rtbuck
Senior Member
Pretties For You - Live in NYC
Recorded Live at the Stone in NYC 11/08/15
Vocals - Paul Bertolino
Guitar - Nick Didkovsky
Guitar - Nick Oddy
Bass - Max Johnson
Drums - Glenn Johnson
Keyboards & Vocals - Adam Minkoff
Source - DVD
Label - Punos Music
In 1968 Alice Cooper (the Band) went into Whitney Studios in Burbank, CA to record their debut album "Pretties For You" for Frank Zappa's Straight Records label. The band was very serious about their music but Zappa was planning on changing their name to Alice Cookies & make them a comedy act. While Pretties For You definitely had some good material such as "Sing Low Sweet Cheerio", "Living", "Changing Arranging", "Fields of Regret"(my favorite tune off of the album), & "Reflected" which would later be rewritten into the hit "Elected" a few years later the rest of the material was very strange stuff with songs lasting between 1 to 2 minutes with many different changes during the songs. The album was released in 1969 & the band stopped playing songs from that album live by August of 1970. Pretties For You along with the band's second album on Straight Records "Easy Action" were basically forgotten once the band took off with success & a new direction on their 3rd album Love it to Death.
Which brings us to November of 2015 when guitarist, composer, computer programmer Nick Didkovsky decided to explore the idea of playing the entire Pretties For You album live so he put together a group of extraordinary musicians who were willing to join his trip. John Zorn offered Nick a week long residency at the Stone in NYC for his project. Didkovsky also had the support of original Alice Cooper band members bassist Dennis Dunaway & drummer Neal Smith who answered many detailed questions about the original recording & lyric corrections.
The DVD kicks off with Nick Didkovsky throwing out some thanks including Dennis Dunaway & Neal Smith. Nick introduced the star of the show which the camera zoomed in on the album cover of Pretties for You & the band launched into the lead off instrumental "Titanic Overature". Dunaway stepped up onstage & did a nice little intro by giving some background on the band's beginnings & shared a few memories. From there it kicks off with the under 2 minutes long "10 Minutes Before the Worm" & from there it follows the album with "Sin Low Sweet Cheerio", "Today Mueller" & "Living". Up next was an incredible version of "Fields of Regret" which musically was so intense. The strange "No Longer an Umpire" is followed by the psychedelic early Pink Floyd influenced "Levity Ball". I've got to say I never seen Alice Cooper back then but I have seen a few early videos & Paul Bertolino really has his movements & style down. As he was introducing the Dennis Dunaway penned "BB on Mars" I thought it was Alice talking for a moment there! "Reflected" sounded great as did "Apple Bush Apple Tree" & the quick one minute twenty second "Earwigs to Eternity" was full of energy. "Changing Arranging" closed the album set with some great guitar by Nick Oddy....but wait...It's not over!!! Dennis Dunaway came up & sang "Nobody Likes Me" which didn't make the album but was a regular part of there show back then with Alice singing behind a window. Dunaway remained onstage & the band played a scorching version of "You Drive Me Nervous" from the band's "Killer" album. ...There's more??? Yes! On the Extras if you click on Encore the band kicks back into high gear on "Halo of Flies" featuring the great rhythm section of bassist Max Johnson & drummer Glenn Johnson.
Overall this was an incredible show & the one thing that really hit home with me is what an incredible part of the early Alice Cooper Group lead guitarist Glen Buxton was. Nick Didkovsky was so incredible on lead guitar playing Buxton's leads that it really made me realize even more how important Buxton's playing was in the early days. The whole band was phenomenal. This DVD is really something different & so worth the $13. Also
on DVD extras is a 3 song soundcheck
the DVD is available at Alice Cooper - "Pretties for You" live performance!
Recorded Live at the Stone in NYC 11/08/15
Vocals - Paul Bertolino
Guitar - Nick Didkovsky
Guitar - Nick Oddy
Bass - Max Johnson
Drums - Glenn Johnson
Keyboards & Vocals - Adam Minkoff
Source - DVD
Label - Punos Music
In 1968 Alice Cooper (the Band) went into Whitney Studios in Burbank, CA to record their debut album "Pretties For You" for Frank Zappa's Straight Records label. The band was very serious about their music but Zappa was planning on changing their name to Alice Cookies & make them a comedy act. While Pretties For You definitely had some good material such as "Sing Low Sweet Cheerio", "Living", "Changing Arranging", "Fields of Regret"(my favorite tune off of the album), & "Reflected" which would later be rewritten into the hit "Elected" a few years later the rest of the material was very strange stuff with songs lasting between 1 to 2 minutes with many different changes during the songs. The album was released in 1969 & the band stopped playing songs from that album live by August of 1970. Pretties For You along with the band's second album on Straight Records "Easy Action" were basically forgotten once the band took off with success & a new direction on their 3rd album Love it to Death.
Which brings us to November of 2015 when guitarist, composer, computer programmer Nick Didkovsky decided to explore the idea of playing the entire Pretties For You album live so he put together a group of extraordinary musicians who were willing to join his trip. John Zorn offered Nick a week long residency at the Stone in NYC for his project. Didkovsky also had the support of original Alice Cooper band members bassist Dennis Dunaway & drummer Neal Smith who answered many detailed questions about the original recording & lyric corrections.
The DVD kicks off with Nick Didkovsky throwing out some thanks including Dennis Dunaway & Neal Smith. Nick introduced the star of the show which the camera zoomed in on the album cover of Pretties for You & the band launched into the lead off instrumental "Titanic Overature". Dunaway stepped up onstage & did a nice little intro by giving some background on the band's beginnings & shared a few memories. From there it kicks off with the under 2 minutes long "10 Minutes Before the Worm" & from there it follows the album with "Sin Low Sweet Cheerio", "Today Mueller" & "Living". Up next was an incredible version of "Fields of Regret" which musically was so intense. The strange "No Longer an Umpire" is followed by the psychedelic early Pink Floyd influenced "Levity Ball". I've got to say I never seen Alice Cooper back then but I have seen a few early videos & Paul Bertolino really has his movements & style down. As he was introducing the Dennis Dunaway penned "BB on Mars" I thought it was Alice talking for a moment there! "Reflected" sounded great as did "Apple Bush Apple Tree" & the quick one minute twenty second "Earwigs to Eternity" was full of energy. "Changing Arranging" closed the album set with some great guitar by Nick Oddy....but wait...It's not over!!! Dennis Dunaway came up & sang "Nobody Likes Me" which didn't make the album but was a regular part of there show back then with Alice singing behind a window. Dunaway remained onstage & the band played a scorching version of "You Drive Me Nervous" from the band's "Killer" album. ...There's more??? Yes! On the Extras if you click on Encore the band kicks back into high gear on "Halo of Flies" featuring the great rhythm section of bassist Max Johnson & drummer Glenn Johnson.
Overall this was an incredible show & the one thing that really hit home with me is what an incredible part of the early Alice Cooper Group lead guitarist Glen Buxton was. Nick Didkovsky was so incredible on lead guitar playing Buxton's leads that it really made me realize even more how important Buxton's playing was in the early days. The whole band was phenomenal. This DVD is really something different & so worth the $13. Also
on DVD extras is a 3 song soundcheck
the DVD is available at Alice Cooper - "Pretties for You" live performance!
