The Alice Cooper Thread

[Susan Foreman]

1970 saw the release of the second Alice Cooper Group album - 'Easy Action'. By now, things were starting to come together although it would take a few more months before they really hit their stride. Many people, including Alice, often dismiss the first two albums but that's a shame as while not sounding like the later material they have a lot to offer. While not a place to start an Alice Cooper collection, 'Easy Action' should certainly not be ignored.

Alice Cooper - Vocals
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

Producer - David Briggs

The first song is 'Mr. and Misdemeanor', and it is a good start, showing some of the swagger that the band would develop over later albums.

TRIVIA: There is the first piece of the band acknowledging their past in the lyrics 'Here's new pretties for you', which refers to the first album, and 'Nobody likes me, but we adore you' which refers to one of the titles of the previous years live album

The name stated after Lucky Luciano is Kenneth Pasarelli, a bass player who back in those days played in a band called Zephyr and also with Tommy Bolin. Alice knew him and used his name as an inside joke

1/09 - Mr And Misdemeanor (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



" Mr and Misdemeanor
Middle of the roaders
Set beside the ocean
Landscapes alive agoshin'
Who put all of this in motion

Lucky Luciano
Kenneth Pasarelli
You take the modern mosquito
To every big city
I sit beside Misdemeanor
Here's new pretties for you

Nobody likes me, but we adore you
da da d-da da, yeah yeah yeah yeah

(cheers)

Nasty Misdemeanor
Kickin' in the windows
Parked beside the ocean
Landscapes alive agoshin'
Who put all of this in motion
da da d-da da, yeah yeah yeah yeah

The second song is 'Shoe Salesman', and it is another very different sounding song

Line up - as above, plus guest musician David Briggs - Piano

2/09 - Shoe Salesman (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



"I know a shoe salesman
He's an acquaintance of mine
One day he showed me some
Marks on his arms in a line
I did not know what to say
"Do you think those freckles will stay?"

I need a popsicle
Do you want lemon or lime
I've got a special today
If you've got the time
Winking, she poked me in the side
"Well, we could go for a ride"

I did not know what to say
"Do you think those freckles will stay?"
Ha

Well, you think she will see, yeah
I don't think she will see

Hey, Yeah.."

[Susan Foreman]

Two more songs from 'Easy Action'.

Alice Cooper - Vocals
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

Track #3 is entitled 'Still No Air'. Musically it's a throwback to the fuzztone garage punk of the first album, and the main guitar riff reminds me of the one that will be used on a later song called 'Halo Of Flies' from the 'Killer' album

It's also the first song that quotes from Hollywood musicals. Witness the 'when you're a jet, you're a jet all the way' from "West Side Story". This will turn up again during the 'Gutter Cats' song from 'School's Out'

03/09 - Still No Air (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



"Who says the earth is crumbling
And no sky is falling through
Sometimes, I just.. can't.. die

The world should be resembling
But not just right out of view
Hold eggs I like to fry

(fight)

Easy action
Got a rocket in your pocket
When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette to your last dying day

Who says the earth is trembling
And there's still no air

(1 - 2 - 3 - 4)
Whoa, Easy Action"

Then we have 'Below Your Means', which is another heavily distorted song

This is a strange one - the lead vocals are provided by rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, although Alice can still be heard in the background. I have no idea why Alice didn't sing lead on this!

04/09 - Below Your Means (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



"Come with me and we'll play
You've got a lot, I'd like to stay
(So good, so far)

I see you playing right along
Sometimes it's better to belong

I'll sing, you feel my all night song
You know it's better to belong

Under the cover of a midnight scene
I got the sheets below your means"

[Susan Foreman]

With these two, we are halfway thru 'Easy Action'.

Alice Cooper - Vocals
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

Track #5 is entitled 'Return Of The Spiders'. It's a rock 'n roll song, which is dedicated to legendary 50's rocker Gene Vincent, whom the ACG supported in 1969

It should be noted that the title of the song doesn't appear in the lyrics

In the early 60's, when the band were originally known as The Earwigs, they changed their name to...The Spiders!

Drummer Neil Smith states that this is his favourite song on 'Easy Action'

05/09 - Return Of The Spiders (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



" Well, stop.. look, and listen
There are hands that are gathered here
With my hands raised to speak
But you all won't hear
No, you all won't hear
We all won't hear

Let me in your living door
Let me in, knock knock I said, is there
Well, it's me they're reaching hand
And I'm coming after you
I'm coming after you
Coming after you

Well, I'm tired - yes I'm weary from my long journey
But I'm not yet all ready to rest
For you can come along with me
We go searching for rest, yes
Come on and search with me
Oh, search with me
Woah, search with me
Come on and search with me
Wo-woah, come on and search with me

Come on and search with me...
Come on and search with me...
Come on and search with me...
Come on and search with me... "

Then we have 'Laughing At Me', which is another piece of 1960's psychedelia

06/09 - Laughing At Me (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



"If it's laughing you need
Then it's laughing indeed
And it's laughing at me
Yes, it's laughing at me

So I started to end
The beginning to end
Then I ended the end
Yes, I ended the end

And it's laughing, it's laughing at me"

[Susan Foreman]

Getting near to the end of the 'Easy Action' album now

Alice Cooper - Vocals
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

Track #7 is 'Refrigerator Heaven', and it's possibly the first song to feature the "sick" humour that Alice would become known for

Musically, again it's very reminiscent of the fuzztone sound used for the theme to the television show 'The Munsters'

'Refrigerator Heaven' appeared on a Straight Records sampler album called Zapped. On the sleeve under the listing for Side One - Track 6. Alice Cooper/Refrigerator Heaven, there is the following:

"Alice Cooper is a five-man group from Los Angeles, or maybe a four-woman-one-man group from Los Angeles, or maybe a five-woman group from Los Angeles. They get a bang, you see, out of playing off our confusion over their sexual alignment. Quite decidedly grotesque they are, but also visually stunning and quite impressive. According to the recent Newsweek article that spoke highly of them in relation to the dada-rock movement of which their sponsor, F. Zappa, is the founder, Alice was overjoyed early in the game to discover its ability to empty large clubs within minutes of coming on stage. Think about that, Will and Ariel.
David Briggs produced EASY ACTION, whence commeth "Refrigerator Heaven""

The title of this song would later be referenced in the song 'Cold Ethyl' from the 'Welcome To My Nightmare' album:

"If I live 'til ninety-seven
You'll still be waiting in refrigerator heaven"

07/09 - Refrigerator Heaven (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



"(screams)

I'm freezing, I'm frozen, I'm icicle blue
(So low, low cool)
Cyber, neurotic, technicians imbue
(So low, low cool)
I've been admitted to Refrigerator Heaven
Until they discover the cure for cancer, I'm low
Refrigerator Heaven
So low, Refrigerator Heaven

I'm ice packed, I'm hand-stashed, I'm waiting for you
I'm older and younger, preserved in a tomb
I've been admitted to Refrigerator Heaven
I feel like I (told you a heart)
I won't get back 'till the sun sets down on the moon
Won't get back 'till m' sun sets down on the moon "

The penultimate track on the album is 'Beautiful Flyaway' which is a piano-led song.

Like 'Below Your Means', actually has guitarist Michael Bruce on vocals

08/09 - Laughing At Me (Cooper, Bruce, Buxton, Dunaway, Smith.)



"Beautiful flyaway
Somewhere like Holy Days
Wonder what brought me down to earth
Haven't I always been here
Let's have another nibble
Later I think I'll disappear into the bishop's mall
And take a look at what we offer
DDT poisoning me changing my relativity
What's it going to be

da da da da d-da
Later I think I'll disappear into another room
And take a look inside the till
Lovely days, human ways, journeys that take us to the end
Aah...

Haven't we always been here
Sharing one love and one fear
Some day you'll know that life is really, really all about you
So come and look inside
You'll be surprised to find
Later I think I'll disappear into another womb
And take a look inside the mens' room
Haven't I given you everything that I could give
Where do you live
Aah..."

[Susan Foreman]

The final song from 'Easy Action' is more weirdness, in the form of a song entitled 'Lay Down And Die Goodbye'

It's a return to the psychedelic music from 'Pretties For You'. To me, it sounds like a complete mish-mash of sounds, with no redeeming features whatsoever!

The majority of the 'vocals' are provided by Tommy Smothers, from the American comedy act The Smothers Brothers - he is possibly best know for the clip of The Who performing 'My Generation', when Keith Moon blew up his drum kit! Alice only appears for the final verse

Alice Cooper - Vocals
Tommy Smothers - Vocals
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

09/09/ Lay Down And Die Goodbye (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith)



"[Tom Smothers]
You are the only censor. If you don't like what I say, you have a
choice. You can turn me off..

[Tom Smothers]
You are the only censor
If you don't like what I say, you have a choice. You can turn me off..

Well I've written home to mother
The ink ran from my tear
I said "Momma, momma please
Tell me why you brought me""

The band played very few songs to promote the album, and the ones that they did play were were more geared towards to songs on the forthcoming album - 'Love It To Death'

Bands supported at this time include Ted Nugent, Ten Years After, The Small Faces (featuring Rod Stewart!), Frank Zappa and Eric Burden

A sample setlist for these shows comprised of:

• Sun Arise
• Mr and Misdemeanor
• Fields of Regret
• I'm Eighteen
• Levity Ball
• Is It My Body
• Nobody Likes Me
• Black Juju (which is really an instrumental Lay Down and Die, Goodbye)

[Susan Foreman]

After two less then successful albums, the Alice Cooper Group finally hit paydirt in 1971. What happened? They met a producer by the name of Bob Ezrin and recorded their first classic album, 'Love It To Death'

The recognisable Cooper sound is still here in spades, but under Ezrin the group's songwriting has moved light years forward.

To my mind, there are only two sub-standard songs, (one I find tedious, and one which is a joke), and as such, this release is essential for any rock fan

The album has come to be seen as a foundational influence on hard rock, punk, and heavy metal, and several tracks are still very much a part of the Alice Cooper live show

Alice Cooper - Vocals and Harmonica
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

Producer - Jack Richardson and Bob Ezrin

The first song is 'Caught In A Dream', and it is instantly accessible

Bob Ezrin plays keyboards on the track

1/09 - Caught In A Dream (Bruce)



"Well I'm runnin through the world
with a gun in my back
tryin' to catch a ride in a Cadillac
Thought that I was livin'
but you can't really tell
been tryin' to get a whiff of that success smell

You know I need a houseboat and I need a plane
I need a butler and a trip to Spain
I need everything
the world owes me
I tell that to myself
and I agree

I'm caught in a dream
So What!
You don't know what I'm goin' through
I'm right in between
So I'll
I'll just play along with you

Well I'm runnin' through the world
with a gun in my back
tryin' to catch a ride in that Cadillac
thought I was livin'
but you can't never tell
what I thought was heaven
turned out to be hell

Whoa-o-oh
When you see me with a smile on my face
Whoa-o-oh
Then you'll know I'm a mental case

I'm caught in a dream
So what!
I don't know what I'm going through
I'm right in between
So I'll
I'll just play along with you

Whoa-o-oh Oh
Whoa-o-oh Oh
Whoa-o-oh"

The second song on the album is 'I'm Eighteen', and this song shouldn't need any introduction!

Rolling Stone magazine has it at #482 on their list of the greatest 500 songs of all time

This was a big hit single in America, and has been seen as the U.S answer to The Who's song 'My Generation' - a teenage delinquent anthem!

The Ramones song "I Don't Care" is based on the chords of the main riff to this song, and John Lydon wrote the song "Seventeen" (on the Sex Pistols album 'Never Mind the Bollocks') in response to it. It is said to have been the song that he mimed to, when auditioning for the Sex Pistols.

Thrash metal band Anthrax covered it on their debut album

It is still played in the Alice Cooper sets of today, and any live pictures you see where he is holding a crutch - you can guarantee that it is this song which is being played

2/09 - I'm Eighteen (Bruce, Cooper, Dunaway, Smith, Buxton.)



"Lines form on my face and hands
Lines form from the ups and downs
I'm in the middle without any plans
I'm a boy and I'm a man

I'm eighteen and I don't know what I want
Eighteen I just don't know what I want
EighteenI gotta get away
I gotta get out of this place
I'll go runnin' in outer space
Oh yeah

I got a baby's brain and an old man's heart
Took eighteen years to get this far
Don't always know what I'm talkin' about
Feels like I'm livin in the middle of doubt
Cause I'm

Eighteen I get confused every day
Eighteen I just don't know what to say
Eighteen I gotta get away

Whoa
Lines form on my face and my hands
Lines form on the left and right
I'm in the middle
the middle of life
I'm a boy and I'm a man
I'm eighteen and I LIKE IT
Yes I like it
Oh I like it
Love it
Like it
Love it
Eighteen!
Eighteen!
Eighteen!
Eighteen and I LIKE IT"

[Susan Foreman]

The final two songs that make up the first side of 'Love It To Death'

Alice Cooper - Vocals and Harmonica
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

03/09 - Long Way To Go (Bruce)

Another good, rocking song

The album title crops up in the lyrics of this song

Bob Ezrin plays keyboards on the track



"We still got a long way to go
We still got a long way to go
We all got a long way to go

What's keeping us apart isn't selfishness
What's holding us together isn't love
Listen to the man who's been
touched all his life
Yes he's the one they call the fool

Where is the saviour of the sidewalk life
and the road that takes us to the crusades
I've seen those shadows
as they're moving in my sleep
leading the blind poet to his grave

We still got a long way to go
We still got a long way to go
Yes we all got a long way to go

Please don't waste your energy on me my friend
cause we still got a long way to go
we'll meet again some day
but right now just go away
'cause I still got a long way to go

The silence is speaking
so why am I weeping
I guess I love it
I love it to death

Yes we still got a long way to go
Yes we still got a long way to go
Yes we all got a long way to go"

Song #4 is 'Black Juju' an epic length (over 9 minutes) number which harkens back to the psychedelic sound of the first two albums. Musically, it is very reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive", while the vocal delivery reminds me a lot of Jim Morrison

It might be a fan favourite, but I find it tedious to the extreme

Allegedly, the song was recorded in one take, live in the studio

The title comes from the name of a dog that would 'hang around the neighbourhood'!

04/09 - Black Juju (Dunaway)



"Body
Body

Touched by the toil and plunged into his arm
Cursed through the night through eyes of alarm
A melody black flowed out of my breath
Searching for death, but bodies need rest

Body

Under the soil now waiting for worms
All that I feared is all that I've learned
All that I know is all that I think
Dead feelings are cool, down lower I sink, ah-hah

Bodies need rest
Wwe all need our rest
Sleep an easy sleep
Rest
Rest
Bodies need their rest
We all need our rest
Sleep an easy sleep
Rest
Rest
Rest
Rest
But come back in the morning

Come back hard

Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up

Bodies
Clutching and biting my soul has caught on fire
My evil is now and I'm caught up in desire
Everything I'm living for is all that I am
Liking it and loving it that's all in the plan

Black Juju"

[Susan Foreman]

Two more good ones from 'Love It To Death'

Alice Cooper - Vocals and Harmonica
Neal Smith - Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway - Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ

05/09 - Is It My Body (Bruce, Cooper, Dunaway, Smith, Buxton)

This was the 'B' side to the 'I'm Eighteen' single

The lyrics were partly inspired by being depressed in the Abbot Hotel in Greenwich Village.

It's a stage favourite, and regularly crops up in the live set



"What have I got
that makes you want to love me
Now is it my body
Someone I might be
Somethin' inside me

You better tell me
Tell me
It's really up to you
Have you got the time to find out
Who I really am

What does it take
to get inside of your mind
Give me a break, yeah, yeah
and take a chance for the very first time

You better tell me
Tell me
It's really up to you
Have you got the time to find out
Who I really am

What have I got
That makes you want to love me
Now is it my body
Or someone I might be
Or somethin' inside me

You better tell me
Tell me
It's really up to you
Have you got the time to find out
Who I really am
Oh.."

Next is 'Hallowed By My Name', which is quite a spooky song!

It's the first of two songs on the album that deal with religion (both Alice Cooper and Neil Smith had very religion upbringings)

Bob Ezrin plays keyboards on the song

06/09 - Hallowed By Thy Name (Smith)



"Gather round right now and hear me whisper
The words of the prison, the words of laughter
The lords and the ladies were fixing their hair-dos
Cursing their lovers
cursing the Bible

Hallow-ed by my name
Yelling at fathers
Screaming at mothers
Hallow-ed by my name

Come all you sinners, come now in your glory
And my ears will listen to your dirty stories
You're fighting to go up, 'cause you're on your way down
Cursing their lovers
Cursing the Bible

Hallow-ed by my name
Yelling at fathers
Screaming at mothers
Hallow-ed by my name

Sluts and the hookers have taken your money
The queens are out dancing but now they`re not funny
'Cause there goes one walkin' away with your sonny
Cursing their lovers
Cursing the Bible

Hallow-ed by my name
Yelling at fathers
Screaming at mothers
Hallow-ed by my name"

[Nordicdusk]

image.jpg

My mate just came back from his lunch in work with this . Gutted I missed out on it.

[Susan Foreman]

That's a good compilation, released in 1974, featuring songs from 'Love It To Death', 'Killer', School's Out', Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Muscle Of Love'

The songs were remixed by Jack Richardson

The album's gatefold cover art was designed by Ernie Cefalu and features:

Back/Front Cover, left to right:

Humphrey Bogart
Robert Taylor
Clark Gable
Edward G. Robinson
?? (John Barrymore, or possibly William Powell?)
Jean Harlow
Peter Lorre
Glen Buxton
Dennis Dunaway
Alice Cooper
Michael Bruce
Neal Smith
Groucho Marx

Inner Sleeve:

Groucho Marx
Jean Harlow
Joan Crawford (?)
Errol Flynn
Clara Bow
William Bendix
Edward G. Robinson
Lillian Gish (?)
Marilyn Monroe
Gary Cooper
Judy Garland
Alan Ladd
Basil Rathbone
Tallulah Bankhead (or possibly Gretta Garbo)
Humphrey Bogart
Boris Karloff
Michael Bruce
(Dwight Frye in background)
Bela Lugosi
Glen Buxton
Veronica Lake
Alice Cooper
Clark Gable
Neal Smith
Dennis Dunaway
Betty Grable
Marlene Dietrich or Carole Lombard
Dick Powell
Jean Arthur
Tyrone Power