Reviewed! Alice Cooper - Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Alice Cooper
Welcome 2 My
Nightmare
Universal Music
Is it possible that with his latest, and 26th, album, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, and after nearly
five decades in the business, that Alice Cooper has not only not lost a step,
but gained some in the process? The simple answer is yes. Welcome 2 My Nightmare is not a reboot, but a follow-up to 1975’s Welcome to My Nightmare, and not only is
Cooper up to his old macabre tricks again, he is even resurrecting some
familiar faces from his past, including members of the original Alice Cooper
Band (Dick Wagner, Steve Hunter, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith) and producer
Bob Ezrin.
The result of all this nostalgic feel is the very modern
sounding Welcome 2 My Nightmare, an
album that is classic Cooper is two ways – first, it is a euphoric cacophony of
potpourri style sounds, and it has a running theme. The albums’ story finds
Alice losing his battle to stay awake and getting dragged through hell on
another nightmare, this one involving runaway trains, a welcoming congregation
and a sex-starved she-devil.
Whatever you do, do not stop listening after the very out
of lace and confusing opener, “I Am Made of You,” a song that features some
noodling piano balladry and (gasp!) auto-tuned vocals. From here on in, Welcome 2 My Nightmare stays weird, as
you would expect from anything Alice Cooper related, though the sparkling
chemistry and interplay between Cooper and Ezrin is always prevalent.
“Caffeine” returns listeners to familiar ground, before the synth-tastic “Disco
Bloodbath Boogie Fever” shatters your psyche, proving that you really can’t
ever know what to expect with Cooper, especially on Welcome 2 My Nightmare. The highlights continue to fall from the
sky as the album progresses, like the expansive psychedelia of “the
Congregation,” low rumbling menace of “When Hell Comes Home” and blistering
solo-laden “Runaway Train” in which country legend Vince Gill provides lead
guitar. All this happens even before Cooper teams with pop outlaw Ke$ha on
“What Baby Wants,” an out and out trash-fest that should effectively blow both
your speakers and your mind. The closing “Gotta Get Outta Here” wraps up Welcome 2 My Nightmare with a shiny,
bloody bow in climactic fashion, but you’ll have to listen to believe it.
Welcome 2 My Nightmare
is surprisingly great, and considering that the album offers something for
pretty much everyone sonically, it is one of Cooper’s best records ever.
Grade: A-
Listen to: “Bite Your Face Off”
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