Customer Reviews

The Life & Crimes Of Alice Cooper

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a must have for all Alice Cooper fans. "Life and Crimes" is a four disk set that, in chronological order, showcases the genius that is Alice Cooper. You get quite a bit of the original Alice Cooper band's material from their 7 records together. I have seen other reviewers state that not enough disk space is given to the original band's material, but 2 of the four disks in the set are basically devoted to the Alice Cooper band years. You get all of the hits, "Eighteen", "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies" etc. but what I loved about this box set, is that for the first time I was able to hear the songs like "Don't Blow Your Mind" and "Hitch Hike", songs released when the band called themselves The Spiders. You get to hear how Alice and crew took a song called "Respect for the Sleepers" and re-tooled it into "Muscle of Love". You get a demo track "Call it Evil" that is lousy in production value, but as a fan, you can enjoy just the raw sound of the band at work. Alice's old bandmates even get a track "I Miss You" from thier Battle Axe album when they performed as The Billion Dollar Babies. There are so many unreleased and forgotten gems on disk 2 & 3, it's almost like discovering a new Alice Cooper album. You get Alice's great cover of the Beatles "Because" from the "Sgt. Peppers" movie he did with the Bee Gees. There are two songs from a Flash Gordon rock-opera that Alice performed, "I'm Flash" and "Space Pirates". A nice surprise are two songs from the fantastically awful horror movie "Monster Dog" Alice starred in, "Identity Crisis" and "See Me in the Mirror". Also in this set is the song that made it onto the Special Forces LP jacket, but not onto the record, "Look at You Over There (Ripping the Sawdust from my Teddy Bear". There is a great version of "Road Rats" from the "Roadie" soundtrack that sounds so much better than the Lace and Whiskey version, as well as a cleaned up version of "I Am the Future". And ending disk 3 you get "Hard Rock Summer" from the Friday the 13th soundtrack, that is just a great hair metal jam. On disk 4 there is a demo version of "He's Back" that was re-worked into "Trick Bag" off of Contrictor, plus the movie version of "He's Back" from the Friday the 13th soundtrack. Disk 4 also features quite a few songs that were attached to live albums or best-of's, "Is Anyone Home" and Alice's version of "Fire".
If you go beyond the music, this box set has a great, informative booklet, with forward by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, and liner notes from Alice and bandmates about each of the songs. There are tributes to Alice from everyone from Dick Clark to Rob Zombie. As an Alice Cooper fan, this box set was just a great treat. If you are a fan of any of the Coop's music, pick this up! Hopefully, now that Alice has released 3 more studio albums since this box came out, he will have enough extra material to produce another box-set in the near future. Possibly with a song or two where he reunites with the surviving members of the original line-up?? We can only hope.

I have been an Alice fan since the early 70's and have anticipated the arrival of this set since it was first mentioned in the mid 80's.

Listening to all the songs on the discs brought back many memories of my youth and the AC concerts I attended. Every song came back to me as if I were rocking out to them yesterday (I may have been!)

These are timeless classics and besides being the master showman, Alice is the master lyricist. Having been involved in writing lyrics to every song on his 20 some albums is a great accomplishment in itself. The boxed set includes 80 songs and he could easily produce Life and Crimes part II with others from his vast repertoire.

It is a truly great set. If I had to pinpoint any problem problem with it it would be that it did not include more from his former bands' album [Billiion Dollar Babies Battle Axe] or some Michael Bruce solo tunes.

Alice is the living legend and this is one box set all fans of rock and roll should have. Even if you are not a fan... you will definately be one after listening to this great set.

Finally, Alice releases a boxed set that he was planning to release years ago. Worth the wait I always say! He's my all time favourite and I was his biggest fan in highschool. I'm also seeing him in concert at the Orpheum theatre, and I know it'll be alot of fun! The set contains 4 CD's! The first one opens up with "Don't Blow Your Mind" that he wrote in the late 60's with his band the Spiders! Sounds alot like a cross between the Stones and The Beatles. Then he formed a group called the Nazz and there's a track called "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye(Original Version)", to which he later released on his 1970 album "Easy Action", the song was remastered to mostly an instrumental track. There's alot of unreleased material on this one which makes this box set really special. I really like a track on here called "Nobody Likes Me" which was released a year before he got signed up to a record company. I also like "No Tricks"(with Betty Wright). There's alot of tracks on here that was used on motion pictures. My favourites are "See Me In the Mirror" and "Identity Crisis" both from his first lead starring direct to video motion picture "Monster Dog", both songs never released until now! I also like "Hard Rock Summer" and the motion picture version of "(He's Back) The Man Behind the Mask",both from "Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives." "Under My Wheels"(with 3 of the Guns N' Roses members) is a masterpiece from the documentary "Decline of the Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years." "I Got A Line On You" from "Iron Eagle 2" is a great stompin' rocker! There's a track on here that was just released on this set called "Hands of Death"(featuring additional vocals and instruments by Rob Zombie) a real killer track that introduces the Coop to the dark grunge world!!!The box set also features a booklet that shows pictures of him in concert and meeting others stars and in the studio, plus many more photos and the story of him and his history of albums, movies, and his gory stage shows. One of the pictures feature him and his band the Spiders, where they all look clean cut with short hair. An early Beatles type look! I hope that he still makes studio albums and keeps on rocking no matter how old he is! Long live the Coop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best box set I have ever owned, and it blows the usual sets out of the water. It contains 12 songs that can only be found in this collection, and lots of songs from albums that cannot be found on cd anymore. For example, it has 4 songs from the album Muscle of Love, and now that album cannot be found on cd. Then, there are 3 songs from the first two albums Pretties for You and Easy Action, and even the most hardcore fan will have a hard time finding these songs or records anywhere else.
It also contains a great book that has quotes from Alice Cooper and other members of the band about each song, and why they wrote it, and there are great pictures, and his complete discography up to when the set was made.
I was hessitant on buying this set and instead thought about buying the albums individually, but I ended up buying the box set, and liked everything, and ended up getting the albums too, and don't regret ever getting the box set. It does a great job of mixing rare tracks with classic songs like "I'm Eighteen" and "Billion Dollar Babies". And the rare songs are good too, not like some of those b-sides you're dying to hear, then end up understanding quickly why they didn't make the album.
Some of the cooleset tracks found only on this are: "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye" and "Nobody Likes Me" (the studio version) and He's Back (the Man Behind the Mask).

Alice Cooper is the Stephen King of rock music! I like collecting box sets. The only problem with some box sets is you don't get all of the hits or get too many demo or alternate versions. Not so with this Alice Cooper compilation. They are all here! And, for those who don't know much about the music of Alice Cooper, this box set will give you the complete history as well as show you the many musical journeys this misunderstood artist has taken. I say he is misunderstood because there were those in the 1970s (and perhaps even some today) who wanted to label him as sick, Satanic or not a "nice guy" as his song "No More Mr. Nice Guy" would tell us. Well, guess what? He really is a nice guy. He is a performer. The Alice we see and hear is a "performance," not Alice the man. And, what an incredibly original performer he is - and also quite diverse both musically and lyrically speaking. As for the not being a "nice guy" misnomer, even Alice himself admits in the excellent, humorous and informative booklet that comes with the box set that only his parents (the Rev. and Mrs.) seemed to know he was still a "nice guy." He loved the old horror films and wanted to put that "feel" of the old films in a live stage show. Nobody did it like Alice Cooper. Of course, it is not all fun and games with Alice. There are some very haunting and revealing songs on this compilation including the autobiographical "I Never Cry" and "How You Gonna See Me Now" as well as other selections from his excellent concept album "From The Inside" released after Cooper cleaned himself up after years of alcohol abuse. (I would also suggest purchasing the import CD From The Inside with the lyrical help of Elton John buddy Bernie Taupin.) Cooper can do romantic ballads such as "You and Me" (a song even covered by Frank Sinatra), make you laugh with songs like "I Love America," haunt you with the excellent B-side now finally on CD "No Tricks" and of course rock like nobody else on the classic tunes "School's Out," "I'm Eighteen," "Hello Hooray," "Billion Dollar Babies," and many more. Of course, some great rarities and demos are also included in this box set also. I deliberated for months about getting this box set. Finally, I decided to take the plunge and just do it. I guess being raised a "good boy" (and a minister's son just like Alice), I thought I really shouldn't be an Alice Cooper fan - like it was something I should keep hidden in the closest. (Now that I'm 40 years old, I guess it is time to admit I've been a closet Alice Cooper fan all of these years.) Don't wait as long as I did. If you are an Alice Cooper fan, get this box set. I'm glad I did. The best discs for me are discs two and three - both of them contain the Classic Alice!

This is a nice, but rather bizarre box set from the Coop. It features 4 discs of personal favorites of Alice, and quite a few rare gems that had not been released before, or where only available on certain releases that some fans had trouble tracking down.

On disc one is a combination of songs from early Alice Cooper, so early they where not called the Alice Cooper group yet, they where the Spiders and The Nazz, and features a few rarer to find songs, as well as some songs that where only heard on bootlegs, but have been digitally remastered for better quality here. It's interesting to hear how this group went from something like a 60's psychedelic acid tripping band trying to find a sound, to the hard rock monsters they became. Continuing on, they may just look like greatest hits being thrown in, and some are, with reason in the booklet why Alice has included the song, and a story to go with it, like maybe how it came about, what it's about, or who helped to make it. But then there is a couple of songs that are the single release version, these songs may sound just the same to some people, but real fans can hear the differences between them, some may just be snippets from the last track missing, or something shortened here and there, but it's nice to actually have all these things if you are a collector.

Disc two is mostly the hits again, but there is a few demo and studio versions of a few songs.

Disc 3, has a few more hits, a few more demos and a couple of unreleased songs, such as Hard Rock Summer In The USA, which could only be heard in the movie Friday The 13th: Part 6: Jason Lives. Finally it has been released, and was one of the biggest reasons I picked up this box set.

Disc 4: This was the most interesting disc to me, having demo and movie mix versions of "He's Back, The Man Behind the Mask", written for the movie I just mentioned. It was a real surprise to hear the original version, and how the song changed so much. Tho, do note; Amazon has "Is Anyone Home" listed as a live version, it is not, it is the same track found on "A Fistful of Alice"

So, that is what's on the box set, but I can't give this thing the perfect 5 stars. For what is on here, is great, but I think this would have been so much more appreciated if there was not so many regular hit songs included, and just stuck purely to demo, alternate versions, studio version and outtakes. The entire bonus CD that came with "Billion Dollar Babies" should not have been held off for a separate release, and instead included here in this one. Even if it would reduce the numbers of discs to 2 or 3, it would have been much more of a worthy purchase for Alice fans. Why did they feel including songs we already own and love in the mix of what we will be skipping to to check out should be included? It's the mystery of the box sets like these, like when AC/DC released Bonfire in 1997 and included the album Back In Black... sure, it may have been the ultimate tribute album to Bon Scott's memory, but in retrospect, it is one of, and possibly will be the highest selling album of all time, which means WE ALREADY OWN IT! We don't need more copies of the album.

Something I did enjoy about the regular hits and tracks on this Box Set was the songs from the 80's between Clones and Raise Your Fist. For some reason, Alice hasn't digitally remastered those albums, so it is good to hear them here mastered and sounding better then they do on the albums. Especially songs from Constrictor. Compared to the asking price that was first laid on when this was first released, it's not a bad price. Fans will enjoy the demos and outtakes and what not, and maybe new fans might get a taste of Alice's progression through the years, and you could maybe call this a kind of Greatest Hits box set, but fans would debate it and say a million other songs should be included then, it's pretty much a see what's on it box set, if you like the sound of it, get it.

However, don't mistake this as a greatest hits box set. It's far from it; this is more or less a treat from Alice as he has picked HIS favorite songs it seems, so don't go complaining that a particular song hasn't been included. Plus a few rarities thrown into the mix as well. 3 great songs from the pre Alice days when they where called the Spiders. Plus a cool unreleased track from the Nazz.

I have really enjoyed the songs I had not heard before that have been included into this, the single versions, demos, ECT... but for the fans of Alice who already have the songs that are on the released albums, plus the ones I already had from various other stuff (imports/greatest hits) you can be left feeling like you would like more.

For the Cooper fan, they probably already had all of this stuff. But it's nice to have them officially released. A highlight is hearing the original demo version of He's Back (man behind the mask) from the 86 Constrictor album. The song was originally the music that became "Trick Bag" and it's a mind blow to hear it that way.

Overall, I'm not sure who to recommend this to? The hardcore Alice fan might want it if there is enough on it they don't already have, but they may feel its not worth it cause they do have it all. Someone new wanting to be introduced to Alice may love it. Hearing Alice from the beginning to pretty much mid 90's.

Alice may not be every ones choice of music, but that's because Alice Cooper has been so mistreated by the press, opinions, reputation, stories and all that trash they print and lie about. But listening to this from start to finish reminds me that Alice is truly one of the all time greats that is so badly underrated and miss appreciated. It's true that Alice did it all before anyone, made way for the bands to come and changed the face of Rock N Roll. And if those criticizing would just zip it long enough to listen through the 30 years of Alice, there bound to find something they like. Alice has done just about every style of music there is, from slow tempo to orchestrated ballads rock of all forms, country, blues, pop, dance, metal, folk and even done them in every form from original 70's heavy metal to 90's/2000 style metal and back again. If its worth doing, Alice did it, if it wasn't worth doing, Alice did it, if anyone can make something sound good, Alice has done it. And that comes across clearly in this box set of gems from the world's most underrated songwriter.

"THE LIFE & CRIMES OF ALICE COOPER"

REVIEW:
"The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper," which spans 4 CDs, features 81 tracks of import releases, rare tracks, single version releases, demos and the original studio tracks. Plus, the box set also features Alice's contributions to the various soundtracks he's been featured on over the years. Sadly, Alice's early 80's albums were shortchanged and the absence of live material is sorely missed from this collection. So, this set certainly isn't definitive and isn't necessarily a true retrospective of the great Alice Cooper either.

MUSICIANS:

Various artists.

INTERESTING FACTS:

1. Released on April 20th 1999, "The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper" failed to chart on the Billboard Top 200.

2. For inclusion on the box set, there was the thought to record a new song with all the original members of the Alice Cooper Group but Warner Bros. nixed the idea.

3. After five long years, the box set would finally arrive featuring atleast one song from each studio album.

PACKAGING:

Very good packaging includes four picture disks and a booklet. The booklet contains an intro written by Johnny Rotten, liner notes written by former 'Creem' editor Jeffrey Morgan, and tributes from Bono, Vince Neil, Iggy Pop, Joey Ramone, Nikki Sixx, Ron Zombie; among others.

APPROX. RUNNING TIME:

Disc One: (21 tracks) 74:19
Disc Two: (22 tracks) 74:35
Disc Three: (22 tracks) 72:44
Disc Four: (18 tracks) 73:26

Total: 4 hours and 54 minutes (... and 24 seconds)

FINAL ANALYSIS:

This set is ideal for the uninitiated but the die hards may be disappointed. **** out of 5.

Alice still is the greatest shock rocker ever. The boxset contains cutsfrom every Cooper album, and contains many of the hits you'd expect such asSchool's Out and Eighteen. However, that is not what makes this set worth having. First of all, since every album is covered you get to compare and contrast the different styles of Cooper's career. When hearing this set one realizes while he is noted for his outrageous stage shows, he is not a one trick pony. There are simply some great songs on this set. I mean, does anyone remember "Who Do You Think We Are" from the Special Forces album? What a great song!!! Plus there are some unreleased tracks, things from his high school days. and several movie soundtrack songs. Check out No Tricks, a duet done with Betty Wright. One also gets to hear things such as No Respect For The Sleepers, which will go on to become Muscle of Love. The fourth disc also contains some of his better 90's tracks and makes one realize that Alice still makes some of the best music on this planet. This boxset is an Alice fan's wet dream and if you are not a fan buy it anyway and you'll become one.

This box set is so amazing! I own all of his albums on both vinyl and Cd and this box set still gets played more often!
Great mix of songs on each CD.

How is Alice not in the Rock'n'Roll hall of fame (or rather shame)?
The man has put out so much great music!!!

I am a Diehard fan, you can trust me ;)

there is a lot of not so good stuff on here; however, I'm not going to pan this thing because of that. This is supposed to be a career-spanning box set and I don't think some of you get that. A lot of you have been panning it because it doesn't have that much of the early stuff but to be honest, it has a sufficient amount of that stuff. I mean, look at it realistically, his glory years was from the mid-late 70's and if you think of how long he's been around, that's a small percentage. So I don't think they short changed you on the Alice Cooper band days.

Now, with that said there is a lot of stuff on here I'm not big on. A lot of the covers that's on here are just either awful or don't make sense as far as Alice performing them. And then there's just the songs off some of his infamous cds that are terrible. I don't think I even need to go in depth here. You know what I'm talking about. Everyone knows there was a period of time where Alice had some major alcohol issues which resulted in less than inspired music from the king of shock. However, the final disc is a bit of a true return, not as much as his material after this box but it is good. It's after this disc with Brutal Planet, Dragonworld and the incredible Dirty Diamonds that Alice was able to make good albums again.

This set outside of the music is just plain cool. Awesome design and a great booklet that has various quotes from other artists, some of whom are quite surprising as far as being fans of Alice like Elton John for instance. Bottom line, if you're an Alice Cooper fan, get this but I probably wouldn't recommend it to new comers. For new comers I would suggest the best of alice cooper: Mascara and Monsters because that cd really is the best of Alice Cooper if you really want to know what Alice is all about.