On his 2019 EP Breadcrumbs, shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper paid tribute to his hometown of Detroit, working in a Detroit studio with a host of musicians from the city recording a smattering of covers of Bob Seger, the MC5, Suzy Quatro, the Dirtbombs, and other Motor City favorites. Full-length album Detroit Stories expands on the theme begun with Breadcrumbs, presenting many of the EP's tracks again and fleshing out the record with new originals and covers. Showing up a second time are high-spirited covers of the MC5's "Sister Anne," Seger's "East Side Story," and original tunes "Go Man Go" and "Detroit City 2021" (updated from its title "Detroit City 2020" on the EP). Exciting new additions include a cover of the Lou Reed-penned song "Rock & Roll," delivered with the same energetic barroom swagger as the early-'70s Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels rendition, and an unexpected cover of longtime Detroit independent rockers Outrageous Cherry's hooky sunshine pop anthem "Our Love Will Change the World." Cooper's longtime producer Bob Erzin delivers the same thick, powerful sound he's achieved on many of Cooper's post-2000s albums, with booming heavy metal drums, walls of guitar, and Cooper's sinister vocals high in the mix. For every surprisingly strong cover version, Detroit Stories has a clunker original. Boozy blues rocker "Drunk and In Love" and the uptempo riffing of "Social Debris" are passable if uninspired, but the obnoxious "Independence Dave" and warmed-over, Kiss-reminiscent "Shut Up and Rock" could have easily been left off the album's 15-song track listing. Even with its all-star cast of Detroit players (Wayne Kramer, Grand Funk Railroad's Mark Farner, members of the original Alice Cooper band, and many others all contribute), Detroit Stories is stuck in a confusing limbo somewhere between tribute to Detroit and another album of the kind of campy, theatrical, radio-geared hard rock Cooper has been turning in since Hey Stoopid. Never quite committing to either concept, Detroit Stories ends up feeling like a handful of solid covers of classic Detroit tunes with some Alice Cooper extras thrown in at random.On his 2019 EP Breadcrumbs, shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper paid tribute to his hometown of Detroit, working in a Detroit studio with a host of musicians from the city recording a smattering of covers of Bob Seger, the MC5, Suzy Quatro, the Dirtbombs, and other Motor City favorites. Full-length album Detroit Stories expands on the theme begun with Breadcrumbs, presenting many of the EP's tracks again and fleshing out the record with new originals and covers. Showing up a second time are high-spirited covers of the MC5's "Sister Anne," Seger's "East Side Story," and original tunes "Go Man Go" and "Detroit City 2021" (updated from its title "Detroit City 2020" on the EP). Exciting new additions include a cover of the Lou Reed-penned song "Rock & Roll," delivered with the same energetic barroom swagger as the early-'70s Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels rendition, and an unexpected cover of longtime Detroit independent rockers Outrageous Cherry's hooky sunshine pop anthem "Our Love Will Change the World." Cooper's longtime producer Bob Erzin delivers the same thick, powerful sound he's achieved on many of Cooper's post-2000s albums, with booming heavy metal drums, walls of guitar, and Cooper's sinister vocals high in the mix. For every surprisingly strong cover version, Detroit Stories has a clunker original. Boozy blues rocker "Drunk and In Love" and the uptempo riffing of "Social Debris" are passable if uninspired, but the obnoxious "Independence Dave" and warmed-over, Kiss-reminiscent "Shut Up and Rock" could have easily been left off the album's 15-song track listing. Even with its all-star cast of Detroit players (Wayne Kramer, Grand Funk Railroad's Mark Farner, members of the original Alice Cooper band, and many others all contribute), Detroit Stories is stuck in a confusing limbo somewhere between tribute to Detroit and another album of the kind of campy, theatrical, radio-geared hard rock Cooper has been turning in since Hey Stoopid. Never quite committing to either concept, Detroit Stories ends up feeling like a handful of solid covers of classic Detroit tunes with some Alice Cooper extras thrown in at random.false2023-07-15 07:34:46Detroit Stories520212021-02-262021-02-2650Blues RockClassic RockHard RockRock1448652360118fb4285df-7c56-4d67-817d-e1ff3e8ed13dee58c59f-8e7f-4430-b8ca-236c4d3745ae5bc48d32-eaa9-4eea-8238-38c4039e40ec/media/data/media5/Music/Alice Cooper/Alice Cooper - Detroit Stories (2021) FLAC #DrBN/Detroit Stories/folder.jpgAlice CooperAlbumArtist/config/metadata/People/A/Alice Cooper/folder.jpgAlice CooperArtist/config/metadata/People/A/Alice Cooper/folder.jpgAlice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by many music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock". He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences.
Originating in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, "Alice Cooper" was originally a band with roots extending back to a band called the Earwigs, consisting of Furnier on lead vocals and harmonica, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, and Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and backing vocals. By 1966, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar joined the three and Neal Smith was added on drums in 1967. The five named the band "Alice Cooper", and Furnier eventually adopted it as his stage pseudonym. They released their debut studio album Pretties for You in 1969 with limited chart success. Breaking out with the 1970 single "I'm Eighteen" and the third studio album Love It to Death, the band reached their commercial peak in 1973 with their sixth studio album, Billion Dollar Babies. After the band broke up, Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a solo career in 1975 with the concept album Welcome to My Nightmare. Over his career, Cooper has sold well over 50 million records.
Cooper has experimented with a number of musical styles, mainly hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, and glam metal, but also new wave (1980–1983), art rock on DaDa (1983), and industrial rock on Brutal Planet (2000) and Dragontown (2001). He helped to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and has been described as the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". He is also known for his wit offstage, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide calling him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". Aside from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a radio disc jockey (DJ) with his classic rock show Alice's Attic.