When will there be a Paranormal album review

[Babysquid]

Alice had Desmond Child, Bon Jovi, and Sambora write most of an album

Now it might have sounded that way but that's not really true is it? Jon Bum Bogie and Ritchie Sambora only wrote one song that appears on Trash!

[cooperrocks]

I want albums with grit and swagger. Not too sure of any bands that reinvent the wheel when it comes to rock n' roll, but the best add their own flair to it. If all you can hear are the influences, so be it, but Guns N' Roses met at the intersection of classic rock, punk, and metal and even had some r&b, funk, disco elements in the rhythm section. Who cares about the influence? The hooks and riffs are sharp and destructive. I like bands that play raw, primal rock n' roll. Alice Cooper did that until WTMN. It still has enough swagger along with some of GTH to hold it together enough for me to enjoy. After that, it is mostly gone.

I would rather a band be unoriginal and fall back on influences from the classic rock era instead of an influential artist fall back on the current state of the music scene. That being said, Guns N Roses did things in ways that no band before or after has done. You can talk about influences, but no other band married ideas and elements from such a vast array of influences into a concise, razor sharp album.

Talk about unoriginal, Alice had Desmond Child, Bon Jovi, and Sambora write most of an album. He moved into new wave and punk, and he made hair metal albums. None of these albums are close to being great, and they mostly fail, because they are forced and channel the cliches of what they are trying to be. Instead of making a strong album that is just being Alice, we get Alice trying to be what he is not, and his art suffers from it.

You make some interesting points here but I am going to respectfully disagree on "great" albums as it is all subjective. I feel From the Inside is Alice's best album ever. The Last Temptation is probably my second favorite Alice album. Brutal Planet is great and I feel that Dada and Hey Stoopid are truly great albums as well.

I am not slamming them at all but School's Out is a pretty slick album in some ways (that one is a mixed bag in my opinion) and while I love the album Billion Dollar Babies is commercial sounding and Muscle of Love was a misfire in my opinion. Love it To Death is my favorite from the original band.

[guttertrash]

Alice had Desmond Child, Bon Jovi, and Sambora write most of an album

Now it might have sounded that way but that's not really true is it? Jon Bum Bogie and Ritchie Sambora only wrote one song that appears on Trash!

Typed that on my break at work, and it isn't what I meant to type.

I meant to say that Desmond Child wrote on most of the album, and the album even featured a writing credit from Jon Bon Jovi and Sambora. Desmond Child had a big hand in the majority of of Bon Jovi's biggest hits. He also had a hand in Angel and Dude Looks Like A Lady on Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation. He was also all over the KISS albums of the 80s. That style of music was his m.o., and it is sad, because it was all basically sounded the same. Sure musicians and singers have different styles or methods in which they sing and play, but the aesthetics of the songs that he was a part of all have core similarities which make them sound like the singers singing songs with little to no personality of the artist. That era is just not of interest to me.


Cooperrocks, I like pieces of The Last Temptation. As with the trilogy from Raise Your Fist, the theatricality of those bits make it sound like Alice. I really hate some of The Last Temptation especially the Cornell written pieces. The songs aren't bad, but they sound like Alice trying to stay current. Cornell's demos of the songs are fine, because they fit him. Alice singing over those tunes feels forced. Definitely some great tracks on the album though.

Dada is one of my favorite Alice albums. Very cerebral and not really like anything else.

School's Out has always come across as Alice's "musicians album." Many bands in the 70s have albums that were not the commercial success of the other albums, but it often favored by musicians. ZZ Top had Tejas. Led Zeppelin had Presence. Pink Floyd had Animals. School's Out is that album for Alice. Ezrin's production on that album blows my mind. Glen's guitar on the title track is so blown out and redlined that it clips and is pure static at times. It is reminiscent of a fuzz guitar, but it's somewhat different still.

Billion Dollar Babies has it's excesses, but it still sounds like a natural progression, and I like the songwriting a ton. Muscle Of Love is a mixed bag for me. I think Ezrin at the time would have made it better, but it would have been another step in the progression. I think it is mostly good songs with only a couple great ones, and I am not a fan of the mix.

[pitkin88]

Japanese press release:


The living legend begins to move again! The new work "Paranormal - the House of Paranormal Phenomenon" for the first time in about 6 and a half years of Alice Cooper, the founder of "the shock and rock", the emperor of the American hard rock world appeared! · Luxury guests such as member Dennis Dunaway (B), Neil Smith (Ds), Michael Bruce (G), ZZ Top Billy Gibbons, U2 Larry Mullen Jr., Deep Purple's Roger Glover Participation! 2 pairs with a bonus CD. Enclosed in Japanese commentary. ※ This product will be released the same day worldwide product, the delivery of the item will be on or after the release date.

[concolz]

TeamRock have an online review. https://goo.gl/Bz9zq2

"It doesn't suck.....(although) it's no Killer; not even a Flush The Fashion."

Genuine American Girl, Dead Flies, and Rats, are deemed the best tracks. The rest....hit and miss.

"Taken as a whole, it's a pretty patchwork affair......(although) it doesn't sound like the work of a washed-up has-been."

Apparently, it's got spirit, but no shocks; is a straight-up, classic rock record, with no real curveballs. And Alice can still kick out the jams; well, on three tracks, anyway. Here's the kiss-off line: "All of it is over-produced, autotuned and sanitised for your protection; a Bob Ezrin trademark of late."

Ho-hum.

[AliceFan]

The last sentence of what you just posted of them saying that the album is overproduced and has auto tune is pure crap and nonsense, I listened to the 2 minute samples of "paranormal " and "genuine American girl " and most recently the 30 second samples of the rest of the songs and I hear no such thing as they describe.

[guttertrash]

Looks like somebody missed W2MN:

"The second ACB track, You And All Your Friends, is more traditional and less interesting, a Who-esque hard-rock rave-up that’s more of a jam than a killer cut. Still, these are the first tracks from this groundbreaking band since 1973. That’s a big deal, and with the original band touring again, it may be a taster for more to come."

Other than that oversight, this review is about what I have come to expect though, and that Ezrin comment hits the nail on the head. Many people would say that he has been overproducing albums since the mid 70s though, but he used to know how to fill an album out in a way that it was mostly beneficial, or the material was at least good enough to overcome the overproduction...now he just spic and spans everything to the point that it has no soul. Polishing the turds doesn't make them any less turds.

[AliceFan]

TeamRock have an online review. https://goo.gl/Bz9zq2

"It doesn't suck.....(although) it's no Killer; not even a Flush The Fashion."

Genuine American Girl, Dead Flies, and Rats, are deemed the best tracks. The rest....hit and miss.

"Taken as a whole, it's a pretty patchwork affair......(although) it doesn't sound like the work of a washed-up has-been."

Apparently, it's got spirit, but no shocks; is a straight-up, classic rock record, with no real curveballs. And Alice can still kick out the jams; well, on three tracks, anyway. Here's the kiss-off line: "All of it is over-produced, autotuned and sanitised for your protection; a Bob Ezrin trademark of late."

Ho-hum.

whoever wrote this review is know team rock, I'm talking about the writer sure isn't an Alice Cooper fan at all ,all they do through out the whole review is insult Alice in the worst ways possible and that pissed me off, the point of a review is to critique the album not insult the artist.

[guttertrash]

AliceFan, not everybody is going to agree with you, and this reviewer does not. Nothing anybody says is going to stop you from liking this album, so no reason for you to even read about it...that way you won't get pissed off over something that really doesn't matter in your mind anyway.

[guttertrash]

And there is absolutely vocal effects on Paranormal. It may not be some kind of pitch correction effect, but it does sound like it, because it is a subtle effect unlike that on I Made Of You. It stood out as soon as I heard it.

[pitkin88]

TeamRock have an online review. https://goo.gl/Bz9zq2

"It doesn't suck.....(although) it's no Killer; not even a Flush The Fashion."

Genuine American Girl, Dead Flies, and Rats, are deemed the best tracks. The rest....hit and miss.

"Taken as a whole, it's a pretty patchwork affair......(although) it doesn't sound like the work of a washed-up has-been."

Apparently, it's got spirit, but no shocks; is a straight-up, classic rock record, with no real curveballs. And Alice can still kick out the jams; well, on three tracks, anyway. Here's the kiss-off line: "All of it is over-produced, autotuned and sanitised for your protection; a Bob Ezrin trademark of late."

Ho-hum.

I have a feeling that this review is probably on the money.

[pitkin88]

TeamRock have an online review. https://goo.gl/Bz9zq2

"It doesn't suck.....(although) it's no Killer; not even a Flush The Fashion."

Genuine American Girl, Dead Flies, and Rats, are deemed the best tracks. The rest....hit and miss.

"Taken as a whole, it's a pretty patchwork affair......(although) it doesn't sound like the work of a washed-up has-been."

Apparently, it's got spirit, but no shocks; is a straight-up, classic rock record, with no real curveballs. And Alice can still kick out the jams; well, on three tracks, anyway. Here's the kiss-off line: "All of it is over-produced, autotuned and sanitised for your protection; a Bob Ezrin trademark of late."

Ho-hum.

whoever wrote this review is know team rock, I'm talking about the writer sure isn't an Alice Cooper fan at all ,all they do through out the whole review is insult Alice in the worst ways possible and that pissed me off, the point of a review is to critique the album not insult the artist.

He doesnt need to be an Alice fan Alicefan to review the album. I'm not sure why you are mad as this review is bringing you one step closer to hearing the album.

[AliceFan]

And there is absolutely vocal effects on Paranormal. It may not be some kind of pitch correction effect, but it does sound like it, because it is a subtle effect unlike that on I Made Of You. It stood out as soon as I heard it.

Yes I know what you mean now, but paranormal the autotune is less noticeable unlike on I am made of you where it stands out throughout the whole song.

[AliceFan]

TeamRock have an online review. https://goo.gl/Bz9zq2

"It doesn't suck.....(although) it's no Killer; not even a Flush The Fashion."

Genuine American Girl, Dead Flies, and Rats, are deemed the best tracks. The rest....hit and miss.

"Taken as a whole, it's a pretty patchwork affair......(although) it doesn't sound like the work of a washed-up has-been."

Apparently, it's got spirit, but no shocks; is a straight-up, classic rock record, with no real curveballs. And Alice can still kick out the jams; well, on three tracks, anyway. Here's the kiss-off line: "All of it is over-produced, autotuned and sanitised for your protection; a Bob Ezrin trademark of late."

Ho-hum.

whoever wrote this review is know team rock, I'm talking about the writer sure isn't an Alice Cooper fan at all ,all they do through out the whole review is insult Alice in the worst ways possible and that pissed me off, the point of a review is to critique the album not insult the artist.

He doesnt need to be an Alice fan Alicefan to review the album. I'm not sure why you are mad as this review is bringing you one step closer to hearing the album.

I'm mad at this review because the first paragraph insults Alice's creativity as an artist and the reviewer digs right into him and clearly starts making fun of alice and that's not reviewing the album, just review the album, don't nit pick about the artist that's what got me upset . And pitkin, I don't need this or any reviews anymore I heard the 30 second samples of all the songs, plus the longer previews of paranormal and genuine and full song of paranoic personality I've heard all I need to hear for now before the albums release before buying it till I listen to the album it its entirety and what I've heard now is good until I hear all of the album.

[dadascot]

I don't understand Alicefans assertion that the reviewer was insulting Alice! I would say that overall it is more positive than negative. He talks a lot about Alice staying relative and compliments a lot of the song. I think we can all see that this is going to be an eclectic album, the rockers liking several tracks and not others, the metal heads liking different ones. As to the auto tune on 'I am made of you', this was discussed in detail at the time and is obviously used as a deliberate effect rather than to ...auto tune.

[guttertrash]

Yea, the effect for I Am Made Of You was not for pitch correction. On Paranormal, it is quite obvious however that in the last few second of the sample when their are background vocals along with Alice, the vocals have been run through pitch correction and another effect or two to smooth out and make the harmonies blend.

[Suspiria]

Read the review and it seemed like a well-written article. Nothing worth getting overly worked up about imo.

[While Heaven Wept]

Autotune has definitely been used.... but this is standard for pretty much all bands now. Anyone who disagrees is either in denial or ignorant.

[Spettro]

Journalism can't have any form of bias towards an artist. People need to understand that Alice album reviews won't solely be assigned to Alice Cooper fans. It doesn't work that way.

If it worked like that then albums like Lace and Whiskey, Music from The Elder, hell...even Lulu would have gotten undeserved acclaim.

Even if the truth has to hurt, I'd rather have it about an album instead of having bootlickers praise an album of low quality. It's way too late for Alice to go back to the drawing board and like it or not, this is the new album and we're all going to have to be content with that.

I'll catch it on spotify and judge for myself. Although Alice lost me as a fan when he he didn't promote W2MN properly and became a covers act, and please don't get me started on Hollywood Vampires...

And don't diss Trash! Without that album chances are there'd e no Alice today.

[guttertrash]

Trash may have been needed to further his career. However taken on it's own merits, the album is a bland, middle of the pack pop/metal album, and if Alice did not have the background that he already had and Trash was instead a debut by some new band, it would have gotten little to no promotion and would have been swept under the rug along with 85% of the other bands of that era...if lucky, it would have been in the same realm as Trixter or Britny Fox.