Unedited Alice 'All You Need Is Love' new on You Tube

[steven_crayn]

The Alice footage has been on You Tube for a while but with the sound edited.

So I have uploaded the first 5 mins of Tony Palmer's 'All You Need Is Love' Part 16 (Whatever Gets You Through The Night - Glitter Rock) the best music documentary series ever made, which not only includes two clips of Alice in his prime, but also music critic Lester Bangs derogatory comments about theatrical rock and performances from Kiss and Donnie & Marie Osmond! who are both put nicely into context by our hero Alice Cooper, with probably the best footage captured on film.



http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AzXfYou4Mq8



Last episode UK TV this week on More 4 early hours of Friday night/Saturday morning

[Gunner]

Thanks for that, don't think I've seen VERY early footage of the Killer tour as extensive as that....or was it School's Out tour??

When you look back like that and realise that the act was more 'serious', more dangerous, scarier, more outrageous and less 'tongue in cheek' and 'pantomime' than from say 1975 onwards, you realise his minister father must have been 'dying a thousand deaths'!!

[recoop]

interesting what you say gunner..iwas introduced to alice by some friends who were into the dark side of alice cooper(killer/litd)/and blacksabbath...that would be about 73...i continued with alice but my friends jettisoned their liking for him in 75 when welcome came out as less serious/a bit panto/no execution..read somewhere recently that Arthur Brown I believe,yes the crazy one with the similar make, said that Alice seemed seriously threatening in early 70s but sold out like everyone else and went hollywood..i stuck with alice but looking back he underwent some transformation thats for sure. Personally preferred the unwashed/unkempt approach but we couldn't really ask him to remain a renegade for ever i suppose

[Gunner]

Aye recoop, I think Arthur had a point. I was very young in the early seventies (7-11) and it blew my mind totally. I was genuinely scared. I think Alice was genuinely rebelling then and in a way it was more exciting, I don't think I ever recovered you know? Of course, it did get all a bit 'Hollywood' from 75 - 79 but I loved it the same, it just didn't have that 'dangerous' element to it really. My brother, too this day, says it never got better than Killer and I know where he's coming from, I have been listening to those early albums recently and that was the best Alice period really. For me, the next best era was early 80's (yes, honestly folks!), he was 'weird' again and there was no 'sell out' with FTF to Dada, I feel that the music was really what Alice wanted to put out at the time, even though he doesn't remember it!! I think with GTH and LAW he 'lost the plot' musically, especially with KISS 'riding high'. Nowadays, I think he has become a paradody of himself to be honest, but it's still Cooper and I will always love his work.

[Petri]

Thanks for the upload, Steven! Probably the scariest Alice footage I've ever seen.

[Jason]

Thanks for the upload, Steven! Probably the scariest Alice footage I've ever seen.

Yeah, I agree with that for sure Petri!

I first saw this clip when I was about 4 or 5 years old!!! (scarred for life) It freaked me out. 30 years later, it still gives me that same feeling that I had when I was a little kid. I've seen the Alice segment on Youtube with the "Killer" music dubbed in, but seeing it again in it's proper context with the classical music, made me realize that the soundtrack music was a brilliant choice for effect. That music in particular, as I've read on the other thread that is discussing the music used for it, is/was for a hanging, makes it make more sense.

I can watch any clip of an Alice hanging old or up to date (I saw it live here in Ottawa last month) with no problem. This particular clip however, puts me right back to being that little kid who was terrified of watching it but couldn't look away. I find that very strange. Why only this particular hanging scene? Who knows.

Come to think of it, for me anyway, it's not Alice that is scary so much as the classical music and the rest of the band! Especially Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce with their black hoods and torches. Dennis Dunaway playing a creepy priest (he doesn't even flinch when horks right on his hat! ) and Neal Smith with the big drum. What a combo!

Gunner pointed out earlier in the thread that comparing to now, the act was definetly scarier and dangerous back then, also because there was no precedent set for things and first time viewers of this were certainly not expecting to see that.

Even the difference of how much rougher and realistic looking and in the fashion it is carried out.

This clip was my visual introduction to Alice Cooper. Thanks Steven! It's still scary after all theses years.

[Give the kid a break]

I agree w/all of the above-this is an fantastic clip of the real, raw, scary, rough Cooper that we all were in awe of so many years ago. He has gone thru so many transformations and I too love the "lost albums" such as Flush the Fashion & Zipper Catches Skin.
I truly was hoping for something like that with the Spider album, & while it has grown on me, it still disapoints me because I was soo ready to get back into the raw Cooper type songs. It's sad to say but the work I tend to like best of his is when he's off the wagon. Sober, it sometimes seems he's trying too hard, and not really feeling it.
Not that I'd want him to go back on the bottle, but the same goes for Aerosmith as well. Once they became straight their songs were way more mainstream and pop-ish, not so garage rock like in the early years.
But alas he's my #1 fav of all time, & I patiently wait for him to return to Boston.

[Gunner]

I agree with the above post - even the Aerosmith bit, but I must say, I wasn't expecting something 'raw' with 'Spider', after all the 'talk' it seems somewhat contrived. Also, musically it isn't what I was expecting and I haven't even bought it after hearing it - don't like it. I thought DD was 'throw away' songs, but 'Spider' is something else, I was expecting some sort of return to 'Nightmare' with the whole concept.

P.S I think Iggy is better 'clean' though.

[steven_crayn]

interesting what you say gunner..iwas introduced to alice by some friends who were into the dark side of alice cooper(killer/litd)/and blacksabbath...that would be about 73...i continued with alice but my friends jettisoned their liking for him in 75 when welcome came out as less serious/a bit panto/no execution..read somewhere recently that Arthur Brown I believe,yes the crazy one with the similar make, said that Alice seemed seriously threatening in early 70s but sold out like everyone else and went hollywood..i stuck with alice but looking back he underwent some transformation thats for sure. Personally preferred the unwashed/unkempt approach but we couldn't really ask him to remain a renegade for ever i suppose

I haven't heard that one about Arthur Brown, I know when I met him(what a nice guy) on the train to the Guilfest gig he was pleased to hear Alice had mentioned him in an interview. His guitar player is an Alice fan who has Pretties For You & Easy Action in his collection!

Does anyone remember a letter published in Kerrang about Alice from a member of Arthur Brown's band, I think it was from keyboard player Vincent Crane(R.I.P), in which the make up thing was brought up in response to Alice talking about Slash wearing Top Hats & being photographed with snakes.

[glamprincess]

While this music during the hanging scene definitely does add a darker and scarier aspect to the show, I don't think it's just the background music that makes the show seem more dangerous. I think it's also that Alice Cooper used to play the character in a more dangerous and rebellious way (prior to 1975). I've seen other footage from the Killer tour (featured in an excellent special called Rock-a-Bye) which also featured Alice cutting up a baby doll. The first time I saw that footage, I was literally scared half to death. And I was also totally mesmerized and fascinated at the same time. There was something scarier and more dangerous about Alice Cooper back in the early 70s. I think it was a combination of the fact that there hadn't been a rock star quite like Alice Cooper before which was very shocking but I also think that Alice played the character a bit more dangerous. In those days, Alice didn't seem to care what people thought and he did whatever he felt like on stage. In later years, I think he started to want to "lighten" his image more and the character is still dark but not quite as dark and dangerous as it used to be.
(I am not criticizing the fact that Alice wanted to "lighten" his image, but just making an observation.)

[Si]

I always think of it like this:

In the 70s Alice (the character) was a bratty gang kid. He was nasty, violent and obnoxious just for the hell of it. He wanted to shock people. Come the execution he seemed more scared and shocked that what he had done had to "deserve such a fate".

Come 1986 he was an adult and in control. He was cruel, calculating, and even subtle and knew exactly what he was doing. He was in control. Come the execution he is more annoyed then surprised. More "how dare you".

[Give the kid a break]

Funny, I like both personalities-I love watching old footage because it was so new and shocking, but I also enjoy the "new" alice because he is so damn confident and cocky.
The only time I really can't watch is the Alice In Paris era. He was so sick and unhealthy, I find watching his interviews painful because he is so out of control and he looks like he is slowly killing himself.
Thank God he found his way back sober, what a tragedy that could have been.

[Shoesalesman]

Thank God he found his way back sober, what a tragedy that could have been.

Yeah, good on Alice. We could have been robbed of some great albums if he continued down that path. But more Good On Alice as a person first.

[Dragonlady]

Si. So very true. The character had to grow up at some point. I will always adore the old footage as it was what first made me realise what a genius Alice is in more than one aspect.
But I loved every aspect of the persona over the years.

I must say that to me one of the scariest characters was the "ninja Warlord" in Dragontown. Maybe because I only saw the early footage when I was already an adult it never scared me much, it was more like "ah yes that's a place I understand".

I always found the early Alice as more endearing than anything. I kind of feel like it's not his fault he became bad as everyone was pushing him to be. But the more recent Alice as you say is in charge and he's mean.

I probably said that many times already but when I saw Alice during the Brutal Planet tour, and looked into his eyes it was like looking a wild beast in the eyes. Not long before I had done the same with an actual leopard (in a zoo of course) and that same thrill went through my heart when Alice looked at me. I will always cherish that memory

I wonder how the character will evolve now with the new album. I feel as if Spider has more of the old Alice in him, kind of more innocent in a way because he's insane?

[glamprincess]

I always think of it like this:
In the 70s Alice (the character) was a bratty gang kid. He was nasty, violent and obnoxious just for the hell of it. He wanted to shock people. Come the execution he seemed more scared and shocked that what he had done had to "deserve such a fate".
Come 1986 he was an adult and in control. He was cruel, calculating, and even subtle and knew exactly what he was doing. He was in control. Come the execution he is more annoyed then surprised. More "how dare you".

That's interesting, Si. I tend to see a bigger shift between the 1971-74 Alice and the 1975-77 Alice. I see the 1986 comeback as Alice trying to go back to being more like the original scary Alice. Alice even wore a duplicate of the Killer vest during the 1986 comeback tour and the tour was called "The Nightmare RETURNS" indicating a return to the original Alice. I do agree that the 1986 Alice was still different from the 1972 Alice though. He did act more in control and that was probably due to the fact that in 1986, Alice was sober and more in control of his life offstage too.

I see a bigger difference between the 1971-74 Alice and the 1975-77 Alice. In the early 70s, Alice was the most dangerous and scariest rock star ever and parents, teachers, and community leaders were afraid of his popularity and influence with youth. In 1975-77, I feel that Alice was trying to be a more acceptable all-around entertainer. He started releasing ballads, going on tv talk shows and talking about golf a lot in interviews. It was like he was trying to let people know he really wasn't anyone to worry about and he was just an entertainer.

Then in the early 80s, he shifted again and changed the makeup and became scarier than the 1975-77 Alice. Then in 1986, he made a comeback and wore the original makeup and "returned" to form. So, there have been many incarnations of "Alice" over the decades. I've enjoyed almost all of them except my least favorite tour would be the 1977 tour. And I do feel it a bit painful to watch him during the 1979-82 period when he was too skinny and looked ill although I thought his onstage portrayals during this time were interesting.

[A_MichaelUK]

>he seemed more scared and shocked that what he had done had to "deserve such a fate".

Alice has said that the 'old Alice' was more of "a victim".

[Maurice]

Alice has said that the 'old Alice' was more of "a victim".

Slighty as an aside, to my way of thinking, this kind of ties in with the 'West Side Story' theme that runs through the 'Schools' Out' album.

West Side Story portrays the rival gangs (The Jets and The Sharks) as delinquents - who when questioned by authority - claim they are all victims, and blame society for the way they are, 'We're depraved on acount of being deprived'!!.

[Gunner]

I saw the 1986 Alice as a 'cartoon' version of the 'dangerous' one. Up until, say 1975 and when he met Sheryl, I firmly believe that Alice was genuinely rebelling!!

[Gunner]

I think these pictures highlight my point;

http://i27.tinypic.com/dpg6c3.jpg

http://membres.lycos.fr/takatukaland999 ... -front.jpg