After breaking out onto the music scene with his debut record, “Pretties for You,” Alice Cooper released a brand new record titled “Road” on Friday, Aug. 25. With a career spanning 54 years, the 75-year-old rocker’s newest record contains 13 songs and lasts 48 minutes.
What I liked about this record is that Bob Ezrin is behind the desk producing. If you are unfamiliar with Ezrin’s work, he has produced 14 records for Cooper including “School’s Out,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” Kiss’ “Destroyer,” and “Revenge,” as well as Aerosmith’s “Get Your Wings.”
The first song off the record “I’m Alice,” is a fun song containing all the different names that he’s been called like “The Master of Madness and the Father of Fright.” “I’m Alice,” is a good introduction song introducing the legendary Godfather of Shock Rock.
The next notable track from the record is track three, “All Over The World.” On this track, Cooper lists off some of the different countries that he’s been very fortunate to rock in. I think that “All Over The World” would be a great song to open the record with if he didn’t open up the album with “I’m Alice.” Cooper has two very strong songs to start off his record.
Track four, “Dead Don’t Dance” is the heaviest song on the entire record and is one of my personal favorites. This song is a typical Alice Cooper song in which he sings about singing to worms, and zombies and that if he wasn’t in a band, he would “be a criminal.” I love the solo on this record from guitarist Nita Strauss. Whether Strauss is playing a solo that requires shredding or a more melodic solo, Strauss is one of the greatest guitarists of her generation.
In addition to Cooper and Strauss, they’re joined by guitarist Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen as well as Chuck Garric on bass and Glen Sobel on the drums. The band featured on this record is the same band that Cooper tours with regularly so they are a well-oiled machine and it translates into the recording on the record.
This Alice Cooper record is a lot more lighthearted than previous records of his. Cooper is a lot more comical and funny in his lyrics. On this record, he makes a lot more jokes and puns rather than singing about ghouls and zombies and the dead.
Track 10, “Road Rats Forever,” is sung from the perspective that Alice Cooper views the road as his home and that he and his band are tight like “road rats.” This song contains a piano in the background which adds to the total sound of the song. I feel like this is Ezrin’s signature. On the Kiss “Destroyer” record on “Shout It Out Loud,” there is a piano that is heard throughout the song. I love it when a piano is added to create a fuller sound on the record.
The final song that I really enjoyed on this record is the very last track, the cover of The Who’s “Magic Bus.” This track has that call and response in the lyrics which I very much enjoy. The original version of the song is an acoustic song but on Alice’s version, it’s a loud, in-your-face, electric song.
At the very end of the song, drummer Glen Sobel has a solo for the remaining one minute of the track. I feel like you don’t normally hear a lot of drum solos on records so it was very refreshing to hear that.
Overall, this was a pretty good record. It’s different in sound and overall feel from a regular Alice Cooper record which is nice to hear. As someone who is a hard rock and metal fan, I’m not sure if I like the softer sound on this record, every time I go and re-listen to the record, my opinion changes every single time.
I’m on the fence about whether I like the other all-recording sound on this record. While it’s softer than Kiss’ “Destroyer,” but heavier than the Ezrin-produced “Berlin” record performed by Lou Reed, I can’t really decide how to feel about the record.
On some songs, it sounds like the songs are raw and are coming from an “unofficial released” album while other songs on the record sound polished and crisp. I wish there was one sound on the entire record.
I’m very interested in what the next record will be for Cooper. At one point, in one song, “The Big Goodbye,” I thought that he was maybe hinting at a farewell but I might be looking too deep into the meaning.
After all is said and done, it’s an Alice Cooper record from start to finish so take it as it is and take it at face value.
Let’s now look at The Singer’s Thoughts:
- While this was a good record, I would have liked consistency throughout with the overall sound.
- Since I am a huge live music fan, I would now love a live record as the follow-up to this record.
- If there is another studio record, I want to hear more of a hard rock/metal record, a more “meat and potatoes” sounding record.
Overall Grade: 6.5/10
