The next disc is one that Sheila often raves about, and with good reason.
As an aside, this brings the total Alice Cooper reviews to six. Blue Oyster Cult remains at zero. Well, if anyone is going to bump BOC from another review, it might as well be Alice.
Disc 180 is...Lace and Whiskey
Artist: Alice Cooper
Year of Release: 1977
What’s Up With The Cover?: An assemblage of detective story items. A pulp fiction novel cover, a glass of whiskey, an ashtray and a snub nose revolver. I note that the pulp fiction cover also features a bra. As covers go, this is a pretty cool one.
How I Came To Know It: I love all things Alice, but this album was hard to find. I found it the same day I purchased Dada (reviewed way back at Disc 18) way back in the late nineties. They both had the exclamation point which at Lyle's Place means 'Imported!'. I suspect these weren't put into wide circulation on CD in North American - and that's a pity.
How It Stacks Up: Of twenty-five studio albums, I'd put this one around 9th or 10th, which is pretty good.
Rating: 4 stars.
"Lace and Whiskey" is an odd entry in the Alice Cooper. It is sandwiched between two great concept albums, 1976's "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell" and 1978's "From The Inside." The latter of these I reviewed back at Disc 99, and as of this writing is still holding down the final spot in the 'top 5' column to the right.
Is this album as great as those? I would say no, but I think it holds its own, and is an excellent work in its own right. If anything it is hard to get an ear for it, because it is a little all over the place stylistically.
Straight ahead rock songs like "It's Hot Tonight" and "Road Rats" sit alongside schmaltzy pop ballads like "You and Me", and disco-flavoured ditties like "(No More) Love At Your Convenience". There is less of Cooper's shock-driven grotesquerock than on the albums before and after, and those people coming with preconceived notions of what Cooper's 'sound' should be may be disappointed.
Fortunately as a Cooper veteran, I revel in his willingness to explore any sound, any genre and any subject in his quest for a good song.
For example, "Road Rats" may be a straight ahead rock song, but it also has one of the best rythym guitar licks for driving your car. It is a song about driving, made for driving.
"You and Me" may be schmaltzy pop, but it is schmaltzy pop of the highest quality. It was actually a minor hit in 1977 (Sheila remembers it being on the radio, but I don't). It was even covered by Frank Sinatra once in a live show at the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to having a pretty melody that even Old Blue Eyes couldn't resist, the song has a lovely message of the simple joys of coming home to the girl you love:
"You and me ain't no movie stars
What we are is what we are
We share a bed, some lovin' and TV
That's enough for a workin' man
What I am is what I am
And I tell you babe - that's enough for me."
The disco elements may be a surprise, but they aren't new to Alice on this record - he does a disco number on the album before this as well. On this record, "(No More) Love At Your Convenience" features a prominent horn section, back up singers belting out harmonies, and no small amount of bells tinkling - all inside a song with lyrics that dance dangerously over the line toward domestic abuse. Remember - despite the range, this is Alice Cooper we're talking about. Oh, and yeah - it is a damned good song.
Lyrically, my favourite is "King of the Silver Screen", a song about a character who 'By day is a workin' man/Layin' bricks or layin' pipe" but who when he gets home imagines he is a star of the movies he watches on the screen. Our character compares himself to masculine heroes like Zorro or Don Juan, but before you know it he has switched to Greta Garbo. The song makes its final descent into Cooperstown with a fade out rant where we learn our construction worker/movie buff is also a cross-dresser, who plans to move to Hollywood and become a starlet. Remember - this is Alice Cooper we're talking about. Oh, and once again - it's a good song.
As we approach the end, the record features an apologetically themed song humbly suggesting "I Never Wrote Those Songs." This may be Cooper acknowledging to his fans that they might not like all of these offerings, or maybe it is an apology from him for so often veering a perfectly ordinary song into the land of the darkly weird:
"And all that music
I hate those lyrics
They stayed inside me too long
And I swear to you I never (wrote that song)."
Ah, but you did, Alice - and thanks for doing so.
The final song on the record is "My God", a religious anthem that does what a religious anthem should always do - regardless of the faith of the listener - it causes your heart to swell.
When I recently did a three disc compilation of Alice Cooper's best tracks, "My God" was the last song I cut - which I only did due to space considerations. I did it not fully realizing it was the last song I still had representing this album. Listening to this record again made me realize what a mistake that was. Ever does the 'best of' record curse us with its omissions - even when we choose the songs ourselves.
Don't omit this record as a result. If you don't think you like Alice, I expect it will pleasantly surprise you. If you do like Alice, it will do likewise.
Best tracks: Road Rats, You and Me, King of the Silver Screen, (No More) Love At Your Convenience, I Never Wrote Those Songs, My God.
As an aside, this brings the total Alice Cooper reviews to six. Blue Oyster Cult remains at zero. Well, if anyone is going to bump BOC from another review, it might as well be Alice.
Disc 180 is...Lace and Whiskey
Artist: Alice CooperYear of Release: 1977
What’s Up With The Cover?: An assemblage of detective story items. A pulp fiction novel cover, a glass of whiskey, an ashtray and a snub nose revolver. I note that the pulp fiction cover also features a bra. As covers go, this is a pretty cool one.
How I Came To Know It: I love all things Alice, but this album was hard to find. I found it the same day I purchased Dada (reviewed way back at Disc 18) way back in the late nineties. They both had the exclamation point which at Lyle's Place means 'Imported!'. I suspect these weren't put into wide circulation on CD in North American - and that's a pity.
How It Stacks Up: Of twenty-five studio albums, I'd put this one around 9th or 10th, which is pretty good.
Rating: 4 stars.
"Lace and Whiskey" is an odd entry in the Alice Cooper. It is sandwiched between two great concept albums, 1976's "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell" and 1978's "From The Inside." The latter of these I reviewed back at Disc 99, and as of this writing is still holding down the final spot in the 'top 5' column to the right.
Is this album as great as those? I would say no, but I think it holds its own, and is an excellent work in its own right. If anything it is hard to get an ear for it, because it is a little all over the place stylistically.
Straight ahead rock songs like "It's Hot Tonight" and "Road Rats" sit alongside schmaltzy pop ballads like "You and Me", and disco-flavoured ditties like "(No More) Love At Your Convenience". There is less of Cooper's shock-driven grotesquerock than on the albums before and after, and those people coming with preconceived notions of what Cooper's 'sound' should be may be disappointed.
Fortunately as a Cooper veteran, I revel in his willingness to explore any sound, any genre and any subject in his quest for a good song.
For example, "Road Rats" may be a straight ahead rock song, but it also has one of the best rythym guitar licks for driving your car. It is a song about driving, made for driving.
"You and Me" may be schmaltzy pop, but it is schmaltzy pop of the highest quality. It was actually a minor hit in 1977 (Sheila remembers it being on the radio, but I don't). It was even covered by Frank Sinatra once in a live show at the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to having a pretty melody that even Old Blue Eyes couldn't resist, the song has a lovely message of the simple joys of coming home to the girl you love:
"You and me ain't no movie stars
What we are is what we are
We share a bed, some lovin' and TV
That's enough for a workin' man
What I am is what I am
And I tell you babe - that's enough for me."
The disco elements may be a surprise, but they aren't new to Alice on this record - he does a disco number on the album before this as well. On this record, "(No More) Love At Your Convenience" features a prominent horn section, back up singers belting out harmonies, and no small amount of bells tinkling - all inside a song with lyrics that dance dangerously over the line toward domestic abuse. Remember - despite the range, this is Alice Cooper we're talking about. Oh, and yeah - it is a damned good song.
Lyrically, my favourite is "King of the Silver Screen", a song about a character who 'By day is a workin' man/Layin' bricks or layin' pipe" but who when he gets home imagines he is a star of the movies he watches on the screen. Our character compares himself to masculine heroes like Zorro or Don Juan, but before you know it he has switched to Greta Garbo. The song makes its final descent into Cooperstown with a fade out rant where we learn our construction worker/movie buff is also a cross-dresser, who plans to move to Hollywood and become a starlet. Remember - this is Alice Cooper we're talking about. Oh, and once again - it's a good song.
As we approach the end, the record features an apologetically themed song humbly suggesting "I Never Wrote Those Songs." This may be Cooper acknowledging to his fans that they might not like all of these offerings, or maybe it is an apology from him for so often veering a perfectly ordinary song into the land of the darkly weird:
"And all that music
I hate those lyrics
They stayed inside me too long
And I swear to you I never (wrote that song)."
Ah, but you did, Alice - and thanks for doing so.
The final song on the record is "My God", a religious anthem that does what a religious anthem should always do - regardless of the faith of the listener - it causes your heart to swell.
When I recently did a three disc compilation of Alice Cooper's best tracks, "My God" was the last song I cut - which I only did due to space considerations. I did it not fully realizing it was the last song I still had representing this album. Listening to this record again made me realize what a mistake that was. Ever does the 'best of' record curse us with its omissions - even when we choose the songs ourselves.
Don't omit this record as a result. If you don't think you like Alice, I expect it will pleasantly surprise you. If you do like Alice, it will do likewise.
Best tracks: Road Rats, You and Me, King of the Silver Screen, (No More) Love At Your Convenience, I Never Wrote Those Songs, My God.
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