{"id":13855,"date":"2014-11-05T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T06:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=13855"},"modified":"2022-01-06T19:42:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T00:42:18","slug":"content-needed-the-album-by-album-challenge-alice-cooper-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=13855","title":{"rendered":"The Album by Album Challenge: Alice Cooper (Part III)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And in some cases, face melting is still just good ol\u2019 face melting.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Welcome to Part III of the Alice Cooper Album by Album Challenge. That later spectrum of the solo career was a bit hokey wasn&#8217;t it?\u00a0 Well, Alice took some time off and then in 1986 staged a comeback that put him not only back on the map but had him experiencing even more success than he had previously.\u00a0 Constrictor introduced Alice to a whole new generation of hard rock\/metal fans and Alice would continue to consistently put out music all through the 80&#8217;s and into the 90&#8217;s.\u00a0 But how did this stuff stack up?\u00a0 Well, read on and you&#8217;ll find out!<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>THE NIGHTMARE RETURNS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Constrictor<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Release Date:<\/strong> September 22, 1986<br \/>\n<strong>The Good<\/strong>: Teenage Frankenstein, The World Needs Guts,<br \/>\n<strong>The Bad<\/strong>: He&#8217;s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)<br \/>\n<strong>The Indifferent:<\/strong> Give It Up, Thrill My Gorilla, Life And Death Of The Party, Simple Disobedience, Trick Bag, Crawlin\u2019 The Great American Success Story<\/p>\n<p>Back in \u201986 when this album came out I was all about this one. I thought it sounded so cool for such an old dude. Don\u2019t get wrong. I loved Alice\u2019s early shit but this just sounded so modern at the time. Well, hearing this album now it actually sounds more dated than his older stuff. That aside, this is a fun album. It\u2019s not amazing and it\u2019s not blowing but this is pretty much the album Alice needed to make. The face of hard rock\/metal had changed so drastically and he needed to either shit or get off the pot and he knew he had to keep up with the times.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LzeICJjQUCo\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Teenage Frankenstein is such a great song but it\u2019s \u201cThe World Needs Guts\u201d that really fucking rules. It\u2019s a great song but these are about it. The other songs on Constrictor definitely don\u2019t suck but they are extremely forgettable at best. The one truly shitty song on this one is \u201cHe&#8217;s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)\u201d from the Halloween movie or something. So much drum machine. So much suck. Like I said, this is the album that Alice needed to make in order to come back but the songs just aren\u2019t there. With that being said, I don\u2019t find this one really worth it to own. Find those two tracks and you\u2019re golden. Matter of fact, try and find a copy of \u201cThe Nightmare Returns\u201d (the concert film from this comeback tour) and you\u2019ll be good to do since those songs are on there.<\/p>\n<p>======================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Raise Your Fist and Yell<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Release Date:<\/strong> September 28, 1987<br \/>\n<strong>The Good:<\/strong> Freedom, Roses on White Lace,<br \/>\n<strong>The Bad<\/strong>: Give the Radio Back<br \/>\n<strong>The Indifferent:<\/strong> Lock Me Up, Step on You, Not That Kind of Love, Prince of Darkness, Time to Kill, Chop! Chop! Chop!,<\/p>\n<p>So here\u2019s the deal. This album opens up with probably one of my all-time favorite Alice tunes. \u201cFreedom\u201d is such a great fucking song but man, after that one everything is just \u201cmeh.\u201d First off, the album actually sounds WAY fucking better than Constrictor but much like Constrictor, the songs are just weak. The band actually plays really well but this was Alice trying to be metal. Can we just talk about what a fucking monster drummer Ken Mary was and how bad ass Kip Winger\u2019s bass\/backing vox were? Over all, this is a sound that worked for him for the most part and it would forge the direction that he would go for the remainder of his career but the songs just weren\u2019t refined or even all that good.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mL1kQQbhmY8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrince of Darkness\u201d almost made the cut but it just lost steam for me and \u201cChop Chop Chop\u201d had some potential but it just fell flat for me. I did have to give some points to the band for \u201cGail\u201d which tried to reach back to the \u201cWelcome to my Nightmare\u201d era (think \u201cMary Ann\u201d) but the problem was that this song just went on too long and even with its big kick in just lost it for me. I really did\u00a0 like \u201cRoses on White Lace\u201d (loved the Icarus Witch cover of this one) but once again the rest of the album just did nothing for me.<\/p>\n<p>Note: GET THE SONG \u201cFreedom.\u201d Everything else might as well just be buried in obscurity.<\/p>\n<p>======================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trash<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Release Date<\/strong>: July 25, 1989<br \/>\n<strong>The Good:<\/strong> Poison, Only My Hear Talkin\u2019, Trash,<br \/>\n<strong>The Bad:<\/strong> Spark in the Dark, Why Trust You, Bed of Nails, This Maniac\u2019s In Love With You, Hell Is Living Without You, I\u2019m Your Gun<br \/>\n<strong>The Indifferent:<\/strong> House of Fire,<\/p>\n<p>Wow. Talk about a slap in the fucking face. When Trash came out I played the fuck out of this album. I really thought this album was the shit but now\u2026 oh brother. These songs. After looking at the credits, I shouldn\u2019t be surprised to find out that Desmond fucking Child is all over this one. Good god this just explains so much.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qq4j1LtCdww\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoison\u201d is still a great song as is the title track. I even dug \u201cOnly My Heart Talkin\u2019\u201d but man, the rest of this album is just shit dishwater. Ok, well honestly, &#8220;House of Fire&#8221; isn&#8217;t horrible but it&#8217;s just a lot of &#8220;meh.&#8221;\u00a0 This is the kind of direction that drove Aerosmith right down the fucking drain but right up the charts. Maybe that\u2019s what Alice was shooting for. A hit album? Well, he totally got one but in return got one of the most dated sounding platters released in this era. I\u2019m so glad this one\u2019s over. Next!<\/p>\n<p>======================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hey Stoopid<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Release Date:<\/strong> July 2, 1991<br \/>\n<strong>The Good<\/strong>: Hey Stoopid, Love\u2019s A Loaded Gun , Burning Our Bed, Dangerous Tonight, Feed My Frankenstein, Hurricane Years, Little By Little, Wind Up Toy<br \/>\n<strong>The Bad:<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> The Indifferent:<\/strong> Snakebite, Might as Well Be on Mars, Die For You, Dirty Dreams<\/p>\n<p>Holy shit. It\u2019s amazing what 2 years and getting rid of Desmond Child can do for Alice Cooper. Ok, well, the Child gets one song writing credit here (Dangerous Tonight) but at least it didn\u2019t suck. This album is every bit as great as I remembered it being and the funny thing is that even the songs that I found to just be \u201cOK\u201d are still that way. This album sounds really great and I\u2019m really stoked as to how well this album has held up over time. I even found myself liking songs like \u201cFeed My Frankenstein\u201d and \u201cHey Stoopid\u201d even more than I remembered. There\u2019s also a lot of greatness in \u201cLove\u2019s a Loaded Gun\u201d and damn if \u201cHurricane Years\u201d isn\u2019t one of Alice\u2019s greatest moments.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XcAl93uEYUA\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hey Stoopid is a totally fun and enjoyable album that is chockfull of great songs. Even the \u201cok\u201d songs are enjoyable. They just don\u2019t stand as strong as the great songs on this album but even those tunes are light-years better than the shit on Trash. Hey Stoopid is a really great listen and this album holds a lot of great memories for me. It\u2019s just so nice to hear it holding up after all these years and doing so so well.<\/p>\n<p>======================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Last Temptation<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Release Date<\/strong>: July 12, 1994<br \/>\n<strong>The Good:<\/strong> Sideshow, Nothings Free, Lost in America, Bad Place Alone, You\u2019re My Temptation, Stolen Prayer, Unholy War, Lullaby, It\u2019s Me, Cleansed by Fire<br \/>\n<strong>The Bad:<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When this album came out in \u201994 I remember loving the hell out of it. Well, nothing\u2019s changed with that. This is a really fantastic album and an unsung classic that is sadly ignored. What I love about this album is that this is Alice reaching back to those classic Alice Cooper Band roots but also keeping his foot planted in the more modernized hard rock sound that he has so comfortable found a fit. The opening song and \u201cLullaby\u201d totally remind me of songs that could\u2019ve been on Welcome to My Nightmare while songs like \u201cLost In America\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re My Temptation\u201d would\u2019ve sounded very at home on Hey Stoopid.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-WFQbmTBYT0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>There\u2019s a lot of guest writers on this album but the songs are really awesomely written. The Chris Cornell contributions of \u201cStolen Prayer\u201d and \u201cUnholy War\u201d were both very surprising to me at the time but Cornell totally shows to be a huge Alice fan. I also have to say that the Tommy Shaw\/Jack Blades contribution of \u201cIt\u2019s Me\u201d totally completes the Alice ballad trilogy of \u201cI Never Cry\u201d and \u201cYou and Me.\u201d All in all The Last Temptation is a fantastic listen and even though Alice pretty much acts like this album never happened it\u2019s one that I feel like all Alice fans should and would enjoy the fuck out of.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stay Tuned for Part IV: Alice Cooper 2k!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,277],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-13855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-by-album-challenge","category-music-news","tag-alice-cooper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19528,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13855\/revisions\/19528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}