Thoughts on the new album

[pitkin88]

Kerrang give the album a good write up and 4/5.

Turd metal mag always gives good reviews.

What a stupid comment

I meant that back in the day it gave pretty much every album 4/5. To give this one 4/5 in all honesty is ridiculous. There are barely 4 good songs on it.

[SickThings]

I meant that back in the day it gave pretty much every album 4/5. To give this one 4/5 in all honesty is ridiculous. There are barely 4 good songs on it.

Which is, of course, your opinion. I think the album is a lot of fun, and so far, I've enjoyed all of the songs.

Hunter

[RemarkablyInsincere]

After living with this album for a week, I have to say over all I like it a lot.

First off, the new tunes are nothing special. "Raise The Dead" is the better of the two. Neither of them are anything more than decent songs that I suspect will barely be mentioned after this album cycle is over. Would have been nice if we got one great tune, but neither of these rise to the occasion.

The covers, however, are quite good. For the most part, the track listing is pretty pleasing (at least for me). I don't like to see songs on covers albums that are so classic they're ingrained in the public consciousness. And while we did get a few of those, the vast majority of the album consists of songs that I consider lesser known and thus good candidates.

Comments:

One/Jump Into the Fire - killer version of these tunes. It's fricken awesome when "Jump Into The Fire" kicks in. I've heard these songs before, but since I'm not a fan per say, this version is very cool.

Five To One / Break On Through - I absolutely love The Doors so it's kinda surprising that I enjoy this one as much as I do. They're also very well known songs. Alice does a terrific job on vocals and these versions are pretty faithful to the original. The Manzarek organ, could have easily been omitted, but I'm glad they included it. Fun medley of two great songs. I am surprised they didn't include "Roadhouse Blues" since, after all, Alice always says the classic line "I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer" is something he said to Morrison.

Jeepster - I like this, probably because I never heard it before. Never a big T. Rex guy, and this doesn't get played over here in the States. A good candidate for a covers album. Good tune and a good version.

Cold Turkey - Dig this one a lot. A slightly more uptempo version of the original that still borrows a lot in the production elements. Good decision to stay away from the super popular Lennon songs and go with something off the beaten track. Really a highlight of the album. Some smoking guitar work.

Itchycoo Park - Another song I'm not overly familiar with that you'd never hear on the radio here. I checked out the original and this is far superior. I could do without the part where Alice stops the song in a confusing manner, didn't he do that on the last album? Overall a great version.

I Got A Line On You - I always loved Alice's 80s version of this song so I was a bit perplexed when I heard he did it yet again. Still, this version really is so different from that one, and it's very, very good so I'm glad he did as it fits well here.

Come and Get It - Anytime you can get Paul McCartney to sing a song on your album, it's an amazing coup. Being a big Beatles and McCartney fan, it's pretty special for him record to record a song he wrote yet never recorded. Although, I have to say it does feel slightly out of place without an Alice vocal on it.

Whole Lotta Love - Of all the Zeppelin songs to include, this one has me scratching my head. While I think Brian Johnson does an amazing job on the song, it's hard to improve on the original. I don't particularly care for the intro. Not terrible, but I can think of a bunch of other Zep songs I'd do before this one.

School's Out - kind of cool to include this in honor of Glen (if that's the reasoning) and also to get a recorded version of the "School's Out / Another Brick In The Wall" combination. This isn't going to give the original a run for it's money, but feels appropriate.

"My Generation" & "Manic Depression" - respectable versions of very well known songs. I probably could have done without either or both of these, but oh well.

[pitkin88]

I meant that back in the day it gave pretty much every album 4/5. To give this one 4/5 in all honesty is ridiculous. There are barely 4 good songs on it.

Which is, of course, your opinion. I think the album is a lot of fun, and so far, I've enjoyed all of the songs.

Hunter

Thanks for tellimg me that I had no idea it was my opinion. Good job clraring that one up.

[SickThings]

Nice review, RemarkablyInsincere! I'm not a Doors fan at all, so the fact that I really like that one is even more remarkable!

Hunter

[RemarkablyInsincere]

Nice review, RemarkablyInsincere! I'm not a Doors fan at all, so the fact that I really like that one is even more remarkable!

Hunter

It seems people either like The Doors or don't... there's very little in between.

[MisterSmog]

To modern with the Dynamic range compression.
In the old days you could hear 3-4-5-and more... guitars, now theres only two, high 4.
But Hell with it, I am a AC-Fan, big time... love it.
Jeepster my first-2-go-2 song all the other songs are great !!!

[evil syd]

Well, this album really seems like a personal album. It's a tribute and it's sincerely from the heart, and let's face it, it's Coop and other greats! But, it doesn't mean I have to like it, and I don't. These tracks are fairly decent covers, not great, but not good and terrible for Alice and even Brian or Paul, or even Johnny Depp?? I kind of looked at this album from a garage band viewpoint, if this was just some band that I didn't know performing these covers and to be honest, I've heard better. Alright, let me explain that, these songs are just too popular and were performed better by the original artist. They didn't seem too personalized, like for example, Hello Hooraye or even Pretty Ballerina. You see, you never heard these tracks before and Cooper made them his own, given them life. The new tracks seem like in that recent Cooper Halloween song mode that he released as a single.I forgot the title and for a good reason LOL!.Nope , sorry, no excitement here. It gets placed at the bottom of the disc pile with Trash LOL! and come on, Johnny Depp, he's only on this album to sell. He made it only by his popularity, not by talent. Sorry, I really tried to like it. I played it a few times and it just made me sick.

[mr.barlow]

Not one of these come close to touching "Seven & Seven Is" which to me is the best cover song Alice ever recorded.

My tastes in music have drifed away from rock n roll over the years so I may not be the best one to judge this album, but to me it's just average.

To me the stand-out track is "Dead Drunk Friends".

The best cover is "Jeepster"

Alice should have recorded "One" in it's entirety as it could have been an incredible track.

Whole Lotta Love is nothing more than the recorded version of a migrane headache.

At any rate--I hope it sells and make Alice a ton of money. No doubt the live shows will be huge.

Since Keith Richards played Jack Sparrow's father in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies maybe Johnny Depp could get Alice the gig to play his mother in the next film.

[evil syd]

Since Keith Richards played Jack Sparrow's father in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies maybe Johnny Depp could get Alice the gig to play his mother in the next film.

LOL! Now that would be cool!

[pitkin88]

I wonder if this was just an Alice covers album, for profit, if it would have been better. With all those guests it was almost inevitable that it would have no distinctive sound. When you are trying to accomodate all those guitarist you lose sight of the song. Ezrin should take some of the blame as the whole thing is just overcooked. There is barely any room for the songs to breathe.

[evil syd]

I wonder if this was just an Alice covers album, for profit, if it would have been better. With all those guests it was almost inevitable that it would have no distinctive sound. When you are trying to accomodate all those guitarist you lose sight of the song. Ezrin should take some of the blame as the whole thing is just overcooked. There is barely any room for the songs to breathe.

Well, I really think this is Coop's way to get a shot in the arm like he did with Trash and settle for some crap. I even liked Trash better, at least it had some good tracks. I will skip this tour, I even disliked the drinking buddies part of the last tour.

[steven15322]

Well I totally expected to hate this album since I do not like cover albums at all. To me this one is different and I like it a lot. Getting heavily played here and can't get "Jeepster" and "Itchycoo Park" out of my head. I wish they had done the whole version of One

I do wish though for a new studio album.

[evil syd]

Well I totally expected to hate this album since I do not like cover albums at all.

I've liked a few, mostly the cover albums when various bands tribute a band. Actually the Alice Cooper tribute one was pretty cool (Dio, Children of Bodom, etc.)I love COB's version Bed of Nails. But I'm going off course, this album sounded flat to me. Maybe in time I will grow to like this album a little better. I just saw some some clips from the tour on You Tube and it's just not my cup of tea. If I'm seeing Cooper, I want to see him doing his own tracks, not him in some shades singing songs that have been played over and over from other cover bands.

[concolz]

I liked the 'speeding steamrollers' analogy, from a music critic's review. Imagine those original 7 inch singles, all innocently lined up across the road, when suddenly The Hollywood Vampires bear down on them; like a bunch of crazed hair-metal Wacky Racers (with their 'Muttley Crue 4ever' tattoos). SPLAT - every last bit of passion, emotion, primal energy and joie de vivre is flattened, nay, obliterated. Mission accomplished.

[evil syd]

I liked the 'speeding steamrollers' analogy, from a music critic's review. Imagine those original 7 inch singles, all innocently lined up across the road, when suddenly The Hollywood Vampires bear down on them; like a bunch of crazed hair-metal Wacky Racers (with their 'Muttley Crue 4ever' tattoos). SPLAT - every last bit of passion, emotion, primal energy and joie de vivre is flattened, nay, obliterated. Mission accomplished.

[Daggers & Contracts]

I made a poll so that everyone can place their review of the album there. It has a 1-10 scale. have fun!

A lot of opinions have been posted on this link yet very few have yet to vote. Voter apathy raises its' ugly head!

[tim10cc]

I may get my face bit off here and I may be off with the time frame with this post but this has been my reaction toward this project.


After a week of listening to this new Alice Cooper project I have to say I am disappointed. If I wanted to hear "Whole lotta love" I would resort to the original Zeppelin take. All I can if the Welcome 2 my Nightmare tour was shelved for this project then I am not impressed!!! Alice WAKE up from your Nightmare , get the leathers on and get back to headlining your OWN tour. The only good from this album is the new material recorded with producer Bob Ezrin . Lets hope in 2016 This Raise the Dead theme that has been talked about for almost 4 years is out of his system!!! I will say "My dead drunk friends" is the strongest track from the new album.

[Si]

I will say "My dead drunk friends" is the strongest track from the new album.

I agree. I think the two originals are by far the best things on there. The rest would make good b-sides or bonus tracks. but you don`t want an whole album of them.
I think it would have been better off if they had done the shows first, and then just put out a live recording. Going from the videos there was a real energy at the shows.

You can`t fault the playing or the production, but I'm not drawn to listen to it so far.

[tim10cc]

I just want Alice to get back to doing his own thing. I wouldnt go to a Rob Zombie concert to hear him perform a bunch of classic material from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown to Slade.