In my quest to re-familiarize myself with a lot of the rock music I heard growing up (either through my dad or big brother), I'm coming across some really great albums. The newest one of these in my collection is Alice Cooper's first solo outing, Welcome to My Nightmare. Top to bottom, this is a really fun album, like taking a tour of a house of horrors and Alice is the tour guide.

One of my favorite things about 70s rock albums - and something that is sorely missing from today's sloppy, lop-sided with hits and filler album compilations - is the subtle art of track sequencing. There are so many good songs on here that skipping over any of them or listening to them out of order almost defeats the listening experience. It's not a heavy rocker, the title track is a great start to the album, and that damn catchy horn section runs through my head for days after listening to it! Cold Ethyl gives me the giggles, and Department of Youth is one of those great rock anthems that is best appreciated with both the treble and volume turned up really, really loud. That tune is surely going to be the most recent addition to my "gotta listen to it twice in a row" catalogue.

Listening to Only Women Bleed, I was thinking that it might have caused a stir during its time, and sure enough it did. Maybe an Orger old enough to recall that can fill me in on the controversy. Either way, it's a beautiful ballad. Reminds me of a Rolling Stones tune. Devil's Food and The Black Widow are also good ones, but every song on here is worth a listen. I've got other Alice albums to add to my collection somewhere down the line. Now I only wish I could have been around to see that tour. What a lot of fun that would have been!

No Alice Cooper = No Marilyn Manson

Try PINK FLOYDD...(THE WALL), KISS, The EAGLES, VAN HALEN, HENDRIX , IRON BUTTERFLY, The DOORS, CYBEROPTICS. Welcome 2 my nitemare is cool 2. Of course....BOWIE. STING, CATACLYSMIC SLIDE 2 name a few off the top of my perty head. ENJOY!

I love this album from my childhood. I mean, C'mon, Vincent Price? What is there not to love?

Need to add it to the ipod

I probably would recognize this album because I remember my stepmother had it.

Those insects on the cover creep(ed) me out.

grandebelle said:

I didn't say I'd never heard of rock n roll!

i was a HUGE alice cooper fan when i was teen (probably until about 16 or 17). at one point i co-wrote a fanzine with an old friend of mine. we got hooked up with alice's personal assistant, brian, and they would give us all the official news and updates. it was pretty cool for some teenage kid to get the news before those cheesy rock magazines that featured the hair metal bands, lol! i haven't listened to alice in ages but still have an amount of respect for the fact that he started the whole shock rock thing. there'd be no kiss or marilyn manson if it weren't for him.

hmm...maybe i should be angry at alice for that.

Slash said:

Once again Slasher is correct.Great album.By the way slash,you and velvet revolver kicked my ass saturday night in maryland Great show!

13inchshoe said:

please don't sue me

Those of you that love the album hopefully love, or have at least seen, the tv special that he & Vincent Price did together for ABC in '75. It was called - 'The Nightmare', and was an early form of videos for every song on WTMN. Fantastic, classic stuff. Check it out, if you can find it.

lyricsdaddy said:

Heard of it, but have never seen it. Must...hunt...it...down!

Slash said:

Never .I gave myself whiplash during gnr's It's so easy" though.

RipHer2Shreds said:

Make sure you get the 2002 remaster.Great sound,and the bonus tracks are from the 1975 abc special

Frakin' great album!

I have a halloween mix that I made last fall (with suggestions from Orgers) and I have this song on it...there's something kinda sexual about this song. I get kinda tingly when I hear it.

Love this album. The first half of "Devil's Food" is brilliant and the second is very cool as well. That was a blueprint for Michael on the song "Thriller" having Vincent Price guest on the song. "Billion Dollar Babies" is my all-time fave Alice album, but this ranks high as well. The sound of this album is also responsible for KISS's breakout album "Destroyer". Both were produced by the great Bob Ezrin.

blackguitaristz said:

Yeah, I knew about the Ezrin connection. I was also going to buy Billion Dollar Babies, but my LRS was all out of it! Next time they'd better have it or I'm gonna start a fire!

Slash said:

Well Said Slash.

I remember seeing this special by Alice ("Welcome To My Nightmare") on tv back in the day and it scared the living shit out of me (lol). Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons were SCARY back then! Alice has had some good LP's and he seems like a cool and funny guy offstage.

SPYZFAN1 said:

You must've been pretty young, or you must scare easy. It's a cool piece of rock video history, but it was extremely cheesy (in a 70s variety special kind of way), & I just can't see how someone could be scared by THAT (of course maybe you have a fear of crappy dance numbers).

SPYZFAN1 said:

Yep.Was the 1st record to scare the shit out of me,when I first heard it in the early 80's.Steven, and The awakening were the songs that did it.The bong didn't hurt either

I loved the Billion Dollar Babies album better than Welcome To My Nightmare, because MDB was more raw while WTMN was epic-like.
[Edited 5/23/05 19:17pm]

13inchshoe said:

"steven"...i forgot all about that track! my friend and i made a video to that song, complete with straight jacket and all. god we were corny!

SassyBritches said:

I remember "Years Ago" used to really creep me out. Don't really know why. I guess it just had an evil type of feel to it.

JediMaster said:

Dead on.That opening part is creepy("Here I go again...")

blackguitaristz said:

Good call on Ezrin.Great producer.Lou reed's-Berlin,Floyd's-The wall and NIN(I believe)

13inchshoe said:

Thanx. Yeah, Ezrin was the shit in the 70's.

13inchshoe said:

You are correct. The NIN in question was The Fragile

13inchshoe said:

Yeah I was young cat back then.(lol) If I can recall, there was something else I saw with Alice back then. I forgot what show it was, but Alice was singing and the stage prop was a huge mouth w/ teeth. And while he was singing, there was a dentist's office set up in the mouth. When the song was over, the two "monsters" pulled Alice in the mouth and it closed. THAT scared the hell out of me! I forgot if that was a part of the "Nightmare" show or if it was some other variety show.