MIKE PATTON – Adult Themes For Voice (1996 Tzadik)
I’m a huge Faith No More fan; I think they’re easily one of the most brilliant bands of any genre to grace the stage. I collect their stuff, and occasionally Mike Patton’s solo projects as well. Numerous as they are, I tend to pick and choose today. Back in 1996, that wasn’t the case.
One night, out with T-Rev record shopping, we visited Encore Records in downtown Kitchener. On their shelves, for $24.99, was a Mike Patton solo album called Adult Themes for Voice. I asked the lady at the counter, “Is this any good?” She responded cryptically, “Well, nobody’s ever returned one.”
I did buy it, not only because I’m a completist, but because the text on the obi strip made it sound so fucking cool:
The debut solo album from a performer/composer who has worked with Mr. Bungle, Kronos Quartet, Faith No More, Bob Ostertag and many others. Experimental sounds never imagined from just a voice and microphone. An absolute classic.
Shit, how could I possibly say no after reading that? I’d have to be a dick not to buy the CD.
Then, we went to go visit Tom at his store, and he put the disc on. In-store.
First came the wide open eyes, then the chuckles, then the “I can’t believe you spent $25 on this”.
Sorry folks, it’s just not for me. I know there are people out there who can appreciate this. I’m not one of them. It’s true that Mike Patton can do just about anything with his voice, and here he does just about anything with his voice, except singing. Different screams and guttural sounds are spliced together into brief compositions. Tape editing is just as important as the vocals, in terms of the final compositions. At times his voice is percussive, at other times whimpering. At all times, assaulting the ear. It rarely sounds human at all. It’s interesting, with the recent release of the new Faith No More album Sol Invictus, how Mike Patton has integrated some of these techniques with their sound.
Being a collector, and being a long-time Faith No More fan, I did keep this album in my library. I found a good use for it: the shorter tracks make for awesome transitions on mix CDs!
1/5
But 5/5 stars if you can listen to something like this regularly; there’s no denying the creativity involved!
C.C. DeVille was let go from Poison after an embarrassing performance on the 1991 MTV awards. Who can forget the pink-haired C.C.? Drugs and alcohol had taken their toll on the guitar player. There were musical differences as well. Bret Michaels liked the bluesier direction Poison were going on; C.C. preferred basic sloppy rock. A parting of ways was all but inevitable.
Poison were lucky enough to convince guitar prodigy Richie Kotzen to join the band. Kotzen was from Pennsylvania, like Poison, and had released three critically acclaimed solo albums. Richie Kotzen and Electric Joy were hard-to-penetrate instrumental albums, while Fever Dream introduced Richie’s soulful singing voice. He had also contributed the bluesy rock of “Dream of a New Day” to the Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack album.
Like many fans, I waited and wondered what the new Poison would sound like. Kotzen claims that many of the songs were completely written, lyrics and all, before he joined Poison. Regardless each song received a four-way songwriting split among the band members. Fans in the know could tell right away that Kotzen’s impact on the songs was much greater than the other members.
Native Tongue was not as immediate as any prior Poison album, but what it lacked in instant hooks it made up for in musicianship and integrity. Native Tongue was also a long album, at almost an hour not including B-sides such as “Whip Comes Down”. It was a lot to absorb, and due to the changing winds of rock, not too many fans were willing to spend time with and get to know Native Tongue.
You couldn’t have asked for a better start to the album that the duo of “Native Tongue”/”The Scream”. Tribal drums by Rikki Rockett and Sheila E. set the scene for one of Poison’s heaviest songs ever. “The Scream” is killer: a relentless driving rock song with aggressive playing and lyrics. Bret Michaels merged this with his Poison singing style, creating a successful hybrid. “The Scream” is one of Poison’s finest achievements, and a hell of a way to kick off the new album with the new guitarist.
“Stand” was the soulful, gospel-like lead single. It didn’t do anything for me, but you have to give Poison credit for going all-in. With choirs and Kotzen’s soulful guitar playing, it’s still an outstanding Poison song. “Stay Alive” was another good tune, this time about bassist Bobby Dall’s struggles with substances. That led into the ballad “Until You Suffer Some (Fire and Ice)”, one of the band’s best such songs. The only weakness here is a grouping of slow songs on side one. “Body Talk” and “Bring It Home” make up for that. “Bring It Home” in particular had that heavy groove that you needed to have in the 1990s, as well as strong backing vocals from Kotzen. “Bring It Home” ended the first side with the heaviest song since “The Scream”.
The one thing that I found difficult about Native Tongue was the aforementioned lack of immediacy. Thankfully, side two had a few songs that maintained that old-tyme Poison singalong chorus. They were “Seven Days Over You” (a horn-inflected goodie), the anthemic “Blind Faith” and, “Ride Child Ride”. These tunes weren’t too much of a departure from earlier Poison of Flesh & Blood. Perhaps if they had been released as singles, there would have been more chart action. “Strike Up the Band” is similar, capturing the high octane rock that Poison were good at doing live.
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“Richie’s Acoustic Thang” and “Ain’t That the Truth” are swampy bluesy goodness, crossing Poison and Kotzen perfectly. Where Poison failed to do decent blues before, they finally managed to get it done with Richie. Likewise, “Theatre of the Soul” is a soulful ballad that acts as another album highlight.
The final song was “Bastard Son of a Thousand Blues”, and it is really the only stinker, despite Kotzen having plenty of vocal time. It reminds me of “Poor Boy Blues” from the prior album, and unfortunately ends the album on a mediocre note, guitar pyrotechnics notwithstanding.
Kotzen didn’t last long with Poison. After a controversial departure, he was replaced by Blues Saraceno, another highly rated shredder. The ironic thing was that Blues Saraceno was in the running for the guitar slot in the first place, but the band chose Kotzen. Saraceno recorded the strong Crack A Smile CD, an intentional return to good-time Poison rock, but were dropped by the record label before a release. That’s a whole other story, with six years of delays and bootlegs before the album was out, eventually leading to a reunion with C.C. DeVille.
Fortunately, Native Tongue remains a reminder of a brief period in Poison where they were momentarily among the best acts in hard rock. No shit.
By special request of J. atResurrection Songs! This is an old review that I wrote when the Blu-ray of I’m Still Here was released. I have since sold the movie and have no good way of re-watching in order to ensure I still feel the same way about it. Hence, this review was written in 2010 and may or may not reflect my opinions if I saw the movie again….
I’M STILL HERE (2010 Magnolia)
Directed by Casey Affleck
I can’t stand today’s media as much as the next guy, so when Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix revealed that they just “punk’d” the media in a big way, I was curious about the results. Joaquin faked a major meltdown in front of the world, pretending that he was retiring from acting to become a rapper. His rapper persona, “JP”, grew out a long straggly beard and hair to feign mental illness.
The movie never addresses the issue of “fake/real”. As far as the film is concerned, Affleck doesn’t let on. It was only after the fact that they both let the cat out of the bag.
Things start out innocently enough. “JP” reveals that he’s become interested in music and wants to concentrate on that. As the beard expands, so does the odd behaviour. Weird, disjointed and off-rhythm raps, dirty clothes, and the beard continue to grow. The infamous Letterman appearance follows and this is when most people heard of Phoenix’s breakdown. The media reports, which immediately follow his public television “meltdown”, are covered as well.
JP gets frustrated trying to find a producer, finally getting some interest from P. Diddy. Trying to hook up with Diddy is damn near impossible, but when he does, Diddy is interested. One song, “Compli-fuckin-cated”, could have been a novelty hit for real. When it comes time for concerts, the stage gigs don’t go well, as JP is heckled by the crowd. Can JP redeem his rap career and finally begin to express himself in a meaningful way? If the drugs don’t get to him first, maybe.
I’m Still Here wasn’t a bad film. It was definitely a unique film; I’m just not sure how much entertainment value it had. Pranks tend to go best when they are short and sweet,and to the point. When they last a year and become a full length movie, the lines between prank and reality are blurred (which I’m sure was part of the point). I admit that Phoenix did outdo himself, creating this character based on himself, and living with it for this time, never breaking character in public. The problem is, while technically it is a great achievement, as a character JP isn’t all that interesting. As a breakdown, we’ve seen far more interesting real ones in recent years. Hard to top Britney shaving her head, you know?
Spacehog fans will enjoy Antony Langdon’s appearance as a personal assistant to JP. Royston Langdon contributed to songwriting.
The Blu-ray bonuses are generous, with all sorts of featurettes and deleted scenes with commentary. Perhaps they will shed some light on the process. The movie hasn’t clicked with me, but I’ll give it another shot. It is a strange animal after all.
STAR WARS: Return of the Jedi – Special Edition original motion picture soundtrack (1997 RCA limited edition with holographic discs, original soundtrack released 1983)
The final soundtrack of the original trilogy received the most disappointing Special Edition soundtrack. The reissues for A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back essentially offered complete collections of all the music from those two films. The soundtrack for Return of the Jedi suffers the most from the Special Edition changes. New music replaces old well-loved tunes, which is rarely a good idea.
Instead of the classic music of “Lapti Nek” (Jabba’s palace scene) we now get “Jedi Rocks”. I need not tell you how unwelcome that song was, replacing “Lapti Nek”. All because Lucas didn’t like that the singing alien puppet’s lips didn’t move enough, so he decided to “fix” that by putting in a much more elaborate musical number to go with the new CG lips. Thanks, George. Thankfully “Lapti Nek” was included on the 4 CD Star Wars Anthology box set.
The other missing music is “Ewok Celebration”, which fans worldwide know as “Yub Nub”. This Ewok song was one of those miserable little teddy bears’ few redeeming qualities. “Ewok Celebration” is replaced by the bland new “Victory Celebration” which ends the film. Thankfully the original music is also on the Anthology box set. (I would like to get that.)
Yub Nub!
Return of the Jedi gets off to a slower start than the other soundtracks. Instead of a battle or vicious Wampa attack, Jedi opened with a couple droids wandering through the desert before finding gainful employment with Jabba the Hutt. I know, right? How could that not make for exciting music? It’s not until Luke Skywalker confronts Jabba (track 6) that things start to move. Until then, the music remains largely atmospheric and creepy. There are a few unforgettable musical cues, such as that which accompanies Han Solo’s thawing.
Because Jedi was the third movie in a trilogy, it revisits a lot of familiar themes. The music for “The Imperial March” is heard several times for example (such as within “The Emperor Arrives”), but there isn’t much in terms of new memorable themes. I suppose that is to be expected. The nature of the film, including the deaths of beloved characters and other upsetting revelations, lent themselves to a darker soundtrack. A lot of atmospheric pieces helped underscore the mood of these scenes. This is offset by child-like Ewok segments of brightness.
A nice touch is the inclusion of alternate versions. The exciting “Sail Barge Assault” is included in an alternate take. There is also a sweeping concert suite of “The Forest Battle” on disc two. “Lapti Nek” and “Yub Nub” would have been nice, but in 1997 George was really trying to bury the original versions of the films forever. I’ll just have to find an old record, or that Anthology box.
The original music, excised for the Special Edition, is what this CD misses most.
ALICE COOPER – The Alice Cooper Show(1977 Warner Bros.)
The Alice Cooper Show is far from a perfect example of Alice in the mighty 1970’s — for a much better live album experience, pick up Billion Dollar Babies (the deluxe edition) which contained a live album recorded by the original Alice Cooper band. Having said that, the band here are not slouches. Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter were great guitar players who defined the late 70’s period of Alice. However, the albums were starting to slide — Go To Hell and Lace & Whiskey were more notable for ballads like “You And Me” and “I Never Cry” rather than idiosyncratic Cooper rockers or horror tunes.
The recording of this album is fine, but the record is far too brief. Aside from the fact that there are too many ballads (time-wise, over a quarter of this album are ballads!), a lot of the songs are truncated versions. “Sick Things” for example is less than a minute as it segues into “Is It My Body”. Likewise, there is an “I Love the Dead”/”Go to Hell”/”Wish You Were Here” medley where I wish I could have had more. Then again, Alice has always done medleys of tunes, since he has so damn many.
I have nothing negative to say about the singing or performance. The band were outstanding, featuring some of the best players Alice has shared the stage with. They even featured Canadian bassist Prakash John who was previously in the original band Bush with Dominic Troiano (R.I.P). It’s hard to say exactly why The Alice Cooper Show doesn’t completely click. Certainly the medleys and song excerpts make it feel like an overly rushed affair, and even considering that, it’s missing too many great tunes. “Elected”, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, and “Welcome to My Nightmare” would have been perfect.* Perhaps Warner should have shelled out for a full-on 2 LP set? But Alice was a fading property in 1977, with an infamous stint in rehab to follow.
This record fails to deliver what Alice was really about. The album cover gives it all away. It looks rushed, with truncated images of Alice and his live show. Serious fans will need it to complete the collection. Otherwise, stick to the Billion Dollar Babies deluxe package for a seriously awesome live 1970’s Alice experience.
3/5 stars
* Looks like a lot of those songs were dropped from the set in ’77.
STAR WARS: The Empire Strikes Back – Special Edition original motion picture soundtrack (1997 RCA limited edition with holographic discs, original soundtrack released 1980)
Composed and conducted by John Williams
When I was 8 years old, this was my favourite album. It was my favourite album for a long time. I didn’t have a lot of albums when I was young, but The Empire Strikes Back was a clear favourite. It was only usurped by Styx’s Kilroy Was Here several years later.
Even when I was a child I had a sense that this one was something special. The Empire Strikes Back contains one of the best known Star Wars anthems ever: “The Imperial March”. Hard to imagine today, but that piece of music did not exist when the original Star Wars came out in 1977. The character of Darth Vader grew tremendously in the second film, and I think “The Imperial March” helped drive it home.
As far as I’m concerned, composer John Williams is a rock star. He makes instrumental concept albums. That is exactly the way that my rocker ears hear this music. I cannot express how true to me that is. For me, this album (in its original double LP format) was like The Wall, Tommy, or Quadrophenia. It has always been a rollicking journey to listen to, preferably loud. It has swells and drops, peaks and valleys. It has memorable “songs” that you can go back to over and over and over again.
The original soundtrack from 1980 was a massive two record set, but it was still only long enough to contain 75 minutes of the film’s music. This double CD has a whopping 124 minutes — the complete score. Even all these years later, revisiting the soundtrack, I can immediately tell when a piece of music wasn’t on the original record. “Ice Planet Hoth” was the first such moment. Other pieces such as “The Magic Tree” are very familiar because I played those records so many times! As a kid, I don’t think I even realized that the LPs didn’t have all the music.
Having the whole soundtrack, in order, on CD, is a real treat. It makes me want to take a dig through my parents’ basement and dig up my old Kenner Millenium Falcon. Or even better, get the bigger, badder, awesomer new one. That thing looks incredible…but I digress. My point is, it reignites that feeling I had as a kid. I’d hear this music, and go grab my Falcon toy, and “fly” it around. That feeling hasn’t gone away. In fact, with this baby remastered the way it is, I’d say that feeling is stronger than ever.
Other honorable mentions: “The Battle of Hoth”, “The Asteroid Field”, “Mynock Cave”, and “Yoda’s Theme”. All these are almost as memorable as “The Imperial March”.
Since I’m not musically schooled in any way, I wanted to talk to someone who is. I spoke to world-renowned bass clarinetist Kathryn Ladano about the music:
This album is one of my favourite soundtracks, and I still listen to it often. In fact, when I got my new turntable for Christmas, the original LP soundtrack for Empire was the very first album I played on it. In terms of Star Wars soundtracks, I think this is the best one. I am certainly more critical of John Williams’ soundtracks in general now than I was as a kid because I now know that much of his material was “borrowed” from other composers, but despite that knowledge, this album still has a lot of iconic and evocative themes. My favourite is probably “The Asteroid Field”, but obviously “The Imperial March” is pretty amazing too.
If I had to pinpoint a favourite moment in this soundtrack, it actually appears during the track “Carbon Freeze/Darth Vader’s Trap/Departure of Boba Fett”. From about 5:10 to 5:20 is a series of dissonant chords that I have always loved the sound of (especially the one at 5:17 – 5:18!). Long before I studied music or played an instrument, those dissonant chords resonated with me and I still love hearing them.
I now know what album I’m going to listen to today.
I’m fortunate to have the limited edition CD wallet version of this soundtrack. As with A New Hope, the discs are hologram etched. This time, instead of the striking image of the Death Star, it’s just a fairly flat Imperial logo. Not quite as awesome.
MARILLION and the POSITIVE LIGHT – Tales From the Engine Room (1998 Big Eye)
Remix projects: Often dicey, usually over-indulgent cash-grabs. I always give Marillion the benefit of the doubt where integrity is concerned. In the liner notes, singer Steve “H” Hogarth says that the art of the remix at its best is to produce a cerebral trip, and I think that was the aim here. He refers to this as a “reconstruction” and that sounds about right.
Having just completed the This Strange Engine album, Marillion handed over the master tapes to The Positive Light (Marc Mitchell and Mark Daghorn) for creative reconstruction. The duo had impressed them with some early work on “Estonia” so they decided to go all-in. That track is the first on the CD, Tales From the Engine Room. It’s a swirly, heavenly version but not a drastic departure. Hogarth’s vocal isn’t chopped to bits, the melodies remain the same, and the overall structure is unchanged. It is as if the body of the song were played by Jean Michel Jarre instead of Marillion.
“Estonia” folds neatly into “The Memory of Water”. This experiment turns the song into a light dance number. It’s not nearly as great as the pounding “Big Beat Mix” on the Radiat10n CD. This version just kind of circles around without going anywhere. It’s always risky, extending a three minute song to almost ten! Sorry Positive Light, I have to give you a D on “The Memory of Water”.
If you like long bombers then you’ll love “This Strange Engine”, all 20+ minutes of it! That’s not too much of a stretch, since the original is over 15. Of this one, Hogarth says, “[it] reduced me to tears. I would advise you to listen to it on a Walkman whilst walking through the town on a Saturday afternoon. It makes everyone move in slow motion!” While it is cool, it has never given me that exact effect. It really starts to swell into dramatic waves when it gets into that “tall tales of Montego Bay,” section. A solidly trippy remix.
Onto “One Fine Day”, which was never one of the strongest tracks. With the Positive Light, it acquires a trippy jazzy slant. I don’t know what “Face 1004” is, except perhaps a Positive Light original? It bears no resemblance to the fine Marillion song “Man of 1000 Faces”, but it’s a beat-heavy dance track much in the style of the rest of this CD.
The original CD ended with track 5; reissues also contain “80 Days”. Since there’s no point in buying an incomplete version, you may as well look for the reissue. “80 Days” is far removed from its jaunty, celtic origins. Now replete with electronic beats and tribal singing, it is still a celebration of touring the world.
Tales From the Engine Room turned out to be an apt title for a successful experiment. The Positive Light took the songs down to their cores without losing what made them the songs that they are. They re-presented the tunes in a new way, in a different genre. While this is far from an essential purchase, it will be appreciated by fans of latter-day Marillion.
HELIX – It’s a Business Doing Pleasure (1993 Aquarius)
This is a good album — but it’s utterly ridiculous to see Amazon sellers asking $125 for a CD that I used to sell in store for $8.99.
After the death of guitar player Paul Hackman, killed in a tragic bus accident prior to this, Helix decided to carry on, somehow. Before the crash that prematurely ended the talented guitarist’s life, he and Brian Vollmer had been working on two separate projected discs. Brian had written songs with Marc Ribler, as he did on the previous record Back For Another Taste, which were earmarked for a solo album. Meanwhile, Hackman was writing music for the next Helix album. When it came time to pick up the pieces and carry on, there wasn’t much written for Helix. Although he regrets doing it today, Brian Vollmer decided to use the Ribler songs for the Helix record.
Vollmer recorded the album with Ribler, bassist Rob Laidlaw, and former Helix drummer Brian Doerner. Having spoken to Doerner about this album, I know he felt it was strong and underrated. I would have to agree. Vollmer also needed a new Helix band to take the album on tour. Greg “Fritz” Hinz and Daryl Gray remained on board. Though they did not play on the album, they are pictured inside. For the vacant guitar slots, they recruited former Brighton Rock guitar maestro Greg Fraser. Even more exciting to fans was the return of Brent “the Doctor” Doerner. This was easily the most exciting band lineup since the 1980’s.
The record was a definite change of pace, due to its genesis as a Vollmer solo album. Starting off, it’s instantly noticeable a Nashville influence . Almost every song has that terrific old school Fender guitar sound, but with a rock n’ roll edge–a little like Mark Knopfler. The songs are by and large a lot softer and more radio-ready, but also significantly more melodic and memorable. “Classy” is a good word to describe the direction.
The first single “That Day Is Gonna Come” is upbeat, a tribute to the life of Paul Hackman. Next to “Billy Oxygen”, I think it’s possibly the best song they’ve ever done. It received an excellent music video loaded with Brian’s own video-8 footage recorded over the years on the road. Just about every major Helix members appears in the footage. It’s hard not to get nostalgic. Have you been to any of those towns? This is the best video Helix have made yet.
“Tug Of War” would have made a great hit, but sadly the record company weren’t behind the album enough to push it. Vollmer and Fraser did an acoustic rendition of this ballad live on MuchMusic, a recording I’m glad to have on VHS. The album version is more bombastic but just as good. “Wrong Side of the Bed” and “Can’t Even Afford to Die” are both upbeat acoustic rock tunes with lush backing vocals. Think John Cougar meets Helix. Lyrically, Brian was writing about subjects people could relate to, rather than pining over Joan Jett. Being broke, being hurt, but keepin’ on keeping on. Still upbeat but a little harder is “Misery Loves Company”. There are some dirty guitars and driving piano, but we’re still driving in the country. Even without a heavy rock band behind him, Brian’s voice keeps it in the realm of Helix.
“Look Me Straight in the Heart” was supposed to be a video. This power ballad is a duet with Brian and Canada’s Metal Queen, Lee Aaron. The video funding was pulled when Aaron couldn’t appear in the clip with Vollmer. It’s too bad, because it’s a great song and I love hearing Lee Aaron belt it out. Lee Aaron and Brian Vollmer singing a ballad? How could it not have balls! (Just enough.)
“Trust the Feeling” is largely forgettable balladry, but “Love is a Crazy Game” is haunting and quiet. There is a heavier, electric version on the B-Sides CD, and it’s hard to choose which is best. This one is certainly more unique. Of course, you can’t have too many ballads in a row, and they were pushing it with three, but thankfully “Sleepin’ in the Dog House Again” will wake you from your slumber. Kim Mitchell dropped in to play one of his typical gonzo guitar solos, topping off the only real ass-kicking rocker on the album. The closing song “Mad Mad World” (not the Tom Cochrane tune) is one of the best. Who doesn’t love whistles? Humorous lyrics and a great chorus help to end the album in style.
Some lamented that Helix “softened up” on the album; others admired the growth and maturity. Brian Vollmer called the record “a huge mistake on my part, and I take full credit for the blunder. The really sad thing about it all was that I was really proud of all those songs on the album and they were wasted because they did not fit under the Helix name.”
I’d hate to think of those songs wasted, because here I’ve been enjoying them for over 20 years. Perhaps under another name they could have been hits, perhaps not. In the end, this album helped Helix stay a band. It gave them something of quality to release in the wake of their greatest tragedy. It allowed the band to get out and play supporting it. Ultimately, those who were unhappy about the direction would satisfied by the heavy songs on the next album, 1998’s half-ALIVE.
I’d be happy if this album got a little more recognition, so here’s me doing my part.
Helix’s Back For Another Taste was easily their best album since No Rest for the Wicked. It was also their last for Capitol. As such it received a neat, very limited vinyl release with a special cover commemorating the last (planned) printing of Capitol vinyl. I wish I had bought it when I had the chance. I recall seeing it at Sam the Record Man (owned by Gil Zurbrigg, brother of original Helix bassist Keith Zurbrigg) in downtown Kitchener. I didn’t have a good way of playing records back then, so it didn’t seem worth it.
Special release aside, Back For Another Taste will always be associated with some hard times in Helix. Brent “the Doctor” Doerner, with the band since LP #1, decided to move on from rock and roll. Although lead howler Brian Vollmer saw the departure coming, it still hit hard. Doerner stuck around long enough to record some rhythm guitars and solos for the new album. His brother Brian Doerner played drums on three tracks, as he often has on past Helix albums. (Helix mainstay Fritz Hinz played on the rest). The songs were written by Vollmer and guitarist Paul Hackman, with the exception of two. Vollmer took a trip down to the US to work with Marc Ribler who helped him hone his songwriting chops.
Helix presented themselves as a four-piece in promo photos and music videos, for the first time. Doerner would prove hard to replace over the years, with American Denny Balicki taking over for the tour. He was Helix’s first American member. He made notable appearances in a one-hour MuchMusic special called “Waltzing With Helix”, a documentary on Helix’s European tour with Sacred Reich, and opening for Ian Gillan. (Also in that documentary: a kid I grew up with in the neighborhood called Brian Knight. He was a Helix roadie at the time. Brian Vollmer misspelled his name in his book as “Brian McKnight“. Whoops!)
Back For Another Taste was produced by Tony Bongiovi, who gave the band a raw, more kicking sound in the studio. It was clear from track one “The Storm” that Helix meant business again. A mean sounding gritty groove-rocker, “The Storm” was unlike anything they’d done before. It was a completely un-wimpy lead single and a surprising one at that, since it’s not a very commercial. The new four-piece Helix sound great here, with Hackman able to really dig in and play, while bassist Daryl Gray gets more room to groove.
The really impressive track on the album was “Running Wild in the 21st Century”. When every other band seemed to be softening it up, Helix seemed to go full-on metal. An edgy music video featuring London’s “Snake the Tattooed Man” won Helix some acclaim and recognition. Snake was a friend of the band, and when the idea came up for a music video, Vollmer said “I know the perfect guy for this.” (I myself encountered Snake at the Record Store, in Part 118 of Record Store Tales.)
“Running Wild” is a killer track, pure Helix adrenaline with their trademark smooth backing vocals. In the lyrics, Brian seems confident of rock and roll’s future survival. Once again Paul Hackman confidently handles the guitars, allowing his personality to really shine.
Right up the alley of old Helix rockers is “That’s Life”, a classic sounding tune that’s great for drinking to. Just you try not having fun while hoisting a frosty to “That’s Life”! But Helix are more than just a party band, always have been. “Breakdown” is the long dramatic slow one. Vollmer had been going through some rough times: divorce, having to work at a convenience store to pay the rent, getting mugged, and then heave-ho and re-locating to London Ontario. “Breakdown” must come from those times, because you can hear the desperation and the determination. This track is the closest Helix ever got to re-capturing the golden sound of their first album,Breaking Loose. But you gotta end side one on a party rocker, doncha? So “Heavy Metal Cowboys” is that track and it sounds exactly how you expect. Hackman throws down some slide guitar for good measure.
The title track is quintessential Helix. “Back For Another Taste” indeed, this track could have been right at home on Wild in the Streets. It’s dirty and rocking, just like you like it. The stretching out a bit, the pop side of Helix emerges on “Rockin’ Rollercoaster”. I immediately noticed a higher rating on the 10-point Catchiness Factor scale (c), than other songs on this album. But then it’s even higher on “Midnight Express”, a real singalong! I really like these two songs, and even the ballad “Good to the Last Drop” really impressed.
Marc Ribler wanted to write a song called “Can’t Eat Just One”, but Vollmer found the title cumbersome, so he suggested “Good to the Last Drop” instead. What came from this was a hit ballad with heaps of class and all the right ingredients – a solid 9 on the Catchiness Factor scale. The music video received a swanky remix with extra keyboard overdubs, and that’s the version I go for. (It’s on many Helix best-of’s, but not this CD.)
“Give It to You” wasn’t exactly a new song. An earlier version (more raw) surfaced on 1989’s Over 20 Minutes With…Helix compilation. I prefer the raw version, but it’s still a great dirty lil’ Helix number. “Pull the trigger of my honey gun.” Oh, Brian. “Special delivery, just for you!”
So Helix stretched out on this album a bit, and went back to their roots while exercising their melodic songwriting muscles. They went heavier, they went softer, they went dramatic, and they revisited some of their pop roots. What’s left? Faster, faster, faster!
“Wheels of Thunder” is probably the fastest, heaviest Helix track of all time and it closes Back For Another Taste on a killer note. Dr. Doerner handles the solo on this one, and Fritz is absolutely thrash metal mad. The only Helix track that might be faster is “Jaws of a Tiger” (also from Over 20 Minutes With…Helix), but we’re splitting hairs. What a ballsy way to end the album.
There were some cool singles available, but most interesting was the cassette single for “Good to the Last Drop”. That had an unreleased B-side, a song called “S.E.X. Rated”. This is a completely different version from the one that later appeared on the album B-Sides. This one has Paul Hackman, and that’s significant.
In July of 1992, Fritz Hinz was injured (slipped disc) and unable to tour, so Brian Doerner returned for a few western Canadian dates. As a bonus, so did his brother Brent. After a final date in Vancouver the band headed home. Paul Hackman elected to travel home in the tour van with bassist Daryl Gray, while the rest of the band booked flights. Hackman, not wearing a seat belt, went to sleep. Then, according to reports, the van veered off the road and down an embankment when the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Three men were thrown from the vehicle, and Hackman was killed. Daryl Gray suffered minor injuries and flagged down help. 20 cars passed the frantic, bleeding bassist before someone stopped.
Back For Another Taste was Paul’s final recording.
My sister used to have a tradition. Because I’ve always been a collector, she would have an easy time buying gifts for me as a young rock fan. When I was 17 years old, I only had a few albums by certain artists. She’d sneak into my room and go over my collection. She saw that I only owned a few of Alice Cooper’s: Trash, Prince of Darkness, Billion Dollar Babies, and Greatest Hits. For Easter of 1990, she got me Alice’s Welcome to My Nightmare. Not knowing what to except from the Coop, it was pretty much instant love.
I played that cassette a lot and grew to know its track sequence, which was completely different from CD. Later on I purchased the original CD release, but what Welcome To My Nightmare needed (and the rest of the Cooper catalogue needs) is a proper remaster with bonus tracks. Rhino took care of that in 2002.
Now the album itself sounds so much better than the original CD. This sounds more like vinyl, the way it should, rich and deep. The liner notes, unfortunately, are somewhat crappy. They basically just explain to the youth of today why Alice Cooper is cooler than the bands they like. There’s not much about the genesis of the album, which is disappointing. This is, after all, the very first solo album by Vincent Furnier aka Alice Cooper. By 1975, the Alice Cooper band (Furnier, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neil Smith, and the late Glen Buxton) was no more. Never again would they share a stage or a recording studio, at least the original five. The four survivors did finally re-team for a couple songs on 2011’s sequel, Welcome 2 My Nightmare.
Welcome To My Nightmare was a revelation to me when I received it, and it is still mind-blowing today. I think that is due to the production talents of Bob Ezrin. The man who later produced Destroyer and The Wall really came into his own on this album. His production is, for lack of any better words, jaw dropping. You can totally tell it’s him, if you know his style well enough: that creepy horror movie piano, all the orchestrations, sound effects, the kids singing. Those are trademarks. My favourite moment for the kids was in the song “Department of Youth”. Cooper and the kids sing in the fade-out:
Together – “We’re the Department of Youth, ahh ahh, we got the power!”
Alice – “Who got the power?”
Kids – “We do!”
Alice – “And who gave it to you?”
Kids – “Donny Osmond!”
Alice – “WHAT?”
Loosely, this is a concept album about the kind of nightmares Alice would have. The result was a collection of remarkably timeless and classic songs: “Only Women Bleed”, “Black Widow”, and “Escape” for example. “Escape” is the most straightforward rocker on the album, and a joy it is. The rest is often more complex, arrangement-wise and lyrically.
The title track is a fun rollercoaster ride with epic horns. Same with “Devil’s Food” and “The Black Widow” which work together as a creepy classic featuring Vincent Price. I would not want to live my life without these songs. Alice is nothing if not diverse, and then “Some Folks” sounds showtune-y. “Only Women Bleed” is the famous ballad, often misunderstood, but respected enough to be covered by artists such as Lita Ford, Tina Turner, and Etta James.
“Department Of Youth” and “Cold Ethel” are more rock and roll, and why not? What better genre to sing about rebellion and necrophilia? It’s worth pointing out the guitar charms of Steve Hunter and the late Dick Wagner. These two incredible players, under the guidance of Ezrin, lent Welcome To My Nightmare the rock edge that it needed, lest it be swallowed up by the dramatic tendencies.
Of course, Welcome To My Nightmare features the first-ever appearance of the character of Steven. “Years Ago” has Alice singing in this incredibly creepy little-kid voice, as Steven. Then the song “Steven” kicks in, and it’s even creepier, but very epic in scale. Alice is at his most effective here. Steven would pop up many times, such as on the next album Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, 1991’s Hey Stoopid, 1994’s Last Temptation, and the more recent Along Came A Spider. Whether it’s supposed to be the same guy, or just a character who shares the same name, I do not know.
The bonus tracks are alternate versions of “Devil’s Food” (much extended), “Cold Ethyl”, and “The Awakening” with alternate lyrics and more Vincent Price! Not available on the Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper box set! These three tracks alone, to the Cooper collector, necessitate a re-buy. The improved sound probably would have hooked them in anyway.
I could never say, “If you only buy one Alice Cooper album, buy this one.” The reason I can’t is that almost every album by the original Alice Cooper band was monumental, particularly School’s Out and Billion Dollar Babies. However, if you buy two or three Coops, please make one of them Welcome To My Nightmare, remastered!
5/5 stars
* There is also a DVD Audio of this album mixed in 5.1 by Bob Ezrin himself!
POISON – Native Tongue (1993 Capitol)
HELIX – It’s a Business Doing Pleasure (1993 Aquarius)
ALICE COOPER – Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)
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