Album Review: Alice Cooper - “Detroit Stories”

 

The arrival of a new Alice Cooper album in 2021 is something where you generally think "well, this could go either way really..." The harsh truth is that since 2012's excellent Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Alice's output has been a bit patchy to be honest with 2018's Paranormal having a definite whiff of being phoned in and the two Hollywood Vampires albums being decidedly less than essential.

Detroit Stories is, as the name suggests, a tribute to the town where the original Alice Cooper band made their name and when it gets off to a start with a cover of Lou Reed's Rock 'n' Roll, although it's done well enough, it's not exactly a sign that this is a band with its kick back.

Then, of course, second track Go Man Go smacks you right in the teeth with a frenzied incendiary slice of garage punk. It's easily the best song Alice has put his name to in the last eight years or so and you breathe a sigh of relief. Lead off single Social Debris is a similar rip-roarer and sandwiched between the two is the downright odd Our Love Will Change The World - one part Sweet style '70s glam rock and one part Broadway musical number. It's pretty clear early on that you need to expect the unexpected here.

It continues on an enjoyably idiosyncratic path afterwards - the slinky Motown groove of $1000 High Heel Shoes and the sleazy blues rock of Drunk And In Love and Wonderful World add a bit of variety where it's needed to keep you interested. However, there's a very heavy MC5 influence on here and it's a satisfyingly meaty take on garage rock which comprises the majority of the stuff on here - Hail Mary, I Hate You, Shut Up And Rock, Independence Dave and a re-recording of 2003's excellent Detroit City are all great stuff and see Alice sounding re-energised after some of his more disappointing recent efforts. The sinister Hanging On By A Thread even sees him offering a message of hope to those who've been worn down by the world events in the last couple of years. Unexpected but definitely most welcome.

What Detroit Stories proves is that you write Alice Cooper off at your peril. After a couple of lacklustre albums, this is the sound of the flame being reignited and it's comfortably up there with Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Dirty Diamonds and The Eyes Of Alice Cooper as one of his best 21st century albums. Paying plenty of lip service to his golden '70s era but with a few unexpected tricks and turns in there to make sure that your attention is well and truly held until the end, this is a good 'un. Sing it from the rooftops, the Shockfather is back and he means business.

NITE SONGS: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A brief return from the dead...

Image
  Yup, we're back. Don't all get excited at once. I’d been toying with the idea of doing an end of year list again this year and after a lot of umming and aahing eventually decided to go for it. As with last year, inevitably there were bumps along the way. As of the start of December, I thought this list would be around 40 albums but inevitably reading other people’s lists pointed me towards a bunch of stuff that had passed me by earlier in the year. Plus of course there’s always a few teasing buggers who put stuff out at the last possible moment. So 40 became 50 which became 60 which finally became 70. You lucky people. Actually though, reading through this list, the main thing that strikes me is that I think this might be the most musically varied end of year list that Nite Songs has ever done. From gentle acoustics through acclaimed indie veterans to punk thrash and good old fashioned scuzzy rock ‘n’ roll via some decidedly unexpected diversions (industrial folk music? Check...
Read more

Garbage Days Revisited #90: Soho Roses - "The Third And Final Insult" (1989)

Image
  "If you won't love me then I'll find someone who will!"  - Soho Roses  - So Alone The Soho Roses were a classic case of right band, wrong time. If they'd broken on to the scene in the last few years then they'd have had a ready made audience on the 21st century power pop scene and probably be regulars at Some Weird Sin and similar club nights in the Smoke. The reality? They broke through towards the tail end of the '80s and got lumped in with the dying embers of the Soho glam scene, leaving behind one sadly underappreciated album and a few EP's before self-combusting. In a way, I sort of see the Roses as a British version of Enuff Z'Nuff. Not so much in terms of their sound but more of the fact that they were a group crowbarred in with glam who weren't really a natural fit there and kind of paid the price for it - I've always thought Enuff Z'Nuff sounded more like a Britpop band with flashbomb guitars than a hair metal band. Oh sure, ...
Read more

Album Review: The Fades - "Night Terrors"

Image
  Hailing from South London, the Fades are gaining a reputation of one of the premier garage rock bands in the capital these days and, as with a few albums we've reviewed in these webpages of late, Night Terrors  was written during the lockdown as it was a recurring feature of life for the band's frontman Dave during the lockdown. As befits its title and subject matter, Night Terrors  is an off-kilter effort which might take a few listens to get into but rewards those who persevere with it. Certainly, the discordant vocals and guitars often give the impression of the whole operation being on the verge of collapse on the likes of The Pessimist  and Known It All Along  while Lost My Job  goes into XTC/Nightingales style post-punk territory. However, the likes of People In General  show that they can rein the weirdness in and build up an intriguing multi-part epic which starts off as tuneful new wave before drifting into a nightmarish state-of-the-nation ...
Read more