Glenn Cooper Ita

With his solo career fading, Glenn Frey got serious on his fourth album, but many of the album's sentiments sounded strange coming from him. "He Took Advantage" was subtitled "Blues for Ronald Reagan," but it came more than three years after Reagan's retirement, and Frey's 1984 song "Better in the U.S.A." could have served as Reagan's campaign song. On "I've Got Mine," Frey sang about how people in limousines don't care about "us," but when was the last time he was on the outside of a limousine looking in? Frey was out of his league going for the kind of philosophical/political territory better handled by his old partner Don Henley. So, although Strange Weather signaled a new commitment by Frey to his career, it missed the charts entirely. (The album concludes with "Part of Me, Part of You," an Eagles-like tune used in the 1991 film Thelma and Louise.)

This recording of Beethoven's 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, Op. 120, by British pianist Imogen Cooper was a strong seller when it appeared in March 2019, and there appear to be several reasons why. One is the introduction of the program with the Bagatelles, Op. 119, which are not so often heard and make a fine lead-in. Cooper almost runs the bagatelles together, which one might question: each one is a distinct entity, and playing them as Cooper does loses the strangeness of, say, the 15-second Allegramente bagatelle. But Cooper seems to be asserting the unity of the set, which is reasonable even though Beethoven wrote the works at different times; some are early works, and some were newly composed for publication in 1822.

Since the original Alice Cooper band was a major catalyst in the creation of punk rock (Cooper's snide lyrics, the band's raw rock, etc.), by the early '80s Cooper decided to re-embrace the genre after such overblown albums as From the Inside distanced him from his roots. The resulting album, 1981's Special Forces, was Cooper's most stripped-down and straightforward since his classic early-'70s work. But without the original Cooper band to back him up and help out with the songwriting, it's an intriguing yet sometimes uneven set. Cooper was heavily into the guns and ammo publication Soldier of Fortune at the time; hence the album title and lyrical subject matter.

Though Alice Cooper's 1989 comeback gave him his first hit album in over a decade, the Trash record left some diehard fans disappointed, as did 1991's Hey Stoopid. Many listeners felt that Cooper had sold himself short, now completely focusing on sleazy sexual anthems, making him just another face in the heavy metal crowd. By the time The Last Temptation was released in 1994, the hair band fad that had fueled Cooper's return was dead, and Cooper was obviously aware of its downfall – the album sounds almost nothing like its two predecessors. Instead of relating to such albums as Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood, Last Temptation seems more similar to Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears. Thematically, the record returns to mostly conceptual songs, such as "Nothing's Free," "You're My Temptation," and "Cleansed by Fire." Though the album still has a few goofy interruptions, such anthems as "Lost in America" nonetheless boast more originality than anything off of Hey Stoopid or Trash. Far surpassing anything Cooper recorded in almost 20 years, The Last Temptation is unquestionably some of his best work.

Tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper's only Contemporary album is a near-classic and one of his finest recordings. Cooper, along with trombonist Frank Rosolino, vibraphonist Victor Feldman, pianist Lou Levy, bassist Max Bennett, and drummer Mel Lewis, performs colorful versions of five standards (best are "Confirmation," "Easy Living," and "Somebody Loves Me") that show off his attractive tone and ability to swing at any tempo…

With the future of the original Alice Cooper band in doubt by mid-1974 (they would soon break up for good with Alice going solo), Warner Bros. decided to issue a best-of compilation entitled Greatest Hits. If you're a newcomer to Alice, this 12-track compilation is a must-hear – all the selections are exceptional. While many have chosen to focus primarily on Cooper's theatrics over the years, the original bandmembers were indeed supreme rock songwriters; such anthems as "I'm Eighteen," "Under My Wheels," "School's Out," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy" are unquestionably among the finest hard rock tracks of all time. And the other selections prove to be just as strong – "Is It My Body," "Desperado," "Be My Lover," "Elected," "Billion Dollar Babies," and "Muscle of Love" are all outstanding as well. The only criticism of the original release is that the collection overlooked the band's key album tracks never issued as singles.