Customer Reviews

Billion Dollar Babies (Bonus Tracks)

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Warner Brothers has done a superb job with this deluxe edition reissue of "Billion Dollar Babies", arguably the pinnacle of Alice Cooper's influential career. Every aspect of this product is top-notch, and an incredible value for the price.

First of all, the album itself still rocks with a tight, muscular power that puts all the pretenders and wannabes who have followed in Cooper's tracks firmly in their place. The original Alice Cooper group was captured at its peak here, with assistance from guitar virtuosos Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner (both of whom would later play on Lou Reed's legendary "Rock n Roll Animal" before becoming mainstays in Cooper's revamped band). "Billion Dollar Babies" spawned many of the band's biggest hits ('Hello Hooray', 'Elected', 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', and the title cut), and features 'Generation Landslide' - a wry piece of socio-political commentary from Cooper.

The package contains a generous second CD of well-recorded live material (taken from the tour supporting "Billion Dollar Babies"), as well as studio outtakes. The original album jacket artwork has been recreated, along with lyrics, photos and some illuminating commentary in a 24-page booklet. Remastering was coordinated under the supervision of the album's original producer, Bob Ezrin.

One listen to this beautifully restored classic, and you may well wonder what all the fuss is about characters like Marilyn Manson.

For me Alice Cooper's career divided neatly into two parts: Alice Cooper the band and Alice Cooper the solo artist. I never was captivated by his solo career, but the Alice Cooper band was one of the best rock bands of the early Seventies. From 1971's Love It To Death through 1973's Billion Dollar Babies, the band produced a series of rock solid albums--and I even saw them in concert twice, including their Billion Dollar Babies Tour.

That's what makes this reissue such a treat. The second disc provides killer live versions of eight of the ten album tracks--only "Generation Landslide" and "Mary Ann" are not included. One track each is also included from their three earlier albums: Love It To Death ("I'm Eighteen"), Killer ("Dead Babies") and School's Out ("My Stars"). In addition you get the Elvis-inspired outtake "Coal Black Model T," which eventually evolved into "Slick Black Limousine" (also included here). The other outtake is "Son of Billion Dollar Babies," which is essentially an alternate take of "Generation Landslide" minus the lyrics from the second half of verse two.

The expanded 24-page booklet is also a treat. [Check out the photo on page 11 of Donovan recording the title track with Alice!]

Sure, Alice Cooper is probably most remembered for the mascara, boa constrictors and guillotines. However, if you listen to the music, you'll discover one of the tightest rock bands of the era. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE BAND: Alice Cooper / Vincent Furnier (vocals), Glen Buxton (guitar), Michael Bruce (guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neal Smith (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1973) 10 tracks clocking in at approximately 41 minutes. Included with the disc is a 6-page booklet containing song titles/credits/times, song lyrics, black & white band member photos, and thank you's. This is the band's 6th album. Produced by the notable Bob Ezrin (who has also produced band's like Kiss, Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed). Remastered in 2001 - containing an additional 14 tracks on a 2nd disc (57+ minutes - 11 live renditions of the album's songs, and 2 outtakes, and 1 unreleased song), and an extensive 26-page booklet. Label - Rhino / Warner Bros.

COMMENTS: I have two favorite albums from Alice Cooper - this one, and the earlier "Killer" from 1971. You'll see numerous reviews here raving about each... but they're both deserving of 5-stars and all the attention brought to each. Four Top 100 hits from "Billion Dollar Babies" - including the title track, "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Elected" and "Hello Hooray". Not to mention some great deep album cuts in "Raped And Freezin'", "Generation Landslide", "I Love The Dead", and the strangely out-of-place piano tune "Mary Ann". The album was the band's most commercially successful album - reaching #1 in the US and the UK. Having tasted some fame with "Love It To Death" in '71, more fortunes with "Killer" and "School's Out"... the band was clearly at the height of their career with "Billion Dollar Babies". Polished, slick, and no filler to be found (okay, "Sick Things" is easily the weakest track here). The baby on the album cover - is that where Kiss' Gene Simmons got the idea for his make-up (looks pretty close to me... and we Kiss fans know they credit Alice Cooper for helping found onstage shock rock and theatrics). The four hits mentioned above plus "Generation Landslide" made it to Cooper's best single disc compilation "Monsters & Mascara" (2001)... the most from any one album of theirs. Rhino did it correctly in leaving the original remastered album by itself on disc-1, and the bonus tracks on disc-2. You will not go wrong starting your Alice Cooper collection here. This is classic Alice (5 stars).

1973 was a banner year for the Alice Cooper Group, and the theme for that year was excess:the biggest tour,hype and album that Alice and cronies could dream up.They were transformed into the Billion Dollar Babies,bad dreams of a warped society and they flaunted it for all they were worth.All aspects of modern life were victims of the Coop's satiric jabs:public image(NO MORE MR NICE GUY), the model family(GENERATION LANDSLIDE),male/female stereotypes(RAPED AND FREEZIN') and the political structure(ELECTED).Other topics given the ACG once over included:cross dressing,blow up dolls, showbusiness in the American Dream,various types of taboos,dentistry and of course,horror;all set to catchy rock riffs.The stage show was just as impressive with swords,fake dollar bills,and an Alice beheaded before returning for the encore. BILLION DOLLAR BABIES is the ALICE COOPER GROUP at the peak of their powers,and a must have for any novice Coop fan.

Let's skip the blather, shall we? "Billion Dollar Babies" stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest rock albums of all time. Period.

As for Warner Bros./Rhino's 2-disc deluxe re-issue of this landmark album, it is a joy to hear and behold. Not only are we treated to re-mastered sound on the original classic album (thank you again, Mr. Ezrin), Warner Bros. has finally opened their vaults and unleashed an (almost) complete live concert on the second disc. Recorded in Houston and Dallas on April 28 & 29, 1973, "The Billion Dollar Babies Show starring Alice Cooper" is presented in the original running order, with all it's rock 'n' roll roughness intact. (This reviewer was lucky enough to have seen the Coopers on that tour 3 weeks earlier in Pittsburgh, and, after having seen hundreds of concerts since, this show STILL ranks as one of the best ever.) No doubt recorded by Warner Bros. with an eye toward a live release back in the day, the sound is as good as any live recording from the period - full, sharp mix, with all band members clear and present, including guest keyboardist Bob Dolin and "shadow" guitarist Mick Mashbir (sorry, Glen!) Alice himself sounds more raw here than on the studio recordings, and, even though they were just about the biggest act in the world at the time, the band still conveyed a sense of sexual menace in concert (a mood unfortunately lost as Alice embarked on his solo career the following year.)

Why 4 stars instead of 5? To tweak Warner Bros. for their frustrating omission of the final 2 songs from the "BDB Show." The live concert, as presented on this release, concludes with "I Love The Dead." However, the original show featured Alice rising again to sing "School's Out," and following with an encore of "Under My Wheels."

Yes, they had to make room for the additional demo and outtake tracks included here. "Slick Black Limousine," already available on the box set, (and originally released as a flexi-disc insert in England's "New Musical Express") is of interest to aficionados. However, "Slick" is a half-finished musical idea, and was rightly left off the final release of BDB. As for the inclusion of even rougher demos of "Slick" and "Generation Landslide," Cooper-holics will want to hear these - ONCE. Then they, like me, will wish Warners had instead been able to squeeze in the remainder of the live show.

The album's original fold-over wallet design is replicated in good, old-fashioned cardboard, with a few adjustments. This new package folds out twice to reveal 2 discs, both of which feature the original Warner Bros. logo, typeface and green-colored label. A booklet is included containing the original art from the LP's inner sleeve, extensive liner notes and more b&w photos from the era. The color photos from the original LP's inner jacket are here, albeit postage stamp sized. And, just like the original, they're perforated for removal, if desired! Now, in the original LP design, once a hungry Cooper fan removed those photos, underneath were revealed the liner notes for the album. The boo-boo with this CD release is that those original liner notes are here . . . but they're printed on the BACK of the perforated picture panel. And, there is no way to read them, unless the photos are removed (o.k., you can peek down the sleeve and recognize the old printing, but what were Warners/ Rhino thinking?) If you can't resist poking out the pictures, be aware that you'll be staring at a plain field of green in their place, while the backs of the mini-photos will comprise a puzzle of jumbled liner notes!

The only other design disappointment is the absence of the paper billion dollar bill, featuring the band's photo in the middle. Here, the bill is integrated into the print design of the inner-jacket.

My gripes over design and the choice of bonus songs are minor ones. This 2-disc release of "Billion Dollar Babies" is a wonderful package, and a godsend to long-time fans who knew . . . just KNEW . . . that Warner Bros. had a '73 show tucked away. Thank you, Warner Bros. and Rhino, for doing this classic album, and this classic band, justice.

If you were a rock lover and were born anytime after 1955 you must have had this in your record collection. This is the definitive Alice Cooper at his prime. Metaldiva loved that this was an instant parent irritator, but also dug the quality of the music, with Bob Ezra's touch, that won the folks over in the end. The newly mastered DVD of "Welcome to My Nightmare" is the perfect companion to this fabulous remaster. Some remastered cd's go too far and lose the essence of the original release, but this is crisp and enjoyable. This is the second to last album with the actual Alice Cooper band. (If you get a chance to see the any of the actual footage from the very early days, you can actually see the "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" influence on the creation of Alice Cooper as a persona- very very cool.) Metaldiva waves kisses and sends great love to Alice himself, but also must acknowledge the band that helped bring us the one with the black-streaked peepers and lips, with riding crop in hand, we've come to love like one of the family. (and believes he would not have it any other way)

In several interviews, Alice has told of his encounters with budding artists and how they look the part, have the right equipment, but there is no decent music to carry it. This is a shining example of showmanship AND musical artistry that the pre-fab, pop-tart, boy-band, rap-jacked, ex-mouseketeer market seems to be flooded with lacks. Record companies can't think of anything new nowadays and know sex and violence sells. This is a great step back to a time when this stageshow and song subject matter was considered SHOCKING.. even if it seems rather mild today. The music is great, plain and simple, and that is what makes it stand the test of time.

The metalbabies, my sons 6 and 13, cut their teeth on this. The last day of school we blasted "Schools Out" on our cd player in the car and brought smiles to the parents and the kids' faces alike. This is a modern masterpiece of rock and roll and paved the way for KISS, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, etc.

Metaldiva Sez: Essential masterpiece for any rock and roll fan. The quality is great and enjoyment enhanced by this remaster. The extras are pretty cool, too. This makes one want to place flowers at the feet of this fabulous band and artist to pay their respects for blowing the envelope up in rock and roll and laying the cornerstone for what it is today. Get it home now...

In Phoenix, Arizona, in the late sixties there was a rough little garage band known as `The Earwigs', playing whatever gigs they could get with a certain Vincent Furnier on lead vocals. By 1969 and countless name changes the quintet had settled on the name `The Alice Cooper Band''. As expected, the lead singer started to get called Alice. The band's fame started to spread with the release of their first album 'Pretties For You'. There was certainly no overnight stardom, more a slow, but inevitable rise to the very top of the tree.

By 1972 Vincent Furnier changed his name by deed poll to Alice Cooper and the Alice Cooper Band had their first global number one hit with 'School's Out'; brilliantly timed to be released when all the schools broke up for their long summer holidays. With its lyrics of unbounded joy and anti-teacher rants 'School's Out' captured the imagination of a generation of school kids. Everybody loved the Alice Cooper Band, unless you happened to be a parent.

By the time of the release of this, their sixth album `Billion Dollar Babies', the Alice Cooper Band was one of the biggest bands in the world and had 25 Gold Records, album sales of over 50 Million, plus sold-out stadium tours to prove it.

The band was every teenagers dream. The band members themselves were disastrously young, too brutally good looking, too clever by half, way out of control, preened around the country in their own customized jet (booze and cards in the front, girls in the back), willing to take any chance they were given, and most importantly enough street savvy to fill every young head on our little planet. The songs weren't bad either.

Opening with the frothy-mouthed Broadway burlesque of 'Hello Hooray', the band announces their arrival and greets their audience, a celebration from the musicians to thank their fans for where they now are; together with their fans one mighty gang. Not one to ever dodge issues, the next song 'Raped and Freezin' is a Stonesy rave-up involving a guy who gets picked up and raped by some `old broad down from Sante Fe' and winds up naked in Chihuahua, Mexico. You can imagine how much this would of been appreciated by the older generation. But it's all very tongue in cheek with the singer at his sassy best, and the south-of-the-border Spanish guitar mantra at the song's end is pure class.

The next song was the first single to be released from this collection, 'Elected', which was put out the previous year to tie in with the American Presidential Elections. Not a trick did our boys miss out on. Naturally the song was a huge hit.

The title track remains an all time classic, including its surprising vocal duet with flower power idol Donavan and Alice, although it's Alice who gets to sing the gleeful:

''If I'm too rough, tell me,

I'm so scared your tiny little head is going to come off in my hands".

`Billion Dollar Babies' has wonderful guitar riffs from Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, although Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, two of rock 'n' roll's top session guitarists, were brought in to give some experience to the studio guitar sound. This was also partly due to the failing health of Glen Buxton, who is tragically no longer with us. The rhythm section of Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith really come into their own on these songs.

On this thirtieth anniversary release of `Billion Dollar Babies' you get two discs, one with the original recording cleaned up by original producer Bob Ezrin from the master tapes, and a second one with selected live tracks from the `Billion Dollar Babies' tour that followed this release, where the band leaves you in no doubt they certainly can cut it live. There are also several studio outtakes on the second disc, showing that at the time the band had plenty of material still left in the bank.

'Generation Landslide', 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', plus the title track were three more hit singles for the band, while 'I Love The Dead' and 'Sick Things' would become stage favorites. 'Unfinished Sweet' gives the band room to breathe, while giving the stage show a vehicle for the band's theatrics during their spectacular act, especially with its snippets of West Side Story themes.

'Mary Ann' is perhaps the album's only not instantly memorable song. It's a pithy ballad that pumps sexual irony to the point of persona self-immolation. On the surface the song is a ballad of pure ear candy for girls, but the last line pitches a curve ball by revealing the protagonist's true love interest. Mary Ann is as much a man, if not more so, than Alice himself. For sheer cheek alone, Mary Ann scores a point.

A great album beautifully repackaged with loads of sleeve notes and photos all tucked away in a snake skin wallet. Unfortunately though you cannot remove the Billion Dollar note tucked inside as you could in the original vinyl release.

Sadly the next year's 'Muscle of Love' album was the band's last as egos got in the way. The newly named Alice crawled away to form yet another band, while the others carried on as "The Billion Dollar Babies'', but none of them ever came close to these heights again.

Executed by Mott the Dog

Guillotined by Ella Crew

I'm so scared that your little head will fall off in my hands. Did you know that we go dancing nightly? Thats right. In the attic, while the moon is rising.. in the sky.

Alice Cooper has acheived metal notoriety over the years as a solo artist. He's been on the scene longer than, probably anybody in metal. Although, you have to understand that, there have been a lot of changes and turns along the road. A.C has got some real good stuff though.

The best however is from his famed Warner Brothers years, when he had his original band, that grew from under the wing of Frank Zappa's label and had numerous radio hits. The one big hit from this amazingly strange and wonderful album is NO MORE MR NICE GUY, but this whole thing is a triumph, really.

Is it metal? I'm not really sure, but it does ROCK, and some of these lyrics will certainly mind screw some of the trendy metalions of todays world. Old school is still the most cool, kids. Know your roots. BILLION DOLLAR BABIES is a horrible, bloody, masterpiece. ROCK!

This is the most enduring of all of Alice Cooper's releases. T-shirts featuring the cover art never stopped being sold at the live shows, and it was the original group's only #1 chart entry, though several others came close.

Kudos deluxe for the packaging of this "Billion Dollar Babies Deluxe Edition" and Rhino/Warner Archives outdid themselves.

Released only three weeks after "Mascara and Monsters: the Best of Alice Cooper" (according to top-40 radio and their morning hog reports, etc.), this one is for the real, authentic true-blue fan, and there are more of them than you might suspect.

The liner notes are extensive, and much of the album art is brought back, including the perforations on the pics of the band members, but I can't imagine why anyone would want to take these pictures out.

The only thing that would have made this already extraordinary packaging better would have been a reproduction of the billion dollar bill, foldable and able to take out, like the giant one from the record.

However, since everything is scaled down in size for the CD, the bill would probably be very close to the size of a real one, and therefore close to illegal to produce that way.

Disc one is the original album/disc in all its glory, re-mastered and sounding more than fine.

Disc two--aside from the packaging that would have already made the purchase worthwhile--makes it the special release it is: live performances from 1973 featuring Neal, Glen, Dennis, Mike and of course Alice.

It's produced and mixed as if it were meant for record release, which is somewhat of a surprise. This is quality, quality memorabilia.

The track list is already above for you, but I will point out that a couple of tracks that were not even included in the box "The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper" are here. They are "Coal Black Model T," a different version of "Slick Black Limousine," available for years from the original "flexi-disc" (remember those?) release, and mastered to disc for the box. "Limousine" is also included.

Also, "Son of Billion Dollar Babies," a pre-cursor to "Generation Landslide," which is a nice slice of history.

If you're a real fan (and if you've ever ventured out to the arena for him, how can you not be?) this is essential.

If you're a casual fan, perhaps "Mascara and Monsters: the best of Alice Cooper" would suit you fine.

However, this packaging far outshines "Monsters'". If you're loving every second, every movement, every scream, just get this.

This is really great! I'am Alice Cooper Fan since 1972 and the split of the Alice Cooper Band was a real shock to me, when it took place in 1974. First, I hoped that the rumors were not true, but when I finally read the names of the musicans playing on Welcome to my Nightmare, I knew, it was definitly true. For that reason I banned Welcome to my Nightmare from my Record Collection untill last year, when I - after heavy thought about it - finally decided to complete my Alice Cooper Collection. Finally - for some years (1975 till 1982) - I turned my back to Alice Cooper at all. But I was always absolutly interested in everything going along with the original Alice Cooper Band. There was that atmosphere around these five guys along with the music they created, that I never found anywhere else that way - the Background pictures of the De Luxe CD show that very good. To listen to this amazing Live recording of the Alice Cooper Band ist just great! Specially the guitar playing on Unfinished Sweat is pure Rock Music at it's finest!! The Alice Cooper Band finally prooved in a fascinating way, that the whole is much much more than the sum of the pieces! Since 1972 nothing fascinated me in music like The Alice Cooper Band did and still does. Finally one remark on an important subject: No matter how much the split of the Band depended on problems around the lead guitar player, Glen Buxton, to me he is the core of the specific agessivness of the Alice Cooper Sound, and the Alice Coper Band would not have been possible without Glen Buxton! It's really worth to concentrate on his guitar playing on the Lice Act - amazing - and thanks to the people mixing the record what you hear there is Glen Buxton in the first place and not Mick Mashbir!!!!!! I hope that we will have the same package of remasterd Original CD plus Live CD in that quality from Killer and Schools out and Love it to Death! I promise to by each of them the day when it's available and I'am very sure that I'am not the only one!