Alice Cooper : "Road"

The 29th album from this legend finds the Coop keeping it real and recording this one live in the studio with his touring band. Done with  minimal overdubs , Alice sounds great and the opening track  "I'm Alice" makes it clear at 75, his voice remains where he needs it to be. The songs wink heavily at his classic sound from the 70s , sometimes almost recycling the riffs.  By the time things strut over to "All     Over the World" finds it lyrically self indulgent as we are three songs deep with lyrics all bragging about how great his band is live.  If this was done by anyone else it would not work as well. 

The first song that touches on metal is "Dead Don't Dance". Though the overall direction of the album musically I prefer over the more garage rock feel off his past couple albums. "Go Away" has more of a roadhouse rock n roll feel. His voice feels pretty youthful on this one. It doesn't vibe as with me as the first few songs, though Nita Strauss lets a pretty mean solo rip on it. There is a more grunge tinged groove to "White Line Frankenstein".  Though I guess the persona of Alice gives more credence to singing about being a helluva one night stand at 75. 'Big Boots" is on the sillier side of things, but it doesn't suck . It might be better than 'Rules of the Road".  There is a heavier drive to "the Big Goodbye". Which lyrically could be off of "Trash". 

The high point of the album is the recording of "Road Rats" from "Lace and Whiskey" which takes a great song and makes it better. I think he needs to go back and re-record more songs like this , a whole album of songs that perhaps did not get a fair shake, particularly from albums like "Lace and Whiskey" that slipped unfairly into obscurity.. On the flipside , Alice has some great ballads already, I am not sure "Baby Please Don't Go" was really needed, it is the first song that feels like his voice is struggling.  He redeems himself on "100 More Miles" which sounded liked it could have been on "Dada" as it carries his dark-side in the creepy undertones.  He also offers a pretty fantastic cover of the Who's "Magic Bus" and I will die on the hill of Alice is a better singer than Roger Daltrey. I will give this one a 9, as lyrics are normally his  strong suit and  feel dialed into a concept  that does not hold up as well against his other albums. At the end of the day Alice is a legend who still holds up better than most  from his era.