Remember The Coop: A tribute to Alice Cooper

[Killer]

Hi, long time since I posted so forgive me if this tribute album has already been discussed. Would appreciate any feedback from those that have heard it, i.e. do they stay close to the originals or put their own 'stamp' on it and change things around a little etc?

Remember The Coop! A tribute to Alice Cooper


Before anyone knew who Vincent Furnier was, he fronted a band called Alice Cooper. Their fourth album, Killer, is considered by most to be their pinnacle, so we thought we'd give it the ol' Main Man treatment. That, of course, was narrow thinking on our part, because as soon as word got out that we were doing an Alice Cooper album tribute we were swamped with requests for inclusion. That led to a whole second disc of Cooper classics, so overflowing with love and respect that it is now the "featured" disc while the Killer tribute is sort of a "bonus".

Richard Barone's original band, The Bongos, used to play "Hello Hooray" over the P.A. as they took the stage back in the 80s, so how fitting that he should record a version all these years later. Backed by none other than Frankenstein 3000, who shared the stage with Richard at our Queen Tribute CD Release Party, it's the perfect song to kick off the tribute. Also fitting is the appearance of Michael Bruce, original guitar player from Alice Cooper, who is backed by Dimma for two live cuts recorded in Iceland on Halloween in 2002. Another original Alice Cooper member, bassist Dennis Dunaway, joins Dimma on Killer's "Halo Of Flies" while his daughters each contribute a song to the Killer disc.



Other notable contributors include The Ribeye Brothers (covering a pre-Alice composition by Mr. Furnier's first band, The Spiders), Deena (Shoshkes of The Cucumbers) & The Laughing Boys, JISM (Tuff Darts), Well Of Souls (first new recording in over 10 years), Cooper disciples Dead Elvi and Sim Cain (Rollins Band), who plays drums on Scream's track.



Some of Alice Cooper's greatest hits are here, like "I'm Eighteen", "Under My Wheels", "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "School's Out", plus plenty of album cuts like "Public Animal #9", "The Ballad Of Dwight Fry" and "Muscle Of Love". 28 tracks in all; nearly 2 hours of music!



Some of Alice Cooper's greatest hits are here, like "I'm Eighteen", "Under My Wheels", "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "School's Out", plus plenty of album cuts like "Public Animal #9", "The Ballad Of Dwight Fry" and "Muscle Of Love". 28 tracks in all; nearly 2 hours of music!



Disc One: Classics



1. Hello Hooray • Richard Barone with Frankenstein 3000
2. Don't Blow Your Mind • The Ribeye Brothers
3. I'm Eighteen • Deena & The Laughing Boys
4. Public Animal #9 • JISM
5. Under My Wheels (Live) • Michael Bruce with Dimma
6. School's Out • Well Of Souls
7. Is It My Body? • Mutant Monster Beach Party
8. Muscle Of Love • The St. Vitus Dancers
9. The Ballad Of Dwight Fry • Dead Elvi
10. You And Me • Christian Beach
11. Be My Lover • Porro And The Raving Lunatics
12. Teenage Lament '74 • Gin House Bandits
13. Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo) • Rick Tedesco
14. Billion Dollar Babies • Jack Brag
15. Elected • FourYearBeard
16. Desperado • Graveyard School
17. No More Mr. Nice Guy • The Swales
18. My Stars (Live) • Michael Bruce with Dimma
19. Only Women Bleed • Eye Of The Dawn

Bonus Track
20. School's Out • Shawn Mars



Disc Two: Killer


1. Under My Wheels • Blue Fox
2. Be My Lover • Scream
3. Halo Of Flies • Dimma with Dennis Dunaway
4. Desperado • Frankenstein 3000
5. You Drive Me Nervous • Serpenteens
6. Yeah Yeah Yeah • Johny Dey
7. Dead Babies • Ché Monet
8. Killer • Renée Dunaway- See more at: http://www.mainmanrecords.com/products/ ... KEHkz.dpuf

[Ted Sallis]

Nice. I haven't heard it but would like to. That's good that there's only 2 non-ACG songs on CD 1 and listening to CD 2 should be interesting, hearing the different renditions of each Killer track. I have Welcome To Our Nightmare, another tribute 2 CD that came out in the early 90's; about 70% of the songs on it are from the ACG era and there are a number of pretty good renditions.

Ted

[Killer]

It's obviously an approved tribute seeing that Dennis & Michael guest on it.

BTW, is Renee Dunaway who plays on Killer related to Dennis?

[pitkin88]

It's obviously an approved tribute seeing that Dennis & Michael guest on it.

BTW, is Renee Dunaway who plays on Killer related to Dennis?

It's his daughter.

[concolz]

Dennis's other daughter Chelsea, aka Che Monet, contributes a wonderfully mournful 'Dead Babies'.
https://youtu.be/hqdulAETlbQ

[killer wolf]

i've heard of virtually none of those bands :-|

[pitkin88]

i've heard of virtually none of those bands :-|

Pretty obscure. These things are nearly always listen to once garbage. Alice Cooper and The Ramones ( my two favourite bands ) are very hard to cover. The only cover of a Ramones song I really like is Kiss doing Rock n Roll Radio. Off the top of my head I can't think of a decent Alice Cooper cover.

[Ted Sallis]

Off the top of my head I can't think of a decent Alice Cooper cover.

I can - Welcome to My Nightmare and Only Women Bleed from the Welcome to Our Nightmare release I mentioned above. Both sound much better than the originals.

Ted

[pitkin88]

Off the top of my head I can't think of a decent Alice Cooper cover.

I can - Welcome to My Nightmare and Only Women Bleed from the Welcome to Our Nightmare release I mentioned above. Both sound much better than the originals.

Ted

Lost for words.

[Toronto Bob]

I've never heard a cover bettar than the original. I've enjoyed a few covers but mostly because I like the tune, not because it was improved upon. Melvins doing ROTS. HoF and BoDF are enjoyable but not equal to the ACG. Lydia Lunch's Black Juju is cool but again doesn't approach the ACG.

These tribute discs with a bunch of nobodies contributing are fine but I wouldn't spend a dollar for them.

[pitkin88]

I've never heard a cover bettar than the original. I've enjoyed a few covers but mostly because I like the tune, not because it was improved upon. Melvins doing ROTS. HoF and BoDF are enjoyable but not equal to the ACG. Lydia Lunch's Black Juju is cool but again doesn't approach the ACG.

These tribute discs with a bunch of nobodies contributing are fine but I wouldn't spend a dollar for them.

Alice Cooper Sun Arise/ The Ramones Do You Ya Wanna Dance/ The Beatles Twist and Shout/ Blondie Denis. Scores of them out there.

[Toronto Bob]

my inexcusable misspelling of "better" aside, I meant I've never heard a cover of an ACG original done better by someone else. There's all kinds of re-makes/covers that are better than the originals.

[pitkin88]

my inexcusable misspelling of "better" aside, I meant I've never heard a cover of an ACG original done better by someone else. There's all kinds of re-makes/covers that are better than the originals.

[ThePainAddict]

Agree that almost all Alice covers have been worthless, but I really like Wednesday 13's version of Levity Ball

[Ted Sallis]

I can - Welcome to My Nightmare and Only Women Bleed from the Welcome to Our Nightmare release I mentioned above. Both sound much better than the originals.

Ted

Lost for words.

To elaborate, some others here may know I'm not a fan of Alice-solo at all which is a factor in my statement above. The cover of OWB on WTON is more 'rocking' than the original, which to me has always been way too sappy sounding and the morality of it is so removed from Alice's character.

Ted

[pitkin88]

You don't like ANY of the solo stuff Ted?

[mr.barlow]

I can - Welcome to My Nightmare and Only Women Bleed from the Welcome to Our Nightmare release I mentioned above. Both sound much better than the originals.

Ted

Lost for words.

To elaborate, some others here may know I'm not a fan of Alice-solo at all which is a factor in my statement above. The cover of OWB on WTON is more 'rocking' than the original, which to me has always been way too sappy sounding and the morality of it is so removed from Alice's character.

Ted

The fact is the original was not meant to be "rocking". Everything and anything that is produced by Bob Ezrin is very thought out. This goes for ALL of the albums from the original band. The recordings that your hear are what the band--and Ezrin--had wanted to achieve. Ask any member of the original band the importance of Ezrin on everything from their songwriting, sound, albums and their overall success and you will see that nothing was by accident.

The version of OWB on WTMN is what they wanted--and in such it became a HUGE hit and a signature song for Alice. It was not meant to be "rocking".

I've yet to hear a cover version of any song by Alice (original band or solo) that is better than the original. I've yet to find one I actually like at all.

On the other hand, Alice has done cover songs that far outshine the originals. The version of "7 & 7 Is" on Special Forces may be one of the best cover songs ever recorded.

As far as Alice's "character" is concerned--and "the morality being removed from it". Alice CREATES the character. The character is what he wants it to be at any given time. One of the main intentions of WTMN was to mainstream the character, to water it down for mass consumption. He purposely started to de-fang the character with that album. Some fans hated him for it (I take it you are one of them) but it was that album and the general acceptance of the "classic" horror character that started to come to life with that album that cemented the visual Alice in the minds of the public forever.

[Ted Sallis]

You don't like ANY of the solo stuff Ted?

Not really. There are a handful of tunes I think aren't bad, i.e. Devil's Food/Black Widow, How You Gonna See Me Now.

Ted

[Ted Sallis]

The fact is the original was not meant to be "rocking". Everything and anything that is produced by Bob Ezrin is very thought out. This goes for ALL of the albums from the original band. The recordings that your hear are what the band--and Ezrin--had wanted to achieve. Ask any member of the original band the importance of Ezrin on everything from their songwriting, sound, albums and their overall success and you will see that nothing was by accident.

The version of OWB on WTMN is what they wanted--and in such it became a HUGE hit and a signature song for Alice. It was not meant to be "rocking".

I've yet to hear a cover version of any song by Alice (original band or solo) that is better than the original. I've yet to find one I actually like at all.

On the other hand, Alice has done cover songs that far outshine the originals. The version of "7 & 7 Is" on Special Forces may be one of the best cover songs ever recorded.

As far as Alice's "character" is concerned--and "the morality being removed from it". Alice CREATES the character. The character is what he wants it to be at any given time. One of the main intentions of WTMN was to mainstream the character, to water it down for mass consumption. He purposely started to de-fang the character with that album. Some fans hated him for it (I take it you are one of them) but it was that album and the general acceptance of the "classic" horror character that started to come to life with that album that cemented the visual Alice in the minds of the public forever.

Well, regardless of what the intention was musically re. OWB, I just happen to prefer the 'rocking' cover version. Same with Alice's 'character'; I prefer Alice singing lines like 'blow that school to pieces' and songs like Ballad of Dwight Fry and with James Bond-esque themes. And hate is too strong a word to describe how I feel about Alice de-fanging the character - I do believe it was wrong but the most negative feelings I have about Alice (and Shep Gordon) are due to them taking the name in 1974 and not getting back together with the original Group.

Ted

[Daggers & Contracts]

On the other hand, Alice has done cover songs that far outshine the originals. The version of "7 & 7 Is" on Special Forces may be one of the best cover songs ever recorded.

I agree Mr. B, just downloaded the three additional tracks to the H.V. album " 7 & 7 Is" pales in comparison to what AC did for Special Forces. Sounds great w/new version but lacks the energy!
However, (to sidestep slightly) As Bad As I Am should have made the cut. Must have been thinking about a B -Side to a single?