Alice Cooper

1969 was the year that Alice Cooper released their first album, Pretties For You. It was a strange album for the time, and is still quite strange by today's standards. Amidst gems that really showed what was to come from the group, such as "sing low, sweet cheerio", "fields of regret", and "changing arranging", were strange tidbit ideas of songs clocking in at 2 minutes or less, featuring odd vocal stylings, unexpected and frequent tempo changes and start-stop rhythms. This live album, recorded at the record's release party is a great window into the band's workings at the time. The quality far surpasses that of the much easier to find toronto rock'n'roll revival set from the same time period, and features a much more diverse setlist.

For the Alice Cooper fans who feel his output was spotty before and after the 1989 classic Trash on Epic, Brutal Planet is a cause to rejoice. It is a solid hard rock offering. Cooper is in great voice, and he sounds mean and spirited. The title track would be a blessing on radio today. It has great bottom, sizzling guitars, and wonderful backing vocalists. The most impressive thing about this album is Cooper's lyrics. "Sanctuary" could be Lou Reed meets Deep Purple in their heyday. Back in 1987 Cooper performed with an unruly band all over the map. It was very uncomfortable and a far cry from his heyday of "I'm 18" and "Under My Wheels": guitars too loud, and an artist obviously struggling with his personal demons.

With the 1974 disintegration of the original Alice Cooper group, Alice was free to launch a solo career. He wisely decided to re-enlist the services of Bob Ezrin for his solo debut, Welcome to My Nightmare, which was a concept album tied into the story line of the highly theatrical concert tour he launched soon after the album's release. While the music lost most of the gritty edge of the original AC lineup, Welcome to My Nightmare remains Alice's best solo effort – while some tracks stray from his expected hard rock direction, there's plenty of fist-pumping rock to go around…

The Alice Cooper Show is a live album by Alice Cooper, released by Warner Bros. in December 1977. It was recorded live in Las Vegas at the Aladdin Hotel on August 19 and 20, 1977, during Cooper's "King of the Silver Screen" United States tour. The TV special Alice Cooper and Friends featured live footage from that tour.

Some things never change – the sky is blue, two plus two equals four, the sun rises in the east, and Alice Cooper will make albums where he sneers out spooky lyrics as long as he can draw breath. Cooper hadn't had anything resembling a hit since the mid-'90s, but the man clearly had no desire to retire, and though he was 69 years old when he released Paranormal in 2017, he still sounded admirably spry and hadn't lost his voice or his charisma. Paranormal was released not long after Cooper reunited with surviving members of the original Alice Cooper band for some surprise shows, and the advance word on the album had it that Cooper was going to write and record with them.