Combining and editing Alice albums

[recoop]

Clumsy title but I keep thinking that Flush the Fashion is a good album and might be even better if we dropped Leather Boots and replaced it with Prettiest Cop on the Block. Then I am thinking drop Model Citizen and stick in You Want it,You Got it because its a bit upbeat/electronic (might fit in with Clones and Talk Talk). I have always been a bit unsure about Nuclear infected and Aspirin Damage hmmm


And then I think of an ACGTH/L and W merger- drop Wake me Gently and Rainbows and stick in Its Hot Tonight (well it is hell) and Road Rats. Could fit in the King of the Silver Screen(well its a dream) and drop Give the Kid a break- Drop I'm Going Home (with I love the dead music) and end with Wish You Were Here- ok I am a song short but think with a bit of production/fiddling would be a better album ( Could leave rest of L and W for later box set resale)

What you think pop pickers?

[pitkin88]

I think Prettiest Cop On The Block b/w Leather Boots would make a great 45 for Record Store day. The only edit I'd make on Special Forces would be the redundant Generation Landslide. On Da Da I would jettison the silly funk of Fresh Blood. Both albums would flow better but of course would be shorter.

[concolz]

With '75-'83 Alice, I'd only omit/replace one track from each of 'GTH', 'FTI' and 'ZCS'. 'WTMN', 'SF' and 'Dada' I'd leave alone, whilst 'L&W' and 'FTF' are, for me, such poor records that there aren't enough good tracks between them to fill one album - plus, they're too stylistically different anyway. So no combinations there!

The hair-metalish quartet are stylistically similar, but so rotten, IMO, that I'm not sure there'd be one complete albums-worth of songs between the four! I suppose if you added non-album tracks, then, at a push:-

Side One - Poison/Freedom/POD(edited)/Teenage Frankenstein/Life&Death..
Side Two - Stoopid/Got A Line/Rained All Night/Mars/Wind Up

Two ripe for combining are 'TEOAC' and 'DD' - keep most of the latter, replacing 'Steal That Car' and 'Six Hours', with 'What Do You Want' and 'MOTY'. Sorted!

[A_MichaelUK]

From concolz:
"The hair-metalish quartet are stylistically similar,"

I disagree. For example, "Trash" has a far more glossy, smooth and slick sound (because it was designed to be played on the radio) than "Raise Your Fist And Yell" which has a harder, more aggressive and heavier sound.

[cooperrocks]

I have to agree with Andy on this one. The hair metal albums have different styles (and I also disagree that they are bad albums, I think Hey Stoopid and Raise Your Fist and Yell are great albums)

[HORRORHOLIC]

I don't think Raise Your Fist And Yell is "hair metal" either and sounds nothing like Trash!!

[Swinger]

While I'm one of those who actually like Along Came a Spider I think it would've been a stronger album if the bonus tracks had been included on it. Maybe take out "I'm Hungry" as well since it's the weakest song IMO. Something like this:

Prologue/I Know Where You Live
Vengeance is Mine
Wake the Dead
Catch Me If You Can
Wrapped in Silk
Shadow of Yourself
Killed By Love
(In Touch With) Your Feminine Side
The One That Got Away
Salvation
I'll Still Be There
I am the Spider/Epilogue

Also Welcome 2 My Nightmare could've had "Under the Bed" between "The Nightmare Returns" and "A Runaway Train" and dropped "Ghouls Gone Wild". Perhaps a shorter version of "Flatline" as well to close the album.

[recoop]

So you are not alone Swinger (is a Swinger ever alone?), I like ACAS but think it would be improved by leaving out Im Hungry and Salvation- similarly I would leave Feed My Frankenstein out of Hey Stoopid

[mr.barlow]

I'm a believer in leaving the things the way they are as that is what the artist wanted to release at the time. Each album is a document as to where an artist was and thinking at the time of release. It's also a document to the musical trends of the time.

I think the only way that albums should be tampered with are if the artist themselves never got to achieve their own vision for the album.

I never heard of the Steve Hoffman forum until last week thanks to this site (yes--I' am THAT out of touch) but I have to say it was nice to see Ezrin call out a guy who thinks HE knows what was trying to be achived at the time. Ezrin CREATED the album. But there is some guy telling Ezrin what he was trying to achieve. There is something very ridiculously wrong with that!

[mr.barlow]

From concolz:
"The hair-metalish quartet are stylistically similar,"

I disagree. For example, "Trash" has a far more glossy, smooth and slick sound (because it was designed to be played on the radio) than "Raise Your Fist And Yell" which has a harder, more aggressive and heavier sound.

I agree with Andy. Trash is Alice's only true "hair metal" album. Constrictor was more of a pop rock/light metal where RYFAY is a very hard rock/metal album.

Trash is a big steaming pile as it's pure commercial contrived hair metal ala Poison. Warrant, Bon Jovi etc. Pure absolute putrid crap.

Constrictor is an Alice album--maybe not great--but it's Alice. Raise Your Fist is to me a great album and is definitely an Alice album.

Trash could have been released by any hair metal bands of the 1980s-early 1990s. It was just contrived corporate rock designed to sell millions. And it did! Bon Jovi sold millions of records too as did Poison and Ratt--and they are all awfully horrible bands!

[recoop]

Hi Mr Barlow, what is your opinion of Hey Stoopid?

[mr.barlow]

Hi Mr Barlow, what is your opinion of Hey Stoopid?

It's not a bad album. A bit too much filler and over-produced at times but overall it was Alice getting back to being Alice. Dick Wagner's "Might As Well Be On Mars" is one of the best songs Alice ever recorded. It's a shame they didn't have Wagner play on the track. I think that song was originally submitted for Trash. It's a shame it didn't make it--one for Wagner's bank account and the other is that it would have been the only listenable song on Trash. That is unless Desmond TuTu ruined it with his Bon Jovifying production.

At least Alice was back on the road to redemption after giving us "Trash".

[recoop]

Hi Mr Barlow, what is your opinion of Hey Stoopid?

It's not a bad album. A bit too much filler and over-produced at times but overall it was Alice getting back to being Alice. Dick Wagner's "Might As Well Be On Mars" is one of the best songs Alice ever recorded. It's a shame they didn't have Wagner play on the track. I think that song was originally submitted for Trash. It's a shame it didn't make it--one for Wagner's bank account and the other is that it would have been the only listenable song on Trash. That is unless Desmond TuTu ruined it with his Bon Jovifying production.

At least Alice was back on the road to redemption after giving us "Trash".

Well said especially "back to being Alice"- I can live with Poison just and Bed of Nails on Trash just but I'm Your Gun is Alice's dweeby 14 year old imaginings arghh- but it maybe paid for Hey Stoopid (some classy bits like Mars) and TLT which i like and think is Alice again. Sometimes he has to stop being Alice to generate dollars?

[alan1958]

Welcome 2 My Nightmare could've had "Under the Bed" between "The Nightmare Returns" and "A Runaway Train" and dropped "Ghouls Gone Wild".

While I understand the negativity towards DISCO BLOODBATH , I've never really quite got the dislike for GHOULS GONE WILD ....

Unlike BLOODBATH , GHOUL's a very successful pastiche , and I've always thought that ALICE/EZRIN really nailed this track ...

Funny lyrics , crunchy guitars , great backing vocals- very modern , yet very recognisable , like a theme from an old tv show ..........


It should have been a single ......there , I said it ....

[concolz]

.

From concolz:
"The hair-metalish quartet are stylistically similar,"

I disagree. For example, "Trash" has a far more glossy, smooth and slick sound (because it was designed to be played on the radio) than "Raise Your Fist And Yell" which has a harder, more aggressive and heavier sound.

I agree with Andy. Trash is Alice's only true "hair metal" album. Constrictor was more of a pop rock/light metal where RYFAY is a very hard rock/metal album.

There is a difference though between 'musically similar' - as it implies a certain specificity - and 'stylistically similar', which implies an overarching generality. (Also, I added the suffix ish to 'hair-metal', which dilutes the meaning to: 'a little like'.)

Obviously, the specific musical textures are different, BUT, IMO, there is a wider 'feel', purpose, and context that encompasses the '86-'91 albums, meshing them together stylistically. (Just like the '75-'78 albums have specific musical differences, yet there's an overarching, commonality; whilst 'FTF'/'TLT' mark a distinct stylistic break.)

I always disliked the '86-'89 albums, yet for a long time I viewed 'HS' as a pretty decent record. Over the last 18 months though, I became increasingly disenchanted with the album - to the extent that I recently donated it to the charity shop.

[A_MichaelUK]

From concolz:
"There is a difference though between 'musically similar'"

Who said anything about that?

> overarching generality.

I know you're going to take this personally (although you shouldn't) but those words are almost meaningless. What is the "overarching generality"? Does it mean that the first album by The Ramones is "stylistically similar" to the first Tin Machine album?

>(Also, I added the suffix ish to 'hair-metal', which dilutes the meaning to: 'a little like'.)

In what way is "Raise Your Fist And Yell" "'a little like'" "Trash"?

>Obviously, the specific musical textures are different, BUT, IMO, there is a wider 'feel', purpose, and context that encompasses the '86-'91 albums, meshing them together stylistically.

Again, completely wrong, especially if you look at the interviews Alice gave when he was promoting "Trash".

>(Just like the '75-'78 albums have specific musical differences,

I disagree. The first two and the last one in that sequence are quite similar I think.

> yet there's an overarching, commonality;

What is it?

>'FTF'/'TLT' mark a distinct stylistic break.)

This really isn't making any sense. Those two albums are nineteen years apart so any "stylistic break" would not be unusual. If you genuinely think that "Constrictor", "Raise Your Fist And Yell", "Trash" and "Hey Stoopid" are "stylistically similar" (even though you haven't given any examples as to why) then that's your prerogative, but I have to say that's the first time I've ever heard anyone make that comparison and given that I know a lot of the people responsible who worked on those albums, I would go so far as to say they would disagree with your assessment.

[pitkin88]

I have to agree with Andy on this one. The hair metal albums have different styles (and I also disagree that they are bad albums, I think Hey Stoopid and Raise Your Fist and Yell are great albums)

The first two are really alike with the crap lyrics and guitar noodlings.

[pitkin88]

Welcome 2 My Nightmare could've had "Under the Bed" between "The Nightmare Returns" and "A Runaway Train" and dropped "Ghouls Gone Wild".

While I understand the negativity towards DISCO BLOODBATH , I've never really quite got the dislike for GHOULS GONE WILD ....

Unlike BLOODBATH , GHOUL's a very successful pastiche , and I've always thought that ALICE/EZRIN really nailed this track ...

Funny lyrics , crunchy guitars , great backing vocals- very modern , yet very recognisable , like a theme from an old tv show ..........


It should have been a single ......there , I said it ....

Both are strictly file under shite.

[Swinger]

Welcome 2 My Nightmare could've had "Under the Bed" between "The Nightmare Returns" and "A Runaway Train" and dropped "Ghouls Gone Wild".

While I understand the negativity towards DISCO BLOODBATH , I've never really quite got the dislike for GHOULS GONE WILD ....

Unlike BLOODBATH , GHOUL's a very successful pastiche , and I've always thought that ALICE/EZRIN really nailed this track ...

Funny lyrics , crunchy guitars , great backing vocals- very modern , yet very recognisable , like a theme from an old tv show ..........


It should have been a single ......there , I said it ....

Well, to me "Ghouls Gone Wild" is just a very unremarkable song. It's one of those I tend to forget exists at all. It sorta works as a pastiche, I agree, but I don't get why it's a pastiche. Disco Bloodbath on the other hand sticks out because it's just so weird. It's one of those songs where I can totally understand why people dislike it but I can't help enjoying it. It's so unexpected with the Yo-ho-hos, the sorta rap, the whispers, the guitar solo and so on. It sounds so strange that it kinda becomes fun and unnerving at the same time.

Also I think I always thought it was a bit much with two dance themed songs right after each other and of the two I just prefer Disco Bloodbath.

[mr.barlow]

the title "Ghouls Gone Wild" sounds like it belongs on a childens Halloween party album. I can see it sandwiched in between "Horror Hoedown" and "The Groovy Goblin".