Alice Cooper/Paranormal(2017)

Here’s a conversation I had with Alice Cooper the other day..

Deke- ‘Hello Alice!”

Alice- ‘Deke! Is that actually you returning all these years later to finally buy a new release of mine?”

Deke-“Sure Is!”

Alice-“Hey Stoopid!”

Deke- “WHUT?”

As you can see I never actually had a conversation or met the man.

Believe it or not Alice’s 1991 release Hey Stoopid was the last actual Coop album I had bought as upon its release  I had my brother both pick us copies of this album….

Hey Stoopid had some good stuff especially the title track and Feed My Frankenstein but as is the case sometimes I just stopped buying his stuff.

Until….

July 28th 2017! Crazy how time flies huh? Yep read some good things about this album  and once I had seen a deluxe edition available I took the plunge on the preorder from iTunes.

This album peaked my curiosity on numerous levels. One being Alice has the great Bob Ezrin on board producing.

Coop has brought back some of his old hombres from the Alice Cooper Band from the 70’s(Dennis Dunaway/Neil Smith/Micheal Bruce/Steve Hunter) on two tracks Genuine American Girl  and You And All of Your Friends.

Alice had Deep Purple’s Roger Glover and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons drop by for a couple of guest appearances as well!

As well Coop with his current band has added 6 old school Alice Classics recorded live in Columbus (May 2016) for inclusion as well to make this indeed a total deluxe !

The biggest one(for me ) has to be that Alice has shaken things up as well as  he has enlisted of all dudes Larry Mullen Jr from U2 to slam down some drums on 9 of the 12 studio tracks. Awesome to hear Mullen Jr get out from the safe confines of U2 and smash around on the kit!

Paranormal leads the album off with a real cool catchy riff and this track features the co write and Bass playing of Roger Glover! First songs usually set the tone of an album and this one features just that. Love Cooper’s voice as he may not be the best rock singer but with this kind of music it fits his creepy like persona. Slick move at the end of the song to go back to the “well” with that opening catchy riff!

The next few tracks Deadflies and Fireball keep the Coop clipping at a decent clip. Ha! Still can’t believe Mullen Jr has these kind of drum chops in him. Unleash the beast behind the kit. Break free from those shackles that Bono has had around your ankles for decades! Atta boy Larry drum man drum!

Paranoiac Personality features a real cool like drums and bass stomp with Alice sneering and snarling like only he can do. Real cool rhythm throughout and man did someone sample that crazy ‘Psycho” sound bite?

Billy Gibbons like do I really have to tell you what band he is from? Anyhoo he and Alice collaborate on the song Fallen In Love which is a total ZZ and Alice mashup featuring Gibbons laying down that dirty guitar tone like only the Reverend can do! Great solo and can you dig it…Mullen Jr and Gibbons on the same song together?

Dynamite Road has to be an autobiographical lyrical tune  that has that Charles Daniels “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” vibe to it except its played through a Marshall Amp cranked up to 10!

Another real cool groove on Private Public Breakdown which features more cool percussion with once again Alice leading the charge with the guitars sounding heavy at a slower clip than Dynamite Road but still a good swift kick in the ass …

Ahh Horns! Coop incorporates some real cool  Brass in Holy Water. Basically Holy Water is like if one of Coops Boa’s put the choke on a Huey Lewis  tune and squeezed the devil out of Huey! Nice shuffle like vibe!

Rats a typical like Alice tune. Straight ahead Alice rocker. Kind quirky  but you gotta expect this stuff from the man known as Coop! Slick hard rock solo.

The Sound of A. Kinda a creepy send off from Alice. Bizarre like creepy vibe but this is Coopville!

So Alice gets the original mid 70’s Cooper band back together. Genuine American Girl  has that 70’s like Cooper throwback sound. Nice to see Coop reunite with these guys!

The second track featuring the original Coop band is You And All Your Friends has Alice singing he’s going to burn down your city! More throwback like vibes on this tune. Real cool wicked slide guitar solo from Steve Hunter. 

This album totally surprised me at how good it is! Alice steps up and give all involved full props! This album has gotten a ton of press and is selling and charting high around the world as well!

Cool how Alice has a current rock sound on the first 10 tracks whereas when the original Coop band play on the last two tracks it sounds like a 70’s throwback!

Buy This!