I can always count on longtime readers like Trent Nakagawa to
\nsuggest albums that I haven’t touched for years as potential review
\ncandidates. Recently, Trent asked me if I was familiar with
\nFrom The Inside<\/i>, the 1978 release from Alice Cooper.<\/p>\n
Prior to digging this CD out of the Pierce Memorial Archives, my
\nanswer to Trent would have been, “Unfortunately, yes.” I first
\nlistened to it when it was re-issued on Metal Blade back in 1990,
\nbut didn’t find much to appreciate about the disc.<\/p>\n
Of course, my knowledge of Cooper and his music was more limited
\nthan it is now – and even today, I don’t claim to have a vast
\nknowledge of Cooper’s music. But after re-listening to this CD (for
\nthe first time, in fact, since my days in college radio), it really
\nisn’t a bad album, even if it sometimes feels like it’s a little
\ntoo ballad-heavy.<\/p>\n
Loosely based on Cooper’s stay in a psychiatric hospital to
\nfight his alcoholism,
\nFrom The Inside<\/i> is a look at one man’s quest to regain his
\nfoothold on sanity, while examining the lives of his fellow
\npatients. (Cooper says in the liner notes of this re-release that
\nthe characters in the songs are based on real patients he met.)<\/p>\n
One might be surprised to find out that Cooper collaborated with
\nBernie Taupin – best known for his work with Elton John – on this
\nalbum. For the most part, the partnership works well, even if the
\nalbum seems to border on the theatric at times. (Theatric…
\ncripes, look who I’m
\ntalkin’<\/i> about here.)<\/p>\n
The title track helps to set the scene, documenting Cooper’s
\nslide into alcoholism while enjoying the pinnacle of success. As a
\nrocker, it’s not a bad track at all, though it sometimes seems to
\nbe a shorter song than it really is. We’re able to track our hero’s
\nprogress throughout the album, from his moments of desparation
\n(“The Quiet Room”: “Just don’t know why \/ Suicide appeals to me”)
\nto his concerns about how his loved ones will react (“How You Gonna
\nSee Me Now”) to his eventual release (“Inmates (We’re All Crazy)”),
\nall the while feeling the turmoil that Cooper was eveidently going
\nthrough.<\/p>\n
There are a few tracks that I’m not sure about – namely, whether
\nthey’re about Cooper or other patients. “Serious” sounds like it
\ncould have been a track about living life in the fast lane, but it
\nalso could easily be the tale of another patient who battled his
\nown demon (namely, gambling). “For Veronica’s Sake” has the singer
\nlovingly thinking about his pet dog who is locked up like he is,
\nand feels like he needs to get better in order to take care of her.
\nI’d like to say this is Cooper speaking about his life, but
\nimmediately following the pathos of “How You Gonna See Me Now,” it
\nseems almost anti-climatic to be purely about Cooper.<\/p>\n
The tales of some of the other inmates are no less tragic, from
\nthe debutante wanna-be who can’t let go of her past (“Wish I Were
\nBorn In Beverly Hills”) to the soldier who is constantly fighting
\nthe wars in his head (“Jackknife Johnny”) to the star-crossed
\nlovers who committed crimes of passion to be together (“Millie And
\nBillie”), Cooper and Taupin paint pictures so realistic that you
\ncan almost see the inmates take shape before your eyes.<\/p>\n
For all of the strengths of
\nFrom The Inside<\/i>, it sometimes feels like it’s too soft of an
\nalbum. Sure, you have your rockers like “Serious” and “Jackknife
\nJohnny”, and sure, I realize that Cooper’s career hasn’t always
\nbeen about how loud he could crank the amplifiers. But it sometimes
\nfeels like things get a little
\ntoo<\/i> quiet (“Millie And Billie”, “Inmates”). This isn’t to
\nsay that ballads are unwelcome; “The Quiet Room” and “How You Gonna
\nSee Me Now” are powerful tracks that speak volumes.<\/p>\n
\nFrom The Inside<\/i> is an album that, like a lot of Cooper’s
\ncatalog, has been overlooked for a long time. (Although this album
\nis presently available only as an import, I believe that Rhino
\nplans to re-release it, along with a good portion of Cooper’s
\ndiscography.) With the potential of a rebirth of interest in
\nCooper’s career thanks to the recently-released box set, maybe now
\nis a great time for radio to re-discover this album. My suggestion:
\ntest the waters with the track “Serious”, and watch the phones
\nlight up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5676],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-36220","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alice-cooper","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36220","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36220"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36220"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}