Today I'm wrapping up my tour of duty through Alice Cooper's 80's discography. Not because 1987's Riase Your Fist And Yell was his last entry of the decade, but rather because I've already played through 1989's Trash. It's been an interesting journey with highs and lows, changing styles, and a complete resurgence in his career.
As noted in yesterday's post, Cooper entered 1987 with an appearance at WrestleMania III, joining Jake "The Snake" Roberts in his corner for his match against Honky Tonk Man. This was followed by a cameo appearance in the film, Prince Of Darkness, playing a vagrant. Cooper would also contribute the title track song for the movie, which would later be included on his 1987 album.
The release of Raise Your Fist And Yell continued to comeback success of Cooper, with the album peaking at number seventy-three on the Billboard 200. To support the record, he embarked on the controversial Live In The Flesh Tour. Though all theatrics, the act was deemed so violent and gory that Germany would force him to remove elements, and members of Parliament in the UK would unsuccessfully attempt to ban it all together.
From the opening riff, it's a much louder album than any of his predecessors have been. It has a vibe of Ozzy Osbourne's No Rest For The Wicked. The opening song, Freedom, appears to serve as the title track, incorporating "raise your fist and yell" into the chorus. It's a decent song for sure.
With track two, I got the sense that intros were the name of the game. Whereas Freedom had a slick guitar lick opening, Lock Me Up thundered across an eighteen second solo drum roll.
The intros fell to the wayside from there, but the heavy metal sounds kept coming. Guitarist Kane Roberts was not only dishing out satisfying solos but adding flourishes here and there that made for a unique listening experience. This was all kept in time with the thundering bass of Kip Winger (later to be known for his own band, Winger).
Step On You was probably the last song I heard which I would consider adding to a shuffle list. From there, the rest of the album just continued to be loud and mediocre. Not bad, just not memorable.
Alice kicked off 1988 contributing a cover of Spirits', I Got A Line On You to the soundtrack for Iron Eagle II. He'd later use the tune as the B-side to the single for Poison from 1989's Trash. Prior to the end of the year, his contract would expire with MCA. He'd switch to Epic Records after being presented an offer that ultimately allowed him an unlimited budget, as well as no time limit to record albums.
Trash would serve as a commercial comeback for Cooper, returning him to the glory days of Billion Dollar Babies and School's Out. It would peak at number twenty on the Billboard 200 and feature a slew of guest appearances which included Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Joan Jett, and Diane Warren. But if you want more on that, please check out that specific post.
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment