SickthingsUK

I figured someone ought to start this. Let's post and discuss all of the reviews as they appear. There is one posted on the home page right now, from 30 Days Out. Let me say that it is a strange review. It is very shallow to begin with, but this irked me:

"So does “I’m Hungry,” which is a rewrite of “I’m Eighteen.”"

It is? I don't think so.

Me either. I couldn't believe they called it heavy metal an' all, doesn't sound like heavy metal to me.

Evidently the label + Slash + Ozzy + slasher theme = heavy metal in the mind of the reviewer. Maybe they don't differentiate as much between decapitating bats and humans as we do, LOL!

I have to wonder if the reviewer even listened to it. It was very vague I thought and it seemed like the only thing that was reviewed was what the tracklisting was.

and the breaking a hip comment was just plain unfunny

If it is a rewrite or retread of anything it is Feed My Frankenstein which in itself is tired and in need of a rest. While I enjoy the new music, I have a hard time with the concept and have NO desire to sing along to this stuff. I wish he would write songs with a broader appeal for a demographic besides teenage Goths.

It is a bit like a lazy comedian who has his lost wit and cleverness and then relies way too much on cussing for shock value.

Jumping Jack wrote:Evidently the label + Slash + Ozzy + slasher theme = heavy metal in the mind of the reviewer. Maybe they don't differentiate as much between decapitating bats and humans as we do, LOL!

They have been calling Alice "heavy metal" for years even when the albums are hard rock in sound. Sometimes he is classified "classic rock", sometimes "hard rock" and sometimes "heavy metal". They just often don't know how to classify different rock stars anymore because rock music has been broken into too many genres. Even if he didn't decapitate himself onstage there would still be confusion due to so many genres. I miss the days when a rocker was either just "hard rock" or "soft rock". Much more direct.

scotty wrote:and the breaking a hip comment was just plain unfunny

Unfortunately, we live in a society obsessed with youth and where one of the worst forms of prejudice is ageism.

Jumping Jack wrote: I wish he would write songs with a broader appeal for a demographic besides teenage Goths.

Do you think most of the people on this website are "teenage Goths"? Most of the people on this website liked the concept of a serial killer and yet few are teenagers or Goths. And I think Alice is now writing songs for his fans because the industry has changed so much and its hard to sell lots of albums anyways.

I would be curious to know how many readers on this site would prefer songs with more broad based appeal like 18, Schools Out, No More Nice Guy, Elected, Wheels all written when he was getting his head chopped off for theatrical value as opposed to the Feed My Frankenstein/I'm Hungry gore writing.

It seems to me he is targeting a smaller and smaller audience and using less and less of the cleverness and imagination that has been his trademark. Personally, I preferred Jesse Jane to a retread of FMF. Just my opinion though and other are free to disagree. And to answer your other question, yes I find the blood and guts to be a bit juvenile, and the demographic it is targeted to appears to be the same as for slasher movies.

Jack, have you taken into account the YEARS THE SONGS WERE WRITTEN?

Granted, in the 70's Alice's music had the feel good approach and yet a few songs had an intellectual value. Eighteen, Schools Out, B$B, Elected, NMMNG. were crafty because the world was a simpler place back then. People just wanted to listen to good music and rock, if they got the underlying message...good for them.

Clearly there's a big difference with stuff like Poison, House of Fire, Hey Stoopid, and FMF. It was the late eighties and early nineties when every hot blooded male was trying to score with the opposite sex, all those albums served to do was put Alice's name back in the charts and have him fill large arenas. All in all it was good fun too.

Nowadays, after the moral episodes of BP and DT, I think Alice wanted to go back and just deliver music that makes you want to feel great even if the current state of the world isn't so fantastic right now. Some people think the character of ALice Cooper is one set standard but we all know better.

Hope that makes sense.

I'm still looking for music that makes me feel great, and a show that is entertaining and a diversion from the rest of life for a few hours. I don't go to slasher movies and they don't make me feel great. I get enough of that on TV everyday.

I have no problem with throw away lyrics, and frankly don't want rock stars like Santana and Bono lecturing me about the world's problems. I don't have a problem with tongue and cheek blood and guts songs if they are built on a great hook and make me smile (see Cold Ethyl).

I'll wait until I hear the other songs, but the lyrics for Vengeance and I'm Hungry don't appear to have much of Coop's trademark cleverness and humor associated with them, and seem like they were written on a lunch break between the front and back nines.

For something that was 2 years in writing and rumored to be 2 CDs boiled down to one of only the "good stuff" I expected more of the lyrics, but don't care as longer as there are a few songs that rock live. I listen to boots of the DD and PD tour far more than DD anyway. The live arrangements are almost always better than what's on the CD IMHO. For the others, I hope Feed My Frankenstein Part 2 works for them.

glamprincess wrote:

scotty wrote:and the breaking a hip comment was just plain unfunny

Unfortunately, we live in a society obsessed with youth and where one of the worst forms of prejudice is ageism.

Don't generalize too much... there is a minority

I aggree alot that the lyrics are very bland for alice and i'm fed up of the metal, bp and dt worked well, but constrictor and Raise your fist didn't acas will be like raise your fist but having said that the lyrics for raise your fist was actually quite good so i'm thinking this might be the worst alice album yet lyrically...

Jumping Jack wrote: I wish he would write songs with a broader appeal for a demographic besides teenage Goths.

With respect JJ, (apologies if this is veering off topic), and aside from glams point, didn't Alice just do that with the last two albums (DD and Eyes)?

In my view, he (Alice) works hard at producing a varied and prolific catalogue.

I have heard nothing yet of the new album - avoiding it until release - but the 'gore' theme has something of a 'comic extreme' about it, to - I guess - separate it, (as far as is possible) from reality. Therefore, I would assume to accurately review it, such ideas should be taken into consideration?

Anyway isn't alices whole stage scene and act gothic, so whatever he does you should be bound to find loads of goth fans

aliceclone12 wrote:

glamprincess wrote:

scotty wrote:and the breaking a hip comment was just plain unfunny

Unfortunately, we live in a society obsessed with youth and where one of the worst forms of prejudice is ageism.

Don't generalize too much... there is a minority

Huh??? I wasn't generalizing. A critic took a shot at Alice due to Alice's age and I responded that the comment was ageist.

glamprincess wrote:

Jumping Jack wrote: I wish he would write songs with a broader appeal for a demographic besides teenage Goths.

Do you think most of the people on this website are "teenage Goths"? Most of the people on this website liked the concept of a serial killer and yet few are teenagers or Goths. And I think Alice is now writing songs for his fans because the industry has changed so much and its hard to sell lots of albums anyways.

its just old hat though isnt it. even the pics. alice with a skeleton, shock! or strangling a girl! bloody hell, there are hundreds of pics on the net of him stngling fans. sorry very old hat. a talented songwriter is going to waste in my opinion.

at the end of the day this is just a product. period.

Jumping Jack wrote:I would be curious to know how many readers on this site would prefer songs with more broad based appeal like 18, Schools Out, No More Nice Guy, Elected, Wheels all written when he was getting his head chopped off for theatrical value as opposed to the Feed My Frankenstein/I'm Hungry gore writing.

It seems to me he is targeting a smaller and smaller audience and using less and less of the cleverness and imagination that has been his trademark. Personally, I preferred Jesse Jane to a retread of FMF. Just my opinion though and other are free to disagree. And to answer your other question, yes I find the blood and guts to be a bit juvenile, and the demographic it is targeted to appears to be the same as for slasher movies.

spot on the joke has weared thin.

[quote="MacQueen"]Jack, have you taken into account the YEARS THE SONGS WERE WRITTEN?

Granted, in the 70's Alice's music had the feel good approach and yet a few songs had an intellectual value.

feel good? dead babies, i love the dead, second coming, ballad, grim facts asprin damage, generation landslide, pain,former lee warmer, killer, luney tune, i could go on. do you listen to the words at all?