An Alice Cooper album is always one worth paying attention to, especially given that he’s managed far more hits than misses over a (Hey) Stoopid-ly long career. His last release, Detroit Stories, was genuinely something special and ranks as one of his best for so many reasons. Road goes for another themed approach, but musically is a little more like his usual output. None the worse for it, and trying to go up a gear after Detroit would be a hell of a challenge.
The ethos behind Road is that’s where Alice belongs. With 200+ live shows a year, he’s got to love it. Or go (more) insane trying to deal with it. His band – Ryan Roxie, Chuck Garric, Tommy Henrikson, Glen Sobel, and Nita Strauss – have been fully involved in the songwriting, which makes sense as they are quite the cohesive unit. Of the live shows I’ve seen by Alice, his most recent in Glasgow with that crew backing him was hands down the best Alice show I’ve seen. Much as he’s a legend, he is only a major cog in a musical machine and I do think he’s found as good a band as he’s ever had.
Road has the one thing that I value on an album: variety. Each song is recognisable an Alice Cooper track, mainly due to his trademark vocals. Beyond this, however, there’s no real formula or predictability. I also feel that this whole effort is the most tongue-in-cheek for some years and all the better for it. “I’m Alice” is a nice bit of self-reference and almost feels like it could have been on his first album, an introduction to Mr Furnier’s alter-ego. “Welcome To The Show” pairs with it as a pretty obvious set opener and carrying the “on the road” motif.
The first real major highlight is “Go Away”, a track with lyrics that will raise a smile as well as a fist. With the kind of theme more often encountered on a Bowling For Soup track, it details Alice’s efforts to get rid of a particularly clingy female. It’s a silly song, and I love it.
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Many will already have heard “White Line Frankenstein” which features Tom Morello on backing vocals. It’s real thumper of a song and, again, recognisably Alice. Much as it’s a great song, it’s stomped on by “Big Boots”, another song that can’t be taken seriously and is all the better for it. An absolute hook in the chorus and an element of “Does he mean ‘boots’, or…?”
“Rules of the Road” has a brilliant driving riff, “The Big Goodbye” pounds, “Baby Please Don’t Go” ticks the mandatory ballad checkbox (and isn’t bad, though isn’t the best one Alice has ever done), “100 More Miles” owes something to our own favourites Ward XVI with its circus-influenced backing tones, and “Magic Bus” rocks us to a climax, and gives Sobel a chance to show off with a minor drum solo.
Alice has released good albums, great albums and a couple of “meh” ones. Road is very much up there with the better ones, and it’s staggering to think that he’s still releasing fresh, enjoyable music after so many years in this game. As stated earlier, having a solid creative team around him is definitely helping and they will surely reap the rewards once they take this album out on the, erm, road.
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Road is out on August 25th
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