Dragon town revisited

[del]

Hardly ever get a chance to listen to an album end to end so it was a pleasure to get the opportunity over the holiday period when driving about to visit folk. I gave myself the challenge of choosing an album instantly, none of that overthinking process of weighing up options that I can fall into sometimes, and was surprised that Dragontown popped into my head first.

Have to say that it was a good decision as it really took me back, in many ways just the same as Killer or School's Out do, to a time and a place and the whole listen was highly enjoyable. High spots for me have always been Triggerman, Sister Sara and Deeper but I had nearly forgotten Disgracelend and Sex, Death and Money. Only two duds to me have always been Somewhere in the Jungle and Every Woman Has A Name where I find Alice's voice to be lacking a bit.

Had a think while listening and tbh the period from BP to Paranormal is what I listen to most nowadays. I jump about a lot between many tracks across these albums but I now realise that I have to be in a really nostalgic mood to want to go back to where I started with Alice i.e. School's Out then Killer, LITD and BDB (the order I bought them in). All classics that I will love for ever but just don't seem to need to play anymore.

Am I alone in being a fan for over 45 yrs but only playing the last 18??

[del]

PS....sorry about getting the title wrong - hate Autocorrect!

[patrick]

guess you're not alone in only listening to the last 10 cd's or so.. perhaps the reason is that you(we) can "hear" about every single sound of those four or five first albums just by thinking of them. Hardly a chance that you might not remember e.g. Desperado (Killer) or any of those songs from the classic albums...

[cooperrocks]

I am the exact same way. I rarely listen to the "classic" stuff anymore. Though I will say that I am a bigger fan of solo Alice than the original band to begin with (just a matter of preference and don't get me wrong I love the original band material too). For me Dragontown is a hit or miss album. About half the album is really really good but I still prefer Brutal Planet which I think is one of Alice's best albums ever.

[padre_sliprat]

If the best of BP and DT were combined, it'd be a stronger record. The album I listened to most which has been released since 2000 has been TEOAC. Haven't heard it in a couple years though.

[del]

If the best of BP and DT were combined, it'd be a stronger record. The album I listened to most which has been released since 2000 has been TEOAC. Haven't heard it in a couple years though.

Agree. Like TEOAC a lot as well and still play most tracks once or twice a year. Always thought that if he restricted the 2000 onward albums to 10 tracks each one of them would have landed better overall.

[padre_sliprat]

Agree. Like TEOAC a lot as well and still play most tracks once or twice a year. Always thought that if he restricted the 2000 onward albums to 10 tracks each one of them would have landed better overall.

That does speak well of his output in the new millennium.

[mestreech]

I still listen (often) to the original group albums, the latter solo albums not.
I think BP is better then DT and I always thought DT was made of the leftovers from BP.

[padre_sliprat]

I think BP is better then DT and I always thought DT was made of the leftovers from BP.

Same here. DT is a watered-down BP for sure.

[patrick]

been looking at the songs from DT (as I mentioned before, one would not have to do that checking for the first five albums):
imo only "somewhere in the jungle" and "the sentinel" somehow don't appeal to me, the rest is okay.
always tricky to have several cd's " in the same vein"... (TEOAC and DD e.g..)
If I remember well in a Headbangers Ball, Alice said they had a lot of songs for Trash...way too much for one cd....Guess some of them appeared on HS, but where they leftovers ?

[Railwayman]

Found BT a rewarding but strangely exhausting album to listen to. It is a real 'in your face' affair. DT as stated by others seems to be a what's left over and some new stuff type of effort. There are some likable numbers such as Triggerman and the title track but others including the turgid Disgraceland, amusing for the first couple of listens then generally skipped just don't do it for me. Interestingly enough, I was listening to Eyes the other day, first time in a good while and I still think the the first portion sounds bright and fresh.

[Si]

If I remember well in a Headbangers Ball, Alice said they had a lot of songs for Trash...way too much for one cd....Guess some of them appeared on HS, but where they leftovers ?

Yes, definitely. There's a list of unreleased song known to exist on this site and quite a few seem to come from that period.
The better question is how many of them exist in a form that would be worth releasing. That number (as with any project) is probably far lower.

[padre_sliprat]

Found BT a rewarding but strangely exhausting album to listen to. It is a real 'in your face' affair. DT as stated by others seems to be a what's left over and some new stuff type of effort. There are some likable numbers such as Triggerman and the title track but others including the turgid Disgraceland, amusing for the first couple of listens then generally skipped just don't do it for me. Interestingly enough, I was listening to Eyes the other day, first time in a good while and I still think the the first portion sounds bright and fresh.

Eyes was a great album cover.

[Saint&Sinner]

Dragontown (as already mentioned) is half a good album, although what I find interesting is that while everyone shares the view it is a 50/50 release we all seem to differ on what are the bad ones.
For me its sister sara because its just bad, while others get the nod because of stylistic issues - fantasy man and disgraceland would have worked great on his "garage" albums (while spirits rebellious should have been on dragontown!) but just stick out as too cheesey on an otherwise heavy aggressive album.
Best songs - the opening salvo - triggerman, deeper, dragontown and sex,death&money
Annoyingly as well the tracklist should have been tweaked as well, very disjointed run of tracks.

I prefer his solo efforts and love his 86-94 period the best so tend to lean more that direction but when I go modern I very rarely touch TEOAC or DD or ACAS - they just don't really work for me

[padre_sliprat]

For me, Dragontown is the best cut on the album - rivaling, and even surpassing, many tracks on Brutal Planet. Deeper is good, but, it's really awkward in the vocal/lyrical delivery. The rest of the record doesn't interest me.

[del]

Agree. Like TEOAC a lot as well and still play most tracks once or twice a year. Always thought that if he restricted the 2000 onward albums to 10 tracks each one of them would have landed better overall.

That does speak well of his output in the new millennium.

It does to me. We've had seven studio albums one of which (ACAS) seems to be universally agreed as a dud. The others IMO all have at least a handful of really decent to pretty strong tracks. Overall, while we would all like to say we have had twice as much we still comfortably have 25 plus strong tracks. Off the top of the head I'd list -

Brutal planet
Gimme
Little things
Blow me a kiss
Pick up the bones
Wicked young man
Triggerman
Sister Sara
Deeper
Sex, death and money
Fantasy man
What do you want from me
High school and old school
Man of the year
Novocaine
Love should never feel like this
Woman of mass destraction
Perfect - well, I like it if nobody else did
Dirty diamonds
Sunset babies
Vengeance
I am made of you
Caffeine
Under the bed
When hell comes
Last man on earth
Paranormal - just listened again yesterday and actually really like it
Fireball
Public private breakdown
Sound of A

Do I play them all the time? Nope, but I do return to them a lot and most feature on various mixed artist playlists.

[patrick]

would make a great setlist for the upcoming tour, but "diehards only" I suppose since no traditional classics !

[padre_sliprat]

It does to me. We've had seven studio albums one of which (ACAS) seems to be universally agreed as a dud. The others IMO all have at least a handful of really decent to pretty strong tracks. Overall, while we would all like to say we have had twice as much we still comfortably have 25 plus strong tracks. Off the top of the head I'd list -

Brutal planet
Gimme
Little things
Blow me a kiss
Pick up the bones
Wicked young man
Triggerman
Sister Sara
Deeper
Sex, death and money
Fantasy man
What do you want from me
High school and old school
Man of the year
Novocaine
Love should never feel like this
Woman of mass destraction
Perfect - well, I like it if nobody else did
Dirty diamonds
Sunset babies
Vengeance
I am made of you
Caffeine
Under the bed
When hell comes
Last man on earth
Paranormal - just listened again yesterday and actually really like it
Fireball
Public private breakdown
Sound of A

Do I play them all the time? Nope, but I do return to them a lot and most feature on various mixed artist playlists.

Del, there's no denying he could do a gig with only new millennium songs and it still be a barn burner. I wish he could do the Steely Dan thing and play a residency of 9 or 10 nights in a row at each stop, featuring a completely different album and some hits each night. But...the opinion and wishes of one 58 year old grandfather does not constitute a majority vote...and the Cooper live model has taken a half century to perfect, so it might be foolish to change the formula drastically at this point in time. Coca Cola tried that several years ago and failed.

[padre_sliprat]

Going off topic, but here goes. Del, here's my 25 song fantasy setlist culled from the latest seven studio albums (in reverse chronological order):

Fireball
Private Public Breakdown
You and All of Your Friends
I Am Made of You
Caffeine
I’ll Bite Your Face Off
Vengeance Is Mine
Sunset Babies
Zombie Dance
The Sharpest Pain
Novocaine
Bye Bye Baby
Detroit City
Spirits Rebellious
Love Should Never Feel Like This
Deeper
Dragontown
Brutal Planet
Wicked Young Man
Sanctuary
Blow Me A Kiss
Pick Up The Bones
Gimme
It’s The Little Things
Cold Machines

[del]

Another strong set which I would pay a small fortune to see.

A 59 year old would be the second vote for a residency but I doubt we would get much further. I do though think a viable option would be a 3-4 night residency in a few major cities where support is strong. Sure, it wouldn't pay so well as a night in an arena but 3-4 nights in a smaller venue each covering a different period would work even if it had to include a mini set of standards at the end.

The point though is that there is actually a strong catalogue of songs after 2000 it's just that you have to look a bit harder than the early 70s. Dragontown is perhaps the best example, not the strongest overall but one where you would still pick out a couple.

Ultimately I would always argue that this phase of the career is far from the waste of time that some have implied over the last few years.