A Rock and a Roll – Page 53 – Rock Is The New Roll

Classic Album Review: Alice Cooper – Welcome To My Nightmare

A Cosmo Crane review originally published on the Cool Album of the Day website. For more reviews like this make sure to check them out.

Part Psycho Circus, part Jerry Springer show, part Quentin Tarantino shock-fest, Alice Cooper’s Welcome to my Nightmare album and subsequent tour was, depending on your point of view, either ridiculous or brilliant. The ultimate answer is of course given the benefit of historical perspective, that the album is ridiculously brilliant. Released in 1975, the album was Alice Cooper’s first post band break-up outing and is by far the best solo record of his decades long career.

Giving up the comfort of a consistent touring band and going to ax person by committee was certain to be a calculated risk. It was going to be hard to improve on Billion Dollar Babies, his previous album that included the hit songs “Elected,” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” and was the bands biggest seller to date, and the future of the entire enterprise without guitar muse and songwriting partner Glen Buxton was anything but certain. The new direction was going to turn the theatrical knobs up to 11, and incorporated many of the shock and awe elements from prior albums along with songs that were a bit more visceral in nature dealing with psychological horrors of the mind right alongside the physical ones.

The album was a top 10 seller, largely on the strength of the songs “Department of Youth,” “Welcome to My Nightmare,” and the somewhat controversial for the time “Only Women Bleed,” a song that reached the top ten, and was protested by various women’s groups due to the subject matter that dealt with spousal abuse. The song was also somewhat of a departure for Cooper in that no song he had previously recorded was as political or thought provoking. The fact that it was also a ballad, also served to put the Alice Cooper coven of fans on notice that a change was coming, and they were not necessarily going to like what the future had in store.

A concept album centered around the nightmares of the main character Steven, Welcome to My Nightmare, much like a Broadway play, was expressly written for the stage, and a tour was launched shortly after the release date where the record was performed mostly in its entirety. With production duties handled by long-time collaborator and Cooper Muse Bob Ezrin, the record has the feel of a real concept album in the Tommy mold, and is best digested in one sitting. The mix of rockers like the standout “Department of Youth,” and the guitar heavy anthem “Devils Food,” are intrinsically interspersed with the somewhat creepy “Steven,” a song that seems to share some DNA with the theme from exorcist, with the far off calling of Steven’s mother downright chilling, and the equally scary “The Awakening,” all kicked off in fine macabre fashion with “Welcome to my Nightmare,” a song that goes from a whisper to a scream to set the stage for what we are about to experience. Welcome to my nightmare I think you’re gonna like it. I think you’re gonna feel you belong.

To say that Welcome to My Nightmare marked the end of Alice Cooper’s commercial appeal may be stretching things a bit. After all, his live shows are still immensely popular; he has his own radio show, and has recently been elected to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But in reality, the album did mark the creative zenith of his career with subsequent albums Lace and Whiskey, Zipper Catches Skin, Dada, and Hey Stoopid, never even coming close to the artistic marvel that was Welcome to My Nightmare.

Much like anchovies on a pizza, an Alice Cooper show is something everyone should experience at least once. On recent tours, he has assembled a top notch band that includes Orianthi, the Aussie guitar goddess that was scheduled to play “Beat It” on the ill-fated Michael Jackson comeback tour that never was, and he has not lost a bit of his energy, strutting around the stage and striking poses that would make Mick Jagger jealous.

As a rock icon, Alice Cooper is one of the best. Welcome to My Nightmare is not Blood on the Tracks, and it certainly is no Tommy or Quadrophenia. It is what it is, a glorious shock jock guilty pleasure sort of a listen, one that should be consumed with gusto every Halloween.

So turn out the lights, lock the door, place the candy on the porch on a self-serve chair, and put the record on the stereo, at maximum volume of course. The candy may not last past the second set of kids, but your retro time warp back to 1975 will make you a better person, sooth your soul, and your ears will thank you.

Track Listing

“Welcome to My Nightmare” (Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner) – 5:19
“Devil’s Food” (Cooper, Bob Ezrin, Kelley Jay) – 3:38
“The Black Widow” (Cooper, Wagner, Ezrin) – 3:37
“Some Folks” (Cooper, Ezrin, Alan Gordon) – 4:19
“Only Women Bleed” (Cooper, Wagner) – 5:49
“Department of Youth” (Cooper, Wagner, Ezrin) – 3:18
“Cold Ethyl” (Cooper, Ezrin) – 2:51
“Years Ago” (Cooper, Wagner) – 2:51
“Steven” (Cooper, Ezrin) – 5:52
“The Awakening” (Cooper, Wagner, Ezrin) – 2:25
“Escape” (Cooper, Mark Anthony, Kim Fowley) – 3:20

Personnel

Alice Cooper – Vocals
Bob Ezrin – Synthesizer, Keyboards, Vocals, Fender Rhodes
Vincent Price – Special Effects, Vocals
Dick Wagner – Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Steve Hunter – Electric and Acoustic Guitar
Josef Chirowski – Synthesizer, Keyboards, Vocals, Clavinet, Fender Rhodes
Prakash John – Bass
Tony Levin – Bass
Pentti “Whitey” Glan – Drums
Johnny “Bee” Badanjek – Drums

Classic Album Review: Mink Deville – Cabretta

A Bernie Sparrow review originally published on The Cool Album of the Day website. For more reviews like this make sure to check them out.

Willy DeVille is a rock star. Just look at him. If you saw Bryan Adams or Elvis Costello walking down the street they could be mistaken for a mechanic, college professor, or accountant, certainly not for rock stars. But Willy Deville, looking like a slightly less road worn version of Keith Richards with a few less battle scars, could only be mistaken for the front man for the seminal post-punk band Mink DeVille and a rock star of highest order of which he is both.

Willy Deville was a product of the 60’s, from the West Village New York City. Very much influenced by the urban street scenes of his youth the young Willy grew up listening to Fred Neil, street Doo-Wop group groups, Motown, Phil Spector records, as well as Stax soul sounds, Simon and Garfunkel harmonies along with a vast rainbow of street sounds he absorbed growing up in this urban environment.

Billing himself and his band as Mink Deville, Willy soon became a fixture at the famed CBGB’s night club that gave birth to the Ramones, Blondie, The New York Dolls, as well as a host of other iconic musical artists that were largely responsible for bringing that punk, softened just a bit to appeal to the general public, sensibility that would become hugely popular.

With the release of his debut album Cabretta in 1977, the Rock Star very quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with Rolling Stone reviewing the album by saying “Cabretta is one of the best albums of the year, with the charm of its’ popular rock &roll urban rhythm and blues of the 50’s and 60’s, between The Drifters and Phil Spector.”

That Phil Spector sound was largely created by Jack Nietzsche, the arranger back in the “Wall of Sound” days that was the producer of the album, and the rest was from the musical collage of sounds that Willy absorbed from his youth.

The record just oozes cool with every track starting effectively with the opening track “Venus of Avenue D” that would have been a great Velvet Underground song with a daring street snarl, and danger lurking around every corner saxophone serving to set the urban mood. We are told that The Venus of Avenue D is the queen of his block, and who are we to argue?

We walk further down the musical street and run into “Little Girl” that is a straight on Phil Spector girl-group inspired song that could have been the B side of “Leader of the Pack”, and “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl” is a piano based, bongo and maraca’s exquisitely sounding song that showcases the range in DeVille’s voice along with his skill in delicately turning a phrase and changing tempo at will.

“Gunslinger” is another punk influenced song from the Lou Reed urban songbook, and “Cadillac Walk” is one of my desert island songs with a distinct Dire Straits on uppers feel to it. And the coolness continues.

The true diamond in this sea of jewels is “Spanish Stroll”. DeVille lowers his register a little bit here throws in a bit of Mariachi Spanish influence, and delivers a tour de force story of Mr. Jim with his finger on his eyebrow and left hand on his hip, he’s such a lady killer’ he thinks he’s so slick, and of course, he does the Spanish Stroll.

I won’t even tell you anything about the last two songs on the record. By the song titles alone, “She’s So Tough” and “Party Girls” you inherently know they are good. And they are, extraordinarily so.

Willy Deville went on to record seven critically admired yet criminally ignored albums under his own name, including Miracle with side-man and producer Mark Knopfler, as well as five additional records with Mink Deville.

The “Rock Star” Willy Deville passed away in 2009 due to complications from pancreatic cancer after doctors discovered it after providing the musician treatments for hepatitis –C. He was 58 years old.

Always the pragmatic optimist Willy was ultimately realistic about his legacy. When considering how he would be viewed after his death he told an interviewer “I have a theory. I know that I’ll sell more records when I’m dead. It isn’t very pleasant, but I have to get used to the idea.”

A music critic also wrote, “Willy DeVille is America’s loss even if America doesn’t know it yet.”

I’m not sure that truer words have ever been spoken.

— Bernie Sparrow San Francisco, California USA

Track listing

Unless otherwise noted, all songs by Willy DeVille.

“Venus of Avenue D” – 4:57
“Little Girl” (J.Barry,E. Greenwich,P.Spector) – 4:19
“One Way Street” – 2:50
“Mixed up, Shook up Girl” – 3:44
“Gunslinger” – 2:09
“Can’t Do Without It” – 3:15
“Cadillac Walk” (John Martin) – 3:14
“Spanish Stroll” – 3:38
“She’s So Tough” – 2:30
“Party Girls” (Willy DeVille, Rubén Sigüenza) – 4:30

Personnel

Willy DeVille – guitar, harmonica, vocals
Thomas R. “Manfred” Allen, Jr. – drums
Steve Douglas – saxophone
Louis X. Erlanger – guitar, background vocals
The Immortals – background vocals
Max Bowman
Val Heron
Mike Johnson
Bobby Leonards – piano, keyboards
Allen Rabinowitz – background vocals
Rubén Sigüenza – bass

Links

Listen to the full album below

What We’re Listening To Wednesday: October 6, 2019.

Here are just some of the songs and artists that worked their way into our ears this week:

Temples – Hot Motion

Released late September this record has been spinning pretty consistently at Rock is the New Roll HQ. Their third full-length record after an absence of almost three years, this one is full of Marc Bolan influenced energy. “Your either on something” is the cream of an excellent crop.

Avett Brothers – High Steppin’

From their new one Closer Than Together the Avett brothers 20 years in are growing up in front of our very ears.

Ride – Clouds of St. Marie

One of our favorite songs of the year, Ride their album, This Is Not A Safe Place is their best release since 1992,

The Dirty Denims – Ready, Steady, Go

With her Joan Jett by way of Debbie Harry vocal swagger Mirjam and the boys rock this town with a blend of AC/DC and Kiss inspired Rock as well as Roll. We are becoming big fans of this band.

Hazel English – Shaking

This Aussie now living in California delivers some fine dreamy Jangle Pop on this one. A fine put the top down and cruise tune if there ever was one.

Stoney LaRue – Hill Country Boogaloo

Everything great about the Texas hill country is name checked here from Lone Star Beer to Gruene Hall and the Guadalupe River.

Evan Felker and Carrie Rodriguez – Whiskey In Your Water

With his band The Turnpike Troubadours pretty much imploding Evan Felker is taking off in his own direction here with a classy duet featuring Carrie Rodriguez.

The Rhyolite Sound – Margaritas and Cocaine

Hailing from Las Vegas these guys play what they call desert Honk Tonk. Nothing sets me straight like cheap women and beer. Mojave Gold is our Tonk record of the year.

Five Cool Ones: Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released Today (November 1, 2019)

We are now officially in the dog days of record releases. But fear not, we aren’t just going to sit on our ears waiting for the new Who album to come out. Here are five really cool records released this week.

Micky and the Motorcars – Long Time Comin’

One of the best Texas Honky Tonk bands in the game today, on this, their 6th record to date, the band is is in dark night of the soul Tearjerker ballad mode with “Alone Again Tonight,” and “Run Into You,” wallowing in my baby left me tears on “All Looks the Same,” and generally down in the dumps lamenting a lost love on “Break My Heart.” This is, sit in the corner, next to the jukebox, wallowing in your own misery my baby left me Honky Tonk splendor.

The Mavericks – Play The Hits

News flash! Raul Malo can sing. And he does it here in exquisite fashion. In places when he keeps the arrangements close to the bone like he does on “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” he shines, and things get even better when The Mavericks get jiggy with the arrangements like they do on “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” to spectacular results.

Michael Kiwanuka – Kiwanuka

This guy keeps keeps getting better and better with each subsequent release. Here, on his latest album following up the highly excellent 2016 release Love & Hate, Michael Kiwanuka lays down a palate of Afro-Rhythms, Soul, and Funk along with an Indie Pop sensibility. This Danger Mouse co-produced gem should land towards the front of many year end best-of lists, including ours.

Miranda Lambert – Wildcard

With her latest album, Wildcard, Miranda Lambert seems to be walking on the wild side after a much publicized public divorce. Ditching her old producer in favor of Jay Joyce who twirled the knobs for Brothers Osbourne, Brandy Clark, and Ashley McBryde, there seems to be a bounce in her step that wasn’t there before. There is a bit of Swamp Funk on “Holy Water,” and 80’s Rock on “Mess With My Head.” This is a diverse and textured record that will reward with multiple listens.

Grace Cummings – Refuge Cove

The big whiskey soaked voice emanating from Australian Grace Cummings comes across like some sort of devil spawn from the loins of Patti Smith and Melissa Etheridge. Part pastoral folk, part beat poet, this one is an eclectically pleasing Scott Walker sort of listen. Let it grow on you.

Best Albums of 2019: Walker Lukens – Adult

With Adult, Walker Lukens has released his most fully formed record to date. Produced by Spoon’s Jim Eno, the album has an underlying contemporary feel to it while still maintaining its singer songwriter soul. Secret weapon and member of his band The Sidearms, Mckenzie Griffin, really shines on several tracks, most notably on “Frankie & Bella” and “Black Matter.” Vocally, Walker can go from a Harry Nilsson croon to honeyed voice Marvin Gaye at the turn of a tonsil, and he does so often here with the ease of a seasoned professional. The production value on Adult is first rate and there is a lot of nuance and texture for your ears to enjoy as they travel from song to song. There is a lot discover with repeated listens of this record.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (October 25, 2019)

One of the best weeks of the year on the new record front. Ringo Starr, Allison Moorer, Harry Connick Jr. and a lot more. Here are five new records that demand some of your ear time.

Airbourne – Boneshaker

If you thought that Bon Scott era AC/DC wasn’t going to walk through that door anytime soon, you would be wrong. Save your money, don’t buy that time machine, just light your ears on fire with this one.

Grace Potter – Daylight

We haven’t heard much from Grace Potter for a while as she has been taking a break, getting married, and having a baby. Now she is remaking her image a bit from Chick Rocker to chanteuse. Listen closely and you will hear a woman coming of age before your very ears.

Ringo Starr – What’s My Name

There is no wheel reinventing going on here. Ringo is happy as clam just being Ringo, and he does it in style on this one. Chock full of old friends and band mates that have been part of Ringo’s All Stars touring show over the years including Colin Hay, Dave Stewart and Joe Walsh, the vibe is loose, fun, and professional. Sure, some of the songs can be a bit corny, but hey, who can argue with peace and love.

Allison Moorer – Blood

You will be hard pressed to listen to a more poignant record this year as Mrs. Hayes Carll presents a biographical record in conjunction with a book release later in the year. Having been raised by her sister Shelby Lynne after her father killed her mother and turned the gun on himself, the album, as well as the book, will take you on an emotional journey that will make you feel alive.

Goodbye June – Community Inn

Nashville’s favorite sons Goodbye June finally deliver what should be their breakout album. Full of anthemic Southern Blues Rock with more hooks than a season of Dangerous Catch, this just might be the Rock and Roll record of the year.

Five Cool Ones: Five (More) Reasons That Rock is not Dead

Diesel Park West – Golden Mile

This Leicester band blazed on our radar way back in 1989 with their glorious debut album Shakespeare Alabama, and have never really left. On their latest record, Let It Melt, they continue to impress with their melodic riff-tastic anthems.

Quaker City Night Hawks – Suit In The Back

Formed in Forth Worth in 2012, the Quaker City Night Hawks are constantly and consistently refining their sound. On their latest self-title record they mix funky rockers with piano-led ballads. On “Suit In The Back” they look back to when they were pulled over and arrested for the possession of marijuana concentrate.

Goodbye June – Switchblade Heart

Owing a heavy debt ZZ Top and Creedence Clearwater, Breakout Nashville rockers Goodbye June, drawing on their religious upbringing, take the performance aspects of a Pentecostal revival to the Rock and Roll stage with their fiery live shows.

Flying Colors – Love Letter

A Progressive Rock supergroup channeling their inner Beatles and ELO, Mike Portnoy, Steve Morse and Neal Morse join singer Carey McPherson in a harmony drizzled dose of Sunshine Pop.

Black Stone Cherry – Me & The Devil Blues

Kentucky rockers Black Stone Cherry really drill down deep into the blues with this Robert Johnson cover from their second Blues tribute album Back to the Blues 2.

Five Cool Ones – Five New Albums Released This Week (October 18, 2019)

You know we are getting into the dog days of the year when you start getting ear bombed with new Christmas releases. With rare exceptions, most notably the Kate Bush classic 50 Words for Snow from a few years back, there is really no reason for records like Rob Halford’s Christmas album “Celestial” (released today) to exist. And, don’t darken our ears with The Jimmy Buffet entry in this years Christmas lottery with the horribly named ‘Tis the Sea Son. Since we have a soft spot for Neil Diamond we are down with his release, but no, the world doesn’t need a new Holiday record from The Oak Ridge Boys. Where is Nick Lowe when we need him. Here are five (Non Christmas) records we are grooving to this week.

White Reaper – You Deserve Love

heading towards the head of the pack on our list of 2019’s favorite records, White Reaper with their latest release hits that sweet spot between Cheap Trick and Thin Lizzy. From the opening track, “Headwind” that sounds a bit like The Killers in Glam mode, to the twin guitar attack on “Might Be Right” this is an old school Rock and Roll record for the new generation.

The Magpie Salute – High Water II

High Water II, the appropriately titled sequel to High Water I, comes so close to sounding like vintage Black Crowes it might as well be a reunion record. And no, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Heavy on rockers and blues-boogie with an occasional acoustic interlude thrown in for good measure with Rich Robinson providing the guitar riffage. In the battle of the brothers Robinson for world domination Chris definitely has some catching up to do.

Milk Carton Kids – The Only Ones

Be ready to lay down some chill vibes with the new Milk Carton Kids Record, The Only Ones. If you could create a Frankenstein duo with one member of Simon and Garfunkel and one of the brothers Everly, the resulting spawn would give you The Milk Carton Kids. At a tidy 7 songs this one is a perfect listen for that spare half hour in an otherwise hectic day.

The Drunken Hearts – Wheels of the City

With their hardscrabble approach to Americana, The Drunken Hearts lay down an earthy blend of Bluegrass, Outlaw, and Americana that would make Jamey Johnson and Cody Jinks proud. Lead singer Andrew McConathy has a bit of Michael Stipe by way of Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker in his voice, particularly on the title track. The band mixes rowdy anthems with broad soundscapes on a record that will capture your ears with subsequent listens.

Jimmy “Duck” Holmes – Cypress

Another stellar and eclectic release from the Nashville based Dan Auerbach studio, Easy Eye Sound, the outfit that brought you Yola, Dee White, and Shannon Shaw just to name a few. Now, with Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, we are introduced to one of the last living bluesmen. Mixing a fuller sound than you would expect, drawing in a full band that includes Marcus King on a couple of songs with just Jimmy and his guitar on others, the essence of a real Mississippi juke joint is on full display with every gutteral vocal and every greasy guitar lick.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Songs We Are Listening To This Week (October 11, 2019)

I am really starting to like the release patterns of bands these days. Every time you turn around one of your favorite bands is putting out a great new single for you to enjoy. Here are five new(ish) songs we are jamming to this week.

Caamp – Peach Fuzz

There is a definite folk appeal to this trio from Athens Ohio. “Peach Fuzz” is from their latest album By and By. There is a bit of a Ray Lamontagne by way of Bryan Adams on this. The summery surf guitar sheen is an addictive high.

Joseph – Fighter

From Good Luck, Kid with their debut single “fighter” all of the familial harmonies are on full display. Think ABBA meets First Aid Kit.

White Reaper – Might Be Right

In 2017 White Reaper announced that they were in it to win it with their modestly titled L.P. The Worlds Best American Band. Now, with their latest single “Might Be Right,” these boys from Louisville, Ky show some real glam and grit in advance of a new record coming out later in the year.

Brittany Howard – Stay High

With the lead-off single from her first post Alabama Shakes record, Brittany Howard lays down a record that might end up on many song lists for song of the year.

Illiterate Light – Better Than I Used To

The first single from their new self titled LP, these organic farmers turned rock stars blend soaring Indie Rock with Psychedelia and atmospheric Folk to create a sound all their own.

Best Albums of 2019: North Mississippi All Stars – Up And Rolling

Cody and Luther Dickinson, sons of the late Jim Dickinson, have opened up their musical Mississippi home to the rest of us with their brilliant Blues Boogie L.P. Up and Rolling.

Their debut record for New West, working for a semi-major label hasn’t slowed these Cats one bit, and while the production does seem a bit more glossy and less ramshackle than their previous affairs, the result is no less appealing and their boogie till the break of dawn spirit flag is still waiving proudly.

Calling on a gaggle of talented friends to lend a hand in the making of this record in their family studio in the hill country of Mississippi, there is never a dull moment, and every track has a live feel to it especially on their reading of Little Walter Johnson’s “Mean Old World” featuring Duane Betts and Jason Isbell on guitar with Isbell also handling lead vocal duties.

Mavis Staples complements the band perfectly on her own Staples Singers cover of “What You Gonna Do,” and keeping up the family tradition, Cedric Burnside choogles up the joint on his uncle R.L.’s tune “Out on the Road.”

The core group, Luther and Cody Dickinson, Thomas A. Dorsey, Carl Dufrene, and Sharisse Norman are a well seasoned outfit that has played together for many years and the many guests that appear here have jammed with the band all over the Mississippi Delta in one form or another. The fits like a glove partnerships on this record should serve to push this record to the front of many year end best-of lists, genre be damned.