March 9th, 1971 - 50 years ago today, The Alice Cooper Group release the '
Love it To Death' album
After the release of two albums in 'Pretties For You' and 'Easy Action', this is where Alice Cooper really begins. Gone were the bands attempts to be psychedelic. Now they are more polished, and the songs are 100% hard-rock. Much of the thanks to that direction has to be laid at the feet of producer Bob Ezrin.
It's noticeable that they don't really do anything too unique here! The song production consists of the usual orchestration - no sweeping synth-passages (as used by The Who) or mellotrons (as used by Zeppelin). This is very much a hard rock album. But that doesn't do it justice, because there is a lot of theatrical material on here. Clocking in at over 9 minutes, '
Black Juju' is the longest song the band have ever recorded, and '
The Ballad of Dwight Fry' is still a mainstay of the live set today
'Love It To Death' gave the band their first hit single in the teenage rebellion song '
I'm Eighteen' (backed with '
Is It My Body') which was America's answer to 'My Generation'. The follow up single was another hard rock classic '
Caught In A Dream' (backed with '
Hallowed Be Thy Name')
'
Second Coming' is a piano-led ballad which turns into a guitar song, '
Long Way To Go' is a delicious, bouncy slab of glam rock and even the cover of '
Sun Arise' is acceptable!
The greatest aspect of the album is its diversity. No two songs sound alike! Furthermore, there isn't a moment in here that sounds like a misfire. Pretty much every song on offer deserves an 8.0 or above and the album is filled with catchy melodies
'Love It TO Death' is the first in a line of classic albums released by the original band, and something that every fan of classic hard rock should own