Disc 264 is...Flush the Fashion
Artist: Alice Cooper Year of Release: 1980
What’s Up With The Cover?: This cover is very informative, but it looks like it was designed by a drunk with a crayon. Given Alice's sobriety level at the time, this makes a lot of sense. For further evidence, here's the photo from the back of the CD case which is a pretty effective advertisement about the dangers of alcohol:
Yikes. How I Came To Know It: This was a later Alice Cooper purchase for me. At this point in my relationship with Cooper's music I buy whatever he's done.
How It Stacks Up: I have 25 Alice Cooper albums (if only there were more). This one stacks up surprisingly well - I'd say around 17th or 18th. Not bad for an album I had pegged for 24th.
Rating: 3 stars.
As I've alluded to above, when I put this record in my car, I was expecting the worst. Even as an avowed Alice Cooper devotee, "Flush The Fashion" had never appealed to me. I typically cite it as one step above perennial bottom-feeder "Special Forces".
As fate would have it, it would get quite a few listens before I could review it. I'm so busy right now finding blog entry time is a challenge. The album is very short as well, clocking in at only 28:40. This gave me four complete listens without distraction.
The result was that I was able to get past my bias and immerse myself in the music. Truth be told, I was past my bias after the first listen, and at each repitition I expected it to return - that all the exposure would remind me how bad this record was. It never happened.
"Flush the Fashion" has Cooper stretching artistically into different genres. Parts of this record reminded me of the more edgy elements of The Clash, but you couldn't remotely call it punk or ska. Then, fate intervened - when looking up a quick fact on the record I see it is considered a New Wave album.
I don't think this is strictly true - Cooper's rock sound is still present, and his subject matter is as grotesque as ever. More accurately it would be "Alice Cooper interprets New Wave".
I don't know squat about New Wave, but I know Alice Cooper, and given how messed up he was while making the record (take another look at the photo above), it is a minor miracle it turned out as good as it did.
The standout here is a remaked of "Clones (We're All)" which made the rounds in a minor way through the disco clubs of its time. I wish I could get someone to play it at clubs now, but it seems unlikely. While most of the songs have some involvement of Cooper writing, he is collaborating a lot with other artists - likely he needed the help given his alcoholism.
Notably missing is Bob Ezrin's production, which would have made this album so much better. Instead, it is produced by the also famous Roy Thomas Baker, who did a fine job on most of Queen's early records. Talented as he is, RTB's style doesn't suit Cooper as well, and the effect comes off a little bit tinny. Or maybe that's just the New Wave vibe again (I wouldn't know).
The biggest problem with "Flush the Fashion" are the lyrics. They range from passable to atrocious. The subjects are interesting, with Cooper delving into the usual run of nasty psychological studies (the sadistic cop in "Leather Boots", drugged-out parents in "Dance Yourself to Death" and our obsession with being famous in "Headlines").
Unfortunately the lyrics are uneven, and at times even downright jarring, and the music is not good enough to carry the day on its own. "Pain" shows both the good and the bad. The song is a list of things we associate with pain. First the good:
"And I'm the compound fracture
In the twisted car
And I'm the lines on the face
Of the tramp at the bar
And I'm the reds by the bed
Of the suicide star."
And now the bad:
"I'm the holes in your arm
When you're feelin' the shakes
I'm the lump on your head
When you step on the rake."
Seriously - 'when you step on the rake'? This is marginally funny to see, but not worthy of a song lyric.
Taken all together, "Flush the Fashion" flashes Cooper's brilliance, but it is hampered by songwriting that is hurried and incomplete. This one is for die-hard Cooper fans only. Fortunately, I am just that - so I gave this album a barely qualifying 3 stars.
Best tracks: Clones (We're All), Pain, Headlines
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