Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies : Deluxe Edition - Disc 2 of 2 CD Track Listing

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Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies : Deluxe Edition - Disc 2 of 2 (2001)
Billion Dollar Babies : Deluxe Edition - Disc 2 of 2\n2001 Rhino Entertainment Company\n\nOriginally Released 1973\nRemastered 2CD Edition Released February 6, 2001\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: With 1973's Billion Dollar Babies, Alice Cooper refined the raw grit of their earlier work in favor of a slightly more polished sound (courtesy of super-producer Bob Ezrin), resulting in a mega-hit album that reached the top of the U.S. album charts. Song for song, Billion Dollar Babies is probably the original Alice Cooper group's finest and strongest. Such tracks as "Hello Hooray," the lethal stomp of the title track, the defiant "Elected" (a re-write of an earlier song, "Reflected"), and the poison-laced pop candy of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" remain among Cooper's greatest achievements. Also included are a pair of perennial concert standards - the disturbing necrophilia ditty "I Love the Dead" and the chilling macabre of "Sick Things" - as well as such strong, lesser-known selections as "Raped and Freezin'," "Unfinished Sweet," and perhaps Cooper's most overlooked gem, "Generation Landslide." Nothing seemed like it could stop this great hard-rock band from overtaking the universe, but tensions between the members behind the scenes would force the stellar original A.C. band to split up after just one more album. Not only is Billion Dollar Babies one of Alice Cooper's very best; it remains one of rock's all-time, quintessential classics. -- Greg Prato\n\nCD Now Review (January 17, 2001)\nOriginally released in the spring of 1973, Billion Dollar Babies was at once the apex of the Alice Cooper Group's pop-trash aesthetic, a giant leap into vaudeville humor, and an ironic poke at a culture that had made the band the most successful rock act ever to be loathed by American parents. And while it didn't quite match the thematic unity of its two immediate predecessors (1971's Killer and 1972's School's Out), it did yield more hit singles than any previous Cooper effort. \n\nHandsomely repackaged into a two-disc set, this remastered reissue serves as a reminder of what all the fuss was about. By 1973, Cooper had honed his serrated rasp into a malleable instrument equally capable of delivering ferocious anthems or Broadway-style balladry. Just as important, the Cooper Band had evolved into a crack composing unit with instrumental skills to match. On the title track, for instance, drummer Neal Smith and bassist Dennis Dunaway maneuver through one of the trickiest rhythm attacks ever crafted for a pop song, while "Raped and Freezin'" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy" showcase guitarist Michael Bruce as a master of the elegantly simple rock riff. \n\nIn addition to the original disc, the set includes a second CD comprised mostly of live performances culled from two Texas shows staged in April of 1973. Although the band is in fine form, by then the rigors of touring and the failing health of lead guitarist Glen Buxton were beginning to take a toll. The Alice Cooper Group would forge on to make one more album (the lackluster Muscle of Love), but in retrospect, Billion Dollar Babies represents the climactic send-up of a union that deteriorated all too quickly. -- Russell Hall, CDNOW Contributing Writer\n\nCD Connection Review\nBILLION DOLLAR BABIES: DELUXE EDITION contains a remixed and remastered version of BILLION DOLLAR BABIES, a bonus CD of live tracks and outtakes, and a flexi-disc single. It is packaged in a digi-pak. \n\nAlice Cooper Group: Alice Cooper (vocals); Michael Bruce (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Glen Buxton (guitar); Dennis Dunaway (bass, background vocals); Neal Smith (drums, background vocals). \n\nAdditional personnel includes: Donovan (vocals); Mick Mashbir, Dick Wagner, Steve Hunter (guitar); Bob Dolin (keyboards). \n\nProducer: Bob Ezrin. \n\nReissue producers: David McLees, Brian Nelson, Bill Inglot. \n\nEngineers include: Shelly Yakus, Robin Black, Jack Douglas. \n\nRecorded at The Cooper Mansion, Greenwich, Connecticut, Morgan Studios, London, England, and The Record Plant, New York, New York from 1973 to 1973; live in Houston & Dallas, Texas on April 28 & 29, 1973. Includes liner notes by Brian Smith. \n\nDigitally remastered by Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot (DigiPrep) and by Brian Kehew and Bill Inglot (November 2000, Capitol Studios). \n\nWith 1973's BILLION DOLLAR BABIES, Alice Cooper scored their first global #1 album, but it would be the last "classic" release by the original line-up (who would split one year later). The band sheds the raw garage-rock of earlier albums in favor of a glossier production, but grit and sleaze can still be detected at the music's core. With their highly theatrical stage show (which featured Cooper getting his head chopped off by a guillotine), Alice Cooper became a household name, but the material on BILLION DOLLAR BABIES was so exceptional that there was no danger of the music being overshadowed by gimmicks. \n\nWhile three songs became U.K. top ten singles ("Hello Hooray," "Elected," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy") the rest of the album is just as strong. The title track features a backing vocal by Donovan and a mammoth backbeat from drummer Neal Smith, while sweet melodicism plays an important role in "Generation Landslide" and "Mary Ann." But Cooper's trademark disturbing music and lyrics can still be detected on the rest of the tracks--"Raped And Freezin'," "Unfinished Sweet," "Sick Things" and "I Love the Dead," making this one of the best, most popular hard rock releases of the early '70s. \n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nThe original Alice Cooper band was one of the finest hard-rock units of the early '70s, which is why the second disc of this remastered version of Billion Dollar Babies is such a treat. Eleven bonus tracks from the band's 1973 tour display the Cooper band's taste for pop-culture--and a sense of humor, as Alice quotes from Don McLean's "American Pie" on a wonderful version of "I'm Eighteen," while the band delivers a ripping "Theme from Perry Mason" during an extended workout of "Unfinished Sweet." Rounded out with session outtakes, the second disc will have fans praying that Rhino unearths more live material. As for Billion Dollar Babies itself, it may not be the Cooper band's best album, but it was the final release of a quartet of extraordinary Bob Ezrin-produced hard-rock records (rounded out by Love It to Death, Killer, and School's Out), and it captures the moment when the band was at their peak. Including three hit singles in "Hello Hooray," "Elected," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," the album--from Donovan's exciting cameo on the title track to the closing "I Love the Dead" (probably the prettiest ode to necrophilia ever recorded)--still sounds terrific. And the packaging, production, music, and imagery has inspired followers as diverse as the Sex Pistols, Marilyn Manson, and Hole. --Bill Holdship \n
This rock cd contains 14 tracks and runs 57min 53sec.
Freedb: bc0d8f0e
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