I took the day off today and I then loaded it with stuff to do. The various activities are evenly divided between chores and fun. I declare this day half full, because that’s how I roll.
Disc 1576 is…. Detroit Stories
Artist: Alice Cooper
Year of Release: 2021
What’s up with the Cover? In Gotham, when you need assistance, you flash the image of a bat into the sky. In Detroit, you go with Alice Cooper eyes. In either case expect a vaguely disturbed do-gooder to show up.
How I Came To Know It: I have been an Alice Cooper fan since I counted my years on this earth in single digits. This was just me buying his latest album.
How It Stacks Up: I have 28 Alice Cooper albums, which I think is all of them. Of those 28, “Detroit Stories” is neither the best of them, nor the worst. I rank it at #16, just after “Along Came a Spider” and just before “Zipper Catches Skin”. I don't feel like reproducing the whole list, but if you want to see it (and imagine the change above) just check out my review of “Paranormal” back at Disc 1038.
Ratings: 3 stars
Alice Cooper turned 73 the year “Detroit Stories” came out, and while most rock acts his age are out touring all their old hits, Cooper is out touring his old hits and putting new music into the world that is worthy of his long and storied career. “Detroit Stories” is the latest of these, a COVID-era release with a wide range of songs that covers the many styles Cooper has tried on for size through his 50-year career, tying them loosely to his adoptive home of Detroit City.
My relationship with Alice Cooper is almost as long as his career, first coming to hear his music on a compilation record released in 1974 my brother brought home one day. He’s had good records, and bad ones but he’s never stopped trying for something new and interesting.
As noted in the “stacks up” section above, “Detroit Stories” falls somewhere in the middle, and feels a bit like a retrospective. I guess we were all a little introspective as we were locked in our houses over the last couple of years, but Alice being Alice, he channeled it into music.
The record is mostly originals, but it starts with a cover of the Lou Reed song, “Rock & Roll”. It is hard to mess up this classic, but even so Cooper does some solid work with it, converting it a couple steps further into the thump of the rock world, without losing the visceral quality of the original. Cooper’s vocals are in fine form, showing very little wear and tear over his long career. This is no doubt aided by the many recent decades of sobriety under his belt.
The record shows much love to the various sounds that have emerged from Detroit over the past many decades, giving the record a hard, industrial feel overall. He also works in some Motown influences, most notably on “$1000 High Heeled Shoes”. This song features a funky guitar lick and some backup singers cooing “Shoo Doowop!” with a flair that would make the Supremes proud. Cooper pairs this with a chorus that is pure rock, but the transition from funk to rock is so smooth you hardly notice.
Cooper goes back to his early days with “Our Love Will Change the World” which would be at home on albums like “Muscle of Love” or “Welcome To My Nightmare”. It has that sing-song Broadway musical quality that Cooper loves to throw in on records when he thinks no one is looking.
On “Social Debris” he brings back the old Alice Cooper band. These guys can still play and it is evident they take a good bit of joy in doing it together again. The song has a bit of Cooper’s metal years, but infused with the energy of his old band, and once again the crossover is seamless. The band gathers again later on the record for “I Hate You” where they all get to mock and pretend to hate one another. I expect it was both therapeutic and fun in the studio, but both the lyrics and delivery are awkward and self-absorbed. Stick to “Social Debris” if you enjoy the idea of a reunion.
Near the end of the record, Cooper delivers the equally hokey “Hanging by a Thread” which is a COVID song reminding fans to have hope and not give in to despair. This one, despite its obviousness and a whole lot of Cooper making public service announcements like a congressman with some paid TV time, still ended up being a guilty pleasure for me. I think I just like the chorus, and as a result I’m willing to forgive the more stilted parts. You may feel otherwise.
Overall, this record is Alice Cooper returning to his roots, but in the process he reminds us those are complex roots that spread through multiple styles of music across many generations of evolution with each. Cooper is a key figure across the landscape of musical history, and this record is a fitting homage to his work, while also being a fitting homage to his favourite town.
Best tracks: Rock & Roll, Our Love Will Change the World, Social Debris, $1000 High Heel Shoes, Hanging by a Thread
No comments:
Post a Comment