Published on Oct 7, 2001
By the time of the release of this album in December 1973, it
was quite apparent that the Alice Cooper group was suffering
internal strife. After all, this was the seventh studio album they
had released in only four years! To make things worse, in between
albums they were constantly touring, and as Alice himself once
famously said when asked where he lived, “in hotels.” If this
wasn’t enough, with the tremendous wealth they had acquired for
themselves, the various members had slipped into notorious drug and
alcohol addictions, especially lead guitarist Glen Buxton, who
apparently barely recorded anything for
Muscle Of Love because he was in such bad condition.
To top it all off, the other members felt they needed well
earned time off and even wanted to pursue solo projects, as well as
tone down the stage show, which was in major conflict with Alice
himself, who had visions of much greater stage productions
saturated with unheard of spectacle. This tension resulted in a
break up of the band which had single handedly revolutionized not
only rock in a musical sense, but also created the over the top
theatrics which would become common place among countless bands in
the future.
Despite this being the original (all the members were buddies
from high school) Alice Cooper group’s swan song, and despite the
fatigue, creative differences, and substance abuse, this is a
fantastic album. Most fans seem to think it’s a rather weak effort,
but I really don’t understand that point of view at all. I mean,
shucks, you won’t find any of the vintage creepiness, and there
aren’t as many controversial lyrics or shocking subject matter, and
of course this is a major change in style and image that many fans
probably didn’t agree with at the time and still don’t. That’s why
the album did not sell as well as previous ones, but the fact
remains that this is a superb collection of hard rockin’, often
hilarious, tunes.
I’m sure the fact that Bob Ezrin did not produce this album due
to creative differences had a lot to do with the change back to a
rawer, garagey sound, but how can’t ya love all the great material
here? The album is chock full of memorable riffs and tasteful
playing…and they sure turned up the sleaze factor here…it’s
just a fun album to listen to, if not groundbreaking like the
others.
Once again, there is no weak stuff anywhere in sight and all the
songs stand apart as usual…I just wonder how they managed to
constantly come up with great new material over the years despite
all the problems! When I listen to the album, I hear a lot of songs
that should have been hits but weren’t; “Teenage Lament” was a mild
hit, and is a wonderfully upbeat pop song that once again deals
with the plight of insecurity faced by those coming of age…as
usual, Alice was once again deftly in touch with the feelings of
the young masses, and lent his reassuring hand.
“Big Apple Dreamin'” is the ultimate expression of awe of the
mind boggling characteristics of one of the world’s greatest urban
areas; “Never Been Sold Before” is a not so subtle look at whores;
in fact, the whole album just has a real vibe of cool urban
perspective about it, not just the subject matter, but I can even
feel it in the music itself, with the sleazy, greasy guitar riffs
and rhythms, as well as the raw production. I mean how else could
you explain the sudden presence of sleazy material with quick licks
like “Working Up A Sweat” and “Muscle Of Love”??? The album often
plays out like a visit to a Times Square porno shop, but wisely
uses teasing innuendo instead of graphic profanity. Get a load of
all the masturbation references! Hilarious, I say.
How about the awesome “Hard Hearted Alice”? Soft and mysterious
Byrd-ish vocals turn into a funky jam complete with Hammond organ
and a soaring chorus. “Crazy Little Child” is a very cool song as
well, sounding very much like a sort of jazzy honky tonk piano
piece complete with banjos in a sort of old broadway/tin pan alley
vein that conjures up visions of a smoky piano bar/gangster hang
out in the 1920’s.
Finally, the most interesting piece here is “Man With The Golden
Gun”, which has the same title as the James Bond film which came
out in theaters at almost the exact same time…coincidence?? No
way pal…in the liner notes Alice himself mentions that the band
was asked to write the theme song for the film, but unfortunately
the studio changed its mind about using it when they feared a
strong backlash against using such a controversial artist…that’s
a real shame because it’s a totally amazing song and even has a
Bondish sound to it, and it sure is a hell of a lot better than the
crappy chick they got for the job, whoever she is.
(Editor’s note: The theme song was performed by Lulu, best known
for her ’60s hit “To Sir, With Love”.)
For some reason people love to dump on this album. Far too many
times I’ve read some “legitimate” music critic dismiss
Muscle Of Love as a lacklustre effort of a band in a
shambles. What a crock of shit! This music is superb! No filler
here. No weak material. No throwaways. It rocks, and the music is
as diverse and interesting as ever. Each track seems to be more
amazing than the last (in no particular order).
Muscle Of Love shows the first glimpses into Alice’s near
future with more broadway-styled tunes, combining early
Love It To Death Alice and the
Lace And Whiskey Alice providing an intriguing blend of the
Alice Cooper band and the future Alice Cooper solo artist.
Yes,
Muscle Of Love is more light hearted, straight forward meat
and potatoes rock record, but the song quality stands up there with
the best of the band’s material, despite what some people might
say…the musicianship is amazing as always, the lyrics are
amusing, and the songs are diverse and captivating. I’ll take an
allegedly weaker Alice Cooper album of this sort of quality over
most band’s finest moments.
So maybe there’s nothing creepy or shocking or satirical here.
And maybe it’s not a concept album. But that doesn’t mean that it’s
not one of the most consistently excellent hard rock albums of the
70’s. That’s right, you heard me. It might be just a notch below
Alice’s own brilliant discography, but as a collection of unrelated
rock songs, this is about as solid as it gets from
anyone…ANYONE!