Alice Cooper heads to Motown for new LP

In the late ’60s, Los Angeles produced some weird and wild rock bands, from the Doors to the Mothers of Invention. But even L.A. didn’t know what to do with the Alice Cooper band.

“L.A. just didn’t get us at all,” Cooper told the Herald. “Frank Zappa didn’t even get us. He went, ‘I don’t even know what you are doing, that’s why I’m signing you (to my label).’ That’s a pretty big compliment when Frank Zappa says to you, ‘I don’t get it.’”

“In 1968 and ’69, everyone is dropping acid and listening to the Doors and Buffalo Springfield and it’s all love and isn’t everything groovy,” he added. “And here comes Alice Cooper. We are this violent, androgynous monster and we’re loud and just ripping the place apart, even if there was a lot of comedy in the show. People were literally running from us. They were leaving our concerts because, I guess, we had such a bad vibe.”

So the band went looking for a scene that appreciated its art (note: Alice Cooper was a band before the singer took the name for his solo career). Alice found that scene in Detroit and its diverse lineup of talent: Motown, Bob Seger and punk-before-punk-existed acts such as the MC5 and Iggy & the Stooges.

To celebrate his Motor City roots (Cooper actually spent the first few years of his life in Detroit before moving to Arizona), the singer has written a batch of songs that dip into the sounds he came up listening to. New LP “Detroit Stories” features hard rock, punk, metal, soul horns, a twist on hippie grooves and an obscure Seger cover.

“A song like ‘$1,000 High Heel Shoes,’ which could have gone real hard rock, I said, ‘This song wants to go Motown, so let’s go all the way with it, let’s make it a Motown song without it losing its Alice Cooper feel,’ ” he said. “I tried to touch on a lot and I tried to create characters that I knew in Detroit.”

To reach new sounds while retaining his signature wit and snarl, Cooper teamed up with old pals and guys he hadn’t talked to in years to write and record the record.

“If we were going to go to Detroit, write the songs in Detroit and record the songs in Detroit and use all Detroit players, then (MC5 guitarist) Wayne Kramer was at the top of my list,” he said. “And Johnny Bee of Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels on drums and guitarist Mark (Farner) from Grand Funk Railroad. All those guys were available so we had to put them all together and most of this album was recorded live in the studio.”

Mitch Ryder and frequent Cooper guitarist Steve Hunter, original Alice bassist Dennis Dunaway, Detroit jazz and R&B bassist Paul Randolph, the Motor City Horns and other locals also joined for writing and recording sessions.

Cooper is already well into writing his next record, but he says he’ll have to put a small “Detroit section” into his setlist when he’s ready for the road again.

“When you have 27 albums out and like 14 Top 40 songs, the audience demands at least 12 to 15 songs that we have to do,” he said with a laugh. “We aren’t leaving much room for new songs.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3bpoBsX