The band known as Alice Cooper has re-invented itself several
\ntimes over the years, but at the heart of it has always been the
\ncharismatic and articulate singer who gave the band its name, Alice
\nCooper, aka Vincent Furnier. This man was indeed the one your
\nparents always warned you about, at least in the guise of his stage
\npersona. Although not on speaking terms per se, my sister met with
\nAlice Cooper during a concert in the early seventies and came away
\nwith half of his shirt, a not inconsiderable achievement in those
\ndays.<\/p>\n
Alice Cooper inspired a generation of rebellious teenage
\nrockers, and in my opinion, broke not inconsiderable ground in
\nthose days, as an early exponent of gothic and heavy metal rock. I
\nwill always remember a Vincent Furnier interview, in which he
\ndescribed the impact that Alice Cooper had had when it played to
\nunprepared audiences comprised of “peace-loving hippies” and the
\n“Children of Flower Power”. “Shock Rock” was defined by this
\nband.<\/p>\n
I am reviewing an album from the first incarnation of the band.
\nKiller<\/i> in many ways encapsulated the AC approach to rock at
\nthat time – contained within those vinyl grooves are some truly
\nmediocre pieces, for sure, but there are moments of true musicality
\nto delight the more discerning listener.
\nKiller<\/i> came out the same year as the acclaimed release
\nLove It To Death<\/i>, which it must be said is the superior
\nalbum overall. However …<\/p>\n
The album kicks off with “Under My Wheels”, a fairly
\nstraightforward rocker of a song, but featuring a pleasing horn
\naccompaniment that is typically Cooperesque – it says I am not your
\naverage “meat and two veg” rocker. “Be My Lover” follows, a little
\nbland perhaps, but the guitar work is effective and pleasing to the
\near.<\/p>\n
We next encounter “Halo Of Flies” and all of a sudden, we are in
\na different ballgame. This song is an epic, comparatively speaking.
\nIt has scope and a breadth of musical approach and style, and is a
\ncomplete surprise at first listening. Spanish rhythms are
\ninterspersed with driving rock , with early examples of keyboard
\neffects and a use of tremelo that is actually very acceptable – I
\nkid you not. A progressive track by anyone’s standards, in my
\nopinion , it displays true ambition and it would be churlish to
\nsuggest that it fails to deliver what it offers. My favourite track
\non the album and a real highlight. “Desperado” is next, and
\ntogether with “Halo Of Flies” represents the best sequence on the
\nalbum. The string accompaniment heightens the moody, atmospheric
\nsound.<\/p>\n
What follows next constitutes Side Two of the LP, which has to
\nbe said is a letdown from the best of what Side One has to offer.
\n“You Drive Me Nervous” and “Yeah Yeah Yeah” are entirely
\nunnoteworthy and mainstream, disposable but not unpleasant. The
\nformer is slightly manic, the latter quite laid-back.<\/p>\n
Lulled into a false sense of security (as long as we haven’t
\nread the track-list, that is), we are totally unprepared for “Dead
\nBabies”. Cooper eschews coyness here or a subtle approach. The
\ntrack might have been called “Good-bye, Little Betty”, or some
\nsuch, to accentuate to the shock-value. This is a controversial,
\ntruly dark piece of music, redeemed (if it truly can be) only by
\nthe quality of the black humour and excellent execution. That said,
\nit is possible that the casual listener would be unable to stomach
\nit, and this was true of me also for many years, when I would
\nsimply ignore the second side of the album.<\/p>\n
No comfort is on offer to those upset or offended by the
\nprevious track from the last track, “Killer”. There are some good
\nriffs, here, and a multi-textured approach similar to that of “Halo
\nOf Flies”, but the track is meandering and lacking in direction.
\nThe lead vocals sound “lost”, as from a man who knows he is
\nirredeemable for his sins, a theme Cooper will return to time and
\ntime again. The song is not quite strong enough on its own to
\njustify this side of the album, and the odd sound effect that
\ncloses the track, and the album, seems to me strangely reminiscent
\nof a toilet being flushed, something I am sure will seem quite
\nappropriate to many people, under the circumstances.<\/p>\n
An album with uneven moments of composition and execution,
\nKiller<\/i> is another example of Alice Cooper’s reach exceeding
\nhis grasp. His desire to branch out musically was perhaps better
\nserved with the band that in 1974 replaced the originals – Mike
\nBruce (lead guitar), Glen Buxton (who died in 1997, rhythm guitar),
\nDennis Dunaway (bass) and Neal Smith (drums) – but the achievements
\nof this line-up should be acknowledged and the best tracks of this
\nalbum can be numbered with the best that Cooper has ever come up
\nwith.<\/p>\n
A point of interest to me, the band was originally known as
\n“Nazz” (no connection to the band of which Todd Rundgren was a
\nmember). The coincidental nature of this fact delights me, being a
\nhuge TR fan!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":24860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5676],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-36065","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alice-cooper","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36065"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36065"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}