The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper
This is a 4 disc set of Alice Cooper which ranges from the early days when they were known as The Spiders then briefly The Nazz to Alice Cooper. Put together by one of Alice Cooper's biggest fan and assistant Brian Nelson who's been w/ Alice since the early '80's. So this box set is filled w/ a lot of unreleased material compared to other artist box sets. This also comes w/ an 80 page booklet which I will get into in the 'Artwork' section which follows this review of these 4 remarkable discs.

Disc 1
Total of 21 tracks this starts off w/ 4 prior Alice Cooper tracks. Known as The Spiders they include 'Don't Blow Your Mind' which is very Rolling Stones influenced. "Hitch Hike' a Marvin Gaye song but they covered it cause they heard The Stones sing it and 'Why Don't You Love Me' has that Beatle sound to it. For a brief time The Spiders changed their name to The Nazz (until Todd Rundgren's band of the same name became popular) and came out w/ 'Lay down And Die Goodbye' which they say is very Yardbird's sounding. Matter of fact they say it's "Over Under Sideways Down" by the Yardbirds. So right then and there you know the top three influences of The Alice Cooper Group were The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and The Yardbirds. These songs are all very well done in showing how the band grew.
Now w/ the Alice Cooper moniker this disc starts off w/ 'Nobody Likes Me' which wasn't officially released until this box set came out. There are other versions of this song most notably in the changeable title bootleg of 'Toronto Rock N' Roll Revival 1969" or other titles such as "Freak Out Song", Slack Alice", Snorting Anthrax, etc... 'Levity Ball' was a studio version which wasn't on their first album "Pretties For You" but they did had a live version of 'Levity Ball'. This song is one of my favorites from their first album "Pretties For You" which was influenced by Pink Floyd. Another rare track is 'Call It Evil' which was around the "School's Out' recordings noted in the booklet. Michael Bruce says "Luckily, the tape recorder was rolling or it would have never been thought of again." Other tracks on this disc came from their first 5 albums from "Pretties For You" to "School's Out".

Disc 2
20 tracks total which starts off w/ five songs from "Billion Dollar Babies" album and 'Slick Black Limousine' which came out on a flexy disc in Britain's 'New Musical Express' magazine. The was originally titled 'Coal Black Model T' which had that 50's feel to it sort of Elvis sounding. The next five tracks come from 'Muscle Of Love' album which was the end of the original Alice Cooper Group. One of the songs 'Respect For The Sleepers' was a demo from "Muscle of Love" lp which is where 'Muscle of Love' track developed. The next two tracks are from "Fearless Flash versus The Zorg Women" which was a solo performance by Alice. See my review of "Fearless Flash versus The Zorg Women" Alice Collaboration section.
Now starts Alice's solo career which leads off w/ 'Welcome To My Nightmare' album of the same title and ends w/ 'Go To Hell' from "Alice Cooper Goes To Hell" album.

Disc 3
22 tracks from "Lace And Whiskey" to "Dada" albums. This also includes 'I Miss You' which is from the remaining original band (sans Glen Buxton) as The Billion Dollar Babies off their debut album "Battle Axe" a very good album which didn't get any good air play. Some other songs are from soundtracks such as 'No Time For Tears' was a song that didn't make it on "Sextette" Alice did w/ Mae West. She decided on the other song 'Next Next' which isn't on this box set. 'Because' the Beatle cover from "Sgt Pepper" movie. 'Road Rats' from the movie "Roadies" which didn't included "Pain" which both songs are w/ Utopia and produced by Todd Rundgren. More info of this lp can be viewed at Soundtracks. Two songs from Alice's "Monster Dog" movie which have that new wave sound to it. Then the track Alice fans have been asking about ever since they saw "Friday the 13th Part VI Jason Lives" the song "Hard Rock Summer". Another rarity is the missing track that was listed on "Special Forces" album 'Look At You Over There, Ripping Sawdust From My Teddybear' when you hear it you know why it never made it to the album.

Disc 4
18 tracks from "Constrictor" to "The Last Temptation" albums. You have 2 versions of 'He's Back' one is a demo the other the movie mix, both outstanding versions. Also includes 'Under My Wheels' w/ Guns n Roses from "Decline of Western Civilization Part II". 'I Got A Line On You' a Spirit cover song done w/ the Alice touch from the movie "Iron Eagle II".
T he B-side of 'How You Gonna See Me Now' titled 'No Tricks' w/ Betty Wright an R&B singer. This is the first time Alice ever did anything like this. I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs w/ such soul in it. I always thought this was an amazing song I wish they gave it air play I think no one really knows how versatile Alice can be.
Then you have Alice's mix of 'Hands Of Death (Spookshow 2000 Mix)' w/ Rob Zombie which is different than the version on w/out the "Rosemary Baby" sound bites that Rob spliced into his version on "Songs In The Key of X: The X Files" CD.
Plus you have the 'Is Anyone Home?' from Alice's "Fistful of Alice" which was the only studio song from that live recording CD.

This is one awesome collection of Alice tunes you can have in your collection. Of course people may complain not enough of this and to much of that. I think Brian Nelson did a an outstanding job of picking and selecting the material. I bet it took plenty of time sifting through all the material which we'll be hearing more of during other CD re-releases in the future.

Artwork: Includes an 80 page book that gives you insight to each track. You have comments not only by Alice but by the original band members as well as other musicians who worked on the songs. The introduction is written by John Lydon which also contains quotes from many artists such as Slash, Lemmy, Joey Ramone to name a few. Also this book includes tons of pictures that shows all stages of Alice Cooper. Each disc sleeve has the Alice of that time and on the opposite side features a 45 sleeve of that era. Again this a must for any Alice Cooper fan.