The Lace and Whiskey Era

[cooperrocks]

I was thinking about the Lace and Whiskey album and era today. In my opinion, the two albums I would love to see remixed and remastered are Constrictor (with real drums added) and the Lace and Whiskey album. I know it isn't most fans favorite but there is some great diversity of songs and I feel like with a better mix (the sound is thin), there may be a better appreciation for the actual songs.

Anyway I want to get everyone's thoughts on the actual era itself. Welcome To My Nightmare added to Alice's legacy. It was a tremendous album and an epic stage show. Then in 1976, the Goes to Hell album did pretty well though I don't think it is nearly as good as Welcome To My Nightmare and the music scene for hard rock music was definitely changing. Then we get to 1977 and the Lace and Whiskey album and tour. Alice changed his character for that album and the experiment did not register well with fans (I don't think having dancing chickens on stage was the best idea either). There were a few hard rockers on the album but as a whole the album didn't rock. I like the diversity and think the album is largely underrated but it definitely was different. If Alice had put out something that rocked a little more, do you think he would have had survived the disco era a little bit better? Lace and Whiskey despite You and Me being a hit was not a big seller and it's a shame because the next year, From the Inside came out and it is a masterpiece but largely overlooked and Alice's sales were gone really until 1986 when he made a comeback and the Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell albums did fairly well compared to everything from Lace and Whiskey thru Dada.

[revinkevin]

Dancing chickens was definitely a bad idea. A real bad idea. And going on Carson with them and without a band was a bad idea. A real bad idea. The cover of the Lace and Whiskey with Alice as a 1950’s private detective was a bad idea. It came across as I don’t want to be Alice Cooper anymore. As for the era, disco put a huge dent in rock. And the beginning of the punk movement was taking place. A big middle finger to both disco and the excesses of rock. Rock didn’t need a laser show, dancing chickens or to be played in football stadiums. Took a few years to sort thinks out.

[Si]

I love the chickens and make no apologies for it. Reversing the legendary chicken incident was brilliant!

[cooperrocks]

I love the chickens and make no apologies for it. Reversing the legendary chicken incident was brilliant!

Si, you are a true rebel sir. LOL!

[revinkevin]

I love the chickens and make no apologies for it. Reversing the legendary chicken incident was brilliant!

Alice should have taken an axe to those chickens. That would have been real Alice Cooper.

[Miller]

I love the chickens and make no apologies for it. Reversing the legendary chicken incident was brilliant!

Alice should have taken an axe to those chickens. That would have been real Alice Cooper.

Alice should've called for back up - Colonel Sanders and subdued them with herbs and spices

[SickThings]

I'm with Si. The chickens fit right in with the other characters the dancers were playing: the alcohol bottles from the Madhouse Rock tour, the spiders and other monsters from the previous tours.... One could argue that all of that was over the top, but I never thought the machine gun-toting chickens were any more over-the-top than anything else.

[Dannorama]

This album has always been too much for me. Too much production, too many sounds, and Alice looked like he was channeling Randolph Mantooth. I remember joking with my friend Dave that they should have called it "Alice Cooper Goes to Hollywood." (I thought that was pretty clever for a 13 year old.) I own one of the first copies, a palm tree Warner label, and it still sounds like a muddy mess. "It's Hot Tonight" is a good rock song, but that's all I can tolerate. It is my second least favorite of all his albums.

[Saint&Sinner]

I think lace and whiskey is a terrible album. I like its hot tonight and lace and whiskey. I have a "guilty pleasure" of king of the silver screen but everything else i hate. I still to this day cannot remember how My God and I Never Wrote Those Songs, absolutely bland in the extreme. I genuinely dont know what he was thinking. I get he was (to a certain degree) sick of rock and roll at that point but this was absolutely the worst thing he could have done.

[lordcatfish]

One of my least favourite albums, but still, there's something about it that always draws me in. That early solo era, with the Cooper / Ezrin / Wagner writing team, Wagner / Hunter guitar team, Ezrin producing... I can't put my finger on it, but even when it's bad, I keep coming back.

The first half here is pretty solid, especially the first 2-3 songs. The second half then goes to pieces. My God though, I think is absolutely fantastic. Lyrically it's one of the best things Alice has written.

[forglasgowonly]

Brilliant album. It's hot tonight, Road Rats and Lace&Whiskey are the rockers. My God and I never wrote those songs are totally unique insights into his mindset (kinda like pass the gun around). Beyond that it's admittedly a bit thinner on the ground. King of the silver screen is the prototype for countless comedy songs that followed, which I've always had a soft spot for. You and me is an affecting ballad, if a bit too syrupy. Which leaves No more love at your convenience (another guilty pleasure, tho I understand why some folks (!) will hate it). Oh, and Ubangi Stomp is shite. Cut those last 2, for a couple of extra bangers, change the artwork.... and you would have a bona fide classic.
EDIT: I forgot Damned If you do. Okay, maybe it's not totally brilliant. I still love the album though!

[rodentdog]

Lace and Whiskey should be remixed . under 6 feet of dirt. in a metal vault.

[mr.barlow]

There is so much that can be discussed in regards to this album and where they wanted to go with it. If if was a success ot would have changed the whole trajectory of his career and which may have freed him from being known only for the "shock rock-horror" persona. A persona which was both a blessing and a curse. Alice's fan base then and now would not allow him to escape that confining shtick.

As for the dancing chickens---absolute brilliance! One of the greatest stage props in Alice's history. It sums up the whole Alice mindset set from the beginning---complete absurdity. The whole of Alice Cooper is based on the absurd. To this day it's all totally absurd. His whole career--the character is completely absurd. Bring it into the present--a 75 year old man singing about being "eighteen" prancing around the stage with ridiculous props is all completely absurd---just like it was at the beginning. Alice knows this and has known this from the beginning as did all of the original band members. They created a concept of complete ridiculousness and over-the-top nonsense and were able to package and sell it and make a lot of money! The weird thing is a lot of fans took it all too seriously and still do. I was present years ago and personally witnessed fans ask Alice questions like "do you sleep with the snake", "do you sleep in a casket" and the like. It's all a show folks---produced to enrich all of those who have a stake in it.

The chickens and later the dancing whiskey bottles are a perfect example of what Alice Cooper was/is all about. Total absurdity! I always pictured Salvador Dali watching that episode of The Tonight Show screaming at the tv--"this is an absolute work of genius!"

[Saint&Sinner]

the dancing spiders and skeletons were one thing (i wasnt a fan, but it was easy enough to go with the flow) the dancing chickens and whiskey bottles were too much. i absolutely hate them. I dont see them as absurd, just tacky and cheap.
i dont "need" the horror alice (i mean i like him allot, obviously) im fine with branching out, it just didnt work for me at all.

[mr.barlow]

the dancing spiders and skeletons were one thing (i wasnt a fan, but it was easy enough to go with the flow) the dancing chickens and whiskey bottles were too much. i absolutely hate them. I dont see them as absurd, just tacky and cheap.
i dont "need" the horror alice (i mean i like him allot, obviously) im fine with branching out, it just didnt work for me at all.

That's exactly what they were going for...tacky, ridiculous, over the top nonsense. That's been Alice Cooper since day one!

[mr.barlow]

The leopard boots on the B$B tour are another perfect example. Completely ridiculous. Completely over the top and just absurd.

[mr.barlow]

the dancing spiders and skeletons were one thing (i wasnt a fan, but it was easy enough to go with the flow) the dancing chickens and whiskey bottles were too much. i absolutely hate them. I dont see them as absurd, just tacky and cheap.
i dont "need" the horror alice (i mean i like him allot, obviously) im fine with branching out, it just didnt work for me at all.

Most importantly it didn't work for Alice. His fan base was not like that of Bowie. Alice's fan base does not have the appetite for anything other than the same old same old. 1977 to 1983 proves the point.

It's a shame as I think if Alice was able to expand out artistically he'd be right up there with the very top of rock royalty like Bowie, Pink Floyd. Etc.

Dada is a work of genius and yet he had to revert back to the juvenile crap of Constrictor to revive and survive.

I'm sure Alice isn't too upset as he has flourished milking the horror shtick for the last nearly 40 years but as a huge fan of the albums where he tried to change musically and character wise I can only imagine what could have been.

Lace & Whisky has its faults but it keeps inching up my list of favorite Alice albums

As someone above mentioned..given a better production it would come across as much better.

No More Love At Your Convenience is really the only stain on his whole catalog and I think Alice recently has mentioned it as such. But, I cut him and ezrin slack as I'm sure WB insisted on a disco song being on the album as most rock acts of the time were told to do the same.

[rodentdog]

the dancing spiders and skeletons were one thing (i wasnt a fan, but it was easy enough to go with the flow) the dancing chickens and whiskey bottles were too much. i absolutely hate them. I dont see them as absurd, just tacky and cheap.
i dont "need" the horror alice (i mean i like him allot, obviously) im fine with branching out, it just didnt work for me at all.

Most importantly it didn't work for Alice. His fan base was not like that of Bowie. Alice's fan base does not have the appetite for anything other than the same old same old. 1977 to 1983 proves the point.

It's a shame as I think if Alice was able to expand out artistically he'd be right up there with the very top of rock royalty like Bowie, Pink Floyd. Etc.

Dada is a work of genius and yet he had to revert back to the juvenile crap of Constrictor to revive and survive.

I'm sure Alice isn't too upset as he has flourished milking the horror shtick for the last nearly 40 years but as a huge fan of the albums where he tried to change musically and character wise I can only imagine what could have been.

Lace & Whisky has its faults but it keeps inching up my list of favorite Alice albums

As someone above mentioned..given a better production it would come across as much better.

No More Love At Your Convenience is really the only stain on his whole catalog and I think Alice recently has mentioned it as such. But, I cut him and ezrin slack as I'm sure WB insisted on a disco song being on the album as most rock acts of the time were told to do the same.

Alice always seemed one step behind where music was heading after the success of the original group. Bowie after leaving the spiders and Diamond Dogs tour morphed into disco/funk right on time with Station to Station and Young Americans. He then picked on the electronic music with the Berlin trilogy and the morphed again with Scary Monsters which was early new wave and credited frequently as influential on the whole new romantic thing. Alice's attempts at disco/dance on GTH and Lace sounded contrived and were almost laughable. By the time he tried to be new wave others were either doing it before or much better. Just my opinion but as Alice was trying to be part of the latest fashion he came off as a pretender and it was'nt until he returned to Alice on Constrictor he became believable again.

[tuneylune]

LAW was a big disappointment when I got it new...ALICE COOPER GOES TO HELL had been bland enough and it looked like He was just continuing that same path.
These days, while it's not of his better albums, I find I enjoy putting it on. The whole first side is all decent rock-nothing exceptional, but nothing dreadful-and while it's probably hearsay to say it, I actually like "Ubangi Stomp" and even "No More Love At Your Convenience". I found "My God" sort of pointless, "I Never Wrote Those Songs" comes off as so insincere and the less said about "King Of The Silver Screen", the better. Awful track!
At this point in time, He was probably sick to death of the "vicious" Alice image (I remember reading a CREEM magazine to various rockers on their favorite drink and worst alcoholic experience and He answered "Budweiser" and "I decided to become Alice Cooper and I'm still paying for it") and trying to think of some way to change it, but not completely alienating the existing fan base. His physical state was also precarious with the many years of excessive drinking and practically non-stop work, which finally landed him into Cornell Medical Center after the tour concluded.
Certainly not the best time for him, other than having Sheryl nearby.

[Si]

I actually like "Ubangi Stomp"

I feel a ban coming....