Constrictor Thirty Year Anniversary

[cooperrocks]

This may sound like an odd comment and yes, I am well aware that often times t-shirts are sold at shows from previous tours, etc. but last night there were very cool looking Constrictor t-shirts being sold. But the back of the shirt is what caught my eye. It mentioned 30th Anniversary. Until last night, I hadn't even thought about that being the year Constrictor album came out, it slipped mind though now I remember it well and The Nightmare Returns Tour was the first tour I ever saw. This question is not a complaint and Alice and Shep may not even know it is being sold, but it occurred to me that with a shirt celebrating the Anniversary, it would make sense to do one song off that album since it marked the return of Alice.

[pitkin88]

This may sound like an odd comment and yes, I am well aware that often times t-shirts are sold at shows from previous tours, etc. but last night there were very cool looking Constrictor t-shirts being sold. But the back of the shirt is what caught my eye. It mentioned 30th Anniversary. Until last night, I hadn't even thought about that being the year Constrictor album came out, it slipped mind though now I remember it well and The Nightmare Returns Tour was the first tour I ever saw. This question is not a complaint and Alice and Shep may not even know it is being sold, but it occurred to me that with a shirt celebrating the Anniversary, it would make sense to do one song off that album since it marked the return of Alice.

If there was a 30 year deluxe album coming out I could see it but not just for a t shirt.

[cooperrocks]

Fair enough maybe more wishful thinking on my part as someone that is in the anything but Covers Camp.

[pitkin88]

Anything But Covers would make a good album title for Alice's next album.

Constrictor ( not that I like it ) would be a good candidate for a deluxe album. I would really like to hear at least one song that Dennis and Neal played on.

[pitkin88]

One of the demos I should add.

[cooperrocks]

I like the Constrictor album (though Raise Your Fist and Yell is superior in my opinion), but I would love to hear the Constrictor album remastered with real drums being used.

[pitkin88]

I like the Constrictor album (though Raise Your Fist and Yell is superior in my opinion), but I would love to hear the Constrictor album remastered with real drums being used.

I never noticed the drums at the time. I think I was just in shock that this was a heavy metal album and had the worst lyrics I had ever heard come out of Alice's mouth.

I know someone who knows Ken Mary. I bet he'd do them in a heartbeat.

[Si]

I thought the chances of a deluxe Constrictor are low. It was originally on MCA who I thought no longer excited.

Looking at Wikipedia (which cold be wrong) the catalogue actually appears to now by under Universal Music (Quote: "Today Universal Music Enterprises manages MCA's rock, pop, and urban back catalogues in conjunction with Geffen") which still has ties to Alice, and Geffen, so maybe it is possible if they could be convinced there was a market for it. That would probably be the main stumbling block.

As to redoing the drums (Ken being suggested and would be the logical choice) I think that would be a great idea and I'm sure he would be up for it, but I doubt sales would recoup the money such work (recording, remixing etc) would involve. It would be a labor of love from someone to do that, and I don`t think that love is there. Would love to be proved wrong though.

[Si]

Slightly off topic but I think one of the main issues with getting the deluxe reissues of the catalogue (and Andy can correct me if I'm way off here) is that the old albums are spread out across several different labels.
No one corporation has access to everything without extra licencing money being paid out to other companies.

Even when Brian was working on the first box set he was having to deal with multiple companies to get the right to use tracks.

I think the best reissue campaigns have been for artists that in one way or another either own their full catalogue or one company owns at least the majority. With Alice (again I could be wrong) the key 70s albums are all owned by Warners while after that they are spread all over the place with few being owned by "Alice Cooper". This makes it much harder to have a combined reissue in the style we dream of.
The extra costs of paying all these different entities and the limited profits involve could mean the figures just don`t add up, and in the end such a project has to be financially viable for anyone to look seriously at it.

What such a project has in it's favour is that there are quite a few people around who would happily donate their time for free to make such a project a reality, but the bottom line is still the profit margin which I'm not convinced is there.

[A_MichaelUK]

From Si:
"Slightly off topic but I think one of the main issues with getting the deluxe reissues of the catalogue (and Andy can correct me if I'm way off here) is that the old albums are spread out across several different labels."

Yes, that's correct. It certainly doesn't help. This is why many of the compilations consist of material from one label for example.

[Toronto Bob]

Which is why it's so sad that no one has had either the ability or desire or resources to wrangle control over the oeuvre. How fantastic it would be to have the collected works under one umbrella and guided forward by someone who cares and has the knowledge and good sense and taste to put out quality releases. Ahh that kind of foresight would have required respect for the recorded works though and not just a drive and desire to exploit.

Oh well, c'est la vie

[Si]

Which is why it's so sad that no one has had either the ability or desire or resources to wrangle control over the oeuvre. How fantastic it would be to have the collected works under one umbrella and guided forward by someone who cares and has the knowledge and good sense and taste to put out quality releases. Ahh that kind of foresight would have required respect for the recorded works though and not just a drive and desire to exploit.

Oh well, c'est la vie

I think it would be hard to get everything under one umbrella unless it was Warners, as I can`t see them giving up the classic albums to anyone. They still generate money without Warners really having to do anything.

[mestreech]

And Warners is not the best company for reissues.
Or they are not interested or don't care for making some money.
The best and most reissue boxes are mostly from other companies.
Shame as there is still money to be made with nice project for fans. At least that's my believe.

[Si]

And Warners is not the best company for reissues.

Is that completely correct though? Rhino are a Warners company specifically for reissues are they not?

[Daggers & Contracts]

Is that completely correct though? Rhino are a Warners company specifically for reissues are they not?

When Warners acquired Rhino, most of the staff was kept on, they had a very good track record of selecting the right albums to re-issue and the general public still had an interest to purchase that never had a digital release. Now they have access to the entire Warner Archive! And More...
http://www.rhino.com

[wind_up_toy]

I'm struggling to comprehend that Constrictor is 30 years old, this is making me feel rather ancient right now.

[cooperrocks]

That was my thought too when I saw the shirt. I remember buying the album when it came out and I saw the tour but until I noticed the back of the shirt (and ended up buying one), I didn't even consider it had been 30 years.

[Saint&Sinner]

I and several other people i know would adore a 30th anniversary box set.
Get the demos on there, get hard rock summer, get the "movie mix" of he's back (which is the definitive version for sure) get a proper remix and ideally, yeah get ken to record drums.

Would it cost that much? i dont see it personally - i'm sure ken would be up for putting his stamp on it for a reasonable fee, he seems genuine and always speaks with fondness of that time. A simple remix/remastering doesnt cost the earth - i think if alice pushed it at gigs and it was done right it could be a nice little earner.

But yeah convincing universal/mca could be another matter.

Does alice even care about reissues/remixes - he has never struck me as someone who wants to do that stuff and never seems interested in the product once he has finished it. I appreciate i could be wrong, just how it appears from the outside.

Why do a t-shirt with nothing else behind it, seems odd. Has anyone broached this to alice?

[mestreech]

And Warners is not the best company for reissues.

Is that completely correct though? Rhino are a Warners company specifically for reissues are they not?

I didn't know that and indeed Rhino is a very good company for boxsets (they won several prizes for them) but the last years Rhino was not that active.

Another question : does a recordcompany only own the content of the official albumreleases or do they also own the (not finished) demos etc?
I mean Sony/MCA etc have made so much "greatest hits"cds and almost no extras on it.

[mr.barlow]

While I also would love to hear live drums played by Ken Mary added to the original album, I don't think it will ever happen.

One has to keep in mind that the reason remastered/deluxe versions of albums are released are to make MONEY--and a PROFIT.

I understand the Constrictor is beloved by many fans--especially those who discovered Alice in the mid-1980s but that album was far from successful upon it's release.

The Nightmare Returns Tour was what brought Alice back to prominence in 1986, not so much the Constrictor album itself.

I liked the album upon it's release but in the 30 years that have passed it really stands out as a very sub-par album in all respects. It does have some great moments, but overall it's just a cookie-cutter hair metal album from that era. It was written that way on purpose.

From what I understand the budget from MCA for the album was very modest which led to many of the problems with the final product--namely the drum machine.

I can't see anyone outside of Alive ( and I doubt that Shep even cares about this album) financing the recording drum tracks and a deluxe reissue of the album. It makes no financial sense at all--and in all likelihood would lose money. Remember, the album sold poorly upon it's release and it has not obtained any kind of cult status since then. In fact it can be found at any record store (the ones that still exist) in the budget racks for $5.00 (brand new). It's just another run-of-the-mill, unremarkable hair metal album.

I'm sure Ken would be up to the task of doing the project but again--how many units would it actually sell? I would think that such a project would cost about $250,000US or more. That amounts to selling 25,000 units at $10.00 each just to break even. That's an incredible amount of units in today's market!