Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

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pitkin88
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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Sat Sep 24, 2016 6:46 pm

A_MichaelUK wrote:From concolz:
"One of the journalist's comments that I do agree with though is: "There is ample proof here that most ACG members could write great songs, and Cooper has still to find a co-writing foil to match guitarist Michael Bruce."

As we all should know by now, they weren't a traditional partnership when it came to composing so that statement doesn't really make a lot of sense.

I understand what he is saying. Traditional or not is irrelevant. The somgs were not as good after MB that's all ( yes I know that is subjective though you could use the example of how much band stuff is in the live set to back it up ).

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by A_MichaelUK » Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:00 pm

From pitkin88:
"The somgs were not as good after MB that's all"

If that was his point, it would have been more accurate for that writer to have written that the entire band were foils for each other not just Michael and Alice and to Bob Ezrin as well.

>( yes I know that is subjective though you could use the example of how much band stuff is in the live set to back it up ).

Well it you look at the recent tours, it tends to be around fifty per cent although it is more on this current tour. Before the current tour and for the last few years, there was slightly more solo material.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:33 pm

A_MichaelUK wrote:From pitkin88:
"The somgs were not as good after MB that's all"

If that was his point, it would have been more accurate for that writer to have written that the entire band were foils for each other not just Michael and Alice and to Bob Ezrin as well.

>( yes I know that is subjective though you could use the example of how much band stuff is in the live set to back it up ).

Well it you look at the recent tours, it tends to be around fifty per cent although it is more on this current tour. Before the current tour and for the last few years, there was slightly more solo material.

I agree with your first point. The second point is spinning it a bit though as the band material in the live set comes from four years and the solo material from 40 years.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by Toronto Bob » Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:03 pm

But Wagner was a fantastic writing partner to Alice, just under Dunaway/Bruce.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Sun Sep 25, 2016 3:32 am

Toronto Bob wrote:But Wagner was a fantastic writing partner to Alice, just under Dunaway/Bruce.
He certainly came in with all cylinders firing. It was a pity Alice started going a bit soft after WTMN as Dick is much better cranked up.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by A_MichaelUK » Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:11 pm

The second point is spinning it a bit

It is a case of simple mathematics.

>though as the band material in the live set comes from four years and the solo material from 40 years.

If the show consisted of only material from those "four years", we know the kind of complaints we would be witnessing.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by Saint&Sinner » Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:19 pm

Dirty Diamonds. Wow. I'm shocked that album got anywhere i really am. Only just up from Lace and whiskey for me.
Good to see Brutal planet and trash get some love tho.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:29 pm

A_MichaelUK wrote:The second point is spinning it a bit

It is a case of simple mathematics.

>though as the band material in the live set comes from four years and the solo material from 40 years.

If the show consisted of only material from those "four years", we know the kind of complaints we would be witnessing.

Nah he could easilly do a Sparks and play some albums in full. You just have to have faith.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by A_MichaelUK » Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:49 pm

From pitkin88:
"Nah he could easilly do a Sparks and play some albums in full. You just have to have faith."

I don't necessarily disagree but the fact remains he tries to play a wide selection of songs even if his choices end up being quite conservative.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Mon Sep 26, 2016 12:58 am

If it is strictly a how to buy, If you like:


Classic Hard Rock. LITD/Killer/School's Out/BDB's/WTMN all essential.

New Wave: FTF/Special Forces/Da Da

Hair Metal: Constrictor/RYFAY

Corporate: Trash

Middle Ground/Return to Form: The Last Temptation

Industrial: Brutal Planet

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by Paul » Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:05 am

concolz wrote:
One of the journalist's comments that I do agree with though is: "There is ample proof here that most ACG members could write great songs, and Cooper has still to find a co-writing foil to match guitarist Michael Bruce."
I think Dick Wagner co-wrote some great songs with Alice. IMO he is Alice's best post ACG songwriting partner.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by cooperrocks » Mon Sep 26, 2016 1:33 pm

While I love the original band, I am not one of these that things the original group is the Be All, End All. They made plenty of mistakes as well. Some of my favorite Alice albums are some of his solo work, but I will say this. I do think it is fair to say that throughout his solo career, Alice has not had a consistent writing partner that stretched all over a number of albums so I think that assessment is fair. In regards to what Alice plays live, it is the same thing that plagues most classic rock bands, fans are unwilling to support newer music in mass. It would not matter if Alice created his best album ever, in this day and age the masses would ignore it because few actually pay for music any more and the casual fan would rather hear Eighteen but the ten thousandth time than hear something new. That has to be frustrating to an artist. That's why, though they aren't a favorite band of mine, I have always admired someone like Iron Maiden who on many times will play several songs off of their new album and at least try and promote their new projects.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by GailsFriend » Mon Sep 26, 2016 2:50 pm

Alice Cooper has been a force to reckon with for decades...four to be exact. Narrowing down his discography to just the "best of" is quite difficult. This will be no exception. As far as albums go, most of his music is quite stellar, when the period of the decade is considered. Alice has always surrounded himself with great musicians and producers and songwriters, who have brought the best out of Mr. Cooper's concepts. If a rating scale could suffice, we will try to keep it simple: just between 1 and 5. It's a relief to know now, that all of Alice's albums fall between 2 and 5. All of this is really subjective, but I will try to keep my bias in check. Here it is:
5=Great,
4=Good,
3=Fair,
2=Meh...
Got it? Okay. Bad News First...Albums that I voted 2:
Brutal Planet,
Dragontown,
The Eyes of Alice Cooper,
Dirty Diamonds, and
Along Came A Spider. Why? These albums all suffer from a lack of time spent in the studio to polish the songs, production flaws and subpar writing from the Coop.
Albums that I voted 3:
Pretties For You,
Easy Action,
Constrictor,
Raise Your Fist And Yell,
Trash, and
Hey Stoopid. Why? These albums have better concepts but, kinda of miss the mark in imagination or complete cohesion.
Albums that I voted 4:
Muscle Of Love,
Goes To Hell, and
Lace & Whiskey. These albums have a lot of variety in their styles, so beauty is in the ear of the listener.

The Best has been saved for last....
The albums I voted with a 5:
Love It To Death,
Killer, School's Out,
Billion Dollar Babies,
Welcome To My Nightmare,
From The Inside,
Flush The Fashion,
Special Forces,
Zipper Catches Skin,
Dada,
The Last Temptation,
Welcome 2 My Nighmare and
The Hollywood Vampires. These albums are great from beginning to end with lots of ear candy.

This is where things get even more tricky, we are going to rank these albums from 1 to 27, according to their ability to be awesome.
1) Killer,
2) Welcome To My Nightmare,
3) From The Inside.
4) Special Forces,
5) Raise Your Fist And Yell,
6) Hey Stoopid,
7) The Last Temptation,
8) Welcome 2 My Nightmare,
9) School's Out,
10) Love It To Death,
11) Billion Dollar Babies,
12) Goes To Hell,
13) Muscle Of Love,
14) Lace & Whiskey,
15) Flush The Fashion,
16) Zipper Catches Skin,
17) Raise Your Fist And Yell,
18) Trash,
19) Dragontown,
20) Dirty Diamonds,
21) Easy Action,
22) Pretties For You,
23) DaDa,
24) Along Came A Spider,
25) The Eyes Of Alice Cooper,
26) Brutal Planet,
27) Hollywood Vampires.

Most of Alice's albums received better scores for their packaging, songwriting and production and concepts, the rest failed to achieve this marks in some form or fashion. For example: Hollywood Vampires received a 5 score because I believe the versions of covers were executed well and the production & performance is stellar; but, it is at the bottom in the ranking because these are cover songs, and the original songs that were given are just, good, not amazing.
Again, all of this is really subjective to the listener; but, every album from Alice Cooper has at least three songs that are catchy and well-made, even on the "worst" recordings...which is why all the albums never were voted below a score of 2.
"What part of DEAD don't you get?"

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by A_MichaelUK » Mon Sep 26, 2016 6:03 pm

From GailsFriend:
"These albums all suffer from a lack of time spent in the studio to polish the songs, production flaws and subpar writing from the Coop.

How do you know how long they took? Only "The Eyes Of Alice Cooper" was put together quickly and that was the intention. I wish people wouldn't generalise in such a misleading way.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Mon Sep 26, 2016 6:20 pm

A_MichaelUK wrote:From GailsFriend:
"These albums all suffer from a lack of time spent in the studio to polish the songs, production flaws and subpar writing from the Coop.

How do you know how long they took? Only "The Eyes Of Alice Cooper" was put together quickly and that was the intention. I wish people wouldn't generalise in such a misleading way.


Exactly! He's been writing this new album for three years already.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by A_MichaelUK » Mon Sep 26, 2016 7:31 pm

From pitkin88:
"Exactly! He's been writing this new album for three years already."

No, not really.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by cooperrocks » Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:34 pm

Wow everyone is entitled to their opinion but I personally think Brutal Planet is one of the best albums Alice has ever done.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by concolz » Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:45 pm

pitkin88 wrote: He's been writing this new album for three years already.
At least 'guests', or 'jaw-dropping', haven't been mentioned. Yet.

Regarding 'foils', post-ACG I agree that Cooper/Wagner (plus Ezrin, of course) were the best (although some of the stuff on 'L&W' leaves a lot to be desired); also Cooper/Marlette worked well. IMO the worst was Cooper/Roberts, followed closely by most things with the name Child attached.

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by Paulimo » Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:18 am

A couple of basic schoolboy errors in the article though.

"After he went solo in '76"
"REJECTED was overhauled for a barnstorming ELECTED." (caps mine).

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Re: Mojo - Vote For Alice Cooper's Best Albums

Post by pitkin88 » Thu Oct 06, 2016 11:33 pm

Some folks are very unhappy about Muscle Of Love.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/m ... ve.604334/


I did really like the Alice/Ethel Merman quote on page 2.

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