ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 75 ALICE COOPER - WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE (1975)

[RJhog (Admin)]

 

 

 

Artist: Alice Cooper

Album: Welcome To My Nightmare

Producer: Bob Ezrin

Singles: Only Women Bleed/Welcome To My Nightmare/Department Of Youth

Best Single/Best Hidden Gem: Welcome To My Nightmare/Steven

Best Of The Rest: The Black Widow/Only Women Bleed/Cold Ethyl/Years Ago/The Awakening

RIAA Certification: Platinum

Album Cover: 3/10

 

Well, Halloween is right around the corner, so Album Of The Week gets as close to a Halloween theme as I can manage.  My other choices were W.A.S.P. and Kiss, but honestly, Alice Cooper is a no-brainer.  So we'll look at his 1975 masterpiece this week.  Of course, I'm talking about Welcome To My Nightmare.  This was Cooper's first solo album, which is quite confusing to some because his solo name is the same as his previous band's name.  The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA and peaked at the number 5 spot on the Billboard chart.  The highest charting single from the album was the ballad Only Women Bleed, which topped out at number 12.

 

I'm sure most of you know that this is a concept album.  I'll be honest with you, I'm not a big fan of concept albums.  For me, as long as the individual songs are good, I'm happy.  If I want to follow a plot, I prefer the movie screen or a good book.  This album fits my requirements, as I think it is quite good.  And although it has been around for 36 years, it's new to me.  I just bought it within the last 2 years.  My favorite song grouping of the album would be tracks 8-10.  This passage sounds so positively evil to me.  I couldn't imagine that I would have listened to this in 1975, because I was 9 years old at the time and that would have scared the crap out of me.

 

Anyway, listen and comment.  I wanna know what you think.  This album can be found with no problem, so why not pick it up along with the sequel that was just released, Welcome 2 My Nightmare.  Oh yeah, the album cover get's high marks from what I understand, but it's not all that great to me.

 

Did You Know: This album inspired a TV special, called Alice Cooper: The Nightmare.  It starred Cooper as Steven, the focus of the album.  It also featured Vincent Price, whose voice you hear on the album.  It was released on VHS in 1983 and was nominated for a Grammy in 1984 for Best Video Album, and of course lost to Duran Duran.  You guys remember that, right?

 

 

1. Welcome To My Nightmare

2. Devil's Food

3. The Black Widow

4. Some Folks

5. Only Women Bleed

6. Department Of Youth

7. Cold Ethyl

8. Years Ago

9. Steven

10. The Awakening

11. Escape

[Jon]

Waited till Halloween to listen and.....it's ok. Never heard the full album before, just a few tracks and it's just ok to me. Not something I want to purchase. But now I can say I've heard it I suppose?

[Scott]

As usual Jons wrong, or is RJ the one thats wrong more?  oh well...

 

This is classic top to bottom.  OK it sounded much cooler after smoking, uh...  smoking a cigarette, not that I smoked anything, I just heard someone say it sounded really cool after smoking.  I never figured that out, probably shouldnt have even mentioned it.  Now where was I?

 

Oh ya...  RJ was wrong again.

 

I love this album!  Have it turned up right now and handing out candy!

[Jon]

Interesting. At least some of us that were "wrong" wouldn't do something like, oh, I don't know.....something like posting a 30+ y/o album in NMC? That sounds a bit "wrong" to me!