Thoughts on the new album

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pitkin88
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by pitkin88 » Sat Sep 19, 2015 5:05 pm

Si wrote:
tim10cc wrote: I will say "My dead drunk friends" is the strongest track from the new album.
I agree. I think the two originals are by far the best things on there. The rest would make good b-sides or bonus tracks. but you don`t want an whole album of them.
I think it would have been better off if they had done the shows first, and then just put out a live recording. Going from the videos there was a real energy at the shows.

You can`t fault the playing or the production, but I'm not drawn to listen to it so far.

I think you can fault the production. It's sterile and cluttered.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by RemarkablyInsincere » Sat Sep 19, 2015 5:14 pm

Si wrote:I agree. I think the two originals are by far the best things on there.
My thoughts are exactly the opposite. The two new tracks are really average, while I enjoy the covers quite a bit.
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by Si » Sat Sep 19, 2015 5:20 pm

pitkin88 wrote: I think you can fault the production. It's sterile and cluttered.
Well you think you can find fault in almost anything :evil:
But I agree and that was kinda my point. The production IS sterile when perhaps a more organic feel is what was needed. It would be hard to argue that Ezrin isn`t a great producer, and the best producer for Alice albums, but in this case maybe his perfectionist ear isn`t what suited the project best.
That`s why I think a straight live recording might have served better.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by Si » Sat Sep 19, 2015 5:22 pm

RemarkablyInsincere wrote:
Si wrote:I agree. I think the two originals are by far the best things on there.
My thoughts are exactly the opposite. The two new tracks are really average, while I enjoy the covers quite a bit.
Fair enough.
I think the new tracks sound like they would have fitted pretty well on W2MN and I personally still love that album.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by recoop » Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:07 pm

Interesting thought re the two new tracks fitting in well on Welcome 2- just drop Ghouls and Disco, replace them the new two and Alice is your aunty as they say- Welcome 2 would be better with those replacements imo but I like them on H Vampires album.
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by pitkin88 » Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:20 pm

Si wrote:
pitkin88 wrote: I think you can fault the production. It's sterile and cluttered.
Well you think you can find fault in almost anything :evil:
But I agree and that was kinda my point. The production IS sterile when perhaps a more organic feel is what was needed. It would be hard to argue that Ezrin isn`t a great producer, and the best producer for Alice albums, but in this case maybe his perfectionist ear isn`t what suited the project best.
That`s why I think a straight live recording might have served better.
It cou;dn't have been any worse. The sad thing is there is not ONE great track. Whole Lotta Love is the best but it's not great.

Maybe Ezrin was too star struck to fully hold things together. Maybe the time it took and all the different musicians meant there would not be a cohesive feel. It's better than ACAS but not buy much.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by RemarkablyInsincere » Sun Sep 20, 2015 3:21 am

pitkin88 wrote:It's better than ACAS but not buy much.
It's silly to compare this kind of album to studio albums of new material.
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by RemarkablyInsincere » Sun Sep 20, 2015 3:27 am

Si wrote:
pitkin88 wrote: The production IS sterile when perhaps a more organic feel is what was needed. It would be hard to argue that Ezrin isn`t a great producer, and the best producer for Alice albums, but in this case maybe his perfectionist ear isn`t what suited the project best.
That`s why I think a straight live recording might have served better.
Actually, I think W2MN suffers from some of the same issues sound wise, it's just they are easier to overlook than here where it clearly doesn't suit the material.

I can't quite put my finger on what bothers me about the sound on these albums, but it seems to originate with the way the drums are recorded.

In layman's terms, I like a drier sound on the drums. There's too much of something (echo, reverb, etc). It's a very modern sounding style and it really impacts the overall sound/feel of the songs. It sounds artificial though and not natural.

The way drums are recorded can really have a large impact on the overall sound of a recording and I'd say it has on these albums.

Just my impression.
Last edited by RemarkablyInsincere on Sun Sep 20, 2015 4:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by evil syd » Sun Sep 20, 2015 3:42 am

Daggers & Contracts wrote:
GailsFriend wrote:I made a poll so that everyone can place their review of the album there. It has a 1-10 scale. have fun!
A lot of opinions have been posted on this link yet very few have yet to vote. Voter apathy raises its' ugly head! :ghostface:
I give this album a "2" but that's because I love Coop and hate to give him a "1" for any of his efforts.:/
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by pitkin88 » Sun Sep 20, 2015 4:59 am

RemarkablyInsincere wrote:
pitkin88 wrote:It's better than ACAS but not buy much.
It's silly to compare this kind of album to studio albums of new material.


No its not. Its silly for you to say it is.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by Keith1980 » Sun Sep 20, 2015 5:47 am

Could this be the prelude to alice doing an album to the dead and almost forgotten pretty alice form the early 80s?? Alice to cover pretty alice. Ohhhh. Skeletons in my closet 2016?? Former lee warmer. Ohhhhhh

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by pitkin88 » Sun Sep 20, 2015 6:21 am

Keith1980 wrote:Could this be the prelude to alice doing an album to the dead and almost forgotten pretty alice form the early 80s?? Alice to cover pretty alice. Ohhhh. Skeletons in my closet 2016?? Former lee warmer. Ohhhhhh

Amuk?

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by patrick » Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:55 am

I give this album a "2" but that's because I love Coop and hate to give him a "1" for any of his efforts.:/[/quote]

well , I like it for what it is : not an Alice album, so I cannot compare it next to the real Alice stuff.
I liked Cold Turkey a lot and in the first minute of it I thought it had the feel of the better songs of ACAS (first part of wrapped in silk eg )
. I did'nt need to hear BJ on School's Out, but then it would have been nothing else but another copy of SO..
Jump into the fire didn't seem to fit here, but then again , neither did Sun Arise on LITD..

( went to a shop this weekend and I never saw that many copies available for "an Alice album" as this time for the HV : maybe they expect it to do well ?? )
you really wouldn't understand..

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by dadascot » Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:29 am

There are some really dour people on this forum! This album has brought Alice more press than he has had in years, the sales look to be solid, certainly a lot better than his ninetie's and naughtie's sales, it is, in my opinion, a very good fun album and I like that he is doing something different and obviously something he is having fun at. All the non Alice fans I have played the album to have really liked it so it is expanding his fan base. I love the drums and rythnm section it a real powerhouse sound on most of the tracks. Guys enjoy, it's fun.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by A_MichaelUK » Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:38 am

From pitkin88:
"Amuk?"

Some of the speculation is staggering.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by A_MichaelUK » Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:40 am

From dadascot:
"and obviously something he is having fun at."

What a shocking concept.

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by Saint&Sinner » Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:57 am

After a week of listening to this new Alice Cooper project I have to say I am disappointed. If I wanted to hear "Whole lotta love" I would resort to the original Zeppelin take. All I can if the Welcome 2 my Nightmare tour was shelved for this project then I am not impressed!!! Alice WAKE up from your Nightmare , get the leathers on and get back to headlining your OWN tour. The only good from this album is the new material recorded with producer Bob Ezrin . Lets hope in 2016 This Raise the Dead theme that has been talked about for almost 4 years is out of his system!!! I will say "My dead drunk friends" is the strongest track from the new album.
here here! i was very unhappy we never got a proper welcome 2 my nightmare tour (only 3 new songs live) i hope he can get all this out of his system and show everyone how good his OWN material is, he can still do it W2MN is great and i would have loved a tour built around it.

Lets hope this album doesn't distract him too much from going back and doing new material.
Also after hearing tommy tommy tommy, i think he should get him to produce, even if you dont like the music it sounds amazing, it also sounds great in 5.1!

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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by RemarkablyInsincere » Sun Sep 20, 2015 1:43 pm

pitkin88 wrote:No its not. Its silly for you to say it is.
Nope, it's silly. They have two totally different objectives and expectations. Creating new music from scratch vs. covering other people's music is about as different as you can get when it comes to music.

You know this, but your sole reason for doing so is for you to find yet another angle to bitch about.
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by evil syd » Sun Sep 20, 2015 3:11 pm

dadascot wrote:There are some really dour people on this forum! This album has brought Alice more press than he has had in years, the sales look to be solid, certainly a lot better than his ninetie's and naughtie's sales, it is, in my opinion, a very good fun album and I like that he is doing something different and obviously something he is having fun at. All the non Alice fans I have played the album to have really liked it so it is expanding his fan base. I love the drums and rythnm section it a real powerhouse sound on most of the tracks. Guys enjoy, it's fun.
But that's the whole point, if you read "my review" earlier, it seems more personal, more about getting back in the charts. It's sad that he choses other people's material to work it. I put up there with Trash and at least Trash had some good original material. You mentioned all the non Alice fans liked it, well, this is not Alice Cooper, it's Vincent Furnier and friends performing mostly contemporary rock songs and either his fans will love it because they feel devoted or hate it because this is just not Coop material, which is another comparison to "Trash". I guess an early hint of this album to come was Vincent's version of "Eleanor Rigby". Compare that version to his version of "Because". Now that's Alice singing that one with all the funny creepy add libs. It worked, at least I thought so. Anyway, it's really not much of an album. I mean Johnny Depp is also the main musician, it tells you something. Another thing, another version of "School's Out"? We had that version on the live album/DVD....I could go on...... :smack:
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Re: Thoughts on the new album

Post by Keith1980 » Sun Sep 20, 2015 4:24 pm

A_MichaelUK wrote:From pitkin88:
"Amuk?"

Some of the speculation is staggering.
Well he has said hed like to go back and remake some of those songs

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