The 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
Review by Greg Prato
It's universally agreed among longtime Alice Cooper fans that the best "Alice era" was in the early '70s, when Alice fronted the original Alice Cooper Band including guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. When the band broke up for good and Alice set out on a solo career in 1974, the A.C. Band had released a total of seven studio albums, but never an official live recording (despite the fact that the group's live show was one of rock's best and most theatrical of the whole era). But this all changed with the release of 2001's double disc Billion Dollar Babies Deluxe Edition. Disc one contains a remastered version of the Alice Cooper Band's '73 classic, Billion Dollar Babies, which has been expertly cleaned up by the album's original producer, Bob Ezrin. This is the album that put Cooper over the top, hitting the number one spot and spawning such rock standards as "Elected," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," and the title track. The new version only improves on the original, still packing quite a sonic punch all these years later. But the real story for hardcore Alice fans will be disc two, comprised of 11 tracks recorded live in Texas during the band's mammoth '73 tour, as well as a pair of demos and one outtake -- the twisted Elvis-esque rocker "Slick Black Limousine" -- previously available only in England as a flexi-disc and on the '99 four-disc boxset The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper. While this CD's listeners are obviously missing out on the visual aspect of the Cooper stage show, it's still clear that the band was one of rock's all-time-bash-'em-out best, as evidenced by such sleazy garage rockers as "Billion Dollar Babies," "Elected," "I'm Eighteen," "Raped and Freezin'," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Also included are a few numbers that were made with the concert stage in mind, namely such epics as "My Stars," "Unfinished Sweet," "Sick Things," "Dead Babies," and "I Love the Dead." Warner Archives/Rhino should also be commended for doing a splendid job on the packaging; the original album art and contents have been restored, including little punch out "photo cards" of individual band members and in-concert shots, as well as a 23-page booklet with an essay, photos, and lyrics. Billion Dollar Babies Deluxe Edition is classic Alice Cooper.
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