Unknown Soldier

Overview
On Love it to Death the Alice Cooper band had found their true calling and would further consolidate this calling on Killer its follow-up album, which was also released the same year (the preceding Love it to Death features even higher on this 1971 list) Killer would be the album that would launch Alice Cooper into the big league and is considered by many as one of his greatest works. The band would quickly gain notoriety first in their native USA and then later in the UK, for their so called shocking theatrical stage shows, that’s certainly exaggerated by today’s standards, but this was the early 1970s here and people just weren’t used to this type of thing! What most people never realized though, was that the Alice Cooper band were not really the shocking miscreants that they had been labelled, they were basically just artists, who were interested in perfecting a high quality theatrical stage show, to match the music that they wanted to put out. Vincent Furnier (Alice Cooper) stated that the band were just into beer, sex, death, money and just having a good time, and I believe him! In the early days, the band were often booed off stage and Vincent Furnier even got a cream pie in his face!!! Initially their stage act just didn’t go down in LA, prompting the band to go to Detroit Vincent Furnier’s hometown, which with its motor city madness was home to the likes of The Stooges and MC5, so Detroit was used to being shocked! When it came to shock-rock, Alice Cooper in almost every aspect from both their music and stage show, rank as an original, only Arthur Brown and his band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown predates him (just) But Arthur Brown basically just turned out as a one-shot artist that failed to capitalize on his debut album. Alice Cooper though, quickly evolved their stage show and by the time of their third and fourth albums, it was already honed to perfection. The stage show included all types of ghoulish macabre, electric chairs, boa constrictors, straight-jackets, mangled baby dolls and simulated hangings……nice! Alice Cooper were so good at what they did, that the only other band that could match them in terms of quality especially on the stage show in the 1970s were the Tubes, who along with Alice Cooper were a completely misunderstood band, that also received a lot of unnecessary flak. On Killer the first of two Alice Cooper albums to make this list, the definition of the band’s trashy, violent but often humorous sound is very much in evidence.

Vincent Furnier- Vocals
Glen Buxton- Guitar
Michael Bruce- Rhythm/Keyboards
Dennis Dunaway- Bass
Neal Smith- Drums
Bob Ezrin- Keyboards

Production- Bob Ezrin

Album
Under My Wheels- A signature Alice Cooper song, a great intro with its fast paced good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll approach. Be My Lover- More tongue-in-cheek humour from Alice Cooper. Halo of Flies- Another early lengthy band track, that is probably even more diverse than the longer songs on Love it to Death. The song is highlighted by its Spanish style rhythm section and its galloping interludes, before Alice Cooper moves into an eastern influenced section and then the song gradually moves into its raging crescendo. Desperado- A slick sounding ballad/chorus number, that possibly ranks as Alice Cooper’s best song from his early period. It’s so slickly sung and this song is so Vincent Furnier, it just couldn’t be anybody else, this is basically the unofficial title track in all but name. You Drive me Nervous- Not one one of the strongest tracks on the album, but that’s not to say it’s bad either. Yeah Yeah Yeah- Like the previous “You Drive Me Nervous” the album hits its second weaker track in a row, this is humorous filler and the harmonica section is the highlight of the song. Dead Babies- The undoubted saviour of side-two of the album, with its slow moving and atmospheric intro (almost Pink Floyd in feel at times) before the song trips into more familiar Alice Cooper territory. Killer- The title track has a different vibe in regards to the rest of the album and feels at times more like a jamming track than a your typical Alice Cooper track, before the song finishes itself with various experimental sounding sections and outros.

Verdict
In many ways Killer is a more compact album than Love it to Death, but probably not as interesting and eclectic as the preceding release. Killer is without doubt an album of consolidation after the band’s commercial breakthrough and in songs of the calibre of “Under My Wheels” “Be My Lover” and the outstanding “Desperado” the band easily achieve their aim here, of putting out short and catchy numbers. But that’s not to say that the more interesting side of the band’s music is not represented though, because in “Halo of Flies” and “Dead Babies” the band show that they do the longer material just as well yet again and like the previous album, the compositions are again all co-band efforts throughout and this time without any cover tracks. It is these aspects in my mind, that makes these two Bob Ezrin produced albums such essential listens for 1971, with their perfect combination of a band doing both catchy commercial tracks with great comical touches and then effortlessly drifting into more psychedelic territory with subtle experimental touches, and then the whole thing being melded together by Vincent Furnier’s sleazy and potent vocals. Killer as an album, may well rank as Alice Cooper’s most humorous release with its tongue-in cheek humour, all deliciously wrapped around recognizable catchy songs, full of Alice Cooper fanfare. Alice Cooper with their brand of hard rock would not only be influential of future acts, most notably from the glam rock and glam metal movements, but his elaborate stage show would go on to set new boundries in theatrical shock-rock as well. The following year, The Cooper’s would put out their true signature song in the single “School’s Out” which needs no introduction to anybody with an interest in rock music, it’s one of the most famous singles of the 1970s! Its accompanying album would be a concept album, which wouldn’t have the quality of either Love it To Death or Killer, but it was the album that made him a household name.

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