Customer Reviews

Special Forces

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lotsa dark humor and hard rockin' music with a new wave flavor make this a must-have. Favorite tracks: Skeletons In The Closet and You're A Movie.

Alice had fallen out of favor when he released this album in 1981 which stalled at US #125. That's the only explanation I can think of for it not yielding a handful of hits. This is a peppy, slick, high-energy feel good album with some of Alice's funniest lyrics. The (very) loose theme is some kind of para-military fantasy and the album begins with a helicopter (which Aldo Nova would steal a year or so later for Fantasy) dropping the head banging song Special Forces into your ears. There is a good cover of Seven and Seven is (a mixed drink?) and a piece of fluff about a transvestite policeman, Prettiest Cop On The Block, which is probably the weak link in the chain of tunes.

Don't Talk Old To Me comes at you with a real punk feel. Generation Landslide adds a few lyrics to the classic from Billion Dollar Babies, but not much else. Skeletons in the Closet is as good a song as Alice ever did, and could've fit on any of his more popular albums. It begins with a nice faux harpsicord and ends with the trademark whispering of "Alice Alice..." This is an obligatory track for your next Halloween party mix.

You Want It, You Got It and You Look Good In Rags continue the hard punk sound Alice was experimenting with here quite successfully. Vicious Rumours rocks pretty hard and closes out the album where it began with guns loading and helicopters flying. The stand out piece, though, is You're A Movie, which features Alice as a General, who is the reincarnation of Patton, with Hannibal's heart, and Alexander's prowess. It is delightfully smug and condescending. After 21 years I still laugh out loud everytime I hear it.

This is the perfect cure for a bad day or a boring drive. It's hard not to nod along and smile as Alice struts and frets his hour or so on your CD player.

This album is probably not at the top of too many Alice Cooper fan's favorites list, but I love it. Maybe because of, or despite being a child of the 80's, Alice's 'New Wave' CD's are among my favorites. This CD is a pure 80's delight, with sound effects, robotic background vocals, heavy synth use, all mixed with Alice's unique lyrical style create one of most original CD's in the Cooper catalog. 'Special Forces' kicks of with a really good tune called 'Who Do You Think We Are', the synth drum and bass lines are pumping and really set the tone for the whole album. 'Seven & Seven' continues with the 'Punk/New Age' driving sound. 'Prettiest Cop on the Block' is a goofy little tune that has some clever lyrics. 'You Look Good in Rags', 'Don't Talk Old To Me' and 'Skeleton in the Closet' are all really good songs that have been overlooked. 'You Want It, You Got It' is a quick moving song that will get caught in your head. And 'You're A Movie' is another funny song that only Alice Cooper could get away with. If you only know Cooper for 'School's Out' or 'Eighteen' give these 80'S cd's a listen and enjoy some Alice Cooper music that often gets pushed aside. Plug in your old Intellivision or Atari, slap on a pair of parachute pants and get ready to enjoy the 80's all over again.

The early '80's Alice is a much overlooked portion of his carrer. Although we all love the original Alice Cooper group this was a brave new direction for the master. Things get off on the right foot with the opener 'Who do we think we are' and continues in the tradition of the Coops clever lyrics throughout the album. Just trust an old Cooper fan. If you like Alice - you won't be disappointed.

Special Forces is an under appreciated CD from the greatest rock star Mr. ALICE COOPER. At this point in his career Alice cut his hair and started wearing millitary uniforms. The songs are great fun .Don't talk old to me , Prettiest cop on the block and my personal favorite Skeletons in the closet. Every song on this CD is a Winner , You Want It, You Got It.

My first concert was the Special Forces tour. It blew me away. This was his take on punk, and I liked it! Much better than his sluggish solo albums from the 70's. He was trying to reclaim his place in proto-punk history. He weighed about 98 pounds and ruled. "7&7 Is" sealed the deal. He was trying to present prepunk to the latter day punks. A great album, and the soundtrack to my childhood. It fit great with my Germs, Kommunity Fk, and TSOL records. Buy it worms!!!

By 1981 music was heading into the new wave and Alice Cooper was determined to ride with it.Why not;he had successfully walked throught the storms that were disco and hard rock.The two things that Alice could bring to the mix were an attitude and a wicked sense of hunour(plus a dash of "Soldier of Fortune").The end result was the funniest Alice Cooper record to date with in-your -face sensibilites.If you doubt my word check out such witticisms as:YOU'RE A MOVIE,PRETTIEST COP ON THE BLOCK,DON'T TALK OLD TO ME,YOU WANT IT YOU GOT IT,SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET(a clever parody of past glories),and the sly VICIOUS RUMORS.ALICE acknowledges his garage band past with a hard edged cover of the Love classic 7&7 IS.The Special Forces band(featuring former Iron Butterfly guitarist Mike Pinera)provide brutal backup.I wish that Alice would drag a few of these hidden gems out on the BRUTAL PLANET Tour(especially WHO DO YOU THINK WE ARE).Contrary to the opinions of some,Alice Cooper was alive and well in the early eighties,delivering offbeat classics like SPECIAL FORCES.

"Special Forces" is one of Alice Cooper's forgotten '80's efforts, and a fine one. He effectively introduces elements of punk rock with his usual horror-hard rock, and this comes together especially well on the tracks 'Who Do You Think We Are', a new studio (not live--the audience was mixed in!) version of his '70's classic 'Generation Landslide' and 'You Look Good In Rags'. Not all the material works, but what ultimately saves this from an average rating is the humour. There are some very funny tracks here- 'You're A Movie' is just hilarious, 'You Want It You Got It' only slightly less so, while 'Skeletons In The Closet' comes off as a parody of his earlier "Welcome To My Nightmare" period. Not the first '80's Cooper cd to pick up (go for 1983's "Da Da"), but definitely the second.

Common factors for music I like is: tight controlled, raw, bold and, above all, free of cliches.

Special Forces has made it to stay in my lifetime top-5. I value it on par with Deep Purples Machine Head, Metallicas Kill 'em All and Budgies Power Supply. They are void of cliches, hard to the core with total control and a mastery in every detail.

Every once in 10.000 albums a magic completeness and coherence emerges. Special Forces has this magic in my view.

I very seldom bother to listen to the lyrics in music because 99% are braindead - but AC I listen to. Also here Special Forces is top of the heap.

this is without a doubt the best album alice released since the demise of the "alice cooper group" billion dollar babies-to be exact.yeah i know muscle of love was after "babies" but it was a weak effort.this album is so focused.rocks like a mother without sounding like the crappy 80's hair band music that he'd become victim of.this along with "zipper catches skin" were his last truly great records.

In the second installment of his bizarre early 80s period, Alice decides to veer more towards the punk sound and ease off a bit on the new wave sound of the previous album. I like this one more than Flush The Fashion. Not a classic album that will be remembered for years to come, but pretty solid. I'm sure it had a very hard time finding an audience outside the Alice Cooper fanbase because A). It's too punk rock and just all around goofy for most and B). The punk crowd would probably be repelled by songs like Skeletons In The Closet(which sounds like it could have been a Michael Jackson single). But regardless of how popular or unpopular this album was, it really does have some very catchy tunes on it. I'll be redundant once again and let y'all know that this can't touch any of his music from the 70s(Dada is the only one that can accomplish that), but if you collect em', it's a must have!