Alice Cooper - Alice Does Alice (2010)

rtbuck · 08-05-2010, 04:41 PM

Alice Cooper – ‘Alice Does Alice’
Released: May of 2010
Label: Bigger Picture Group
Review by Bucky

Alice Cooper has released a 5 song EP on ITunes titled ‘Alice Does Alice’ in which he rerecords versions of 5 of his classic hits “School’s Out”, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, “Elected”, “Eighteen”, & “Welcome to my Nightmare”. Of course the question will come up… “Why????” & there are a couple of possible reasons but before I get into that let’s talk about the tracks… First off they’re all great remakes. I have not been able to find out any info on the musicians who played on the songs but I did find out that they were all produced by Bob Ezrin. All five songs have a crisp clean sound & while they sound similar to the original versions they all sound fresh & updated. “School’s Out” begins with a crunch & the lead guitar that is being played in the background of the intro is phenomenal as is the guitar in the solo. “No More Mr. Niceguy” is very smooth sounding while “Elected” kicks ass. Alice's voice sounds great on all the tracks but he really sings his ass off on “Elected”. “Eighteen” also sounds great especially Coop’s harmonica playing in the intro but the real treat is this version of “Welcome to My Nightmare”. I can’t believe the quality on this recording as it’s perfect & I can’t wait to test this one out with my ear buds in.

Alright…Why??? I love the original versions & the original band (as well as his Welcome to my Nightmare band) & these will not be replacements in my book (although…I do love the knew version of “Welcome to my Nightmare”…) but I think Alice just wanted to update some tracks especially after appearing & performing “School’s Out” on the American Idol finale which reached millions of young viewers that may have never heard of Alice. Afterwards he may have had some of these viewers decide to check out his music & Itunes is the “in” way for kids to get music so I think these refreshed new versions were a good move. Another reason could be for the popular Guitar Hero game because the rerecorded version of “No More Mr. Niceguy” will be featured on ‘Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock’ which will be released in September (this past June a 3 song Alice Cooper Track Pack for Guitar Hero was released featuring “Eighteen”, “School’s Out”, & “Welcome to My Nightmare”). He also may want to keep his name out there because at a press conference this past June Alice said "I'm very happy with working with [producer] Bob [Ezrin] again. It's 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare', and it's the next nightmare. Thirty years later, he has another nightmare, and this one is even worse than the last one.” Alice also said "I [hadn't] worked with Bob in a long time. After the 35th anniversary of 'Nightmare', I said, 'Why don't we start writing something else?' And he said, 'Why don't we just do part two?' We'd never done part two, so I went, 'That's a great idea. Let's get me and you together; I think we can still get Steven Hunter and Dick Wagner. We'll put some of the original people on it and add some new people." This past former bass player from the original band Dennis Dunaway announced on a radio show that he & ex Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith will be working on Alice’s sequel to “Welcome to My Nightmare”

Bucky

**Cosmic Harmony** · 08-05-2010, 04:52 PM

Well this would explain a thing or two. I'd heard "School's Out" used in a commercial for a movie recently (I think it was "Grown Ups") only it wasn't the original version so I was wondering what was up with that.

Also I'd heard rumors about a sequel to "Welcome To My Nightmare" (my favorite album from Alice by the way) from some time and it's nice to hear that it's going to actually happen.

aeroplane · 08-05-2010, 06:58 PM

He rerecorded those 5 because he didn't want to deal with the hassle and expense of licensing the "original recordings" from the old record label if he wanted to use them someplace.

That way, a "new" version of one of those songs used to promote product is going to put more money into Alice's pocket, since it was done outside of the confines of a big record label.

Besides, if those particular songs are going to be doing some business on I-Tunes, why not better "control" what versions the average fan is going to buy. The assumption is that those five songs individually have done some business so getting new versions out there just benefits Alice, since fans might be buying them anyway.

Smart move, really.

**Cosmic Harmony** · 08-05-2010, 07:22 PM

Smart move indeed, especially since I the marketing potential on songs like "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and especially "School's Out" is and always has been phenomenal.

**Magic** · 08-05-2010, 07:35 PM

I wonder if his son, Dash's, band played on this EP? Cooper has performed "School's Out" with Dash's band, Runaway Phoenix.

aeroplane · 08-05-2010, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by rtbuck

Another reason could be for the popular Guitar Hero game because the rerecorded version of “No More Mr. Niceguy” will be featured on ‘Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock’ which will be released in September (this past June a 3 song Alice Cooper Track Pack for Guitar Hero was released featuring “Eighteen”, “School’s Out”, & “Welcome to My Nightmare”).

One thing I didn't elaborate on before is that by using those rerecorded tracks in the video game, it does help to cut out the "middle man" (the label that owns the original recordings). That saves Alice and the video game company both money and time. Since Alice, as far as I can tell, basically recorded this ep on his own, he gets a much bigger share of the profit for those versions of the songs than he would for the earlier versions.

Besides, when you think about it, Alice's band probably rehearses those songs on a regular basis to keep sharp for their tours. Since they are always playing it anyway, why not just do some "rehearsing" in the studio and hit the Record button while you are at it.

rtbuck · 08-06-2010, 06:50 AM

Great Points Aeroplane, & the label "Big Picture Group" is out of Nashville & is co-owned by Bob Ezrin

Magic, I just checked out Dash's Band on myspace & the music is pretty cool...THANKS!

Spankymadoo · 08-08-2010, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by aeroplane

He rerecorded those 5 because he didn't want to deal with the hassle and expense of licensing the "original recordings" from the old record label if he wanted to use them someplace.

That way, a "new" version of one of those songs used to promote product is going to put more money into Alice's pocket, since it was done outside of the confines of a big record label.

Smart move, really.

Bucky, this is the reason I was going to suggest. I know KISS did this for the re-recorded CD that was included in Sonic Boom. I know for a fact that the rerecorded version of Calling Dr. Love was used in the Dr. Pepper commercials.