Aaron sent me these photos too late to include in my video report. These were taken at Sonic Boom Music, and Pauper’s Pub.
Mmm, beer.
I’ve also compiled some of the photos of discs that I scored that day, from some of my review blogs.
And lastly, the video is below, in case you missed it!
Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at Sonic Boom Music for a measly $7.99! Thanks, Sonic Boom!
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
ALICE COOPER – Lace and Whiskey (1977)
I’m a big fan of some of these “lost” Alice records, the ones that might not be considered the big hits, from his late 70’s alcoholidaze. Alice Cooper Goes To Hell was a really cool record, one I like a lot despite its disco tendencies. Lace and Whiskey followed it a year later. This is actually Alice’s third solo record, post-Alice Cooper Band. (I talked about the disintegration of that band in a previous Record Store Tale, see the video blog below!)
Alice tends to write his albums in terms of themes: Alice in school, Alice having a nightmare, Alice horror. This time, Alice takes the guise of a heavy drinking detective!
It’s another diverse platter, from honky-tonk (“Damned if You Do”) to more disco and flamboyant balladry that Alice had become known for. I don’t find there to be a weak track on the whole album. I’m not a huge fan of the ballad “You And Me”, as it’s hard to compete with a tune like “Only Women Bleed” or even “I Never Cry”. But it was a hit for Alice, and it’s certainly not bad. It even made the Muppet Show. Who can forget Alice dueting with a peacock? Or whatever that is.
The whole album drips of Ezrin-isms, you can hear his touch on every track. From rich orchestras, horns, choirs, and the well-honed arrangements he was known for, this album could not have happened without Ezrin. Indeed, he co-wrote all but two songs.
“King of the Silver Screen” is a great example of a Cooper/Ezrin/Dick Wagner composition. It has that dramatic Ezrin touch, Alice’s Hollywood-homage lyrics, with a rock guitar riff that serves to anchor the whole thing. And what’s with those little musical segues there? I love when Ezrin does stuff like that!
I love “Ubangi Stomp” too. It’s a 1950’s boogie with Alice doing his best Elvis. Just great! Plus who else could possibly utilize the word “Ubangi” in popular music? Alice, that’s who.
Lace and Whiskey is surely one of the most diverse Alice records, and that is one thing I love about Alice. I even like the disco song. Yes, I like the disco song! No genre is sacred, nothing safe from his sabre. But it’s all in good fun. Nobody gets hurt.
Nobody but Alice, who checked into a mental institution shortly after this tour, to deal with his alcohol problems. But that’s another story.
The tendency from many mainstream music critics is to rate these mid-period Alice albums poorly. But why? The songs are good, they just don’t rock as hard. Disco? So what? One of Kiss’ best albums was a disco album.
So a middle finger to the mainstream critics. I like Lace and Whiskey and I’m glad I found it at a cheap price. Thanks, Sonic Boom!
4/5 stars
Thanks for checking out my 88 underrated albums from the 1990’s that I believe deserved a second look. There were a few albums that, had I written that series of articles in the 1990’s, would have made the list. Today, they just don’t cut it.
Here’s a selection of albums that I felt were under-appreciated at that time. Today, these very rarely get any play in my house. The shine obviously wore off the apple.
Once again, this is alphabetical.
BIG WRECK – In Loving Memory Of… (T-Rev teased me about it…it’s half decent, but only half)
BUSH – The Science of Things (good song: “The Chemicals Between Us”)
JERRY CANTRELL – Boggy Depot (Alice In Lite Chains)
CINDERELLA – Still Climbing (Never even upgraded to CD from cassette)
ALICE COOPER – A Fistful of Alice (Dunno…never play this anymore! Good song: “Is Anyone Home?”)
EDWIN – Another Spin Around The Sun (Good song: “Alive”. The rest? Suckiness.)
GEEZER – Black Science (only decent, certainly not great)
IOMMI – Iommi (too modern sounding, has some great tracks, but not enough)
MEGADETH – Cryptic Writings (T-Rev and I were into this big time! I can’t play it anymore)
METHODS OF MAYHEM – Methods of Mayhem (I fucking bought this one!)
MR. BIG – Hey Man (“Take Cover” is a good song…the rest I can barely remember)
ALDO NOVA – Blood On The Bricks (I’ll review this at a later date, just doesn’t cut it anymore)
NUNO (Bettencourt) – Schizophonic (One customer will never forgive me for recommending this)
SCORPIONS – Pure Instinct (pure lite-rock)
TWO – Voyeurs (sorry Rob, this just wasn’t a good idea)
STEVE VAI – Fire Garden (perhaps it’s just too dense for me)
VAN HALEN – 3 (no comment…)
VARGA – Prototype (I was trying to get into industrial metal. I grew out of it!)
VICTOR – Victor (Bought because it was Alex Lifeson, therefore my civic duty)
In alphabetical order, here’s Part 1: 88 albums that meant the world to me in the 1990’s but never got the respect I felt they deserved. When appropriate, I’ll pop in with comments. Part 1! Enjoy!
Part 2 of 4 coming tomorrow…
RECORD STORE TALES PART 139: Billion Dollar Baby
Watch the vid for details on the book and where I got ‘er!
ALICE COOPER – “Keepin’ Halloween Alive” (2009 iTunes exclusive single)
In 2009, Alice took the cool step of releasing a special Halloween single. It was a cool rock song called “Keepin’ Halloween Alive” (baby 3-6-5!) . It was a basic four piece rock song, completely unlike the previous album, Along Came A Spider. I wasn’t big on that album, and I’ve never been into any of Alice’s late period alterna-industrial-post grunge albums very much. I was much more into Dirty Diamonds. “Keepin’ Halloween Alive” is more polished and produced than that, with keyboards and overdubs, but at least it’s back to the rock sounds that I prefer.
The song was written by Cooper and Piggy D. from Rob Zombie’s band. The B-side was a “Cooperoke” (instrumental) version. It’s cool, nice to have as a bonus, but otherwise not terribly interesting.
“Keepin’ Halloween Alive”, was only available on iTunes (blech), with a very very limited release as a 7″ single. The iTunes download did come with a pdf file and a “digital booklet”, whoop de do I guess. Nice artwork, Zombie-esque, with lyrics and humour. I just don’t know who sits at their computer going through a “digital booklet” the way you sit on your coach leafing through the real thing.
3/5 stars
There were some discs that we were never short of. We always had them. Cheap. Add your staff discount to that, and you could get a lot of stuff dirt cheap. But the discs themselves were so common, they were always in stock. Therefore they never were a priority for me at the time. Soundtracks and compilations were a great example of this. Last Action Hero, Super Mario Bros, these could be had for super cheap, any time, and they all contained exclusive music by cool bands like Megadeth, Anthrax, Extreme, and so on.
One disc that I never picked up before was the soundtrack to a bad horror movie called Shocker, by Wes Craven. The soundtrack had numerous stars on it – members of Kiss, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Whitesnake, Van Halen, and more. The title song was a Paul Stanley rocker performed by Paul and Desmond Child in an all-star band called The Dudes of Wrath, and it wasn’t a bad song. There was also another Paul tune on here called “Sword and Stone”, recorded by a band called Bonfire.
(Now, here’s the interesting thing about “Shocker”, the song. Desmond Child wrote the guitar lick, a very Platinum Blonde-esque part that is almost identical to the one in a Kiss song released at the same time, called “King of Hearts”. And who wrote that? Paul and Desmond Child. It’s the same freakin’ thing.)
Anyway, long story short: I never pulled the trigger while I was at the store. I’m still today in the process of replacing my cassettes on CD, and this is one. The CD was just too common, it was always in stock and I always had better things to spend my money on. I could have got it for $4 at any point over the years. I should have.
Look at this one, that I paid $12 for from Amazon Marketplaces. The spine is cut as a promo. The front is scuffed. The CD has some scratches on it. This is all stuff that wouldn’t have happened in my store. Even if it was a cut promo, every case was replaced if not already like new. Not to mention I had complete control to be picky about quality before I bought. Not to mention that in the past, I had numerous chances to get Shocker uncut. Now, unfortunately, the disc is less common.
I wished I’d pulled the trigger back then!
ALICE COOPER – Old School (1964-1974) (2011)
This might be the last time I obsessive-compulsively buy one of these crazy expensive box sets. With fresh memories of how beautiful the AC/DC Backtracks Deluxe box set was, I eagerly placed my preorder. I mean, Alice Cooper 1964-1974! The golden years! The orginal Alice Cooper Band! When it finally arrived I was blown away by the packaging, bonus goodies, and other finds.
However, musically, this is almost not even worth owning. You have to be a massive, massive, die hard Cooper fan to want to hear a whole five minutes of Bob Ezrin’s kids giggling and singing during the School’s Out sessions. You have to be a masocist to want to hear that horrible loud feedback that just goes on forever during a seven minute run through the same song. The radio ads are nice, but hardly what we as collectors want out of a box set of this stature. Sprinkled in with this junk are the odd good live takes, such as “Under My Wheels” in New York 1973. Unfortunately there are just as many early tracks from the Zappa years that aren’t nearly as good, nor recorded that well. Everything on the first two odds n’ sods discs are either live, rough sketches or demos, studio sessions, or radio ads. Lots of repeat too — there are three takes of “Muscle Of Love”, you will hear “School’s Out” three times in different forms, and “I’m Eighteen” three times as well.
The third CD is, disappointingly an interview disc. It’s a shame to spend this much money and only get three CDs worth of music (the fourth CD is a live one). I did enjoy hearing Alice discuss Muscle of Love and the end of the original band. The other surviving band members, and Ezrin, participate in the discussion.
The only real treasure here musically is the fourth CD, a 10 song set from the Killers tour in 1971. This set is duplicated on a 180 gram vinyl enclosed within. It is from bootleg sources, but where sound quality suffers, the band makes up for it in youth. Lots of static and noise but the band is absolutely on fire in a way that they are not on the first two CDs. I also like that they duplicated the look of 70’s bootleg vinyl with the packaging.
Finally, there is a 7″ single, heavy vinyl, a replica of Cooper’s first single from 1967 as Nazz. The tracks are “Wonder Who’s Loving Her Now?” and “Lay Down And Die Goodbye”. (I only wish that there was a way to download this in mp3 format with the purchase of this set.) See scan below for complete tracklist for the entire box set. LeBrain is nothing if not helpful!
There is a documentary DVD included as well, which although containing lots of fun vintage clips, is very poor value for the money. You are treated to — for the second time now! — the same interview that you just finished listening to! And not only that, but they chose to shoot the interview with the original band in a noisy maintenance room. Why?
Now, packaging wise, this box set is a whole other beast!
The box itself is shaped like a kid’s school desk. The old wooden kind that they had in the 50’s, with the top that opens up and the ink well. It’s hinged and it opens where the school desk would. It is very sturdy and the hinge is metal. Inside are, as discussed:
The 12″ vinyl of the live 1971 show.
The 7″ single reproduction.
1 DVD, Old School 1964-1974
4 CDs, Old School 1964-1974
There is a yearbook, with the whole story told by multiple sources. However, a few things are brushed over, such as the alcohol problems that were setting in. Alice was a full blown alcoholic, a 2 beer first thing in the morning kind of guy. His guitar player Glen Buxton was so wasted that they had him onstage with his guitar turned down to 0, and having a guest guitarist play way off to the side. So none of this is in the yearbook. Great photos though, particular of Alice’s own yearbook. The entire band were a highschool band. All five guys. Lots of great photos from this era, and on to the mid-70’s.
There is a booklet, inside of which is a reproduction concert ticket from 1972 for Wembley. (£1.00 admission back then apparently, imagine that today!) There is also a 1971 tour book (Killers tour), a complete reproduction, and a whole bunch of 8 1/2 x 11 poster reproductions. Lastly there is a replica setlist, which is nothing special. The thing I don’t like about this booklet is that you have to be very careful when you put items back into it, or when you fold everything back together you’ll dogear something.
As I said in the beginning, I think this is the last time I buy one of these box sets compulsively. I knew the music was likely to be iffy and it was. I probably should have saved my money, although the box is a beautiful conversation piece.
2/5 stars, regrettably.
I’d like to give a shout-out to Tommy Morais, who requested this review! Check out his Amazon Reviews, he is one of their top rated reviewers!
I first became aware of Oriantha when Alice Cooper hired her as his new lead guitarist, replacing Damon Johnson. Doing my research, I saw that she had even worked with Steve Vai and Michael Jackson! This meant, the lady could play!
Because I don’t do things small, I decided to pick up the Japanese import of Believe (II) to check out her skills. The Japanese import contains 3 bonus tracks: two versions of a Cream cover, “Sunshine of Your Love”, and a useless remix of “According To You”.
ORIANTHI – Believe (II) Japanese import with bonus tracks (2009)
I’m not really into this kind of pop rock anymore, but Orianthi does fill this more aggressive pop rock void that Avril used to occupy. Believe (II) reminds me of that one sincerely good Avil album, the second one, in that it’s undoubtedly rock yet melodic and well recorded, not overproduced.
What separates this girl from the rest of them is that her chops on the guitar are absolutely stunning. Each song has a solo spot, well composed, and expertly executed. This girl is a shredder who happens to play commercial pop rock. Well, OK. I can dig it.
The best tracks to me seem to the be chosen singles: “According to You”, “Shut Up and Kiss Me”, and the instrumental “Highly Strung”, featuring Oriantha trading licks with Vai. There’s also a decent version of “Missing You” by John Waite, which, I guess, I like better than the original, since I really don’t like John Waite.
The songs are written by the usual suspects, song doctors new and old including Desmond Child. There are a couple tracks though that are not messed with by song doctors, and I hope that Orianthi is moving more in that direction in the future.
Orianthi has a good but not an especially different sounding voice from all the other girls rocking it out there these days. Her range is good, she has power, just not a particularly unique sound or style. I also can’t help but think she’s trying to sing “American”.
I think it’s a good enough album for this stage in her career, and I think she is going to grow by leaps and bounds, touring the world with Alice Cooper. But before Orianthi makes another solo album, I hope she has the opportunity to record with Cooper.
For Believe (II): 3.5/5 stars
ALICE COOPER – “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” picture disc 7″ single (2011)
If you’re a Cooper fan, this is totally worth buying. It’s a beatiful 7″ with Ross Halfin photo on one side, and tracklist on the other. “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” is a nice looking disc to start with.
The song itself is an uptempo rocker from the recent Welcome 2 My Nightmare. It’s a fairly strightforward song, unlike some of the more quirky songs from the album. As such, it makes good single material, but it’s not among the best tunes on the album.
“I’ll Bite Your Face Off” was co-written by Neal Smith, of the original Alice Cooper band. It was performed by all the surviving members of that band, too: Smith (drums), Michael Bruce (guitar) and Dennis Dunaway (bass). It is their first recording together since 1974. Wow.
On the flipside is a great live version from the Download festival. This recording is not available anywhere else. It features a great Steve Hunter guitar solo and a truly rocking backing band. If you want to complete your Welcome 2 My Nightmare collection, I’m afraid you’re going to need this single!
Awesome. 5/5 stars.
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