AliceCooper - Welcome to my Nightmare

The first ‘solo’ Alice Cooper album may well be the last masterpiece he ever recorded. There have been good albums here and there, but even the best (From the Inside) doesn’t quite have the same drive behind it. What I first noticed is how different all the tracks were from each other. While not quite White Album diversity it’s still pretty impressive.

The album is a loose concept album (the concept itself can only be tied directly to a few tracks at the end of the album) about a character called Steven. Oh, and there’s a murder in there as well. Well, there’s a reference to a murder anyway. The music is performed pretty much flawlessly and the production is thick. The tone is quite a bit lighter than the group albums were, with the exception of Years Ago/Steven/The Awakening sequence which closes the record.

For me, the only real weak points are The Department of Youth which I guess is an attempt to remake School’s Out, and Escape which is the Steven Spielberg ending. Personally, the album ends at The Awakening.

Devil's Food
Years Ago/Steven