Rank All of Alice's Studio Albums Based on Your Preference

[Si]

******

Love It to Death
Killer
School's Out
Billion Dollar Babies
Muscle Of Love
Welcome to My Nightmare


*****
Goes to Hell
Lace and Whiskey
From the Inside
DaDa
The Last Temptation
Dragontown

****

Zipper Catches Skin
Raise Your Fist And Yell
Brutal Planet
Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Road

***

Special Forces
Constrictor
Hey Stoopid
The Eyes of Alice Cooper
Dirty Diamonds

**

Pretties for You
Easy Action
Flush the Fashion
Paranormal

*

Detroit Stories
Trash
Along Came a Spider

[forglasgowonly]

Schools Out
Dada
Killer
Billion Dollar Babies
Love it to death
Welcome to my nightmare
From the inside
Special forces
Goes to Hell
Lace and Whisky
The last temptation
Muscle of Love
Dirty diamonds
Paranormal
W2MN
Road
Flush the fashion
Easy Action
Pretties for you
Hey Stoopid
Eyes of AC
Zipper catches skin
Brutal planet
Detroit stories
Dragontown
RYFAY
Constrictor
Along came a spider
Trash

[Spiner202]

Trash
Killer
Brutal Planet
Welcome To My Nightmare
Hey Stoopid
Love It To Death
Raise Your Fist and Yell
Billion Dollar Babies
Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Paranormal
Constrictor
Dragontown
The Last Temptation
DaDa
School's Out
Road
Along Came A Spider
Zipper Catches Skin
Dirty Diamonds
Lace and Whiskey
Muscle of Love
Detroit Stories
Flush The Fashion
From The Inside
The Eyes of Alice Cooper
Special Forces
Goes To Hell
Easy Action
Pretties For You

[Rod]

1. School's Out
2. Killer
3. Love it to Death
4. Billion Dollar Babies
5. Welcome to my Nightmare
6. The Last Temptation
7. Brutal Planet
8. Hey Stoopid
9. Muscle of Love
10. Dada
11. Easy Action
12. Paranormal
13. Road
14. From the Inside
15. Welcome 2 my Nightmare
16.Raise your Fist and Yell
17. Goes to Hell
18. Trash
19. Dirty Diamonds
20. Dragontown
21. Eyes of Alice Cooper
22. Flush the Fashion
23. Constrictor
24. Special Forces
25. Along Came a Spider
26. Detroit Stories
27. Lace & Whiskey
28. Zipper Catches Skin
29. Pretties for You

[Mr. Misdemeanor]

Are you guys taking bonus tracks into your calculations? Two of the best tracks on Along Came a Spider are bonus tracks. Trash has a great version of I Got a Line on You. W2MN had a couple of ok bonus tracks too. I took all the non-live tracks into consideration.

[AlongCameASpider27]

1. RYFAY
2. Killer
3. Brutal Planet
4. Welcome to My Nightmare
5. Welcome 2 My Nightmare
6. Dragontown
7. Hey Stoopid
8. Billion Dollar Babies
9. Along Came A Spider
10. From the Inside
11. Eyes of Alice Cooper
12. Dirty Diamonds
13. Road
14. School's Out
15. Constrictor
16. Trash
17. Paranormal
18. Last Temptation
19. Love it To Death
20. Detroit Stories
21. DaDa
22. Lace and Whiskey
23. Goes to Hell
24. Flush the Fashion
25. Muscle of Love
26. Special Forces
27. Zipper Catches Skin
28. Pretties For You
29. Easy Action

[Agrophile in Texas]

Are you guys taking bonus tracks into your calculations? Two of the best tracks on Along Came a Spider are bonus tracks. Trash has a great version of I Got a Line on You. W2MN had a couple of ok bonus tracks too. I took all the non-live tracks into consideration.

I'm ranking based on what I have on my CDs/LPs, what I actually own and hear whenever I play them (so, Paranormal, yeah, the 2 original bonus songs are factored into my grade, the other tracks you mention, I don't since they aren't on the releases I own).

I have checked out the bonus tracks on ACAS, gave 'em a few spins, and hated, hated, hated them - they would have only made the grade lower than it already is (and made me suffer that release for longer that I would ever want. lol)

I Got a Line on You, is better, but it wouldn't be enough to alter my opinion of Trash.

I really like The Sharpest Pain, and wish I had that instead of the God-awful Stand - that switch would have made Dirty Diamonds near perfect to my ears. I wish there was a WAV file available for that, so I could make my own version of DD (I know there are European releases out there with Pain instead of Stand, but I've never been able to track it down -and would it be too pricey if I did?)



Last night I went through my 3-star graded CDs and Trash is what Trash has always been, but I liked RYFAY a little more, a little more - not enough to raise the grade, but maybe enough to raise it in the rankings (those final 3 songs really elevate it). While Dragontown keeps slipping; and has done so year after year - aside from the first 4 tracks and the Elvis thing, it kind of bores me these days.

[del]

Today’s view. I let them drop out of the head and they fell in batches. Very interested in my own subconscious demotion of LITD and Muscle of Love were always my least favourite of the ACG but MOL particularly has dropped a bit recently.

Schools Out
Killer
WTMN
Billion Dollar Babies

Goes To Hell
Love it to Death
Brutal Planet
The Last Temptation
From the Inside

Road
Fistful of Alice (I know this shouldn’t be here but always jumps into my head so it’s in)
The Eyes Of Alice Cooper

Paranormal
W2MN
Muscle of Love
Dirty Diamonds
Da Da
Easy Action

Pretties for You
Constrictor
Hey Stoopid
Dragontown

RYFAY
Trash
Flush The Fashion
Detroit Stories
Zipper Catches Skin
Lace and Whiskey
Special Forces

ACAS

[Saint&Sinner]

New rankings from worst to best are:
29 - PFY
28 - Easy Action
27 - L&W
26 - Dirty Diamonds
25 - ACAS
24 - Special Forces (tho the acetate mix would rate a couple places higher, probabaly above Eyes)
23 - Muscle Of Love
22 - TEOAC
21 - Flush the Fashion
20 - Detroit Stories
19 - Zipper Catches Skin
18 - Dragon town
17 - The Road
16 - School's Out
15 - Go to Hell
14 - DADA
13 - Paranormal
12 - Constrictor
11 - Trash
10 - LITD
9 - W2MN
8 - B$B
7 - Brutal Planet
6 - From the inside
5 - Hey stoopid
4 - Killer
3 - RYFAY
2 - Last Temptation
1 - Welcome to my nightmare

[Zombiedancer]

The Last Temptation
Dragontown

Hey Stoopid
The Eyes of Alice Cooper
Brutal Planet

Welcome to My Nightmare
Dirty Diamonds
Billion Dollar Babies
Trash
Killer
Love it To Death

Raise Your Fist and Yell
Lace and Whiskey
Road
Flush the Fashion
School's Out
Goes to Hell

Constrictor
Muscle of Love
Welcome 2 My Nightmare
From the Inside
Dada

Zipper Catches Skin
Special Forces
Along Came a Spider
Paranormal
Detroit Stories

Easy Action
Pretties For You

Road is slowly climbing higher on the list

[Mr. Misdemeanor]

I've got no life so I might as well take a few hours to take a second crack at making a list. The order has changed a bit from my original post.




The Great Albums:


Brutal Planet: It's the soundtrack of an old testament God passing judgment on 20th century man. Alice at his angriest and his best. The only misstep is "Take It Like a Woman."

Hey Stoopid:Is this album loaded with classic tracks? No. Are these the best lyrics Alice has ever written? No. So why do I rank it so high? Well, to me this is as close to a "perfect" album Alice ever released. A lot of his albums, both solo and as part of the ACG take sort of a kitchen sink approach to the song list. You get a wide variety of song styles and subject matters. And I like that about a lot of his stuff; if I don't like one track there's a very good chance I'll find something on the album that I will love. Hey, Stoopid is different though; it feels like Alice knew exactly what type of album he wanted to make and every step in the plan worked perfectly. The production is excellent, Alice is in good voice, the musicians are talented. As I said, the lyrics aren't as good as you find on Alice's best tunes, but they fit these songs perfectly. Another point is that there isn't a single bad song on the album, imo. No embarrassing lyrics or weird musical diversions. It's the lack of flaws and the sheer number of good, re-listenable, songs that make me rank this one so high. If this album had come out a year or two earlier it would have been an absolute monster commercial success imo. It would have been an iconic rock album that every fan owned.


Killer: I'm still not sure about ranking this one as low as I have. "Desperado" has fantastic lyrics; it's as good as any western tune written by Marty Robbins. "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" are rock classics. "Dead Babies" is one of those songs that only the ACG could do. The prog rock James Bond inspired "Halo of Flies" is also brilliant. However "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" and "You Drive Me Nervous" aren't amazing; not bad but not special like the rest of the album. Ultimately, the reason I give Hey, Stoopid the nod is because it simply has more good songs than Killer. The highs aren't as high, but it contains 12 good to great songs while Killer "only" has 5 or 6 great tracks and 2 or 3 ok ones.

Paranormal: I'm surprised that this album isn't ranked higher by you guys; imo it's one of Alice's very best. A ton of great songs. Each song has its own unique sound but they all still feel like they belong on the album. Highlights: The Sound of A, Genuine American Girl, Paranormal, Fireball, and Fallen in Love. Honestly I like every track other than "Holy Water."

Love It to Death: Another classic ACG album. Sometimes you fail to appreciate how great a song like "I'm Eighteen" is because you've heard it so many times. I found myself glossing over it when judging these albums because of that. It's one of the most iconic songs in rock for a reason. As great as it is my favorite track(s?) is the combo of Second Coming/Dwight Frye/Sun Arise. "Is It My Body" and "Black Juju" are also highlights. I don't care for "Hallowed Be My Name."

Dragontown: A notch below its sister album Brutal Planet but still very good. The Sabbath like "Somewhere in the Jungle" is probably my favorite track though I'm also a big fan of "Sex, Death and Money." "Sister Sara" "Dragontown" and "I Just Wanna Be God" are also standouts. I like both "Disgraceland" and "It's Much Too Late" but I'm not sure I like the idea of Alice skewering Elvis and John Lennon on religious grounds. It feels overly judgmental and a bit hypocritical. "Every Woman Has a Name" is yet another ballad that I don't care for.

Dirty Diamonds: I said that Hey Stoopid was as close as Alice came to a perfect album, but DD is another album where every song is good. Well, except for the bonus track "Stand." It's an excellent but extremely eclectic album. Some of the best songs remind me of other bands. "Woman of Mass Distraction" is an AC/DC style rocker that would have been a huge hit if it had been released between 80 and 84. "Perfect" should have been a hit in any era; it sounds like something John Lennon would have written if he was still alive in the late 90s. We get two Stone's style songs "Sunset Babies" and "Zombie Dance" both of which are as good or better than anything the Stones have done in decades. There's also the brilliant "Saga of Jesse Jane" an unexpected and quite good cover song in "Pretty Ballerina" and a rare Alice Cooper ballad that I actually like "Six Hours."

School's Out: This is another album with some amazing songs that gets ranked lower than it probably should because the newer albums have so many more songs on them. "School's Out" is one of the greatest songs in rock history, Luney Tune, Public Animal #9, and My Stars are fantastic. Blue Turk is pretty decent, too. But there are some negatives. Alma Mater isn't bad but there isn't a lot to it. Grande Finale has that Rockford Files theme synth thing going on. But for me the biggest problem is Gutter Cat vs the Jets. I love the bass in this song, but words cannot express how much I hate the lyrics and the Bowery Boys voice Alice uses to sing them.

Muscle of Love: I think this is a very underrated album. "Crazy Little Child" is one of my favorite Alice songs; it's a great "story" song in a style that you would never expect from the band. "Hard Hearted Alice" and "Teenage Lament" are also great. The only songs I don't really care for are "Working Up a Sweat" and "Woman Machine." "Woman Machine" might have made an interesting instrumental.

Billion Dollar Babies: Personal favorites include Billion Dollar Babies, Generation Landslide and Hello Hooray. Not a fan of the last three tracks on the album. I also think No More Mr. Nice Guy is good but a bit overrated.

The Eyes of Alice Cooper: This another one of those odd Alice albums with an extremely eclectic collection of songs. I hated it at first but it grew on me. Lots of catchy songs and a few real oddballs. Some good stuff but none that I would classify as classics. "Novocaine" should have been a hit. "Be with You Awhile" seems like it could have been a hit on an "adult contemporary" radio station. I have no idea if that format still exists. The only song that I dislike is Detroit Stories.

Welcome to My Nightmare: Easily Alice's strongest concept album. And it features Vincent Price which automatically makes it a must own. My favorite track is Black Widow; it may not be Black Sabbath but it's extremely heavy sounding for 1975. The title track is also great. The songs that I don't like (Department of Youth for instance) all sound much better live.

Flush the Fashion: Good lyrics. Excellent guitar work. Not crazy about Aspirin Damage and Model Citizen. Highlights are "Pain" and "Clones."



The Good Albums:


Detroit Stories: So do I reward this album for having 8 songs that I like or penalize it for having 7 songs that I don't like? "Go Man Go" is great and should be a concert staple, imo. I also really like "Social Debris" and (shockingly) "Our Love Will Change the World." "$1000 High Heel Shoes" is also fun.

Zipper Catches Skin: Another album that's hard to judge. Sometimes the lyrics are brilliant, sometimes not so much. There are only two songs that I really like "Zorro's Ascent" and "Make That Money" but there are also only a couple of real duds. It's a light, unserious, but very listenable record. Oh, and you can't possibly overstate how much the guitar work contributes to this album.

DaDa:It's almost impossible for me to rank this album. It's interesting. Sometimes a bit frustrating. I don't really dislike any song on it, but at the same time I can't say I love any of them. I like the album, but it's an acquired taste.

Raise Your Fist and Yell: The first half of the album is a bit cheesy, I admit, but I love the rebellious 80s teen attitude. The second half is much better; I like everything from "Time to Kill" to the classic "Roses on White Lace." I don't care for "Prince of Darkness."


Flawed Albums with a Few Good Tracks:


Along Came a Spider: Terrible production. Occasionally dodgy lyrics. However, if you include the bonus tracks, there are actually 5 songs that I really like on the album. "Vengeance Is Mine" "Wake the Dead" "Shadow of Yourself" and "I'll Still Be There" are all really good track, imo. I also think "The One That Got Away" is ok despite the unfortunate Silence of the Lambs references. The reason this album is rated as high as it is is that while I don't like most of the songs on this one, the bad ones aren't as terrible as some of the bad songs on the albums ranked lower on the list.

Alice Cooper Goes to Hell: This one is hard to judge. "Go to Hell" and "Wish You Were Here" are brilliant. "Guilty" is also a standout. Those are the only three tracks I like. Maybe I can give the benefit of the doubt to a few more tracks as part of the "concept" but there are some terrible songs on this album. Honestly, I'm probably ranking this record too high, but those two songs I mentioned earlier are so good that I didn't drop it any lower.

Trash: The lyrics are frequently bad on some songs, but "Poison" is a classic and there are 4 or 5 other tracks on the album that sound great live. I also really like the bonus track "I Got a Line on You." Still it feels like it's missing that Alice Cooper magic.

Welcome 2 My Nightmare: This is another one that is really hard to judge. It's a very eclectic mix of musical styles with an odd mixture of clever and silly ideas. I give Alice and Bob a lot of credit for taking some chances even if some of them didn't pan out. Is it a great album? Not really, but there are a lot of individual songs that if viewed separately, are pretty good. "A Runaway Train" and "Last Man on Earth" are different than anything you will find on any other Alice album, but I really like them both. "When Hell Comes Home" is probably my favorite song on the album; it's a worthy successor to WTMN and ACGTH. "Disco Bloodbath" is terrible, but has a fantastic solo by John 5. On the flip side "The Congregation" is great but is almost derailed by some goofy humor from Rob Zombie and Alice. By all rights I should hate "What Baby Wants" but I have to admit that it's pretty catchy and works as part of the album's concept. "Caffeine" is terrible; I hate the way he sings the chorus. "Ghouls Gone Wild" would be fine if it was released as a holiday bonus track like "Keepin' Halloween Alive" but isn't really album worthy. "I'll Bite Your Face Off" would have been better if it stuck closer to its Stones roots; still makes a good live track. "The Underture" is well done. As for the bonus tracks I think the cover of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" is surprisingly good and "Under the Bed" is also a solid track. A very strange album.

Constrictor: The lyrics aren't up to Alice's high standards and the production isn't great, but there are some fun mid-80s rock tunes here. "Teenage Frankenstein" is a mini-classic. "The World Needs Guts" is awesome live. There are about 5 decent songs on this one.

Road: the worst lyrics of any Alice album. The band and production are able to overcame the lame lyrics on a few tracks. "The Big Goodbye" "Dead Don't Dance" and "Whitline Frankenstein" are the best original tracks. "Magic Bus" has grown on me though the drum solo was a bad idea.

Special Forces: Terrible production. "Who Do You Think We Are" "Prettiest Cop on the Block" and "Vicious Rumours" are still pretty good though.


The Bad Albums:


Lace and Whiskey: Alice continued in the wrong direction with this album, imo. In some alternate reality KISS never made it big because Alice went for a hard rock sound in the mid to late 70s and became a smarter version of the band that was shocking mom's across America. Best tracks: "It’s Hot Tonight" and "My God." I still say "Ubangi Stomp" would have been decent if it featured a guest appearance by Chet Atkins or Jerry Lee Lewis.

The Last Temptation: I'm in the minority on this one, but this album never grabbed me. I don't find the story very interesting and I don't really care for the lyrics on a lot of the songs. I like "You're My Temptation" but it would be better if it was shorter. "Nothing's Free" would be great if it stopped at the 3:20 mark. Instead Alice's belabours the point for another 1:40 seconds.

Pretties for You: I like "Reflected" more than "Elected." Sometimes I find the album oddly listenable even though I don't like the songs. Very strange. A good producer could have salvaged some decent tunes out of this one.

Hollywood Vampires: "My Generation" & " "Five to One/BoT" are ok. A lot of the material here sounds a lot better on the new live cd.

Easy Action: "Mr. Misdemeanor" is ok.

From the Inside: Not a fan of this type of music. "Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills" is ok.

Hollywood Vampires Rise: the only Alice album without any songs that I like.

[cooperrocks]

I originally posted this 9 years ago (man, does time fly), so I think I will do an update as well. Since my original post there have been three more studio albums and it is interesting to consider how one's taste change over the years. As someone who prefers a lot of the solo work to the original band as much as I like that material too, I found some of the solo albums ranking higher for me than my original list.

1-The Last Temptation
2-From the Inside
3-Welcome to My Nightmare
4-Love it to Death
5-Brutal Planet
6-Dada
7-Billion Dollar Babies
8-Raise Your Fist and Yell
9-Hey Stoopid
10-Killer
11-School's Out
12-Special Forces
13-The Eyes of Alice Cooper
14-Welcome 2 My Nightmare
15-Dragontown
16-Constrictor
17-Dirty Diamonds
18-Trash
19-Flush the Fashion
20-Goes to Hell
21-Lace and Whiskey
22-Zipper Catches Skin
23-Road
24-Detroit Stories
25-Muscle of Love
26-Paranormal
27-Easy Action
28-Along Came a Spider
29-Pretties For You

[nurserozetta]

1 Schools Out
2 Da Da
3 Welcome 2 my Nightmare
4 From the Inside
5 Welcome to my Nightmare
6 Hey Stoopid
7 Brutal Planet


8 The Last Temptation
9 Killer
10 Eyes of Alice Cooper
11 Muscle of Love
12 Road
13 Along came a Spider
14 Goes to Hell
15 Love it to Death
16 Dirty Diamonds
17 Dragontown


18 Lace & Whiskey
19 Special Forces
20 Trash
21 Billion Dollar Babies
22 Flush the Fashion
23 Raise your Fist and Yell
24 Zipper Grabs Skin


25 Constrictor
26 Paranormal
27 Detroit Stories
28 Pretties for You
29 Easy Action