Back in the mid-80's I worked with an older guy who was a fairly avid golfer and he told me about one particular day of golf when he noticed "some weird looking skinny guy with real long hair" get into a white Rolls Royce in the parking lot. So when he gets to the pro shop he asks the guy behind the counter who it was that just got into a white Rolls Royce, and the guy says to him, "oh, that was Alice Cooper. He golfs here all the time". I think he knew who Alice Cooper was, but it really surprised him that Cooper would also be an avid golfer and that he would be driving a Rolls.
I'm Eighteen, the embed was disabled, but this is the best version,click on the link. Alice was quoted saying that he was so "out of it" on this clip!!!
The "Ballad of Dwight Fry" might just be my favorite song by Alice. I remember it being a highlight from when I saw him live. He performed it while in a straight jacket and there was an awesome guitar solo while he broke out of it and was inevitably caught by the police and hanged with the rest of the band leading the crowd in singing "I Love The Dead".
Kane Roberts is not the strongest songwriter, but as a guitarist he has a very distinctive sound on both "Raise Your First and Yell" and it's predecessor "Constrictor".
This is the last song that Alice and Kane did together and a fave of mine from Alice:
The March Artist spotlight takes us on a journey through time, beginning in the mid 60s’ at Cortez High School in Phoenix, AZ, at a talent show which led to Rock & Roll stardom. The journey has many twists and turns along the way as it takes us from the fiery depths of hell to the chilling delirium of his own nightmares. We here at Classic Rock Forums are going to rocky you, shock you, thrill you and chill you with our salute to music’s own Edgar Allen Poe…the legendary Alice Cooper (incidentally that last sentence was based on an introduction to Alice by Helen Reddy on the Midnight Special in the mid 1970’s).
Alice Cooper was originally an entire band and not just the demented singer whose birth name was Vincent Furnier. There were rumors that “Alice Cooper” was the name of a spirit that was conjured up by the band during a Ouija board session but the real reason behind the name Alice Cooper was that the band wanted to shock and confuse their audience who were probably expecting a blonde female folksinger. There were some minor disagreements about the name especially from drummer, Neal Smith, who thought the name was ridiculous. The disagreements were ironed out and by the time their debut album was released lead singer, Vince Furnier, became known as Alice.
Vincent Furnier, bassist, Dennis Dunaway, and guitarist, Glen Buxton, were in the band together since the beginning when the three high school friends joined forces and formed The Earwigs, which were a band that was formed for a talent show at Cortez High School. The band also featured guitarist, John Speer, and drummer, Phil Wheeler, and they all donned Beatles style wigs and played parodies of Beatles songs that were written about their track and field team which Vince and Dennis were members of. The appearance went over well and they decided to stick together and play other gigs. John Tatum soon replaced Wheeler on drums and the band was now called The Spiders. Eventually Speer left the band and The Spiders recruited Michael Bruce who was a friend of Dunaway’s. The band once again changed their name, this time to The Nazz and their final band member change took place when Neal Smith replaced John Tatum on drums. Unfortunately, Todd Rundgren was already using The Nazz as the name of his band and eventually Vince’s band decided on the Alice Cooper name. During these early years the band did release a few singles under The Spiders and The Nazz.
Recordings: 1965-1967
The Spiders – “Why Don’t You Love Me?” b/w “Hitch Hike” Released: 1965 Label: Mascot Records
The Spiders – “Don’t Blow Your Mind” b/w “No Price Tag” Released: 1966 Label: Santa Cruz Records
The Nazz – “Wonder Who’s Loving You Now” b/w “Lay Down Die Goodbye”
Released: 1967 Label: Very Records
“Don’t Blow Your Mind”, “Hitch Hike”, “Why Don’t You Love Me?” and “Lay Down Die Goodbye” all are available on the Alice Cooper box set titled “The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper” which is definitely worth checking out so you can hear gems like these. You can hear the influence that The Stones and Yardbirds had on them on these early singles but you can also envision the theatrical side of the band from the early days on the unreleased demo of “Nobody Likes Me” which was recorded in the late 60’s.
The band was signed to Frank Zappa’s Straight Records in 1968 as Zappa was looking for strange novelty acts for his label which also featured the GTO’s and Wildman Fischer. Word was going around that the “in” thing to do in L.A. was to walk out on an Alice Cooper performance and talk about how awful it was. The shows were very chaotic and theatrical as the band used whatever was lying around in the clubs. They would rip apart pillows, watermelons, and even themselves. Drummer Neal Smith and Alice obviously watched plenty of pro wrestling growing up because that was basically what they were doing. Add drinking and partying to the mold and the band became as notorious as Alex and his droogs from A Clockwork Orange. The band made headlines when they appeared at John Lennon’s huge Rock & Roll Revival concert in Toronto 1969 when in the midst of all of their chaos on stage a chicken wandered on the stage, Alice tossed the chicken into the air, thinking it would fly, but instead the bird was torn apart by the first few rows. Soon rumors of Alice killing a chicken on stage and drinking its blood began to surface.
Pretties For You
Released: 1968 Label: Straight Records Song Titles: Titanic Overture / 10 Minutes Before the Worm / Sing Low, Sweet Cheerio / Today Mueller / Living / Fields of Regret / No Longer Umpire / Levity Ball (Live at the Cheetah) / B. B. on Mars / Reflected / Apple Bush / Earwigs to Eternity / Changing, Arranging
‘Pretties For You’ was the debut album released by the band. Rumor has it that it was recorded in only three days and the band was barely given any time to warm up before the tapes were rolling. While the music was distorted and psychedelic it was very chaotic and all over the place. The album is very strange and the first time I heard it I could not believe it was Alice. As strange and chaotic as the album is, some of the vocal harmonies sound pretty good. There are a few tracks that stand out above the rest. “Levity Ball” was recorded live at the Cheetah Club and is full of psychedelic overtones (the box set contains a very clean sounding studio version). “Living” and “Fields of Regret” are full of fuzzy distorted guitars but the one track on the album that outshines everything else is titled “Reflected” and its actually similar to “Elected” which was on 1973’s ‘Billion Dollar Babies’. I’ve read that “Reflected” was originally supposed to be “Elected”, “Reflected” (which was the only single released from the album [b/w “Living”]) starts out with a short drum roll in your right speaker…silence…a short drum roll in your left speaker…silence…bass, drums and fuzzy guitars coming out of your speakers in all directions and there is no turning back “You will be Reflected”.
Easy Action
Released: 1970 Label: Straight Records Song Titles: Mr. and Misdemeanor / Shoe Salesman / Still No Air / Below Your Means / Return of The Spiders (For Gene Vincent) / Laughing at Me / Refrigerator Heaven / Beautiful Flyaway / Lay Down and Die, Goodbye
‘Easy Action’ was actually a much better album in my opinion. The songwriting was very good and although it did have some chaotic sections during a few songs, it really didn’t matter. After all this was Alice Cooper. Guitarist Michael Bruce sings lead on “Below Your Means” and “Beautiful Flyaway”. The most chaotic song on the album is a distorted instrumental (that had a regular spot on their set list) mixed with the chorus from their 1967 single, “Lay Down and Die, Goodbye” and the entire piece is titled “Lay Down and Die, Goodbye”. Incidentally, at the beginning of that track a voice starts the song by saying, “If you don’t like what I say…You have a choice…You can turn me off.” And then the distorted onslaught begins. That voice belongs to…Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers. There really aren’t any weak tracks on the album. The opening track “Mr. and Misdemeanor” is a cool, almost jazz piano type tune and Alice’s vocals are starting to take form with that raspy growling tone that we are all familiar with. “Shoe Salesman” is another cool tune. It’s acoustic and kind of mellow but with wild lyrics in the first verse “…One day he showed me some marks on his arm in a line…” (obviously the shoe salesman was a junkie). “Still No Air” is very chaotic but it’s a great tune with many changes. My favorite tune on the album is “Return of The Spiders” which is dedicated to Gene Vincent who the band backed up at the Lennon “Rock and Roll Revival Show”.
These first two albums were also released as a double album in 1973 and titled “School Days”. Also the sound quality sucks but the “Rock and Roll Revival” Show is released in many forms and titles, but if you want to hear a decent live recording from the ‘Pretties For You’ / ‘Easy Action’ era, check out ‘Alice Cooper Live at the Whiskey A Go Go 1969’.
The band was beginning to evolve into the shock rock heroes that ruled the early 70’s. In concert they had been occasionally playing an early version of “I’m Eighteen” originally titled “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again” and the song was usually a fifteen to twenty minute jam. During this time, Alice began wearing makeup to look like a demented clown which eventually led to the classic spider eyes. By late 1970/1971, Alice Cooper had added four new songs to their set list; “I’m Eighteen”; “Is It My Body”, “Black Juju” and “Sun Arise”. Once “Love it to Death” was finally released in May 1971 the band dropped all of their songs from the first two albums from their set list except for “Return of the Spiders” which wouldn’t last much longer. It appeared that those first two records were to be forgotten.
Love It To Death
Released: 1971 Label: Straight Records/Warner Brothers Records Song Titles: Caught in A Dream / I’m Eighteen / Long Way To Go / Black Juju / Is It My Body / Hallowed Be My Name / Second Coming / Ballad of Dwight Fry / Sun Arise
Great album all the way through and the songs are all well thought out and very dark sounding. Bob Ezrin was just starting out as a producer but his vision and ideas helped Alice Cooper become the legend he is today. “I’m Eighteen” b/w “Is It My Body” was the first single released. “Caught In A Dream” is a great way to kick off this album as it rocks out in a similar pattern as “Be My Lover” from Alice Cooper’s ‘Killer’ album. “I’m Eighteen” is an anthem and was originally recorded as an eight minute piece but it was cut down more than half on the album. “Long Way To Go”, “Is It My Body” and “Hallowed Be My Name” are all great rockers while “Black Juju” is very dark and mystical. “Second Coming” is my favorite track from the album. It has a chilling and dark feel to it, dealing with religion and the devil. The highlight is the small jam at the end which begins with a repetitive Neal smith drum roll, a loud run up the fret board by guitarist, Glen Buxton, and a haunting rhythm with some chilling piano. The song leads right into the now classic “Ballad of Dwight Fry” which has become a regular concert staple in which Coop is in a straight jacket waiting for that explosive moment when he can break free and strangle a nurse so he can escape. The album closes with an old Rolf Harrison number called “Sun Arise” which despite being the final song on this record was used as the opening song on the ‘Love It To Death’ tour.
Sorry for the delay but I should be back by next week on a regular basis. I've been laying down writing the Alice Cooper stuff & my wife typed it in for me. I'll post the rest of the early albums by the end of the week & start Alice's albums after the original group split next week. I wrote a pretty in depth bio on Coop a few months ago in the 70's section at: http://www.classicrockforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4212
Sorry for the delay but I should be back by next week on a regular basis. I've been laying down writing the Alice Cooper stuff & my wife typed it in for me. I'll post the rest of the early albums by the end of the week & start Alice's albums after the original group split next week. I wrote a pretty in depth bio on Coop a few months ago in the 70's section at: http://www.classicrockforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4212
Oh heavens...Bucky you are going to put my Queen right up to shame!
Glad there is so much love for The Coop though. One of my all time favorites, one of the artists that really got me into music, and from what I've noticed Alice is one of the most respected artists on the face of the earth, as he should be.
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