Nuggets

In the cab n the way to a fundraiser on Tuesday night, I read Bob Lefsetz' rant on Alice Cooper and I knew that Alice would be featured in this week's Nuggets.  As Bob says in a must read post for anyone interested in popular music:

It is absolutely positively CRIMINAL that Alice Cooper is not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.  While Robbie Robertson and other exalted insiders have left the boards, are sitting behind a desk instead of standing in front of a microphone, Alice Cooper is out KILLING night after night and those in power, with their multi-thousand dollar suits and private jets, are IGNORING HIM!

Alice Cooper put out four awesome records in the early 1970s all produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin.  I have owned them all at one point in my life.  They are Love It To Death, Killer, School's Out, and Billion Dollar Babies.

Bob calls Killer Alice's greatest moment and it probably is. It's the Alice record my brother Rod bought Josh when he wanted to turn him on to Alice's greatness.

But my favorite is Billion Dollar Babies. The title track may not have been a single, but it is my favorite Alice Cooper song.

The deluxe edition, which I linked to, has a second CD full of live recordings from the Billion Babies tour.  And Alice Cooper is essentially a live experience. One of the best shows in rock.

If you grew up in the 70s, as I did, do yourself a favor and go back to some of these records.  I am pretty sure they'll bring back some good memories.

Comments

[Tony Alva]

Loved the Lefsetz article! I'll tell you what, I thought the guy WAS in the RRHOF. Your brother and I went and saw Alice last summer. My expectations were low being an old guy, but there was no reason for that. Yes, he had a gang of young toughs as his band, but they were good, and he was amazing. He played a great set taht included a prefect mix of his enormous discography.

Note: I'd be hard pressed not to include Welcome To My Nightmare to that list of great Alice records.

[Mike Feinstein]

I'm an old Alice Cooper fan from way back. Although not a fan of greatest hits albums in general, Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits is a great collection for someone who just wants to hit the highlights...Also, the Alice Cooper Show live album has some good tracks on it, but it is nothing compared to seeing him live...

[jackson]

One simply cannot undersatnd the power of rock until they have seen Mr. Cooper. I have seen hime six times, once back in 81, and once a year for the past five years - he ALAWAYS puts on a stellar show. I think Josh needs to see Alice this fall when he comes back around. You can set your clock by Alice - he hits the Metro area in October (usually around Haloween) every year. Hopefully he won't play the PNC Center this year - that venue sucks! The Roseland shows were the best - the Beacon ones were great as well.

The Alice Copper Band years ('Love It To Death' thru 'Billion Dollar Babies') are usually considered the glory days, but I have a fondness for 'Welcome To My Nighmare', 'Goes To Hell', and 'From The Inside' as well.

Hell, I gotta blog Alice - I have too much to say here...

[csven]

Completely agree. And when Lydon told the Hall to f off and then went on Kimmel, what he had to say was spot on. I'd personally ditch the whole induction part and just make it a historical museum.