There’s nothing better than waking
up on a Sunday and realizing that you are only mid-way through your long
weekend.
After a fruitless day of shopping for
my dream car (so close…) last night I got to spend some quality time with
friends listening to music, which made it all better. I wanted to get a song
off this next album onto one of my playlists but couldn’t quite manage it.
Disc 1038 is…Paranormal
Artist: Alice
Cooper
Year of Release: 2017
What’s up with the Cover? A two-headed Alice Cooper. Alice
probably thinks this cover is cool, but it is actually silly and a little
dated. The booklet features a bunch more pictures from this ill-fated photo
shoot, where Alice tries to look edgy and scary. Thankfully the music makes up
for the bad cover art.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve known and loved Alice Cooper
all my life, and this was just me buying his latest album. I purchased it the
day it came out after a day of fretting the music store wouldn’t have it in
yet. They did.
How It Stacks Up: I have all 27 of Alice Cooper’s studio albums
(plus one weird compilation album I’ve since sold). “Paranormal” comes in at a solid
#13 on that list.
When I
reviewed Dirty Diamonds back at Disc 1003 I ranked all the albums, not
realizing he was about to break his six year studio silence. That’s OK – here’s
the list again for those of you who missed it – now with “Paranormal” bumping “Dirty
Diamonds” down one spot, along with everything beneath it:
- Billion
Dollar Babies: 5 stars
(reviewed at Disc 228)
- Love
it to Death: 5 stars
(reviewed at Disc 604)
- From
the Inside: 5 stars (reviewed at
Disc 99)
- Welcome
To My Nightmare: 5 stars
(reviewed at Disc 449)
- Killer: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 429)
- Muscle
of Love: 4 stars (reviewed at
Disc 357)
- Alice
Cooper Goes to Hell: 4 stars
(reviewed at Disc 447)
- Da
Da: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 18)
- School’s
Out: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc
406)
- Lace
and Whiskey: 4 stars (reviewed
at Disc 180)
- The
Last Temptation: 4 stars
(reviewed at Disc 710)
- Dragontown: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 950)
- Paranormal:
3 stars (reviewed right here)
- Dirty
Diamonds: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 1003)
- Along
Came a Spider: 3 stars
(reviewed at Disc 164)
- Zipper
Catches Skin: 3 stars
(reviewed at Disc 355)
- Flush
the Fashion: 3 stars (reviewed
at Disc 264)
- Special
Forces: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 354)
- Constrictor: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 89)
- Raise
Your Fist and Yell: 2 stars (reviewed
at Disc 286)
- Easy
Action: 2 stars (reviewed at
Disc 444)
- Pretties
for You: 2 stars (reviewed at
Disc 152)
- Hey
Stoopid: 2 stars (reviewed at
Disc 345)
- Trash: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 343)
- Welcome
2 My Nightmare: 2 stars
(reviewed at Disc 956)
- Brutal
Planet: 2 stars (reviewed at
Disc 833)
- The
Eyes of Alice Cooper: 2 stars
(reviewed at Disc 439)
- Science
Fiction: 1 star (reviewed at
Disc 661)
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
“Paranormal”
features two songs co-written and performed with the original Alice Cooper
band, which is fitting given how this album bridges the gap between Cooper’s
early work and his more recent sound.
The
record has the clean post-metal production that Cooper has preferred on his
last three or four records, crossed with some of the hard rock weirdness of his
early career. Producer Bob Ezrin (who was the mastermind behind that early
sound) returns to steer the production again. Ezrin’s previous record, 2011’s “Welcome
2 My Nightmare” fell a little short, but here he seems to get exactly how to
take a more mature Alice Cooper and make him creepy again.
The
title track starts things off well, with an unsettling guitar riff crossed
played quietly, then juxtaposed against a flourish of sound. It is a song that
is triumphant in the way a group of cultists would cheer bringing Cthulhu into
the world: exultant but more than a little wrong.
Cooper
is now almost 70 years old, but his voice on “Paranormal” sound as good as
anything he’s done in the past 15 years. It is amazing what not drinking or
smoking can do for the survival of your vocal chords.
The next
track, “Dead Flies” keeps up that
throwback feel, with a song that feels like it could have easily appeared on
the original “Welcome to My Nightmare” released back in 1975.
After
that, Cooper goes into a metal mood, with “Fireball,”
an apocalyptic vision with a pounding beat that demands to be heard while
driving (but which will have to wait, while my car search continues).
“Paranoic Personality” is a bit too Nu
Metal for me, and worse reminded me strongly of that old In Living Colour song “Cult of Personality” only not as good,
making the Cooper song stale by comparison.
Disc One
ends with “The Sound of A” which is a
soft and atmospheric number that is a throwback to Cooper’s early work, and
just as good. Never have I felt more
unsettled by a song about a musical note. I was unsurprised to find that original
bassist Dennis Dunaway co-wrote and played on the song.
“Paranormal”
is a two-disc affair, and Cooper makes some odd decisions on how to divide
things up. Disc One features 10 new songs, and Disc Two has two new songs (both
performed with his old band) and then six classic tracks performed live at a
2016 show in Columbus. I would have preferred all 12 new songs on one disc, and
the live disc as a separate feature.
The two
news on Disc Two are two of the better tracks. “Genuine American Girl” is another Cooper song that blurs the lines
on sexual identity in the same spirit as previous efforts like “Mary Ann,” “The Saga of Jesse Jane”, “No
Man’s Land” and “Prettiest Cop on the
Block” among others.
“You and All of Your Friends” features a
bit of a muddier seventies sound, fueled again, in large part by having the
original band add their talents to the mix. Long-time fans of Alice Cooper who
have been waiting impatiently for this reunion will not be disappointed.
When I
saw six live tracks of his classic hits I cringed a little, not wanting another
version of songs like “Under My Wheels”,
“No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Only Women Bleed” that I’ve heard a
hundred times before. I was wrong, however. Cooper nails every single one of
these. Even “Feed My Frankenstein”
sounds great, with Cooper in full throat and his current band going all out.
These tracks reminded me how great Alice Cooper is live, even here in the
latter stages of his career. They also reminded me how good his current backing
band is.
“Paranormal”
may come forty-eight years after Alice Cooper’s first album, but it shows he’s
lost nothing over the years. The influences of his old band and producer serve
to rejuvenate his sound, and capture some of the early magic, while avoiding
becoming pale imitations in the process. In short, Alice Cooper is back, and we’re
still not worthy.
Best
tracks: Paranormal,
Private Public Breakdown, The Sound of A, Genuine American Girl, You and all of
Your Friends
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