Unfinished Sweets
Over the years there have been a number of projects that have been discussed by Alice but have failed to materialize. This page attempts to collect together some of those abandoned projects that never had the staying power or support to bear any fruit.
The Night Shift
In 2010 Alice inked a deal with the Bigger Picture Group in Nashville. The deal with Bigger Picture was to see them "contribute to strategy, staging, special products, theatrical projects as well as the production, promotion and distribution of future Alice Cooper releases" (1).
While the relationship with Bigger Picture isn't very significant in of itself, the fact that producer Bob Ezrin was a partner in the company was. This was the beginning of a rekindling of an official working relationship between Bob and Alice. Bob Ezrin's relationship with Alice began in 1970 while working with the Alice Cooper group as a producer on an album, Love It to Death (1971), that would eventually see the band emerge from the underground. Ezrin would go on to produce all the Alice Cooper group albums up to and including Billion Dollar Babies (1973), helping the band produce a string of very successful albums. When the Alice Cooper group disbanded Ezrin returned to work with Alice the solo artist, producing his albums off and on until DaDa (1983). More recently, Ezrin returned as an executive producer on Brutal Planet (2000).
Ezrin stated that he was "delighted to be back in business with Alice Cooper and Shep Gordon's Alive Enterprises and our whole company is over the moon about this collaboration. This is not a record deal but rather a partnership that involves virtually all aspects of Alice's ever-expanding universe. And it's a reunion with the first artist I ever produced and the first great manager I ever worked with. I couldn't be happier." (2)
Alice was also pretty excited about the collaboration with Ezrin, and the new album. "It feels great to be working with Bob again and the entire Bigger Picture team have been tremendously supportive. Lightning has struck more than once in the past with Bob's involvement so we feel great that we're onto something really electrifying now that we're together again. The album we're crafting is, in some ways, a 'shriekquel' to what's gone before and there's no better guy to oversee things than Bob.” (2)
Around the time of the Bigger Picture deal, the discussion was for a sequel of sorts to Along Came A Spider (2008), which was going to be called The Night Shift. The Night Shift was going to be another conceptual album with the writing process quite far along. "Ten songs are written already. It's going to be called The Night Shift. The concept is, it's a really dark radio show where I'm the disc jockey, and every song I play will be by a different fictitious band. At some point, you'll realize this disc jockey is a little bit more than that. And I'm sure there will be some kind of a twist ending." (1)
Alice had discussed the project on his non-fictitious radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper, stating that the album had not been recorded, but that they had ten demos. Before the demos went any further there was a shift in direction that was likely a result of Bob's lack of interest in the project. It was Bob's suggestion to tackle a sequel to a completely different album... Rue Morgue stated that "the fate of the Spider character was originally slated to be explored in a sequel titled Night Shift, but those plans were derailed last year when Canadian producer and Cooper collaboator Bob Ezrin reminded the aging shock rocker that it was the 35th anniversary of that other horror concept album — the iconic 1975 classic Welcome To My Nightmare." (3)
The DJ in the Night Shift was pulled off the air before his debut show, and Spider/Steven's return was in the form of Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011) — with Bob Ezrin at the helm.
The Bigger Picture Group folded in 2014. While Alice's relationship with Bigger Picture ultimately did not last long, and no studio album was released under the label — Welcome 2 My Nightmare was released on Universal (UMe). There were a few notable physical releases from the relationship: Keepin' Halloween Alive single (2010), the Old School (2011) deluxe box set, and the Theatre of Death — Live at Hammersmith 2009 (2010) video release. The Bigger Picture deal would ultimately cement the continuation of Bob Ezrin in the roll of THE Alice Cooper producer, which is again ongoing - Ezrin most recently produced Alice’s latest album, Paranormal (2017).
Notes
1. Blabbermouth, March 24, 2010
2. Planet Rock, May 25, 2010
3. Rue Morgue, September/October 2011