SickthingsUK

First its interesting that the thread re disappointing stuff has attracted way more posts/views even allowing for being posted earlier-anyway- my favourite would always be the Billion Dollar Babies album-still the best sound I have ever heard- and I like the Beatles, Lennon, Stones, Mozart, Wagner etc- there is something in the space between the notes and the clarity of sound.. and for me Hello Hurray is the most uplifting track ever...a close second would be discovering AC via the LITD album and listening to it again and again on my Dads Stereogram with my ear against the speaker on one side (didnt think my dad would like it)..wierd fact my friend then who introduced me to AC had the same name as me with one letter spelt differently (cue the spooky music)

Negativity is debated with much more ferocity and spirit than good things. The newspaper is full of bad news because good news doesn't sell.

Toronto Bob wrote:Getting my first copy of Pretties for You after searching for years. That album was taking on mythological proportions until then. Coukldn't listen to anything else for a couple of weeks after.

YES! I'd been searching for this and Easy Action for what seemed like most of the 70's, when I discovered a record shop in, um, Watford I think it was, who managed to order them for me. Was so excited to get them both. Shame I managed to lose them over the years.

Winning a Planet Rock competition and finally getting to see the show and meet Alice, after years and YEARS of not going to any gigs. I was in 7th heaven for about 3 months after that. And the gig at the 100 Club was an awesome experience.

Fave highlights of his career - probably the Brutal Planet Tour. Have watched it so many times, kicking myself that I didn't go......STOOPID.

cherrypie wrote:

Toronto Bob wrote:Getting my first copy of Pretties for You after searching for years. That album was taking on mythological proportions until then. Coukldn't listen to anything else for a couple of weeks after.

YES! I'd been searching for this and Easy Action for what seemed like most of the 70's, when I discovered a record shop in, um, Watford I think it was, who managed to order them for me. Was so excited to get them both. Shame I managed to lose them over the years.

Yeah that was the holy grail, before the cd release & later the internet. I remember seeing a copy on the wall one day at my favourite used shop (Vortex recrods in toronto... still open!) in maybe 1988 and having them hold it for me while i ran off to borrow money from somebody.

I later got it signed by Alice, when he did the rooftop show on the roof of HMV Toronto. Laughed when he saw it, told me they had the light pushed up so close behind him when they were taking the photo that his hair caught fire.

I did sell it, along with a bunch of other stuff, so pay my rent one month during an under-employed summer at University.

I would have to say..tours like RYFAY and Brutal Planet!!

Yeah that was the holy grail, before the cd release & later the internet. I remember seeing a copy on the wall one day at my favourite used shop (Vortex recrods in toronto... still open!) in maybe 1988 and having them hold it for me while i ran off to borrow money from somebody.

I later got it signed by Alice, when he did the rooftop show on the roof of HMV Toronto. Laughed when he saw it, told me they had the light pushed up so close behind him when they were taking the photo that his hair caught fire.

I did sell it, along with a bunch of other stuff, so pay my rent one month during an under-employed summer at University.

I recently aquired another copy which he has since signed - love what he wrote!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 048%2C1536

many of the highlights have been mentioned yet, but there is another one that I treasure : the interview with Clive James ( to be seen on youtube) for the bbc
i played it for several friens of mine who always found it so strange that i was a fan of Alice Cooper without even knowing who he was (hard rock, violent etc..
to be interviewed by clive james in a respectfull way and not to be forgotten, Alice being the witty and clever guy we know he is, made them look different at Alice !
Made me feel good !

>to be interviewed by clive james in a respectfull way and not to be forgotten, Alice being the witty and clever guy we know he is, made them look different at Alice !

He even said (in his last autobiography) that his interview with Alice was one of the best ones he ever did, which is pretty amazing when you consider the list of people he's interviewed.

The first time I went to his concert, in 1999.

having my life changed as a kid in 1972 when I saw School's Out on Top Of The Pops.

Been a fan ever since so many highlights but that was the start of it and it still looks and sounds like magic.

It's also a great live vocal, if you listen carefully you can tell it is different to the studio version and Alice even loses volume briefly near the end as he pulls away from the mic to use the sword.

A compromise with the musicians union that bands could mime on Top Of The Pops to their backing track, as long as all the musicians on the track were present in the studio was in place, but that's a live vocal and shows you how great a rock singer Alice was back then.

http://youtu.be/4_I4ylzbrTE

Although it was always obvious the band were miming I was never 100% sure if Alice was live - so thanks for that confirmation. As I stated in my earlier post, that TOTP was a seminal moment for me too, although I had first become interested some months earlier due to a Sounds article on the Detroit rock scene featuring Iggy and AC.

A couple of months later - the week Elected climbed to no.17 - Tony Blackburn very briefly interviewed Alice on TOTP. I always thought it such a pity that they never appeared on TOTP live again to promote the post-School's Out singles, especially since they did so much better here than in the US.

concolz wrote:Although it was always obvious the band were miming I was never 100% sure if Alice was live - so thanks for that confirmation.

That was reasonably common on TOTP and other similar shows, as was coming in doing a "live take" in the studio prior to live broadcast, and miming to that, with or without live vocals.

That reminds me of seeing Alice perform on some rock music awards show* where he lip-synched (lip-sunch?) and was busted when the audio track faded early. Looks like he laughs it off.

(Internet searching just now leads me to belive it was the 1990 American Music Awards, doing "House of Fire." It's on the YouTube if you're curious).

A_MichaelUK wrote:>to be interviewed by clive james in a respectfull way and not to be forgotten, Alice being the witty and clever guy we know he is, made them look different at Alice !

He even said (in his last autobiography) that his interview with Alice was one of the best ones he ever did, which is pretty amazing when you consider the list of people he's interviewed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQ2C25jMG0&noredirect=1

This one? Even if not, it's great!

recoop wrote:First its interesting that the thread re disappointing stuff has attracted way more posts/views even allowing for being posted earlier

Yup. Science.

Dannorama wrote:

A_MichaelUK wrote:>to be interviewed by clive james in a respectfull way and not to be forgotten, Alice being the witty and clever guy we know he is, made them look different at Alice !

He even said (in his last autobiography) that his interview with Alice was one of the best ones he ever did, which is pretty amazing when you consider the list of people he's interviewed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQ2C25jMG0&noredirect=1

This one? Even if not, it's great!

Interesting bit of trivia, that interview was recorded at an Apple Genius Bar.

>This one?

Yes.

Really good interview...hard to tell who was laughing more! And Coop is right..he DOES have a Peter Cushing type face> Maybe Dave Grohl could be Christopher Lee!

It would have to be seeing him at Cropredy. Usually everyone is wandering around when bands are on but he came out and the entire field paused, you could feel 20,000 people hod their breath and then there was this enormous cheer and for the entire set no-one took their eyes off of the stage, or went to grab a beer or some food. Every single person stopped and watched, I asked a friend who has been going from the start of the festival and apparently that has never ever happened.
Plus that was the first time I saw him live and the moment I became hooked so... yeah.

just a little footnote to School's Out on TOTP if you listen to first verse he sings "yeah we can't salute you" whereas on studio version he sings "well we can't salute you" Alice in 1972 had an incredible voice and that vocal on Top Of The Pops proves how great he was back then as a rock singer and then when you add the image and the band is the reason we all went nuts in Britain about Alice Cooper in 1972 and why that TOTP performance still stands up as the greatest and why it went to #1 when singles still mattered.

Recorded at BBC June 28th 1972

Topped the single chart announced (then on a Monday) August 14th 1972

The reason why I was so proud to be an Alice Cooper fan and it still looks and sounds like magic nothing else came close in 1972

I always loved his voice on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Really gravelly and sinister.