Alice Cooper - Welcome 2 My Nightmare (Album Review)
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Written by Heather McDaid
For fans of horror, showmanship and that darker element to rock, Alice Cooper has been satisfying all of your needs for upwards of 40 years. With this horrifically splendid triumph comes another dose of dark satisfaction in the form of his new album ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’, the musical sequel, if you will, to his first solo record, 1975’s ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’.
Alice’s original Nightmare may be over 35 years old, but there’s no sense of regurgitating past tracks in the new release. Earlier this year at Download Festival, Alice himself explained that this record tells a more modern nightmare, questioning "What would be a nightmare for Alice now, 30 years later?" That answer, assumedly, remains disco.
The key quality this album possesses stands out proudly before you so much as hit play. For this project, Alice joined forces yet again with Bob Ezrin, the celebrated producer behind the original nightmare album. He is also famed for his work with KISS, Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails, to name but a few. The duo are a force to be reckoned with and, as Alice stated in the aforementioned press conference, "Bob does not allow you to put a filler on an album". Already, it’s safe to declare this endeavour should go well.
Gladly welcomed to Alice’s latest ‘nightmare’ before so much as listening to it, it’s time to touch on the album itself. It is difficult to focus purely on musicality because, as many are accustomed to, Alice is a story-teller and this journey, albeit down a twisted, dark road, remains a tale all the same.
A link between albums is defined immediately as ‘I Am Made Of You’ kicks off the record with the exact piano fragment of the original album’s 9th track ‘Steven’. This strong link is one of the few that rears its head throughout the record. Eerily leading you into the record, this is the metaphorical lullaby; the calm before the stormy nightmare, if you will.
After a more lucid and chaotic ‘Caffeine’, a track that didn’t go down quite as well, ‘The Nightmare Returns’ cranks the creepy dial up to 11, rearing ‘Steven’’s piano segment yet again for a brief interlude. ‘A Runaway Train’ calls out with a sinister “Last call for the nightmare express”… The journey continues with mass confusion that sees ‘Last Man On Earth’ take a jazz infused, country twist. Tracks greatly vary in sound and influences; some like giving the Beatles electric guitars and a bit more attitude (‘The Congregation’), an Alice twist on The Rolling Stones (‘I’ll Bite Your Face Off’) and even a stripped down ballad (‘Something To Remember Me By’). ‘Ghouls Gone Wild’ is a summer jam track, seemingly suited for driving to the beach with the car top down and friends in tow. The latter is an ironic track by Alice, but whether it’s to your taste is based on how much sarcasm you can take and how much of a grasp you can relinquish on the classic, darker sound.
The key track of dispute on ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ is ‘Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever’. Following on from the previous comment of tolerating irony, Alice grabs his distaste for disco and runs with it wholeheartedly into the dance vibe with a slight rock twist. Any track that can produce the lyric, “You got grill, you got bling but playa you don’t know a thing” on an Alice Cooper album is either going to cause a grin or a furrowed brow. Tongue in cheek tracks like this allow Alice to test the boundaries of not only his musical experimentation, but how much his fans can willingly accept.
The prime surprise of the album, to many, may be ‘What Baby Wants’, which features pop mistress Ke$ha. In a similar vein to Alice’s track with Nicole Scherzinger on Slash’s self-titled record, many overlook the quality of the track itself to focus on pre-judgement of who they’ve worked with. This is an admittedly poppier track, but keeps a certain darkness at the core. “I can’t wait to wake up in my very own bed” draws us to the album’s penultimate track, ‘I Gotta Get Outta Here’, signalling the finale is near; and what a finale it is.
‘The Underture’ is a fantastic work of nostalgia on Cooper and Ezrin’s part; an amalgamation of numerous tracks from ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ and the original ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’. He may have had upwards of 15 albums between these two releases, but this is a real trip down memory lane as you’re presented with a mix of his first solo record and his most recent; an Alice Cooper top and tail of sorts. The album ends on a glorious crescendo and the nightmare is, once again, over.
‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ is overall a good album, but leaves much open to debate. To many, he may solely appear an icon of shock and rock and the risk that runs with such tongue-in-cheek track choices is that some may not run along with it wholeheartedly. Personally, the album is a good one and has a strong and lengthy list of collaborators. Having said that, we’re not ready to relinquish our grasp on ‘Dragontown’ and others from his past discography, but this album is a wonderful addition and tale to enjoy. Alice is a true musical experimenter and natural born storyteller.
40 years is a long time in the business and, let’s be completely honest, Alice Cooper will never stop thrilling, shocking and entertaining the masses in his own little warped way
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The key track of dispute on ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ is ‘Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever’. Following on from the previous comment of tolerating irony, Alice grabs his distaste for disco and runs with it wholeheartedly into the dance vibe with a slight rock twist. Any track that can produce the lyric, “You got grill, you got bling but playa you don’t know a thing” on an Alice Cooper album is either going to cause a grin or a furrowed brow. Tongue in cheek tracks like this allow Alice to test the boundaries of not only his musical experimentation, but how much his fans can willingly accept.
