Alice Cooper - 'The Eyes Of Alice Cooper'
Released on Spitfire Records in 2003
THE BAND:
Alice Cooper - vocals
Ryan Roxie - guitar, backing vocals
Eric Dover - guitar, backing vocals
Chuck Garric - bass, backing vocals
Eric Singer - drums, backing vocals
Teddy "Zigzag" Andreadis - keyboard, accordion, percussion
TRACK FRAGMENTS:
1.) "What do You want from Me?"-This track opens with a minor
lead scale. The guitar riffs at the end of the vocal lines follow along
with the accents of Alice's vocals. The verse arrangements are very
similar to the stuff Alice recorded in the late eighties. The chorus like
most of Alice's stuff is very simply arranged. Even though all the band
members are helping out on the backing vocals Alice's voice is the only one that
shines through. There are a couple of guitar riffs in the guitar
arrangement that have a dragging sound. The bridge has a real heavy bass
line. The guitar solo is all rock -n-roll.
2.) "Between High School & Old School"-This track opens with a modern rock/punk
guitar arrangement in the vein of Green Day's "Warning". There is a vocal
line in the first verse where Alice shows even at his age he still has vocal
pipes. The bass line flows along well with the musical arrangement.
Any other bass line would not have worked with this song. The band change
the rhythm of the song for the first half of the bridge, the second half is bass
and drums.
3.) "Man of the Year"-This track opens with a lead guitar scale and a couple
drum rolls. The guitar arrangement of the verse has a very seventies punk
feel to it. The vocal lines of the verse and chorus also have a punkish
feel to them. The musical arrangement is very simple and on the verge of
being intense. The guitar solo is very short. After the bridge there
is a small pause in the music for a cocking gun.
4.) "Novocaine"-This is the fist single off the CD. And once it begins you
can see why. The intro kicks off with the whole band. At the end of
the intro there is what sounds to be a bass harmonic. After the first stanza of
the verse there is a small lead scale. The lyric writing on this song is
classic writing 101. At times through the second stanza of the verse
Alice's vocals have a vocal effect on them so you get a duet feel. The
bridge before the solo has twice a big of a hook as the chorus does. This
is by far one of the greatest songs Alice as ever written or recorded!!!
5.) "Bye Bye, Baby"-This intro kicks off with the full band along with a lead
guitar scale. Vocally this track expresses Alice's vocal talent. The
sax arrangement of the pre-chorus really brings out the vocal lines of the song.
Also during the pre-chorus there are a couple backing vocal harmony sections.
There is no solo on this song.
6.) "Be with You awhile"-Alice's ballad are always cool, And this one is no
exception! This ballad has a very old Alice feel to it. Vocally Alice
really pulled back into his history for this track. The snare of Eric's
snare drum has bad vibration to it, I don't know if this was planned or
accidental. But if I was betting and knowing the master like I do I would
say it was planned. The musical arrangement is very laid back and subtle.
There is a small keyboard arrangement on this song.
7.) "Detroit City"-This track kicks off with a funk pattern. The vocal
arrangement has a Rob Zombie feel to it. The musical
arrangement of the song is very simply structured. The lyrical contents is
a musical history of the music scene in Detroit. The track has a real cool
bass line. The track could have used a huge Eric Singer drum breakdown.
Eric does have several real cool drum fills on this track so that makes up for
not having a drum breakdown section.
8.) "Spirits Rebellious"-This track opens with a simple music arrangement for a
couple bars before going into a more complex arrangement. Eric Singer
really shows his playing ability on this track. The musical arrangements
of the song are very intense and have a in you face feel to them.
9.) "This House is haunted"-A Alice Cooper release would not be an Alice Cooper
CD without one of these type tracks. This track opens with a keyboard
clarinet section. One of the first things a Alice Cooper fan will notice
is the vocals of the Pre-verse sounds a lot like 'Steven'. For those fans
that do not know the Steven character is Alice Coopers alter ego. The
choruses are done with a vocal effect added in the studio. Up to the second
chorus the only background music is acoustic guitar, clarinet, and piano.
Then after the second chorus for the bridge they really kick the song in. As a
Cooper fan I'm glad too hear Steven back in Coopers music. For one one
reason are another Steven's psychosis makes him very sweet and lovable.
10.) "Love should never feel like this"-This track kicks off with the whole
band. When the vocals kick in you really can hear the Alice Cooper hook.
The chorus is similar to the stuff Alice done on his "Hey Stoopid" release.
Underneath the musical arrangement there is a real cool sixties sounding
keyboard pattern. I thought the verse had a huge hook within it, but it
doesn't compare too the hook of the chorus. There are a couple real cool
drum fills before the solo. The guitar solo itself is a lot more laid back
and melodic the the rest of the solos on the CD.
11.) "The Song that didn't rhyme"-This track open with a very simple electric
guitar pattern. The arrangement of the verse are set up in a semi-ballad
style. The song has a huge bass line. The deep snare Eric used on
this track has a real cool sound too it. Lyrically there is no telling how
may times this has happened. Sometimes songs that aren't very popular at
first end up being the bands greatest hits. Just look at Kiss's "Beth".
The song is just a very simple well put together track.
12.) "I'm so angry"-This track opens with huge feed back. The musical and
lyrical arrangements are very intense. At times some of the guitar riffs
have a Joe Perry feel to them. The song has a big bass line. The
solo like the rest of the track was very intense with an in your face feel.
13.) "Backyard Brawl"-This track opens with a modern rock abstract feel.
There is a small hook during the verse. The intensity feel of the guitar
arrangement would make for a great song to hear live. There is a huge bass
sound during the breakdown section.
When Alice Cooper first broke into the music business, it was
honestly over his stage persona and live performance. But going back to
albums like 'Pretties for you', 'Billion Dollar Babies', and 'From the Inside'
there is credited musicianship and lyric writing. Most fans Cooper know
this. With 'The Eyes of Alice' you get the same thing. The
release shows the listener that Alice Cooper is here to stay. Songs like "Novocaine",
"Be with You awhile" and "Love should never feel like this" has some of the
hugest hooks I've ever heard Alice place in his lyrics.
If your into Alice Cooper than you will love this release.
It is a must have.