Published on Oct 9, 2001
Superlative! Stupendous!! Absolutely Smashing!!! This is,
without doubt in my opinion and a lot of other people’s as well,
Alice Cooper’s finest hour. This stuff is rock ‘n roll of such high
quality that I know that when I want a multi-orgasmic experience,
all I have to do is throw this cd in the player…this single album
could be a greatest hits package onto itself!
Welcome To My Nightmare takes all of the best
characteristics of the previous five albums but at the same time
avoids the bad ones, and that is what makes this such a triumph…I
know this is going to sound pretty cliched by now, but this is most
definitely one of the finest rock albums ever crafted. Some people
might say that it’s not as raw, dangerous, powerful, or even
socially relevant the way the early albums were, and admittedly
this does mark the transition of Alice Cooper from a cutting dge
wildman to a tamer showman, but if you ignore everything that came
before you’ll realize what a great work this is.
This was Alice Cooper’s first solo album after splitting with
his high school mates and backing band over creative differences in
1974, and boy did he ever do his homework. This is more than a
concept album with a recurring theme; it’s a rock opera! There’s
just so much going on here…it’s all the little details that
really make this a work of art.
Alice’s best move was to get Bob Ezrin back as producer, and he
did an amazing job…considering the limits of recording technology
in 1975, this album sounds awesome…everything is clear and the
mix couldn’t be better. Just about every instrument that exists
pops up in the weirdest places all over the album which makes for
great little surprises, like the weird watery vibrato effect on a
lot of the gutiars, bells, plenty of strings (even pizzicato!),
pianos, and horns, organs…everything, playing kooky little
eccentric melodies and creating mysterious soundscapes. Not only
that, but Alice could not have hired a more talented backing band,
anchored by studio guitar virtuosos Steve Hunter and Dick
Wagner…they might even surpass the original band, and they are
just as weird!
Speaking of weird, this is Alice’s most twisted, sick, and
demented album yet, which is great. I mean hey, it’s even got a
cameo by Vincent Price on it! You can really see how Alice
envisioned a grand stage spectacle which would be very difficult to
top, if ever…and in my personal opinion, based on the concert
videos available, the tour he did for this album was something you
really had to see to believe. We’re talking full scale Broadway
style production, with countless dancers, ballerinas, demons,
spiders, and countless other strange extras running around amidst
the nightmarish carnival props. I would bet it was the greatest
rock spectacle in history, and I certainly don’t think even he has
come close to ever topping it.
On to the songs! “Welcome To My Nightmare” opens the album in a
slow, acoustic guitar fuelled intro with Alice quietly whispering
the lyrics, as if you are entering a dream, another world…very
eerie song, one of his best.
Up next is “Devil’s Food”, a heavy song which has the brilliant
Vincent Price doing a hilarious psychotic monologue about spiders
in a way only he could…excellent stuff! That song flows directly
into “Black Widow”, and you can imagine what that one’s
about…also a dark, heavy, plodding song. All of this stuff is
unbelievably over the top, and even the guitar riffs and solos
sound creep-crawly!
Then we have “Some Folks”, a bizarre piano led song with a swing
beat to it and use of a children’s chorus. “Only Women Bleed”, the
next song, was a huge hit, and you could say it was Alice’s first
true slow, soft ballad, but of course with the ever present
demented lyrics! He was really showing his versatility with that
one, and it’s sappy commercial sound appealed to a wide audience.
Awesome song though…writing of this quality in a genre previously
unexplored for the Coop serves as a testament to his great
talent.
“Department Of Youth” is this album’s obligatory teen rebellion
song, but it’s top notch…a very uplifting and fun rockin’ tune,
with the typical self depreciating humour:
“Who’s got the power?” – Alice “We do!” – chorus of children
“And who gave it to you?” – Alice “Donny Osmond!!!” – chorus of
children “WHAT?!?!?!” – Alice
“Cold Ethyl”, featuring some really detailed, complicated
arrangements, seems to be one of Alice’s most popular tunes, and
rightly so…but if you’re one of those people who think it’s a
drinking song (because of ethyl alcohol), listen to the lyrics;
it’s about fucking a corpse, complete with orgasmic oooohhs and
aaaahhs buried in the mix if you listen carefully! A full out,
adrenalized heavy rocker with side splitting lyrics revisting
necophilia…who could resist???
And at this point in the album, the next three songs are among
the darkest and most morbid I have ever heard…I don’t care what
anybody says about today’s bands being scarier and creepier, like
Marilyn Manson or Tool or whatever…if you sit in a room at night
and turn off the lights and listen to the songs “Years Ago”,
“Steven” and “The Awakening”, you will not come out the same
person…they are completely eerie, twisted, dark, evil, psychotic,
and just plain sick…all of which makes them so great! During
these songs the music really shines…they must have broken every
rock cliche at the time. And they created this powerful mood not by
being in your face or overly heavy, but rather through subtle
suggestion.
“Years Ago” is a harpsichord waltz; “Steven” has some excellent
classical style cascading piano playing with acoustic guitar
joining in and subtle use of pizzicato strings, before Alice talks
like he’s completely lost all sanity…just awesome stuff. The
album ends on a happy note with the straight forward optimistic
rocker, “Escape”, yet another very solid entry.
It is my opinion that for Alice Cooper,
Welcome To My Nightmare stands as the undisputed
masterpiece. The crown jewel. The grand opus. This isn’t “real”
rock music…it’s so much more than just that. It transcends that
plane. A beautifully realized ambitious musical project. It’s a
storybook come to life. I can’t think of another album that
involves and engages the listener (at least me) on so many
levels.
Of course, it’s not perfect; the only album that’s perfect
exists only in my head. Everybody has their idea of what perfection
is, and no matter how great something is, you will always be able
to find someting, no matter how miniscule, that you would have done
differently. It’s still one of the closest albums to my vision of
perfection however, by anyone.