The Alice Cooper album of the Day: WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE

[tuneylune]

Original 1982 review:Alice traded his snake and Billion Dollar Babies for a more controlled sound and an album that confounded many at first. The inclusion of a ballad (and hit) "Only Women Bleed" seemed to be the end of Alice as a rocker, right?
Wrong! Alice kicks ass throughout this album with the title track, "Steven", and "Escape". The back to back vocalizing between "Devil's Food" and "The Black Widow"( with none other than Vincent Price taking a passage between the two songs) is blood chilling and surely rank among Alice's best. "Cold Ethyl" is a hilarious tale of necrophilia with a great line of "She's cool in bed/Well, she oughta be, 'cause Ethyl's dead!". Also released as a single was "Department of Youth", an attempt at a hybrid of "I'm Eighteen/"School's Out" that is pretty decent, but can't match its predessor's fine fury. All things considered, Alice took quite a chance releasing this and he must be saluted. Another essential record. ****
Now: This was my third Alice album and while slightly let down at first (where were the cool guys I had grown to love AKA the ACG and why wasn't it as raucous as , say KILLER?), by the fourth listen, it seemed just fine, thank You and over the years, consider this to be a landmark album by ANYONE, not just Alice.
Bob Ezrin's production is superb here, the band is awesome (Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter are awesome) and there is enough weird stuff (spiders, necrophilia, insanity, etc) and humor (the aforementioned "Cold Ethyl", the somewhat confessional "Escape", the great fadeout in "Department of Youth" and it was a treat having Vincent Price in full "character" here) to keep you on your toes. Also, WTMN occupies a big portion of the live show, to this day.
However, WTMN showed a more mature side to Alice with the fabulous "Only Women Bleed" which I liked from the get go. Such good playing, love the string arrangement and unlike like most "mushy" ballads, the subject matter in here is heartbreaking . My Mom really liked this and she started listening to the albums instead of trying to keep me away from them.
As I've gotten older, find the shorter songs on here ("Devil's Food", "Years Ago"-all those weird voices!- and "The Awakening") have become true favorites and even if I find Alice's vocals on "Steven" to be a little overwrought-still love the great Hunter leads- still think it's cool there was a song with my name in it. And by my favorite too!
As essential and necessary at age 51 as it was at age 13. *****

[Diane D.]

My favorite.

[cherrypie]

This is my current fave in my car. LOVING Steven...

[old school vet]

Simply a Masterpiece........

[Model Citizen]

Fan-freakin-tastic. All killer, no filler. Essential Coop.

[HORRORHOLIC]

One of the greatest albums ever made!!!

[cooperrocks]

Doesn't get much better than this one.

[patrick]

well, after a long wait, and some speculation in the press whether this would be a whole new Alice, I was a bit disappointed at first when I got the album. No trademark Alice make-up, no school's out voices like in Luney Tune..
Soon enough however, this album became one of THE Alice albums in my collection.
and I guess it opened a door to a more general public than before if you know what i mean, i think it made Alice's public "broader"..

[Desperado22]

WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE - One of the most iconic Alice songs. I love how it starts off slow and creepy, but ends as a hard rock track with some really chaotic and catchy music. 5/5.

DEVIL'S FOOD - I never cared for this one. I think it's over-produced. However, the live version is absolutely fantastic. This version doesn't do anything for me though. 2/5.

THE BLACK WIDOW - Very sinister, heavy track. An instant classic. This was really great as an opening track to the NMMNG tour. I think this remains of one Alice's most sinister tracks. The Vincent Price intro is also legendary. 5/5.

SOME FOLKS - Very dark and very funny. Classic Alice. This is very different from most of the Alice we've heard so far, but it's excellent. The chorus stays in your head for a long time. 5/5.

ONLY WOMEN BLEED - I know a lot of fans are sick of this one, but it's really sad and beautiful. Not his best ballad, but the lyrics are very powerful and Alice sounds very sincere. 5/5.

DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH - Great song, but it's another one that sounds ten times better live. I'll give the studio version a 3/5. The Donny Osmond joke is very funny though.

COLD ETHYL - A beautiful story of love between a man and a frozen corpse. One of the greatest Alice riffs of all time and the lyrics are hysterical. "She's cool in bed, she oughta be, Cuz ETHYL'S DEAD." 5/5.

YEARS AGO - The beginning of the most creepy trilogy ever. This song is so eerie and beautiful at the same time. Great music here. 5/5.

STEVEN - Another one that works better live, but this song is phenomenal. Once again, very creepy and works very well for a Nightmare scenario. 5/5.

THE AWAKENING - Without a doubt, the most sinister song Alice has ever done. Not sure what else to say other than it's superb. 5/5.

ESCAPE - No better way to end a very dark album with a good, fun, hard rocker. Hilarious lyrics. It would be great to see this make the setlist next year. 4/5.

Fantastic album. Thanks Alice!