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Battle Axe Review

Battle Axe - Billion Dollar Babies (Polydor)

Author: Ed Naha

For anyone who hasn't been enthralled With Alice Cooper's recent excursions into the realm of Bette Midler-style production, may we humbly present Billion Dollar Babies, a fairly lobotomized crew of demento rockers composed of former Cooper cronies and a few new faces. Back for a stab at rock fame are Alice alumni Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, and Neal Smith who, together with Bob Dolin and Mike Marconi, succeed in re­creating the frenzied rock & roll sound, if not the manic thrust, of classic Alice Cooper.

Michael Bruce's slam-bang rhythm guitar chords at one time defined the style of Cooper past. His work on early Alice albums was as synonymous with the hard-charging, crazy music as was Cooper's deranged singing. On Billion Dollar Babies' debut disc, Bruce and his buddies resurrect that mind numbing noise in a big way, picking up Where Alice left off before disband­ing his troupe a few years ago.

"Too Young" is the logical answer to "I'm Eighteen," with the Babies whining, "I'm X-rated, jail-baited," over a barrage of power chords. Lyrically, the song matches its predecessor in every way, presenting another fistful of teenage trauma with a back beat you can't ignore: "Even if I'm dressed up/My folks think I'm messed up/They don't know me/They don't even try." Take that, Dear Abby!

"Rock 'n' Roll Radio" is pretty perverse as well, paying a sledge-hammer tribute to the world of AM shlock ("It's the number-one record all over the nation/It's bigger than King Kong"), and "Shine Your Love" offers an in­sightful look into leaden rock hook-­dom.

In the midst of their metallic assault on your eardrums, Babies take time to dispel the nasty rumor that the reason for the parting of the ways with Cooper was that they couldn't play their instruments well enough to keep pace with his stardom. "Ego Mania," a torrid instrumental, blasts that theory to smithereens, as do some of the more inventive portions of "Battle Axe," a tale of musical massacre in a game of rock rollerball that should please even the most die-hard Alice Cooper fan.

In fact, the only side of the booming Babies that might displease old Alice addicts is their lyrical outlook on life, which is, by anyone's standards, pretty normal. About a third of the album finds the guys singing about ordinary, run-of-the-mill romances ("I Miss You," "Rock Me Slowly," "Dance with Me") or even ordinary, run-of-the-mill near romances ("Love Is Rather Blind"). Aside from this distressingly calm twinge, Billion Dollar Babies' first LP is a pretty enjoyable jump into neuron-­blown nirvana.

So, while Alice is crooning a tune in his new detective garb, any of his fans who feel left out might give a listen to Battle Axe. It's nothing new. It even smacks of face-lifting. But, hell, any band that would even consider a rock & roll version of rollerball has to be taken seriously.