Customer Reviews

Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This DVD is a fantastic sample of an often dissed rocker - Alice Cooper, who Bob Dylan has said is a greatly underappreciated song writer. I saw this tour in Chicago - Suzi Quattro opened - and the DVD's performance night has Alice perhaps a little more the worse for wear. Nevertheless this DVD shows a great performer backed by a fabulous band (who, I believe, also played on "Rock n Roll Animal"). Alice's red jump suit and saber, the monsters, the colors and lights are Alice during his lengthy prime; when he lets out "welcome to my breakdown - I hope I didn't scare you" with his trademark leer shivers run down my spine.
Alice's greatness, to me, rests on his sublimely original image, his great hard rocking, his appealing melodies and the sympathy and sensitivity that he projects amid an often nightmare world. This is all amply demonstrated on this DVD. For my generation, raised on the British Invasion followed by California and New York psychedelics, Alice represents the last great, truly original rock. Much fine music has followed, but these were the Founding Fathers.

Wasn't this the ABC TV special that aired JUST once on cable in early '75? Guess not, they must've changed covers on us. Turns out this release is the movie that ran in theaters for a short time in later '75 of Alice's 'Welcome To My Nightmare' world tour. I remember seeing this movie in a theater, twice. Picture isn't perfect, but acceptable. Color may be a bit faded, but that lets the viewer(s) know just how long Alice Cooper has been at his craft. Some Cooper fans might find it somewhat amusing as Alice slurs on the vocals big-time during "Eighteen". The concert here makes full use of props like dancing demons, strutting / fighting giant spiders on "Black Widow" and "Devil's Food" and a cyclops during "Department Of Youth". Other tunes performed here include "Billion Dollar Babies", "Steven" and "Escape". Keep in mind this was Alice's very first solo tour. Recommended, if you're a fan of the trend-setting shock rocker.

Vintage Coop! Alice Cooper at the top of his form in this beautifuly remastered DVD. The picture, although a little dark and fuzzy in certain ares is otherwise crisp and vibrant. But it's the sound that truely blew me away. Remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1, this audio format takes full advantage of everything multi-channel sound can do. No matter where in the room I moved I felt I was at a live show. Thundering bass, screaming guitars, and howling vocals filled the room. To bad you can't buy all music and concert videos like this. I highly recomend this DVD to the old Cooper fans as well as the new generation. Kick back, crank it way up, and return to the glory days of '70's rock and roll.

After reading all the reviews here I went to my local record store. I had seen the original stage show on VHS 15 years ago and I was curious to see if I was going to find the DVD version, or the version that seems to be reviewed here which should really be titled "The Nightmare Returns" Well.. I found the original.. The one everyone wants.. The cover is exactly as above, if you look at the bottom of the cover above it gives some of the titles of songs found on the DVD as well as the Rhino logo.. Mine is the same, I'm going to go out on the edge here and say the cover above is for sure from the late 70's theater show.. So that's what I'm going to review.. Putting together all the old footage must have been a hard job for the crew at Rhino, as the original tapes weren't cared for.. They did a great job, the audio is clean and the video has been cleaned up as much as possible.. I did notice some changes in audio where they may have used a different sample from one of his other shows during that period. (I'm sure much of the original audio was beyond repair) Some of the cuts were also close, again I'm betting the video wasn't useable.. The fact that they mixed it in Dolby 5.1 was enough to keep me happy.. The extra's on this DVD were pretty impressive.. A 25 minute interview with Alice on the evolution of the character and what he and the original band had set out to do when this ride first stared.. The commentary tracks were great! Tons of info and very funny, it makes it all a must have item for your Cooper Collection! I would recommend this DVD to anyone who can find it! If what I'm reading is true, many Alice Fan's have come across what they thought to be "Welcome to my Nightmare)- 1975 and what they got was "The Nightmare Returns) - 1986 So make sure you read the back of the DVD word for word, they make it quite clear on the back of mine that it is the theater show, but who knows what the '86 DVD says... Perhaps Rhino needs to have their Marketing Department sit down with some real Alice fans so we can get the record straight!

I'm a fan of the original Alice Cooper group (which broke before this album and tour was conceived).Although the album is great the concert itself can seem a bit "cheesy" at times and the band tends to lean towards a (by 70s standards) heavy metal type of sound.What makes the DVD so great is Alice's (and his assistants) comments throughout the entire concert-funny,informative and at times a confession of his past alcohol problems.Concert highlights include the dance routine during "Some Folks" and the live action/film footage combination of "Escape".If you get it,get it on DVD.

This DVD preserves for posterity ALICE COOPER's awesome stage show (concert does not really do this thing justice) circa 1975! This was as THEATRICAL as things got back then, boys and girls! ALICE was at the height of his popularity and the band performs 15 of their biggest SHOCK-ROCK hits, such as "School's Out," "I'm Eighteen," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy"! They call this one "Welcome to My Nightmare" but I always think of this as the "Billion Dollar Babies" tour! But even beyond the CONCERT ROCK sound there is the make-up! The props! The SPECIAL EFFECTS! All of which made VINCENT FURNIER one of the great rock and roll SHOWMEN of all time! Even better, this DVD has INTERVIEWS and AUDIO COMMENTARY!

This concert is one of the greatest of all time. The performance of Alice, his band, and the whole "Nightmare" concept is absolutely ahead of it's time, and still holds up today. Alice set the standard in theatrical rock. Sure, he was a little drunk, but so what? He still put on one hell of a show- this is pure sick and twisted theater. Accept no substitutes. This production and concept changed the face of live rock and roll performance. So many bands and performers have copied, and been directly influenced by Alice Cooper. Even U2 used his "movie screen" idea in one of their stage shows.
The whole "Welcome To My Nightmare" album is performed, along side original Cooper band classics, like "I'm Eighteen", and "Billion Dollar Babies". Recommended!

OK! This dvd is nothing bad as most of the reviewers say! Here are the REAL pros and cons:

Pros:
* The video quality is very clear (I don't know why most people don't see it that way)
* The show is FREAKING COOL!! Is full of spiders, manequins, demons, skeletons, graves, darkness, ect. and the dressing is very creepy and well done (great quality).
* The extras are preety good because there is an interview with Alice, audio commentary, trivia game and gallery.
* At the end of the show you see a lot of fans outside the concert talking about how cool is Alice Cooper and cheering the band.

Cons:
* Alice was a little drunk at the begining of the show but is funny and still cool.
* "I love the dead" isn't here, so Alice don't cut his head with the guillotine.
* The audio wasn't that good, the music hears preety low but you can still enjoy the music.

The tracks are: Awakening, Welcome to my Nightmare, Years ago, No more mr. Nice Guy, Im eighteen, Some folks, Cold ethyl, Only women bleed, Billion dolar babies, Devil's food, Black Widow, Steven, Escape, School's out and Department of youth.

P.S: If you buy "Good to see you again (1973)" and this dvd you will have Alice Cooper 70's collection. But if you don't care about the decade and you want just a good concert then buy "Trashed the World".

Adios!

.....and usher in a new era for rock 'n' roll. Alice Cooper always ahead of the curve solidifies theatrical rock in this mid-70s flashback. As an artist Alice made this sort of act acceptable for all of rockdom whereas Jim Morrison's poetry, Peter Gabriel's characterizations and a handful of other dramatists made onstage theatrics uniquely defining for themselves in the 1960s. The stagecraft and innovations here are historical. And sometimes hysterical. Romanticists may note that Alice's future wife Sheryl is the lead dancer in the highly choreographed performances. Other groups wouldn't do this sort of rock concert until the 1980s. Props rising out of the stage...live performance blended with music video...large-screen films playing as the background. Amazing set and good camerawork to show it all off. As a band, Alice Cooper practically invented both punk and heavy metal in the late 1960s and early 70s. All that is here. You will never see a better pair of metalists solo out in a 1970s concert film. Here, you have Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter thrashing the life out of their gear in not one, but TWO great solo performances. Devil's Food is sublime and the ending solos in front of this Wembley, London audience ice the cake. The Alice Cooper band unfortunately is often in the background on this DVD, but the sound is fair enough to realize how these insanely and musically gifted these guys were. Whitey Glan's drumwork stands out as well. His solo at the end is best viewed with the commentary soundtrack where Alice places his performance into an interesting context. Amazing talent on this disc, recorded for posterity. In later years, Alice Cooper would have wonderful artistic musicians like Davey Johnstone working with him. This ain't that. This is the garage band Alice, not the refined studio Alice. This remastered DVD on Rhino has a great commentary track, and the full frame presentation looks nice on a 16:9 widescreen TV. No sense in criticizing the mix, it is after all from the mid-1970s. If you love pure and progressive rock 'n' roll, and you appreciate what Alice Cooper did for them, buy this beast.

Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" is one of the must purchases for any Alice's fan. Although this DVD dates back in the late 1970's it hasn't lost its brilliance even remastered as a DVD. The great show performed with the guaranteed Alice Cooper music is best viewed with very large home theater screen and played with maximum volume. You won't be disappointed! Wishing you very good nightmares.