2011 |
Welcome 2 My Nightmare I'm not going through all the tracks but here are a few. The opening track "I Am Made Of You" starts w/ "Steven" piano intro. Steve Hunter does an amazing guitar solo on this track. A Runaway Train you have the original band Michael Bruce, Neal Smith and Dennis Dunaway. Country musician Vince Gill does lead guitar on this track and really lets it rip. Last Man On Earth is very Tom Waits influenced. That's funny since Tom was inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame the same time as Alice. I always thought Tom would of been a good guest on "Alice Cooper Goes To Hell" album as the Devil. This is one of my favorite tracks. "I'll Bite Your Face Off" is the second track w/ Michael Bruce, Neal Smith and Dennis Dunaway. Alice is quoted as saying this a tip of the hat to The Stones. Near the end of the song is silent then a piano intro starts up which reminds me of The Who. "Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever" Alice says Hell is like Disco. There is no Hell in the original Welcome To My Nightmare but appeared in the loose sequel Alice Cooper Goes To Hell album. I said this way back during "Shockdance" that Alice shouldn't do Rap. John 5 does an amazing job in saving this song. "Something To Remember Me By" is from co-writer Richard Wagner who produced Alice's first ballad "Only Women Bleed". Alice says this is the most romantic song. Well it is on this album but Alice's last 5 ballads are much better. "When Hell Comes To Town" is the last collaboration w/ Bruce, Smith and Dunaway. This is one of the stand out songs. I can hear Michael Bruce's style on this track. The team of Cooper & Bruce was a pair to reckon w/ when it came to making hits. I would of love to hear the whole album in this style. This is a nightmare sound to it. Alice even sounds like this could of came from "Love It To Death" album. "What Baby Wants" Alice duets w/ Ke$ha on this pop tune. Ke$ha does a good job and interesting to have her play the Devil. This song grows on you. There are quite a few guest on this release besides the above one's I mentioned. Alice's 80's guitar player Kip Winger provides background vocals on 3 tracks. Rob Zombie as The Guide on "The Congregation" is it me or does Rob sound like Frank Zappa. Rob Zombie takes over Vincent Price's place on this album. Buckcherry's guitarist Keith Nelson co-wrote Caffeine. Co-writer of "I Gotta Get Outta Here" Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers Bonus track "Under The Bed" is a good bonus. Much better than "Flatline" on the vinyl.
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Artwork: This is from the Classic Rock's "Exclusive Limited Edition." The CD is created like a hardcover book. Art Direction is by Ernie Cefalu who did "School's Out" album and "Old School" box set. The cover art I have a problem. It's a revised version of Drew's '75 "Welcome To My Nightmare" cover only this one has Alice w/ his eye make up. Alice popping out of a metal triangle frame w/ a exaggerated top hat and his arms propped out of the frame just makes Alice look like a Muppet. The "Alice Cooper" and the "2" look too cartoonish. The inside is very cool. Each page has a different style. Every page is easy to read the lyrics except for "The Underture" spread. These two pages list all the tracks credits and very hard to read over the image in the background. I like the last page which brings back the original cover Illustration from '75 only a bit for ware w/ running ink, smears and drops of blood. The holder for the CD is a sleeve attached to the inside back cover. It's ghost image of a skull w/ Alice eye make up. I love the CD itself w/ reminds me of old style horror mood. The "Alice Cooper" type on the label is from his "Constrictor" album only not as tight & clean. It's more like running and dripping. I like this style the best. The back cover is like the front only Alice's back is in the triangle frame w/ a splatter number 2 on his shirt as Alice turns to us w/ sneer. Bottom of the image shows Alice in flames does this mean Alice is back in hell. On both sides of the image is the list of songs. |
