Killer

Product Information

It begs so many questions, provides no answers and is a crazy mélange of spy flick imagery, violence and sneaky double entendres as Moog accents weave in and out and all around. The Coop's 2nd release of 1971 following 'Love It To Death',WOW what a disc,superb from start to finish. The collection also gives fans an unreleased live recording of the band’s performance at Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico on April 2, 1972. The band played most of Killer during the concert, including “You Drive Me Nervous,” “Under My Wheels,” and “Halo Of Flies.

Killer" is probably Alice Cooper’s boldest stroke ever and is in your face for most of its running time. According to an NPR radio interview with Alice Cooper, “Desperado” was written about Robert Vaughn’s character from the movie The Magnificent Seven. And when it isn’t, it’s inside your head running around and misconnecting all your neural plugs and hotwiring everything just to detonate your whole mind with crushing riffs and cursed imagery like a hogshead of mischievous monkeys let loose to create gleeful chaos in your brain.Disc 1 is the original album remastered and it sounds wonderful,every track a classic,who hasnt raised a fist in the, air head bangin to 'Under My Wheels',a garage rock classic as is the next track 'Be My Lover' before 'Halo Of Flies' ups the ante,Honestly this album is outstanding, 'Desperado ' slinks out of the speakers all dark and moody while 'Dead Babies revels in its shock tactics (misunderstood by most critics . Dunaway’s zooming basslines, Smith drops in on a dime every time and Buxton burns down on a stuck riff much like he did previously at the end of “Ballad Of Dwight Fry” only here it’s even more of an ear-ringing, circular op-art pattern AND threatens to go on for even longer, if you can believe it. That is, until the title is bawled out so loud, you go rushing for the volume to turn it down lest your parents hear that scrawny manic with the crazy spider-eyes screaming “DEAD BABIES!

Punk icons Jello Biafra and the Melvins covered the song "Halo of Flies" on their 2005 release Sieg Howdy! According to an NPR radio interview with Alice Cooper, "Desperado" was written about Robert Vaughn's character from the movie The Magnificent Seven (1960). An amazing set from the Mar y Sol Pop Festival that shows the incredible musicianship of the band, with a lot of the songs extended into jams, there’s even some mean harp playing by Alice himself!Disc 2 a decent audio for a rough and ready gig from Puerto Rico,the entire Killer album apart 'Desperado' plus 3 from 'Love It To Death'. Along with the singles “Under My Wheels” and “Be My Lover,” the record also includes “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” “Desperado,” and the prog-rock-inspired epic “Halo Of Flies. Desperado”, along with “Under My Wheels” and “Be My Lover” have appeared on different compilation albums by Cooper. With tribal tom-tom drums and near-backwards soaring guitar lines, “Killer” emerges from a courtroom argument that ends the “Dead Babies” descending guitar sick-out like a tattered zombie slumping through a late night mist. It slows down into the sudden calm of rapid drum rolls and funereal guitar slashing as cries and screams tear away in the background, then cryptic and near-confessional whispering.

The doomy bass line of Dennis Dunaway runs counterpoint to the dank, Leslie-amplified guitar of Michael Bruce as Alice gently intones the sad tale of a lost little one.

Packaging is good, but I would have preferred the track by track notes and essay in a booklet and more photos on the tri fold.

Heavy metal band Iced Earth covered the song "Dead Babies" for their 2002 release Tribute to the Gods. Tellingly, the last lyric in the song is “you never will understand” and by this point if you’re still trying to comprehend the lyrics you’re trying too hard because the point of Alice Cooper’s best albums are just to suspend disbelief and go along quietly and no one will get hurt (Except Alice, but he’s the professional here. However, he said that "[the album] falters after 'Under My Wheels' and 'Be My Lover', neither of them an 'I'm Eighteen' in the human outreach department.Released in 1971, KILLER was the fourth studio album recorded by the founding quintet of singer Alice Cooper, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. At the opposite end of 1971 from “Love It To Death” stalked Alice Cooper’s fourth album, “Killer” as an aptly titled exhibition of no-frills, highly-ratcheted and the very tightest knit mesh of a rock’n’roll straightjacket. on the Billboard 200 album chart, and the two singles " Under My Wheels" and " Be My Lover" made the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Here, the notorious “Dead Babies” and title track, “Killer” comprise the dark, two-part epic that live resulted in a) Alice chopping apart baby dolls and b) the ritual hanging of Alice himself. Alice’s vocals are at their roughest and razor-gargled best on “Killer,” too: They scrawl all over “Under My Wheels” like the retardedly etched lettering on the cover and open up the proceedings with all the teenaged head rush of a highly anticipated Friday night concert just after racing directly home from school.