Article Database

St. Alice Day Massacre

LACE AND WHISKEY
Alice Cooper
Warner Bros. (BSK 3027)

BATTLE AXE
Billion Dollar Babies
Polydor (PD-1-6100)

Could this shape up as the hottest showdown in recent memory? It's Vincent Furnier, alias Alice Cooper the performer, pitted against Billion Dollar Babies, formerly alias Alice Cooper the band. Will the "real" Alice Cooper — or at least l'essence de Cooper — please stand up?

Yet one wonders who is Interested. Al? BDB? Their respective managers? Some record company people and a handful of otherwise bored-shltless rock writers?

After all, Alice's last two singles were both strictly MOR, and the single from the new album, "You and Me," is a housewives' delight. Billion Dollar Babies, on the other hand, are shooting for the rockin' punters, the kind of kids that dug Aliee Cooper's original raunch 'n roll; the kids who got dulled out by the excesses of Bob Ezrin's production and ol' Vince's all-too-eager embrace of a Hollywood show-biz ethos.

Then are they shooting for different audiences? Again confusing, since Aliee Cooper appears to be shooting for every audience.

And Aliee does indeed have something for everyone: two sensitive ballads, two heavyweight production rock tunes, an Eagle-ified country-rocker, two hard 'n' heavy crunch-o-ramas, an overture to disco, an unfunny camp-it up "comedy" cut, even a genuine simulated rockabilly track. "You and Me" is, admittedly excellent for what it is, and the hard rock, especially "Road Rats," which stands for hard-working roadies everywhere, is choice. But not only is there no focus in the album, there is no unified Alice Cooper style or voice.

Interestingly enough, the vocals on Battle Axe might just as well be Aliee Cooper! A bit thinner or less authoritative than Alice's in the good old days, but Mike Bruce's singing — plus BDB's playing — definitely evokes memories of Killer and Billion Dollar Babies. The sound is familiar, in part due to the production of Lee DeCarlo, protege of Jack Douglas (himself a former protege of ex-Nimbus Nine partners Ezrin and Jack Richardson). DeCarlo is joined by Douglas on the single, "Rock and Roll Radio," while shades of "Is It My Body" and "Elected" abound.