Alice Cooper - Constrictor

Alice! First seen circa ’71 via Reveille or (ahem) Titbits magazine at our cousins in Oxfordshire. Outrageous scenes of blood-filled dolls being ‘corrected’ with a hatchet. During said sojourn in the countryside Mr Cooper popped up on Top Of The Pops with School’s Out, bursting bubbles with a rapier. Brother & I thought him great. Our older relations jeered that he couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding. And so began an on-off love affair with the man, his image and his music that lasts to this day.


I’ve always meant to pick up this album, and the fact that it arrived yesterday wrenched me from a slough of despond. Like David Bowie, Alice has always been a bit of a chameleon, adapting his sound to suit the times. Not always successfully, but then he’s never rested on his laurels, and always proved willing to take a chance.

After problems with the booze and (allegedly) recording around three albums he couldn’t remember recording, the Nightmare returned with this stonking set of 80s blaring feelgood metaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal. I was fortunate enough to see him live for the first time during this comeback, and he lived up to every expectation

Teenage Frankenstein – Rock ‘n’ roll! I think this was the one where he built up some boxes on stage and …they came to life! Terrific evocation of the awkwardness of those difficult years.

Give It Up – Slating the life of the normal (even if I’m living it) is always a tonic, and this is so rousing

Thrill My Gorilla – the very title of this song propels this album into classic status.

Life And Death Of The Party – Phew! After three jet-propelled rockers, it’s time to stand back a little and reflect, with a dash of the old morbid Alice.

Simple Disobedience - Indeed

The World Needs Guts – back to blasting, stand-up-for-yourself rawk– greatness.

Trick Bag – still fun, but lacking some the sheer verve of its predecessors.

The Great American Success Story – Yippee! Apparently an unwanted or discarded theme for Rodney Dangerfield’s film Back To School, it’s great.

He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask) – What a way to finish! Synth heavy, but with a bit o’ geetar in the middle, this is AC stalking the graveyard once again. F13 VI was top stuff, with Jason shedding the serial killer mantle to become supernatural, resurrected by lightning in the middle of a rainstorm. The film also featured a Karloff’s General Store ISTR. Crikey, Dokken churned out a theme for A Nightmare On Elm St III (and Alice (or at least his voice) actually turned up in ANOES IV – with Iggy singing the theme), the Ramones gave us Pet Semetary and The Dickies Killer Klowns From Outer Space. This is what we want.