September 27th, 1971 - 50 years ago today, the 'Killer' album is released
After opening 1971 with the release of the 5* album 'Love it to Death', the year ended with the release of 'Killer' - another bona fide classic. The songwriting on offer here is absolutely brilliant from beginning to finish. Anyone who had originally thought of Alice Cooper (the man and the band) as nothing more than a disgusting, underground group that performed unlistenable and sloppy rock songs had their world turned upside down when the album was released!
'Killer' opens with two solid hard rock songs which inform the listener of the journey they are going to take. Both '
Under My Wheels' and '
Be My Lover' are excellent tracks that are not only drenched with catchiness, but also feature some excellent guitar work from Michael Bruce. That is followed by the mindboggling progressive rock assault of '
Halo of Flies'. At more that eight minutes in length, this song on its own has enough ideas to fill up an entire album and even the big prog rock acts of the time did not come close to matching it for ideas. '
Desperado, the 'b' side of the 'Under My Wheels' single, is also a great, dramatic song that is a tribute to a good friend and companion of the and - Jim Morrison from The Doors
The second side of the album opens with '
You Drive Me Nervous', another solid hard rock song with some excellent schizophrenic guitar work. The weakest song on the album, '
Yeah Yeah Yeah' is still a 4.5* song. This was the 'b' side of the 'Be Ly Lover' single. Back to the classics, and what is there to be said about the song '
Dead Babies'? Controversial in its day, even though it's an anti-child abuse song. It begins rather lightly - almost like a creepy ballad. The tone created is similar to one of the good, early Argento giallo films! The ominous and creepy start leads to the sound effect of a baby crying...and then Alice sings the chorus: "
Dead babies can take care of themselves!". The lyrics are weird and the hooks are also incredibly strong. 'Dead Babies' segues into the albums title cut. '
Killer' features some guitar licks that are both entertaining and creative with Alice delivering a furious vocal performance. The ghoul screams in the middle of the song are are absolutely shiver-inducing and the end of the song features a death march that sounds like something that might belong in a Tim Burton movie. It is still used during the execution sequence of the Alice Cooper live show
Initial pressings of the album came with a 1972 calendar featuring a picture of Alice in the gallows