“Road,” August 25, 2023

[rodentdog]

Totally agree on Ezrin however I would have ditched him after Lace and Whiskey. He did KISS no favors with Destroyer also IMHO.

[del]

Destroyer was the album that introduced me to Kiss but I didn’t stay for long as despite listening to a few of their albums over the years they did nothing for me. Apart from about half of Alive, the Elder was the only other album that I remotely enjoyed and strangely that was Ezrin as well.

[Dannorama]

Let’s not unduly gang up on Bob Ezrin. Have you heard the latest Deep Purple album? It freaking smokes, and that’s an Ezrin production. It’s not fair or accurate to blame him solely for the path that Alice is taking.

[patrick]

I agree with Dannorama on this: I never understood why Ezrin was so critized , since he was the one who started it all (18) and proved his value along the (long)way. And still has Dennis' respect...
The only album I cannot get in to is Acas, and guess what, no Ezrin on board.. ( to be honest, liked MOL although also no Ezrin there but problably his way of working and influence might still have been around , I guess ..)
But I respect every other view on this, not knowing enough about producing albums and so on ... only judging by what I hear ..and still like after all these years, starting with B§B

[Si]

I don't think anyone is questioning Bob's talents and record. He is a legend and rightfully so.

What is being questioned is whether he is currently on the same page as the fans regarding the choice of material and musically style of recent Alice Cooper albums.

W2MN was generally very good, but Paranormal and Detroit Stories were both pretty average/predicatable, with Road being an improvement but still in the same formula. Too many 3 minute songs and very little of the "real" Alice Cooper vibe on show. The sort of thing that made Alice Cooper a legend in the first place.

[cooperrocks]

I don't think anyone is questioning Bob's talents and record. He is a legend and rightfully so.

What is being questioned is whether he is currently on the same page as the fans regarding the choice of material and musically style of recent Alice Cooper albums.

W2MN was generally very good, but Paranormal and Detroit Stories were both pretty average/predicatable, with Road being an improvement but still in the same formula. Too many 3 minute songs and very little of the "real" Alice Cooper vibe on show. The sort of thing that made Alice Cooper a legend in the first place.

Exactly my thoughts, Si. I am just being straight up here and as I have stated before I am a slightly bigger fan of solo Alice than even the original band so I would like to think I am being objective here. The last three albums for me have been as you said predictable. They aren't terrible by any means but none of them have any songs that six months later I am going back and listening to very often. With W2MN I still regularly listen to it and songs like "Caffeine" etc. At the very least there is diversity on that album and it is a fun album. Even when it misses the mark on something, it is still "creative." The last three have been decent solid albums but frankly almost anyone could be singing on those songs. It is sort of like the last couple of Ozzy Osbourne albums. Some people have praised them but in my opinion, they don't sound like Ozzy albums. They sound like an album that anyone could be singing on, not really an Ozzy album.

I have voiced the view that I am not really in favor of a full length original band album because I think you can't go home again. Let's assume one has already been recorded or there are plans to. If Ezrin is producing the album, is he going to allow for a true darker themed original band album? The original band songs on recent albums definitely aren't that and many of them are not the stronger tracks on the album or just basically sound like anything else. And with the garage sound of recent Alice albums, it is a case of it all running together because it is played out. I personally loved the heavier Brutal Planet and Dragontown albums. Not only because they rocked but also because it was something different. Whether you like them or dislike them, they were creative and Alice branching out.

[revinkevin]

Let’s not unduly gang up on Bob Ezrin. Have you heard the latest Deep Purple album? It freaking smokes, and that’s an Ezrin production. It’s not fair or accurate to blame him solely for the path that Alice is taking.




Deep Purple has been on a roll the past few albums. The newest one sounds like something they could have done in the early 70’s. It’s that good. What I have noticed with these Purple and Ezrin albums is to me Ezrin uses a lighter approach. No outside writers or guest musicians. It’s a band effort. Seems to me Alice enjoys guest writers and musicians. Sometimes that works and sometimes it feels overproduced.

[Saint&Sinner]

I think Bob ezrin is a brilliant producer.
But i am increasingly concerned with how much control other people have said Bob has over Alices direction/musical style.
I genuinely love W2MN - i think its an amazing album. Its not a very good sequel to Welcome to my nightmare as the horror is largely missing but as an actual album it is brilliant.
But someone made the craziest move to take "under the bed" off the album!?!?! was that bob ezrin? was it alice? whomever it was has seriously lost the plot.
I like paranormal allot, detroit stories is below par, road is a great little album (although hamstrung with the stupid Road gimmick)- but all three albums suffer from a couple of issues
1) a total lack of horror/darker subject matter.
2) not allowing the musicians to stretch out any - several songs scream that they should have been longer/more epic feel artificially shortened.

None of these issues make the albums bad on their own (tho Detroit stories is just bad with only a couple of highlights)
But as has been mentioned, the albums seem to miss that elusive Alice "feel" - where are the classicks? we are missing the - cleansed by fire, wind up toy, roses on white lace, hes back, pick up the bones, I am made of you style tracks.

Nothing wrong with straight ahead rock songs but they work best when placed alongside darker fare. Is it Bob that is pushing this? at first i didnt think so, but i keep hearing it repeated all the time nowadays.

[ParanormalKiller]

Still waiting on that ever evasive new album...