Customer Reviews

Easy Action (Jewl)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought Pretties for You when it first came out and the Alice Cooper Band sounded so weird that I loved them instantly. As quirky and muddy as the sound was on Pretties, this their second album, Easy Action, sounded a whole lot better. I love every track on this album and it is still my favorite out of their catalogue. The songs are strange and not nearly as commercial as their later work for Warner Brothers. I met Alice in the mid eighties and had him autograph my copy of this album and he was surprised to see someone actually had it. Right after I bought this album, I saw them play live at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, around 1970. Their live show was great and they played cuts off both Pretties and Easy Action, starting off with Mister and Misdemeanor. As a guitarist, I tried to learn this album note for note and almost succeeded. If you want to get to the really great beginnings of the Alice Cooper Band, this is the perfect album. I was able to thank Michael Bruce for the great music, but it is just too bad my guitar hero Glen Buxton passed on before I could thank him too.

From the dreamy, Lennonesque "Shoe Salesman" & "Beautiful Flyaway" to the hard-rocking "Lay Down & Die, Goodbye" & "Return of the Spiders," the Alice Cooper - in 1970, a GROUP not just one, master showman - skillfully delivers the goods.

"Easy Action" is every bit as good as the more commercial "Killer" & "Love It To Death," which both followed a year later. This album hypnotically rocks the listener into a state of post-psychedelic, proto-metal frenzy.

Quite possibly the first album to use the line, "got a rocket in your pocket" (which KISS shamelessly stole, in 1976, on "Take Me" - track 2 on "Rock 'N Roll Over"), the underrated "Easy Action" was a blueprint of creepy, eerie, long-haired, things to come in the '70s and '80s.

I would consider "Easy Action" every bit an equal to Deep Purple's seminal masterpiece, "In Rock." Any serious fan, who is interested in the origins of hard rock should buy this long obscured classic.

"EASY ACTION"

REVIEW:

This is the Alice Cooper Group's second album and it certainly shows you signs of where this band was eventually headed. Producer David Briggs, who at one time also produced Neil Young, does a fine job of helping the band develop their sound. The album is diverse with psychadelic-like rockers to Beatles-esque tracks to more conventional 70's rock, "Easy Action" is an album that is often overlooked (even by some Alice Cooper fans) and is definitely worth picking up. Standout tracks: "Mr. And Mrs. Demeanor," "Below Your Means" and "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye".

BAND:

Alice Cooper ... Vocals
Neal Smith ... Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway ... Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton ... Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce ... Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ
David Briggs ... Piano (on "Shoe Salesman")

INTERESTING FACTS:

1. Released in June of 1970, "Easy Action" would peak at #89 on the Billboard Top 200.

2. Rhythm Guitarist Michael Bruce's lead vocals (not Alice's) are featured on both "Beauftiful Flyaway" and "Below Your Means".

3. It is Tom Smother's voice who says, "You are the only censor. If you don't like what I say, you have a choice. You can turn me off" at the beginning of "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye".
PACKAGING:

Nothing really special. Just some group photos and nothing more.

APPROX. RUNNING TIME:

33 min. and 23 sec.

FINAL ANALYSIS:

"Easy Action" is not as great as its follow-up "Love It To Death," but it is certainly better than their debut release. The album could benefit from being remastered but as is, I'll give it **** out of 5.

Back in 1970, Alice Cooper was a real band, not just one man who was the real Maralyn Manson. They had not decided what direction they wanted to take yet, but they were quite a unit.

These elements really make Easy Action a great record. There are all kinds of music here: folk, free-jamming and vaudville on stratocasters. Alice went into the stuido with producer David Briggs. He was workikng with Neal Young and Spirit-no slouches themselves.

Easy Action is thus a loose, organic record, filled with fluid playing, enhanced by Briggs' spare production. The band play well in every style used, and provide great backing for the theatrical vocals.

Don't buy Easy Action expecting the theatrics that came later on School's Out or Welcome To My Nightmare. This album is more about the music, and that here is well worth the price.

Alice Cooper's most underrated album. When you ask people what their favorite Alice album is, rarely is this in the top three. That's unfortunate because this thing rocks!

Just crank up 'Below Your Means' and tell me it's not a classic!

I stumbled across this album,(and it's predecessor,"pretties for you") sort of by mistake-(the best mistake I ever made). As a young teen, I had heard "I'm Eighteen" and "Ballad Of Dwight Fry" on the radio and I was IMMEDIATELY hooked. I just HAD to have the album these two songs came from. Not knowing the name of the album those two songs were from, I started to randomly buy Alice Cooper records. First I bought this one, then pretties for you. Though I didn't get the two songs I was looking for, I was NOT disappointed. Alice became my NUMBER ONE FAVORITE rocker instantly!! The heavy guitar work is what did it for me,(at the time, I was just starting to learn to play guitar). The guitar work on those two albums topped ANY guitar work I had heard before. It was not only excellent, it was so different than what everyone else was doing at the time,(the style, the sound, the raw grittyness, etc.), Not to mention the powerful vocals Alice belted out. Together with Dennis' bass and Neil's drums, this WAS a band to be reckoned with! Oh yea, I eventually found out which album "Eighteen" and "Dwight fry" were on and bought it too, along with every other album Alice would ever make!!

Alice Cooper's second LP was closer to the style of Alice that most fans know and love. While it did feature some of the psychedelia of the debut, it also featured the debut of the Alice Cooper "voice"; the sneering villain that Alice would hone to perfection and stardom into the new decade. Another familiar theme, that the band would later return to most famously on `School's Out', was a snippet/tribute to `West Side Story' on the track "Still No Air". `Easy Action' has been called by some as the great lost Alice record and I can see some of that but there is just enough weirdness where calling the record `great' I guess is a stretch, but that's a matter of opinion. `Easy' was the last LP they would record under the auspices of Frank Zappa and in their temporary home of LA. Other songs worthy of mention include "Mr. and Misdemeanor", "Return of the Spiders" and "Refrigerator Heaven". Some odd ballads and an extreme acid rock closer in "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye" may make parts of `Easy Action' a chore to sit through if you like later Coop but like its predecessor, `Easy Action' will reward the patient listener. Once this album sank like a stone sales wise, it was off to Detroit where superstardom and Bob Ezrin beaconed.

WOW, I honestly wasn't expecting Easy Action to contain memorable songwriting, extremely heavy rock, jamming, and an overall feel that's honestly not much different from the Alice Cooper albums most people consider classics (such as Love it to Death and Billion Dollar Babies).

I think it's amazing how the songs go from pretty Beatles-like melodies (such as in "Shoe Salesman") to HEAVY punk rock ("Return of the Spiders") to multi-part guitar jamming with a vocal melody showing obvious signs that Alice Cooper was headed in a gory, death-theatrical direction ("Below You Means") to the Pink Floyd "Interstellar Overdrive-"influenced "Lay Down and Die Goodbye" (though I admit this is probably the weakest song on the album because it *does* tend to wander at times... but the first three minutes are completely awesome for anyone who appreciates Pipers at the Gates of Dawn).

These are just small examplse of how incredibly diverse Easy Action is. Most of the shorter songs wouldn't be out of place on Killer. In other words, there's more tracks that closely resemble the songwriting of the classic albums and it's certainly a huge departure from Alice Cooper's Pretties for You album.

Why aren't people giving Easy Action more attention? Honestly, it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the classics! Just like I said in my opening line. There's no reason why more people haven't bothered to check into this album. It's old, so what? It's GREAT! Just because Love it to Death and Killer are more popular (and admittedly slightly better songwriting-wise) doesn't mean Easy Action is forgettable. No way.

Originally released in 1970,as this was the original band's second lp.About as good as the first effort 'Pretties For You'(see my review).As I remember,BOTH albums were pretty much a stiff UNTIL 'Billion Dollar Babies' became a million seller.After the Alice Cooper Group had become world known,that's when fans became interested in their early works such as 'Easy Action'.You can hear their Zappa influence.As for myself,I've never been that much of a Frank Zappa fan.Also felt the band's first two records showed just how much Alice&crew were,in fact ahead of their time.'Easy Action' is like part weird psychedelic and part hard rock.Tunes here I thought were impressive include "Mr.&Misdemeanor","Below Your Means","Return Of The Spiders"(dedicated to Gene Vincent)and "Lay Down And Die Goodbye".One of Cooper's lesser known gems.Recommended.

The Alice Cooper Band's second album sees the band still recording for Frank Zappa's label. The music starts to turn in the direction of the material that would later make them famous. No real macabre stuff yet, but the album is definitely a progression from their first one. The album was produced by David Brigs who is probably best known for working with Neal Young. The opening track, "Mr. And Misdemeanor" has always been a favorite of mine and a great example of Alice's talent for playing on words. "Shoe Salesman", "Below Your Means", "Return Of The Spiders", and the short but cool "Refrigerator Heaven" are all good tunes. The finale of "Beautiful Flyaway" and "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye" is also a great way to end things. The Alice Cooper band would be signed to Capitol and hit the big time with their next release. "Easy Action" would be a strong stepping stone to get to that point.