Produced by Danny Saber, Greg Hampton and Alice Cooper
Released: 2008
In his 60th year on the planet and his 40th as a recording artist, Alice Cooper unleashes a twisted killer on his 25th studio album. On Along Came a Spider, the Coop returns to the concept record, the format that served him so well for his influential and masterful solo debut, Welcome to My Nightmare.
Alice's last pair of albums marked a shift away from the heavy metal of the previous two decades towards a rootsier, more classic sound. On Along Came a Spider the change is complete, evoking the style of his 70s masterpieces like Billion Dollar Babies. Indeed, this sounds like garage rock most of the time, with only "Vengeance is Mine" offering a nod at Cooper's metal years. With Slash playing all over that one however, that probably isn't surprising. Even here though, it sounds like Alice is just trying a bit too hard.
Along Came a Spider reacquaints the listener with Steven, the child-like fruit loop who last appeared on The Last Temptation. Now morphed into a serial killer known as Spider, he cuts off one leg of each of his victims in order to build himself a human arachnid. It's the type of thing that Alice Cooper once did so well, but this volume takes until track six to really hit its stride. "Wrapped in Silk" is marvellously evil and the tracks that follow are, at least musically, up to the usual standard. However, the lyrics lack some of his usual sophistication, as if he's dumbed down to fit his character although there are a couple of amusingly sinister snippets like "I've got chloroform and handcuffs just for you" and "You look like you'd fit in the trunk of my car", but for a concept with such a gruesome storyline and from such a storyteller most of the time it just doesn't quite cut it.
Overall, Along Came a Spider doesn't have the same sparkle or hooks as his last few releases. It does have that touch of darkness and malevolence that have been missing from his albums for a very long time, but that isn't enough to save this from being just another Alice Cooper album. Live and worked into other chapters of Steven's story this may come across a lot better than it does on record, but here it all just sounds a little forced.
- Prologue/I Know Where You Live
- Vengeance is Mine
- Wake the Dead
- Catch Me If You Can
- (In Touch With) Your Feminine Side
- Wrapped in Silk
- Killed by Love
- I'm Hungry
- The One That Got Away
- Salvation
- I am the Spider/Epilogue
Rating: 56%
I'll wait to buy this until the inevitable collector's tour edition comes out about six months down the line. That's the best chance I'll have of getting the three iTunes bonus tracks physically included on the CD. FYI, these are:
ReplyDeleteI'll Still Be There
Shadow of Yourself
Salvation (Unplugged With String Section)