Album review: Alice Cooper “Detroit Stories”
On the new album “Detroit Stories”, shock rocker Alice Cooper pays tribute to the city where he got his proper start as an artist in the early 1970s.
Alice Cooper returns with a new album that is far removed from his polished 1980s hair metal days of “Poison” and “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)”. “Detroit Stories” is a trip back to 1970 and the early days of the original Alice Cooper band. Here, some five decades later, shock rocker Alice Cooper has reunited with producer Bob Ezrin as well as the surviving original band members who all put in an appearance on the album. There’s also other guests such as MC5’s Wayne Kramer. The music styles on the album, which contains a mix of covers and new material, are varied. The album is a laidback, good-fun tribute to the Detroit rock scene of the early 1970s. Here we get blues, soul, pop, garage rock, hard rock and much more. There will of course be fans who won’t like it because it is very different from what they are used to get from Alice. This is a version of Alice Cooper that doesn’t care about expectations. He wants to pay respect to his musical roots and he does it well, very well. He seems happy. There are some real gems on the album, such as the excellent pop song “Our Love Will Change The World”, the punky “I Hate You”, the rocky “Social Debris” and the bluesy “Drunk And In Love”. There is also a decent cover of Velvet Underground song “Rock & Roll”.
Alice Cooper’s new album “Detroit Stories” will be released on 26th February in Japan via Ward Records and internationally via earMUSIC.
