The first album with the original Alice Cooper band since "Muscle of Love". Bob Ezrin is also producing it. The first song, "Black Mamba" was the first single released from the album. Does it perfectly capture the fire enough that it picks up where they left off on "Muscle of Love"? Almost, it is pretty energetic for a band in their mid-70s who have not played together since the 70s. I like the first song better than "Wild Ones." This is because it is darker, and darker is what sets them apart from other bands on "Love It To Death".
For 77, Neal Smith's drumming is solid, though "Up All Night" feels more AC/DC than what these guys used to do, and Cooper's vocals are way up front, and we have 77 year 77-year-old Alice singing about how he can keep it up all night. Um, ok. 'Kill the Flies ' finds things starting off with a creepier atmosphere before going into more 4 on floor rock n roll. Cooper's vocal does bring back a more theatrical feel. The chorus could be better. Just think of the songs this has to stand up against if you think I am being too critical. There are things like harmonies that sound like they have not aged.
''One Night Stand' is darker, which is an improvement, and lyrically it's about a serial killer, which is better than him diving back into the "Poison" mood of his hair metal albums he went on to make without these guys. "Blood On the Sun" feels like a cross between a country song and the Doors, mixed with their more rock strut. Cooper's voice sounds amazing for his age. The arrangement might not be as progressive as their earlier work, but it takes some interesting twists and turns. "Crap That Gets in the Way of Your Dreams" makes fun of rock songs and struggling musicians with little self-awareness. It is almsot as mean-spirited in its social commentary as Frank Zappa, but effective.
"Famous Face" is another song that finds them grooving more than expected. It feels a little like early punk but with a more depressed attitude. This makes sense considering they came up playing with bands like the Stooges. His voice once again wins the day for "Money Screams."They pull from varied sides of what they once did with "What a Syd" sounding like it could have come from 'School's Out'. Then "Intergalactic Vagabond Blues" sounds more like a jam than a song, as it is not the most focused thing on the album.
As for rocking out, they next another stab at straight-up rock n roll with "What Happened to You". He has been chasing more of a garage rock jam feel on some of his other, more recent albums, so things like this are not a surprise, but I prefer it when he takes a harder edge. He comes closer to this on "I Ain't Done Wrong," though there's more of a blues feel to the overall mood. "See You On the Other Side" is more melodic than some of the rock jamming they were doing in the album's latter half. I will give this one a 9.5, so not at the level of his most classic work, but way better than other rockers close to his age are doing, it's closer to "Muscle of Love" than it is "Love it to Death" which might play into why I am not blown away by it, as it's not what I expected, but still congruent with what these guys used to do.
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