Along came Alice's best album in years

RemarkablyInsincere · Post by **RemarkablyInsincere** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:48 am

TeresofBlood wrote:Now I just need to get Hungry stuck in my head and I should be able to listen to the album all the way through without cringing.

I have had "I'm Hungry" in my head all day... great tune.

HORRORHOLIC · Post by **HORRORHOLIC** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:58 am

AlongCameASpider27 wrote:Well, as I have said already, this album easily jumped into my top 3 favorites of Alice's illustrious career. I have been a fan since I was 6 years old (now 28) so I can definitely say that the list is:

3. Along Came A Spider
2. Killer
1. Raise Your Fist and Yell

Rounding out the top 5 would be Welcome to My Nightmare at # 4 and Brutal Planet # 5

I'm 29 and got into Alice when I was 7 so we must have got into Alice around the same time, and judging by your top 5 list I'm gonna love Along Came A Spider

Alicehunter2000 · Post by **Alicehunter2000** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:00 am

I sure hope this album has a few good tracks. I'm not liking what I'm reading here.
I only take solice in the fact that all of you (his hardcore fan base) are so diverse in your opinions on what good and bad Coop music is, that the possibilty for me to agree is a 50/50 shot.

I hope it doesn't take some sort of a personal tragedy, or life event, for the Coop to write really great stuff again.

Shoesalesman · Post by **Shoesalesman** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 am

Alicehunter2000 wrote:I sure hope this album has a few good tracks. I'm not liking what I'm reading here.

Try not to let anything influence you, the positive or negative comments... just get the album and decide for yourself.

NotSoPerfect · Post by **NotSoPerfect** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:48 am

Alicehunter2000 wrote:I sure hope this album has a few good tracks. I'm not liking what I'm reading here.

Don't worry about what you read. Worry about what you HEAR. Then you can make your decision. I've listened to nothing yet, but have read all the comments. I'm still 100% expecting to like the album.

Shoesalesman · Post by **Shoesalesman** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:51 am

You standing at the 'vigil of patience' too, NSP? If so, welcome.

NotSoPerfect · Post by **NotSoPerfect** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:13 am

Yup! I am!

WickedYoungMan · Post by **WickedYoungMan** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:14 am

Baz wrote:
I think thats a very valid point.
Alice seems to have been writing this album a fair time, but it all seems so rushed to me. That goes for Eyes and DD also IMO.
Some of the songs on this album seem half finished,.

That's probably because these songs were indeed rushed since it's implied that most of this was started from scrap by the producer. Still wondering what happened to the other songs that were demoed and ready to go here by all the other parties. Still holding hope they will be used at some time, just to at least hear what the sounded like.

steven15322 · Post by **steven15322** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:34 am

Maybe some will be used on the next album?

lattss · Post by **lattss** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:09 pm

Don't worry about what you read. Worry about what you HEAR. Then you can make your decision. I've listened to nothing yet, but have read all the comments. I'm still 100% expecting to like the album.

Same here! I haven't listened to anything yet but I understand that it isn't really a dark sounding album.I kind of like the idea of an upbeat sound to a dark and twisted concept.

steven_crayn · Post by **steven_crayn** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:25 pm

killer_sheep wrote:
Good Evening Steven

I need your help.

I have a number of questions for you if I may :-

1. Do you think ACAS is a concept album ?
2. I asked elsewhere but can you tell me what the story is (assuming you think there is one)
3. Tell me what makes the ACAS tuneage the best since 1991 (HS ?)
4. What are Alice's lyrical highlights for you in ACAS
5. Is ACAS a dark album as the promo and pictures suggest it is ?

Unlike you I'll not call someone's opinion garbage here but what I can't stand is fans who have a slavish adoration of everything Alice outputs. (Not targetted at you). I'll read peoples opinions of the album whether +ve or -ve

My small review is documented elsewhere on this board so you can see where I am coming from.

I hope you can help me as I have currently stopped listening to the album such is my diasappointment.

But to precis my misgivings they resolve around the lyrical simplicity, I expect far more skilled wordsmithery from AC. There are a few songs that have something and I hope that if they ever get aired live the live environment will lift them.

Evening...

Good evening Killer Sheep

Your questions

1- Yes the prologue /epilogue establishes that in a similar way that on Pink Floyds Concept album The Wall we had the circular loop thing when the first track In The Flesh "came in" and the last track Outside The Wall ended.
Not that I am comparing The Wall to Along Came A Spider, their are degrees of greatness and concept albums like The Wall and Welcome To My Nightmare I would rate greater than this one, though I still think this is a great album and I am sorry you have stopped listening to it.

This is the first Alice album I have rated since Last Temptation (despite some great tracks on every album since) so I am not afraid to criticise as anyone who saw my Diamonds aren't forever review on here will see.

2- The story , before I answer that can I ask you if you think there is one?

3- I have said the tunage on Last Temptation was great but that it didn't rock hard enough for me unlike most of Hey Stoopid which I thought like this effort combines tunes with a hard rock edge. I Am The Spider an example in point.
Maybe once I have learnt the songs I can go into song structure with you.

4- Lyrical highlights for me are Killed By Love and Salvation.

5- I think it is dark but subtle

I hope you will be trapped in the spiders web as I am, it is a great album in my opinion.

GNDM · Post by **GNDM** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:13 pm

Ahhh, music and religion....two things that rile the passions of man. A lot of time is spent arguing the virtues and faults of both...yet very seldom does all the "verbage" change anyone's mind from their original position.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:13 pm

Alicehunter2000 wrote:I sure hope this album has a few good tracks. I'm not liking what I'm reading here.
I only take solice in the fact that all of you (his hardcore fan base) are so diverse in your opinions on what good and bad Coop music is, that the possibilty for me to agree is a 50/50 shot.

I hope it doesn't take some sort of a personal tragedy, or life event, for the Coop to write really great stuff again.

I think that so many people have such diverse opinions is mirrored in the fact that Alice has such diverse and changeable musical styles. Over the last few years I find Alice makes two albums which are musically quite similar and then change (Constrictor / Raise Your Fist , Trash / Hey Stoopid, Brutal Planet / Dragontown, the Eyes / Dirty Diamonds). TLT being an odd one out.

killer_sheep · Post by **killer_sheep** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:44 pm

steven_crayn wrote:
Good evening Killer Sheep

2- The story , before I answer that can I ask you if you think there is one?

Good Evening once again Steven,

Interesting answers and answering a question with a question.

Well first off you made me give the whole album a listen - well done.

As for the story well I struggle to unravel what Alice is after, I've read the promo, I've seen the pix and I'm confused. I don't expect to be spoonfed but I'd guess the story is :-

He's out of hospital then he's in then
he's out then in love then wanting salvation and then still on a 28 year
stretch in pokey with steven ? in out in out shake it all about .

Interested in your take.

Evening...

steven15322 · Post by **steven15322** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:31 pm

I do recall when the TLT came out some articles in some magazines I cant remember which ones ...I'm getting old here lol. Anyway in some articles the writer of the review couldn't make out the story line there on that album and some of them didn't give it a good rating back then. Of course the grung thing was the in thing at that time so maybe they were biased reviews?

Jackknife_Jimmie · Post by **Jackknife_Jimmie** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:34 am

I have to say I´m dissapointed.. I´ve heard the album a couple of times now and I find it quite ordinary and without any surprises.

The ballads are good, but the rest is nothing that gets me excited.

And I wanted to like the album so much..

Hopefully it will grow on me when I read the lyrics.. but to even compare it to Temptation, From the inside or Nightmare is (IMO) is silly.

Shoesalesman · Post by **Shoesalesman** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:00 pm

Jackknife_Jimmie wrote:Hopefully it will grow on me when I read the lyrics.. but to even compare it to Temptation, From the inside or Nightmare is (IMO) is silly.

You're right, comparing albums to other albums is not fair; they have different influences, different times/dates of recording, different social issues surrounding content, Alice was a different age at each recording... and so on.

steven_crayn · Post by **steven_crayn** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:19 am

hannu30 wrote:
steven_crayn wrote:
I totally disagree with you but my point is that people aren't backing up their statements as to why they think the album is weak.
Off course they are, you just keep ignoring them...

I'm a fan of Alice for many reasons, and none of these reasons, except his great voice are present on this album.

* Great lyrics: I normally love lyrics by Alice. They're witty, they're funny, they're dark, they're ridiculous in a good way, they're emotional, ... but none of that I find on this album. When my band writes songs we normally come up with these kind of lyrics and throw them away. They are simply terribe, and that's something I don't like saying, 'cause you're not the only Alice fan on this board.

I'd be interested to hear your band to see if you "normally come up with these kind of lyrics and throw them away", got a web link so we can judge you as you are judging Alice?

hannu30 wrote:
* Catchy songs: nope, none of them stick.

Vengeance Is Mine, Catch Me If You Can, Killed By Love, The One that Got Away and I Am The Spider were all instantly catchy for me .

hannu30 wrote: * Great rocksongs: 'The one that got away' is a rocker, yup, a decent track, but it' the only one on ACAS. Vengeance is mine only rocks because of Slash i'm afraid.

Slash is awesome, but so is Alice on that track and the rest of the band, the album rocks as a whole with 2 great ballads to compliment the story.

hannu30 wrote: * Dark/funny songs: When an Alice song doesn't rock you can fall back on the atmosphere of the idea behind it, again: none of that here. I was hoping for a dark album, but even the darker songs have that bit of pseudo-rock in them. I really have the feeling he couldn't choose: "will this be a rock song, or a darker song?" and ended up mixing them all.

The album isn't as obviously as dark as say Brutal Planet it is more Rock n Roll but still dark a bit more subtle.

I'm with Glam Princess on this being pleased Alice has gone away from the Nu Metal sound we heard on Brutal Planet and Dragontown. Along Came A Spider is a much better direction for the Coop, heavier than Eyes of and Dirty Diamonds but still rock n roll.

hannu30 wrote:
* Inventive: again: nope. Not the songs, not the lyrics and yes, not even the concept.

Like I said: I will buy it and probably listen to it several times, but only because it's an Alice album. If another band made this piece of uninspired mediocracy I wouldn't give them the light of day.

edit: so just accept that some people here have a different opinion about the album without them being nitwits.
If you like the album: great for you, I wish I did too, but don't tell me I have to like it

I'm not telling you you have to like it, just challenging your reasons and statements about the album which is inventive in all aspects and a great album in my opinion, hopefully you and its other detractors will get into it.

steven_crayn · Post by **steven_crayn** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:39 am

killer_sheep wrote:
Good Evening once again Steven,

Interesting answers and answering a question with a question.

Well first off you made me give the whole album a listen - well done.

As for the story well I struggle to unravel what Alice is after, I've read the promo, I've seen the pix and I'm confused. I don't expect to be spoonfed but I'd guess the story is :-

He's out of hospital then he's in then
he's out then in love then wanting salvation and then still on a 28 year
stretch in pokey with steven ? in out in out shake it all about .

Interested in your take.

Evening...

Good morning Killer Sheep

I see where you are coming from.

Where do you think the story really starts?

Is it really with the prologue or isn't it with Steven sitting in the madhouse plotting his revenge?

But if so how did he get out?, maybe he didn't , can Vengeance is mine be setting us up for the sequel?

Is the story being told From The Inside? there is no Escape it seems on this album.

Time to put it on again and see if I can figure it out.

runarh73 · Post by **runarh73** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:00 pm

hi all..
i love the new album and its alice best album in a long time i do think the last 2 albums are very good and the eyes of .. is one of my favorite cooper album, but to me the new album is something very special i must say i did not thing that after the first 2 spins but it grows on me and i think im caught in the spider web now.. i pre orderd the cd and the vinyl, i think we will get a color vinyl that would be cool.. anyway i was thinking when alice was starting writing for the album he was saying that it could be a double cd do you know if there are some songs left from the recordings or will there be some bonus tracks like on the japan cd or something like that...
thanks