SickthingsUK

i'd like to have two thoughts on this song

first I too find it a rather strange choice for this one to be choosen as a single (although I like it myself, I can't figure out what they hope to achieve with it): if you would hear this song without any information, who on earth would recognize this as an AC song ??

second :if this is a song from the very beginning of AC, how come it is so different of anything from Easy Action or Pretties ? What would Zappa have thought of it on their first audition?

patrick wrote:second :if this is a song from the very beginning of AC, how come it is so different of anything from Easy Action or Pretties ? What would Zappa have thought of it on their first audition?

I just listened to the song on YouTube. It's not bad; I think the melody is the song's best asset. First of all, the song was updated by Dennis and Alice for the album so it isn't identical to the original version. Also, it's a song originally from 1967 which predates the band becoming Alice Cooper somewhat. If you listen to both songs on The Nazz single that came out the same year, to my ears Lay Down and Die, Goodbye sounds more like a PFY or EA era song while Wonder Who's Loving Her Now much less so.

Ted

Ted Sallis wrote: I just listened to the song on YouTube. It's not bad; I think the melody is the song's best asset. First of all, the song was updated by Dennis and Alice for the album so it isn't identical to the original version. Also, it's a song originally from 1967 which predates the band becoming Alice Cooper somewhat. If you listen to both songs on The Nazz single that came out the same year, to my ears Lay Down and Die, Goodbye sounds more like a PFY or EA era song while Wonder Who's Loving Her Now much less so.

Ted

I agree that it has probably changed a great deal since the 1967 recording. The demo is probably a crude recording, perhaps even incomplete. The finished product is a combination of Alice, Ezrin, and Dennis in 2017, meaning entirely different musical perspectives from when these guys were teenagers!

There are many reasons I like Sound of A as a single. It's not "typical" Alice stuff that many casual music fans are used to, which means it's not heavy metal or thankfully one of the sappy ballads he released for so many years. It's a unique Alice song and plays on mystery and mystique with a nod to psychedelia, all of which has been missing the last few decades.

Great song. Terrible cheap video. Piss poor choices as usual for the b side. Couldn't Mikes song have been put on there?

From pitkin88:
"Couldn't Mikes song have been put on there?"

I don't think it was recorded.

I think the B-Side should have been "Feed My Frankenstein" (Live 2016).

pitkin88 wrote:Great song. Terrible cheap video. Piss poor choices as usual for the b side. Couldn't Mikes song have been put on there?

I agree.

Rhapsody of Fire wrote:

pitkin88 wrote:Great song. Terrible cheap video. Piss poor choices as usual for the b side. Couldn't Mikes song have been put on there?

I agree.

Can you confirm in this day & age that an AC video will boost sales of a recording that was released 4 months ago?
No matter, we have the Xmas push for sales. Actually, I was thinking the vid rather unique with all of the mascara laden minions. Until about halfway through when that thought had settled. I remembered the Godley & Creme vid for "Cry". All's well, I enjoyed "The Sound Of A" just as much.

This video is awful. As someone else pointed out I also thought of the Godley & Crème video for "Cry".

It really could have worked well if Alice got other musicians and celebrities to don the make-up. Say like Bob Dylan, Bruce Jenner, Bob Davison, Judge Judy, etc.

Kind of like what Moby with "we are all made of stars".

mr.barlow wrote:Bob Davison, Judge Judy, etc.

Video worked for me as it gives the song its own platform which I didn't think would happen.

Having said that, I've absolutely no idea of the purpose of the video as I don't know how these help the profile of an artist like Alice nowadays. I can't see it gaining much if any airplay on TV anywhere so it would really need to get pushed and picked up on the web. If that's the intention then I don't think he has a fan base with that kind of profile.

Perhaps something to support the US tour before the Vampires take over his time next year? Whatever the reason I'm personally pleased to see that they are still investing in the album somehow as it certainly deserves it.

mr.barlow wrote:This video is awful. As someone else pointed out I also thought of the Godley & Crème video for "Cry".

It really could have worked well if Alice got other musicians and celebrities to don the make-up. Say like Bob Dylan, Bruce Jenner, Bob Davison, Judge Judy, etc.

Kind of like what Moby with "we are all made of stars".

Do you have a thing about Bruce Jenner Mr Barlow?

del wrote: Having said that, I've absolutely no idea of the purpose of the video as I don't know how these help the profile of an artist like Alice nowadays. I can't see it gaining much if any airplay on TV anywhere so it would really need to get pushed and picked up on the web.

While I agree it won`t get any mainstream airplay, it DID get quite a bit of press around the net with a LOT of sites re-publishing the press release and embedding the video which is good publicity. It also does give them something to show when AC does TV interviews, something other then the same old live clips of School's Out. Whether they choose to use it is a different matter.
What I personally don`t get is why it was released now, and not in February when the actual single being released.

I do want to say Alice's new label has done a better job, in my opinion, than any label he has been on in years in terms of promotion, etc. I do wonder, in a day and age, where radio is relatively irrelevant if there will at least be an attempt to see if anyone will play the new single.

The only issue I have with the video is that I'm assuming they are all actors. Wouldn't it have been nice if there had been a shout out to Alice fans around the world to upload a picture or clip of them singing along to it with Alice make-up on. Probably would have been really strange to watch (different backgrounds etc) but for me the video doesn't go anywhere anyway.

Video looks like a UNICEF commercial to me.

Just wondering if anyone knows if his wife Sheryl is in this video? It kinda looks like her at about 58 seconds into the video. If not she could pass for her.

Keith1980 wrote:Just wondering if anyone knows if his wife Sheryl is in this video? It kinda looks like her at about 58 seconds into the video. If not she could pass for her.

That's not Sheryl.

I just heard an interview with Dennis during which he states that Alice wrote 2 other songs in 1967, both of which are more familiar as they ended up on EA: Laughing at Me and Shoe Salesman.

Ted