to do it.

Yes, part of his contract with WB stipulated that he had to give them a live album. I believe Alice re-tells the story in Golf Monster and says that he had to be forced into doing it. I think it was put together from shows recorded in Las Vegas, if memory serves. It's all probably mentioned on this site somewhere.

I think the criticism of this record is fair. It's an unsatisfying single record where many of the songs sound rushed and Alice's vocal delivery sounds halfhearted through much of the album. Compounding the album's shortcomings is that its' recorded on a tour promoting a weak album and it was released during the era of the great double live rock album. By comparison it's up against Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive, Nugent's Double Live Gonzo, Rush's All the World's A Stage, etc. TACS looks and sounds anemic by comparison.

Having said that, I really enjoy the I Love the Dead/Go to Hell/Wish You Were Here medley and the version of 18 is epic and I would be all over an expanded version of the album.

I also wonder why this would be contractually obligated. It would be interesting to know the obligations he had, coming back to WB in 1976. I mean GTH comes out in 1976, L&W comes out in '77 and FTI is out in early 1978 so it's not like there was a lull in studio releases. I could understand a live album between FTI and FtF, not only is there a year off between releases, but the radical departure in musical and aesthetic style would have made a much effective time for a live record. It's decisions like that, made for what ever reason, makes me not so enamoured with Shep Gordon's management of Alice's career. Yes he definitely was responsible in a big way to make Alice star, all credit for the big things, but he had a disregard for the oeuvre that I personally find maddening.

I also wonder why this would be contractually obligated.

That would probably be because Warner Brothers insisted on it.

> but he had a disregard for the oeuvre that I personally find maddening.

With hindsight, everyone can be an expert and you'd need to give a better example than an admittedly weak live album.

Toronto Bob wrote:I think the criticism of this record is fair. It's an unsatisfying single record where many of the songs sound rushed and Alice's vocal delivery sounds halfhearted through much of the album. Compounding the album's shortcomings is that its' recorded on a tour promoting a weak album and it was released during the era of the great double live rock album. By comparison it's up against Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive, Nugent's Double Live Gonzo, Rush's All the World's A Stage, etc. TACS looks and sounds anemic by comparison.

Having said that, I really enjoy the I Love the Dead/Go to Hell/Wish You Were Here medley and the version of 18 is epic and I would be all over an expanded version of the album.

I completely agree. It defiantly comes across as an album no one in the AC camp actually wanted to do. Alice didn`t want to do the shows (which were added after the normal tour was over I believe) and I don`t recall a lot of support for it outside record company ads. I have also often wondered why it was so short in the era of double live records. Was the rest of the recorded material really that poor that it wasn't worth releasing? I don`t believe that. A release of an expanded version with the full show and decent notes etc would be gratefully received here but whether anyone else would care less is another matter.

I do wonder if the original tapes still survive. On one of the nights Vincent Price appeared in person so I would assume that at least would have surfaced somewhere if it still existed. They did several nights so it's possible only one or two were recorded. A complete version would be a big improvement if the tapes do exist.

>. Alice didn`t want to do the shows (which were added after the normal tour was over I believe)

He says that but I think his memory about that might be faulty, since you and I know there were other shows after the shows in Las Vegas (unless it really was added at the very end in which case, nobody has come up with any evidence).

> I have also often wondered why it was so short in the era of double live records.

It is a bit of a mystery. I doubt anyone will remember.

>I do wonder if the original tapes still survive. On one of the nights Vincent Price appeared in person

No - those were the "Welcome To My Nightmare" shows.

> They did several nights so it's possible only one or two were recorded.

Again, I think you're thinking of the Welcome To My Nightmare shows in Lake Tahoe (which is not where the live album was recorded).

A_MichaelUK wrote:>. Alice didn`t want to do the shows (which were added after the normal tour was over I believe)

He says that but I think his memory about that might be faulty, since you and I know there were other shows after the shows in Las Vegas (unless it really was added at the very end in which case, nobody has come up with any evidence).

> I have also often wondered why it was so short in the era of double live records.

It is a bit of a mystery. I doubt anyone will remember.

>I do wonder if the original tapes still survive. On one of the nights Vincent Price appeared in person

No - those were the "Welcome To My Nightmare" shows.

> They did several nights so it's possible only one or two were recorded.

Again, I think you're thinking of the Welcome To My Nightmare shows in Lake Tahoe (which is not where the live album was recorded).

You're right. Teach me to to look it up first haha

Toronto Bob wrote:I think the criticism of this record is fair. It's an unsatisfying single record where many of the songs sound rushed and Alice's vocal delivery sounds halfhearted through much of the album. Compounding the album's shortcomings is that its' recorded on a tour promoting a weak album and it was released during the era of the great double live rock album. By comparison it's up against Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive, Nugent's Double Live Gonzo, Rush's All the World's A Stage, etc. TACS looks and sounds anemic by comparison.

Having said that, I really enjoy the I Love the Dead/Go to Hell/Wish You Were Here medley and the version of 18 is epic and I would be all over an expanded version of the album.

I also wonder why this would be contractually obligated. It would be interesting to know the obligations he had, coming back to WB in 1976. I mean GTH comes out in 1976, L&W comes out in '77 and FTI is out in early 1978 so it's not like there was a lull in studio releases. I could understand a live album between FTI and FtF, not only is there a year off between releases, but the radical departure in musical and aesthetic style would have made a much effective time for a live record. It's decisions like that, made for what ever reason, makes me not so enamoured with Shep Gordon's management of Alice's career. Yes he definitely was responsible in a big way to make Alice star, all credit for the big things, but he had a disregard for the oeuvre that I personally find maddening.

I agree that this album deserve the critisim it gets and I also agree that in a era that saw the release of now legendary double live albums that Alice (more likely WB) decided that this could stand up with them. It's dreadful.

I'm guessing that the contract stipulated one release per year. I think this obligation also led to some rush jobs on SF and ZCS which led to inferior albums. SF contains quite a few leftovers written for the FTF sessions and ZCS sounds like it wsa pieced together in places-especially the Dick Wagner songs that sound out of place. I think this had to do with Alice's then substance abuse problems that played havoc with production. They had contractual obligations to meet and had to produce an album to the label.

As far as Shep is concerned, I have yet to meet any business person who has made zero mistakes/miscalculations in their career. The fact is that Shep was able to turn it around--several times. The world now looks at the Alice Cooper character as iconic, but back then--especially in 1979-1980 he was a fading fad. Punk and new wave were all the rage and concept albums and Alice's "oeuvre" was becoming dated. If he wanted to stay relevent he had to change. Alice knew this and Shep knew this--it was time for reinvention. FTF is a great album--it still sounds fresh today. Was it successful--not so much. It did alientate of lot of the long time fans. The problem with a large segment of Alice's fan base is that they want the same thing over and over again. They want "horror" Alice and Welcome To my Nightmare to be re-written over and over again. It's unfortunate but true.

Those early-1980s albums are so incredibly original. Alice stretching out--trying different styles, personas and writing some of the best lyrics of his career. Well...it didn't succeed. But if he released another concept album in 1980 it too would have failed. The one thing that has kept Alice going for all of these years is his abilty to change with the musical trends. Shep is a genius--he knows how to market Alice with each changing era of music. There have been many more successes than failures and more importantly the lessons Alice and Shep learned from those failures help them to have great success on future projects.

I never had a problem with this album. The band was excellent, & Alice sounded pretty decent, vocally. He was far weaker on the Madhouse Rock tour. I agree, surprising that it wasn't a double-live album. Not a masterpiece of a live album, but still pretty listenable. Great suggestion that it be reissued as an expanded, complete concert.

One reason the record company may have kept it short is because they may have viewed it as just promoting Alice, whereas the other lps mentioned were a band, or in Frampton a musician with featured solos. For instance, they may have thought the extended jam on School's Out featuring all of the backing members might night have been a good selling point.

For a long time I thought the album was "doctored up" but Wagner says it isn't so waddayaknow. The King Biscuit broadcast from Saginaw 1978 is a much much better show from this era, much to do with the fact, no doubt, that Alice had sobered up. From alcoholic at least.

>The King Biscuit broadcast from Saginaw 1978 is a much much better show from this era, much to do with the fact, no doubt, that Alice had sobered up.

There was a different band as well.

Is the King Biscuit show commercially available? I don't think i've ever heard it.

While Heaven Wept wrote:Is the King Biscuit show commercially available? I don't think i've ever heard it.

No, but being a radio broadcast it's one of the most common bootleg recordings around, Saginaw '78.

Just a poor album all round from record to sleeve. Slick and soul less. 1977 was not a good year all at all for Alice with the worst album to date in Lace and Whiskey and the ill conceived Maurice Escargot nonsense. Finding anymore of this show wont enhance anything.

I thought that Alice's voice was fine on this album, far better than live at montreux for instance but not as good as live at cabo. I also thought the band sounded tight. But there was no atmosphere, the audience seemed to be missing. The main thing for me at an Alice gig, particularly around this time was the electric atmosphere. The really poor packaging suggests that WB were just looking to throw the album out. Such a shame for an artist renowned for his innovative album covers.

Si wrote:

While Heaven Wept wrote:Is the King Biscuit show commercially available? I don't think i've ever heard it.

No, but being a radio broadcast it's one of the most common bootleg recordings around, Saginaw '78.

Always thougt this album should have been officialised instead of the alice cooper show live album..
Has everything the official album misses...

Si wrote:

While Heaven Wept wrote:Is the King Biscuit show commercially available? I don't think i've ever heard it.

No, but being a radio broadcast it's one of the most common bootleg recordings around, Saginaw '78.

Ooh, i'll have to get hunting for that then

While Heaven Wept wrote:

Si wrote:

While Heaven Wept wrote:Is the King Biscuit show commercially available? I don't think i've ever heard it.

No, but being a radio broadcast it's one of the most common bootleg recordings around, Saginaw '78.

Ooh, i'll have to get hunting for that then

You'll find it and no collection is complete without it. It's awesome!I found it in a digipak called "Alone in a Nightmare."