New album update

[Dannorama]

Has anyone actually heard any of the songs? No? Then how/why can anyone be so critical? Imagine the challenge of having to please everyone, each with their own take on how you should sound... Let the music do the talking.

And! While I'm at it - Ezrin is just as much Alice as Alice is Alice. I'd rather have him in the booth than anybody.

[HORRORHOLIC]

Corey Taylor of Slipknot said Rick Rubin today is a shadow of what he was in the 80s and early 90s.

Corey Taylor has also since apologized for those remarks and admitted it was more on his end. made them because he was going through a very hard time in his life, he was freshly sober and wanted more attention then he was getting from Rick. The rest of the band has always spoke very highly of him and praised his work. Rubin has his way of doing things, and one way or another they work. He manages to get bands to bring out the best in themselves.

[HORRORHOLIC]

Corey Taylor of Slipknot said Rick Rubin today is a shadow of what he was in the 80s and early 90s. Many bands spoken experiences with him are that the majority of the work is done by the engineer.

And yet he continues to get great albums out of his artists. I don't really care *how* he does it, either. Whether it's him showing up once a month and nixing the crap or whatever.

This!!

[guttertrash]

Corey Taylor of Slipknot said Rick Rubin today is a shadow of what he was in the 80s and early 90s.

Corey Taylor has also since apologized for those remarks and admitted it was more on his end. made them because he was going through a very hard time in his life, he was freshly sober and wanted more attention then he was getting from Rick. The rest of the band has always spoke very highly of him and praised his work. Rubin has his way of doing things, and one way or another they work. He manages to get bands to bring out the best in themselves.

Yes, he does get good performances from most bands. I don't like the fact that most of the albums are highly compressed and overly loud. Ted Jensen who mastered Death Magnetic did not want his name on it, because he said the overly compressed mix he was given to work with was impossible to make sound good. While clipping is fine sometimes, especially on old analog, 2 inch recordings, an album should not clip to the point that Death Magnetic did. Glad he was able to get Metallica to try to rethink the way they worked their writing process, but there is no reanimating a lifeless corpse; no matter what the zombie movies and bible says. Maybe the terrible album mixes that he has signed his name onto are more of an engineer issue, but he should find better engineers if that is the case.

[Saint&Sinner]

I find it amusing the debate over what is humorous and what isn't.
I got the joke on disco bloodbath and i really like the tune, john 5 shredding at the end is epic! All my mates got it and equally like it, does that mean we are right and you are wrong? no, it just means we didnt all get the joke. Its not a big deal.
It just seems people want a certain album and they wont be happy unless they get it. As much as i would love another raise your fist and yell, last temptation or brutal planet - it isnt going to happen. He doesnt seem interested in that angry/dark vein.
Thats a shame, but its fine.
He seems to want to chase the old school vibe which is not what i would want him to do, but so what? i'm excited to hear it and i think it will be good to be honest. I think with bob ezrin sitting next to him it will be a good solid album at worst.
They both have so much experience i dont think they could deliver a truly dire album.....i hope hahaha bring on July!!

[mr.barlow]

The way he explains I Wanna Be is exactly the issue. It originally started as I Want A Genuine American Girl, but he felt like the Alice thing to do is make it another cross-dressing song. The joke is played out.

I felt the same way about "I'll Bite Your Face Off". I think it's really a *fantastic* song, but the title immediately gives into the Alice Cooper "80s horror film" stereotype that so many people have of him. It just comes off as juvenile to me.

They could have come up with a title/chorus that was much smarter and subtle that better served the song. The title is silly and right from the get go prevents it from being taken seriously. It also diminishes any chance (no matter how small) of rock radio picking up on it, too. Too bad, because I feel this song really could have done well for Alice under the right circumstances.

The early stuff didn't hit you over the head with this kind of stuff the way Alice does far too often lately.

I think "I'll Bite Your Toe Off" would have been better.

[mr.barlow]

From guttertrash:
"I know quite a few people who missed the point then"

So did most people, even when Alice and the band were at their peak, commercially.

>and maybe if it takes some esoteric message to explain the point, the humor wasn't properly conveyed.

So having complained about dumb lyrics, do you want things to dumbed - down even further to make them less "esoteric"? If you don't get all the jokes and references, it doesn't make you less of a fan, so I wouldn't worry.

It's hard to believe that even all these years later an all of the interviews Alice has given since the beginning, that there are those that still don't get the point of Alice Cooper.

These were guys making great music having fun by seeing how far they could take things and pressing the buttons of polite society. Also, when they found out how lucrative it could be they just kept upping the ante. Song titles, publicity stunts and you name it were created with the sole intent of getting a reaction. They would sit back and laugh at the reaction they got from the utter nonsense they were feeding the public. Outside of the music, none of it was meant to be taken seriously. It was pure P.T. Barnum.

Who in their right mind takes a guy in garish eye-makeup singing "I Love The Dead", who uses a centuries old guillotine magic trick to "cut off" his head, and then singing a teenage pop song about the end of the school year seriously? It's all so incredibly ridiculous! That's what makes it great!

[guttertrash]

Was extremely drunk when messaging last night. But I personally understood that Disco Bloodbath was a parody of being in a club and dealing with the hip-hop generation and how that is a nightmare to him. I don't like the way it was portrayed. I think it was weakly done, and it was tossed out without much thought. You Gotta Dance was a parody, but it was also a well thought out and clever song. It wasn't just a parody, but it was a great disco song. It was a great crossover song, but it cleverly mocked the disco movement at the same time. Disco Booodbath is nowhere near as studied and calculated. The modern disco music and the rapping vocals don't fit together, and I dislike the cheesy goth element. It just makes people ask "what the hell?" You can go to the commentary to find out, but to people who listen to tons of music, it seems like the writers didn't have a grasp and is out of touch with what they were trying to mock. So in the end only a small group gets it, and an even smaller group likes it. It's like a popular comedian who tosses off a bad pun...somebody will always laugh, because some peope think everything the comedian says is gold, but it probably will be replaced quickly in the show, because it didn't hit the mark. However with an album, we are stuck with it, and it will always create a wasted space that could have been filled with something better and more fitting. It just doesn't seem like it was thought through well, but that is my problem with that whole album.

It seeing the two new song titles leaves me afraid that the humor aspect again is not going to have been thought out. Yet again, I hope I am wrong, but history as of late has left me with low expectations.

[guttertrash]

From guttertrash:
"I know quite a few people who missed the point then"

So did most people, even when Alice and the band were at their peak, commercially.

>and maybe if it takes some esoteric message to explain the point, the humor wasn't properly conveyed.

So having complained about dumb lyrics, do you want things to dumbed - down even further to make them less "esoteric"? If you don't get all the jokes and references, it doesn't make you less of a fan, so I wouldn't worry.

It's hard to believe that even all these years later an all of the interviews Alice has given since the beginning, that there are those that still don't get the point of Alice Cooper.

These were guys making great music having fun by seeing how far they could take things and pressing the buttons of polite society. Also, when they found out how lucrative it could be they just kept upping the ante. Song titles, publicity stunts and you name it were created with the sole intent of getting a reaction. They would sit back and laugh at the reaction they got from the utter nonsense they were feeding the public. Outside of the music, none of it was meant to be taken seriously. It was pure P.T. Barnum.

Who in their right mind takes a guy in garish eye-makeup singing "I Love The Dead", who uses a centuries old guillotine magic trick to "cut off" his head, and then singing a teenage pop song about the end of the school year seriously? It's all so incredibly ridiculous! That's what makes it great!

It's not about taking it seriously. It's about the humor hitting it's mark. I personally think it misses due to it going for overly silly over clever. Maybe at this point Alice is fine with that, but I am not interested in that, so if that is what he wants to do, that's cool, but it's just not what I care to spend money on. I liked when he was on point with his mockings and satire of social commentary. He can go in whatever direction he chooses, but what frustrates me is when marketing says it will be something likable to those who love something that it turns out not to be, and for people to sit and act like nothing has changed when that is untrue.

[dadascot]

Dear god, after five years we are finally getting a new album, there is a great publicity roll out, the ACG are on three tracks, perhaps six with the add ons, the album is to be based on the classic sounds of killer and LITD and we get reams of negativity based on two song titles!!! Wtf? Some people wouldn't be happy unless Alice sat in front of them and asked a list of what they personally wanted!
As to the humour! This is what set Alice apart, instead of the heavy seriousness of his contemporaries he had a snide, satirical look at life, always reminded me of the humour Ali brought to boxing. Can't wait for this album. Will there be some tracks that don't rock my world? Probably, but they will be the favourites of someone else on here.

[killer wolf]

There is a great amount of other fans who do not come on here who ask "what the hell was he thinking?"

and you know this how?

People don't want dumbed down. They want the humor to hit the mark, and the dumbing it down to schlock is when they started missing the mark.

speak for yourself

[Si]

From Tommy Denander on facebook:
OK....I can finally tell you about this amazing album i've been working on!!!!
Since August last year me, Bob Ezrin and Alice Cooper have been writing and recording a lot of songs for a new Alice Cooper album!
I had the honor of playing on Alice last album "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" in 2011 but i did that in the very last part of them making the album and it was mostly clean guitars on the ballad "I Am Made Of You".
I've been a die hard Alice Cooper fan since 1975 so being asked to co write.....co produce with the big legend Bob Ezrin and my dear brother Tommy Henriksen....and to be the main guitarist on an album that takes Alice back to the glory days of his sound in the 70's is without a doubt the biggest moment of my career.
Bob and Alice flew me to Nashville, Phoenix and Los Angeles to write and do pre production, which is also why i ended up being a special guest with The Hollywood Vampires twice of course!
And we recorded the basic tracks at the wonderful Oceanway studio in Nashville with Larry Mullen jr from U2 on drums which turned out fantastic, me and Tommy H on guitars, Bob Ezrin on Hammond organ, Jimmie Lee Sloas as main bass player and original Alice Cooper Band bassist Dennis Dunaway joining us on the last day for some very special stuff.
The original Alice Cooper Band with Neal Smith, Dennis and Michael Bruce recorded some new songs as well and i'm extremely proud to be playing on those songs as well.
I've never been more proud and excited about an album than this one!
If you like kick ass, guitar riff driven rock in the style that Alice did in the 70's your dreams are about to come true!!!
The fantastic record label earMUSIC that just did a great job with the new Deep Purple album will release Alice new album called "PARANORMAL" on July 28th.

[Devon]

It must have been a very surreal experience for Larry Mullen Jr to work with real musicians.

[dadascot]

From Tommy Denander on facebook:
OK....I can finally tell you about this amazing album i've been working on!!!!
Since August last year me, Bob Ezrin and Alice Cooper have been writing and recording a lot of songs for a new Alice Cooper album!
I had the honor of playing on Alice last album "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" in 2011 but i did that in the very last part of them making the album and it was mostly clean guitars on the ballad "I Am Made Of You".
I've been a die hard Alice Cooper fan since 1975 so being asked to co write.....co produce with the big legend Bob Ezrin and my dear brother Tommy Henriksen....and to be the main guitarist on an album that takes Alice back to the glory days of his sound in the 70's is without a doubt the biggest moment of my career.
Bob and Alice flew me to Nashville, Phoenix and Los Angeles to write and do pre production, which is also why i ended up being a special guest with The Hollywood Vampires twice of course!
And we recorded the basic tracks at the wonderful Oceanway studio in Nashville with Larry Mullen jr from U2 on drums which turned out fantastic, me and Tommy H on guitars, Bob Ezrin on Hammond organ, Jimmie Lee Sloas as main bass player and original Alice Cooper Band bassist Dennis Dunaway joining us on the last day for some very special stuff.
The original Alice Cooper Band with Neal Smith, Dennis and Michael Bruce recorded some new songs as well and i'm extremely proud to be playing on those songs as well.
I've never been more proud and excited about an album than this one!
If you like kick ass, guitar riff driven rock in the style that Alice did in the 70's your dreams are about to come true!!!
The fantastic record label earMUSIC that just did a great job with the new Deep Purple album will release Alice new album called "PARANORMAL" on July 28th.

See doubters, a real kick ass, guitar riff, rock album...can't wait!

[A_MichaelUK]

From guttertrash:
"I feel like that sums up the complaint by many people. This kind of humor falls flat to even a good portion of people on this forum."

Since when was "this forum" the most accurate guage of anything?

>If the joke falls flat to much of the audience, it was delivered wrong, and this is what it people are complaining about. The humor does not measure up the way it once did.

So in other words, the people who do get the "joke" have to wait for everyone else to catch up then. This is interesting considering how many people both here and elsewhere go on about how great Alice's lyrics are and how they are what help set him apart from many other artists, but sure, it really would be a great idea for Alice to make his lyrics less creative or amusing (to him at least) just in case they're too clever. That really would be wise.

[A_MichaelUK]

From Saint&Sinner:
"It just seems people want a certain album and they wont be happy unless they get it."

Exactly. Not only that but, as has been discussed before, everything Alice does is wrong. The wrong lyrics, the wrong shows, the wrong titles, the wrong costumes, the wrong musicians, the wrong cities that are performed in, the wrong venues, the wrong arrangements, the wrong songs, the songs that cover the same subjects, the songs that cover new subjects, the wrong production, the wrong marketing, the wrong mixing, the wrong merchandise, the price of merchandise, the design of the merchandise, the lack of merchandise, too much merchandise, performing with the original band, not performing with the original band, having a third guitar player, not having a keyboard player, using Bob Ezrin, not using Bob Ezrin, the wrong album cover, the wrong photographer, the wrong studio, the wrong singing, the wrong films, the wrong choice of sport, the wrong faith, having a faith, the wrong political views, his lack of political views, the wrong amount of personal wealth, his commercial success, his lack of commercial success, the songs that are too clever, the songs that aren't clever enough and almost anything else you can think of.

[A_MichaelUK]

From guttertrash"
"But I personally understood that Disco Bloodbath was a parody of being in a club and dealing with the hip-hop generation and how that is a nightmare to him."

That certainly wasn't what you originally stated.

> It just makes people ask "what the hell?"

No, it makes YOU "ask" that.

[A_MichaelUK]

From guttertrash:
"but what frustrates me is when marketing says it will be something likable to those who love something that it turns out not to be, and for people to sit and act like nothing has changed when that is untrue."

Which "marketing said that? As much as I like the song, I don't see it as being worthy of this level of agitated and minute analysis that you are giving it.

[The son of Don Quijote]

Let's be grateful that Alice is in fact releasing a new album. He could have easily put together "A Best of" compilation with one or two new songs among the same old songs we have already heard countless times or even worse make a rerecording of one of his more notable albums. Making new music isn't a priority for all music veterans anymore. If you want example of this, just google Twisted Sister. Interest in making full albums has greatly diminished during recent years and many bands rely more and more in releasing 'hit' singles. While this is more true concerning mainstream pop bands, I have heard metal bands (some of them quite seasoned if I remember correctly) voicing their disinterest in the album format too.

[Dannorama]

Let's be grateful that Alice is in fact releasing a new album. He could have easily put together "A Best of" compilation with one or two new songs among the same old songs we have already heard countless times or even worse make a rerecording of one of his more notable albums. Making new music isn't a priority for all music veterans anymore. If you want example of this, just google Twisted Sister. Interest in making full albums has greatly diminished during recent years and many bands rely more and more in releasing 'hit' singles. While this is more true concerning mainstream pop bands, I have heard metal bands (some of them quite seasoned if I remember correctly) voicing their disinterest in the album format too.

Bingo. How can anyone not be grateful to have this album coming out? It is insidiotic to whine about being presented with new material. It's like having little kids. You don't like what's on the table? Fine - don't eat it, then. Just don't ruin it for me.