Customer Reviews

Killer

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Alice Cooper Band put out some of the best rock of the 70's and 'Killer' is one of the best albums of the decade. I won't bother going thru the individual songs, there are other reviews that do that very well, but suffice it to say Alice is in top form vocally, and the individual songs on 'Killer' are so strong and memorable, excellent guitar and keyboard work by Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton give each song a personality. But it's the backbone of the band, the bass by Dennis Dunaway and drums by Neal Smith that are worth the price of the disk. Dunaway's bass lines on songs like 'Halo of Flies' and 'Dead Babies' are so crisp and really drive the songs. This is Dunaway's best album outside of 'Love it to Death'. Neal Smith's drumming on the entire album is just amazing. I just don't see how Dunaway and Smith were not able to land a higher profile gig after the Alice Cooper band broke up?? 'Killer' is the perfect showcase for Smith and Dunaway's mastery of thier respective instruments. If you are interested in playing the bass or drums, then pick up 'Killer' to hear how to do it right.

First off, all of the original Alice Cooper band albums are more than worthwhile. Get them all....on vinyl that is.

These low priced CD's that Warner Brothers is peddeling are the original transfers from back when the CD was first introduced. Terrible hiss and poor sound quality make these unlistenable in my opinion. I have MP3's and cassettes of these albums that sound much better than these factory WB CD releases do.

I also own all of them on vinyl and can firmly attest that the AC Band catalouge is in DIRE need of a remaster. Save your bucks until that happens or listen on vinyl/cassette until then. Don't encourage these guys. Shame on you Warner Brothers for continuing to sell such outdated/poor quality transfers here in the new millenium!!

'Killer' has always been one of the big cannons in Alice Cooper's catalog (Alice Cooper the GROUP that is). This remaster on the Audio Fidelity label by Steve Hoffman doesn't disappoint! I am not going to go into all the great songs and riffs on this CD, just read all the other reviews if you need to know how great this album is, but as others have said before, this CD was long over due for a proper remastering and now it has one. Audio Fidelity and Steve Hoffman have done an excellent job on this CD (and also the 'School's Out' CD if you're interested in that title as well). The low end (thank you Dennis Dunaway) and the drums (thank you Neal Smith) sound clear and robust, the guitars just rock out like no tomorrow, and Alice, well, is just Alice in his prime, 'nuff said. Because they used NO compression or limiting during the remastering process it might not sound as 'loud' as most CD's in your collection but it will blow your socks off if you give it a little volume boost to make up for it. Alice Cooper fans can start to to rejoice, we now have 'Killer', 'School's Out' and 'Billion Dollar Babies' on remaster CD. I am hoping that Audio Fidelity (or Warner's or Rhino or somebody) will soon remaster their classic 'Love It To Death' album as well (and 'Muscle Of Love' too please while you're at it). Money well spent!

"KILLER"

REVIEW:

What can one say about "Killer" other than to say it is a rock and roll masterpiece. Truly. All eight tracks are just flat out excellent. The album achieves tremendous lyrical content, flawless drumming by Neal Smith and great vocals by Alice. For the uninitiated, start here.

MUSICIANS:

Alice Cooper... Vocals and Harmonica
Neal Smith ... Drums and Vocals
Dennis Dunaway ... Bass and Vocals
Glen Buxton ... Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce ... Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Piano and Organ
Bob Ezrin ... Keyboards, Mini-Moog
Rick Derringer ... Guitar on 'Under My Wheels' and 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'
Reggie Vincent ... Backing Vocals

INTERESTING FACTS:

1. An early working title for the track "Desperado" was "Desert Nights".

2. The click sound at the end of 'Be My Lover' is Neal Smith dropping his drumsticks.

3. 'Halo of Flies' was a mixture of three different songs that Alice would eventually "arrange".

4. The album was released in November of 1971 and would peak at #21 on the Billboard Top 200. The album would be certified a Platinum seller.

5. The singles "Be My Lover" peaked at #49 and "Under My Wheels" peaked at #59.

PACKAGING:

The words "Killer" were written by the right-handed Dennis Dunaway left-handed while Neal Smith's snake, Kachina, is photographed on the simplistic but effective album cover. Booklet features song credits, musician credits and a "NOTES" page.

APPROX. RUNNING TIME:

35 min. and 15 sec.

FINAL ANALYSIS:

Another definitve Alice Cooper album under the production of the great Bob Ezrin. ***** out of 5. A MUST HAVE!!!

Many fans believe this to be Alice Cooper's greatest album, and it is hard to argue. This is a hard rocking raucous foot stomping romp from beginning to end. Under My Wheels gets things off to a screaming start with the most slickly produced garage band song ever. Even though Alice Cooper always used tight flawless production their songs seemed somehow to be coming from the garage next door. It was just the irreverent attitude that permeated everything the band did. Be My Lover is a solid groove about hooking up with a chick in a bar. Halo of Flies is a masterpiece of riffs and lyrics and theatrical studio jam. It's like a James Bond movie in your ears after a fifth of Seagrams. You Drive Me Nervous and Yeah Yeah Yeah are two more screaming guitar twanging trips into the garage. It's easy to feel you could pick up a guitar and play this yourself until you try it. Dead Babies is an sick classic with an infectious bass line that will get into your nodding head for weeks to come. Nice dark tongue-in-cheek lyrics complement the heavy musical riff. Killer is a foray into rock theatre that is a real treat. It follows a killer's walk up to the gallows, and subsequent hanging with a staple of operatic rock hooks that would be pirated by everyone from David Bowie to Kiss.

It's all over before you're ready and you'll likely get right up and put it right back on to hear again. Every song is a gem and still sound fresh and innovative while sounding almost spontaneous and very edgy.

Killer is the ultimate Alice Cooper album. Alice Cooper was the original shock rock artist. His stage antics were unlike anything before him. Killer perfectly captures this feeling. Each of the eight songs on the album is classic Alice Cooper. Under My Wheels is one of the best songs on the album. It has that grating sound that Cooper is known for. Be My Lover is one of the lightest songs on the album, but is still a great song. Halo Of Flies is my personal favorite song on the album. It is an epic song that completely blew me away the first time I listened to it, and still does today. Desparado is another great song and possibly one of the best representations of what Cooper's style was all about in the early 70s. You Drive Me Nervous and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah are also great songs. Dead Babies is one of the scariest songs on the album, just listen to it. The song Killer ends the album perfectly. Killer is one of the most shocking, loudest, harshest albums of it's time. Any fan of Rock should like this alum. A True Klassic.

In case you just returned from Mars and don't know who Alice Cooper is here's a little background. Alice Cooper was originally the name of the band from Phoenix, Arizona whose leader was Vincent Damon Furnier, who later became Alice Cooper.

Furnier/Cooper may be the most prolific artist, of modern times logging some 40 albums to date and still counting. Furnier formed his first group, Earwigs, in the earley 60s, then changed to the Spiders in 1965 and later to Nazz. In 1968, after finding out that another Nazz existed, Furnier once again changed the bands name, to Alice Cooper. Rumour has it, the name came to Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name. After Alice Cooper signed their first record contract, four releases were made before Killer was released in 1971. Killer was a moderate seller going gold but what really started to make the band popular today was the theatrics and wild stage shows. Under Furnier's direction, Alice Cooper initiated a impressively theatrical and forceful brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock, drawing equally from horror movies and vaudeville. This probably preceded Ozzie Osbourne by at least a few years so audiences became enthralled with Alice Cooper's antics.

Furniers on stage persona was Alice Cooper which became his alter ego. A few years later Furnier officially change his name to Alice Cooper. Furnier only made three more albums as a member of a band. In 1975 he went solo.

Here is an AMG review of this very good album. My FIXATION will be discussed thereafter.

"Alice Cooper wasted little time following up the breakthrough success of 1971's Love It to Death with another album released the same year, Killer. Again, producer Bob Ezrin was on board, and helps the group solidify their heavy rock (yet wide-ranging) style even further. The band's stage show dealt with the macabre, and such disturbing tracks as "Dead Babies" and the title track fit in perfectly. Other songs were even more exceptional, such as the perennial-barnstorming concert standard "Under My Wheels," the melodic yet gritty "Be My Lover," and the tribute to their fallen friend Jim Morrison, "Desperado." The long and winding "Halo of Flies" correctly hinted that the band would be tackling more complex song structures on future albums, while "You Drive Me Nervous" and "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" showed that Alice Cooper hadn't completely abandoned their early garage-rock direction. With Killer, they became one of the world's top rock bands and concert attractions; it rewarded them as being among the most notorious and misunderstood entertainers, thoroughly despised by grown-ups." - Greg Prato

MY FAVORITE SONG, "Halo of Flies"

At eight minutes and twenty-two seconds "Halo of Flies" may be the longest piece Alice Cooper ever did. All my favorite songs tend to be long, the shortest being five + minutes. I guess it's because the longer songs have more variety and instrumentation, which is what I like. I tend to think of vocals as another instrument, augmenting the other instruments, rather than being the center of the music. There are exceptions to this thinking when the vocals are so astounding that they almost take over the music. The emotive ramblings of Tom Eklund on In search of Truth is such an effort.

"Halo of Flies" is both a complex but simple straight Rock and roll piece and actually manages to create the feeling of a bunch of flies buzzing around. Starting out with first one then two twanging guitars and cymbals for thirty seconds, when the music changes slightly with the addition of distorted guitar with a fluttery sound. This sound also backs and almost mimics Furnier when he sings, starting at the 1:50 mark. The underlying beat for the song is what I would call a giddyap beat. Furniers voice is sort of a raspy yell, not smooth but serving the music very well. There is a catchy, Near East type, guitar hook used effectively throughout the number and a nice drum solo at the six minute mark. Overall it's a fast 8:22. The musicianship, while primitive, is solid, the production is average and the song is captivating.

It should be mentioned that, unlike many of my other review picks, this is an outstanding, old rock and roll, album, with numerous great songs. My other favorites are: "Desparado", "Killer", "Dead Babies" and "Under my Wheels"

I just received this in the mail today, I could not wait to hear it. I have the regular cd release, and an import release which is better than the the regular copy. I was not very happy with this, the highs are still dull. This is no better than my import copy, What A waste of my money. I guess we will never see a real remastered copy, so buyer beware. Of course this is just my opinion, it still sounds flat to me.

WAY BACK IN 1972 WHEN I WAS TEN YEARS OLD I WENT INTO MY LOCAL KMART AND SAW A RED ALBUM WITH A HUGE SNAKE ON THE FRONT. NEEDLESS TO SAY I PURCHASED IT.THE BACK COVER WAS JUST AS GRUESOME WITH FIVE UGLY HIPPIES ON IT. WHEN I OPENED MY PRIZE I SAW ALICE HANGING HIMSELF WITH A BONUS 1972 CALENDER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIC.LITTLE DID I KNOW THE MUSIC WOULD BE MORE "KILLER" THAN THE ALBUM COVER. I TURNED MY STROBE LIGHT AND BLACKLIGHT ON AND LOOKED AT MY BLACKLIGHT POSTER OF A GHOUL FLOATING OVER A GRAVEYARD AND STARTED THE LP. THERE WAS NO TURNING BACK I WAS HOOKED FROM THE FIRST STRAINS OF UNDER MY WHEELS.THE WHOLE ALBUM KICKS FROM START TO FINISH AND IM SURE 95 PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE READING THIS HAVE HEARD THE SONGS A MILLION TIMES.WHAT I ALWAYS LIKED ABOUT ALICES EARLY ALBUMS WAS THAT THEY CAME WITH PRIZES. KILLER HAD A CALENDAR,SCHOOLS OUT HAD THE RECORD ALBUM WRAPPED IN PAPER PANTIES LOL BILLION DOLLAR BABIES HAD PUNCH OUT TRADING CARDS AND A HUGE BILLION DOLLAR FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE AND MUSCLE OF LOVE HAD A SMALL POSTER OF EM ALL PEELING POTATOES AFTER BEING BEAT UP BY A GORILLA! EVERY KID SHOULD HAVE KILLERS IN THEYRE COLLECTION LIKE I DID.I AM PLEASED THAT I FOUND THIS ALBUM ON MY OWN WITHOUT ANYONE TURNING ME ON TO IT.FIVE STARS FOR SURE.THANKS FOR READING.MARK "STOMP" CHOMA

So there we were, trying to learn Halo of Flies. James Bond meets Frank Zappa. My drummer, Lon, couldn't quite get it right. We spent hours and hours on it (I later learned that AC practiced 16 hours a day!). We finally got it. I went on to other things, but to this day I can play every bit of that song. I went back to Imperial Beach about 10 years ago and heard that Lon the drummer is dead. He shot hisself in the head. Sigh... What can I say? AC rules. I saw the first tour after "Love it to Death", with Pure Praire League (I kid you not) and Atomic Rooster opening. That remains the second best show I have ever seen. I'll tell about Iggy later...