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From the Vault...
10/17/1999
#651 |
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info
Alice Cooper
"Pretties For You"
© Rhino Records
Year of Release: 1969
Rating:
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track listing
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Titanic Overture
10 Minutes BeforeThe Worm
Sing Low, Sweet Cheerio
Today Mueller
Living
Fields Of Regret
No Longer Umpire
Levity Ball(Live at the Cheetah)
B.B. On Mars
Reflected
Apple Bush
Earwigs To Eternity
Changing Arranging
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Alice Cooper
"Pretties For You"
Every band has their humble beginnings. And Pretties For You,
the debut album by Alice Cooper is much different than the standard hard rock
style Alice and his band (during and after) became famous for.
"Titanic Overture", a short introduction, is theatrical, and
progressive; different than how Alice would later be. "10 Minutes Before
The Worm" has the early sound of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. "Sing Low,
Sweet Cheerio" has the common sound of the bands of the late 1960s,
psychedelia. "Today Mueller" has the early sound of Pink Floyd and the
early years of The Who.
The psychedelic 1960s sound returns with "Living", with the vocal
stylings compared to The Byrds, when they experimented with psychedelic rock.
"Fields Of Regret" has the British late-1960s rock sound, and "No
Longer Umpire" is another trip in common psychedelia.
"Levity Ball (Live at the Cheetah)" has some potential; it's
ghostly guitar licks at the beginning of the song keeps your attention.
Likewise, it has some changes throughout the song, that again, keeps a keen
ear, as unique in sound (psychedelic, once again), this song is of true
interest.
"B.B. On Mars" is another short Who-like number (as in Sell
Out), yet it has a hard rock/psychedlic touch. "Reflected" is
definitely compared in sound to Pink Floyd's first album Piper At The
Gates Of Dawn, but in reality, the lyrics would later be used (and
changed) for a future Alice Cooper song that would be on the band's
Billion Dollar Babies album, a song called "Elected".
"Apple Bush" has a bouncy beat, British 1960s band style.
"Earwigs To Eternity" has the early Pink Floyd/Who sound, as in many
previous songs heard before on this album. The album's closing song,
"Changing Arranging" is another British 1960s rock-sounding song.
Bottom line on the debut album by Alice Cooper: It's a psychedelic album,
sounding like many British rock bands who were popular at the time.
This album does feature Alice Cooper's most famous band: Neal Smith (drums),
Dennis Dunaway (bass), Glen Buxton (lead guitar), and Mike Bruce (rhythm guitar).
Yet this band that formed from the United States has the British sound, compared
to such bands as the early years of Pink Floyd, The Who, and King Crimson.
Some of the songs on Pretties For You were "building blocks" to form a
better sound that Alice Cooper would later define. These songs were working
models for what would later surface on their second album, Easy Action.
Their second album is psychedelic, yet it has a sound that Alice Cooper's band
would call their own.
For the die-hard Alice Cooper fan who enjoy their albums such as Billion
Dollar Babies, School's Out, Love It To Death and Killer, Pretties For
You may well be a disappointment. Because in hearing the common sound of
the band's later (and more popular) albums, Pretties For You was their
debut, and as each new album was released, their sound had was definitely
improving. But it's always a thrill in hearing how a major rock band first
started out with their debut album. Alice Cooper's sound was blended in with
the rest of the bands that were around at the time. But instead of having
that common sound like everyone else around them, Alice Cooper and his band
developed their own rock sound, which proved them to be unique in their own
right. And of course, let us not forget Alice Cooper's horror-styled
stage apperance, coining the phrase "shock-rock," with his makeup,
self-simulated executions, chopping up of baby dolls, appearing on stage
with a live boa constrictor, and explicit lyrics.
That kind of theatrics and rock sound you won't find here on
Pretties For You.
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