Keno's
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ALBUM REVIEW
ALICE COOPER
Killer
Released - February 1971, Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Bob Ezrin
Alice Cooper - Lead & Backing Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitars
Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitars and Keyboards
Dennis Dunaway - Bass Guitar
Neal Smith - Drums
All songs written by members of Alice Cooper, see below.
| SONG | RATING |
| Under My Wheels (Bruce/Dunaway/Ezrin) | 10.0 |
| Be My Lover (Bruce) | 10.0 |
| Halo Of Flies (Bruce/Buxton/Cooper/Dunaway/Smith) | 7.0 |
| Desperado (Bruce/Cooper) | 10.0 |
| You Drive Me Nervous (Bruce/Cooper/Ezrin) | 7.3 |
| Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (Bruce/Cooper) | 9.5 |
| Dead Babies (Bruce/Buxton/Cooper/Dunaway/Smith) | 8.5 |
| Killer (Bruce/Dunaway) | 6.0 |
| Ave | 9.3 |
REVIEW
The best album put out by Alice Cooper. Of course I'm talking about the band Alice Cooper, but it also tops anything solo Alice ever put out. Rolling Stone called this one of the best albums released in 1971, and it was.
For me several songs on this album really stick out. The best song here is "Be My Lover", written by Michael Bruce. A Stones fan, he must have had "Honky Tonk Woman" on his mind when he wrote the splendid lyrics to this song. Perhaps one of rock's best pick up/groupie songs ever recorded, contains Alice's best vocals to date. Then you got "Desperado". Do you think of the Eagles song when you hear this title? Well not to take anything away from that song, but this one is better. A great cowboy/outlaw-rock song done by a band know for heavy metal, punk, goth, glam, even new wave, but not country rock. Yet this song is another true gem. Alice with his almost death like tone of voice - with just a little Jim Morrision like vocals mixed in at times, spits out the words with such conviction, "Your as stiff as my smokin' barrel/Your as dead as a desert night/You're a notch and I'm a legend/Your at peace and I must hide".
"Under My Wheels" is a great early metal song, just wish there were less horns and a little more of that great Glen Buxton lead guitar. The most interesting song on this album is "Dead Babies". Even these days this song is still somewhat off the wall, but in 1971 only ACG could come up with something like this: "Little Betty ate a pound of aspirin ....Betty's mommy wasn't there to save her...........Dead babies can take care of themselves...Dead babies can't take things off the shelf....Well we didn't want you anyway" (years after its' release, it was claimed that the song was really an anti-child abuse song). The album's closing song is the title cut, "Killer". It starts out strong, but by the time it ends it almost has a "Revolution #9" type style to it. Kinda strange. But this album does rock and I highly recommend it.
- Keno 2000
To listen to some soundclips from Killer or to purchase it click on: Killer
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