The original Alice Cooper band initially got noticed because of their image and outrageous stage antics. Looking back, it was really the music — driven by catchy, punchy hooks, sophisticated arrangements, smart lyrics, tight production and superb musicianship (assured by outside help) — music that’s still getting airplay and likely landed the group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. You can peg songs like “I’m Eighteen,” “Under My Wheels” and “School’s Out” as show-stoppers, but in the early 70s — a time when albums ruled — it was 1973’s Billion Dollar Babies that literally put Alice Cooper on top with his first Long Player Number One. Reissued by Audio Fidelity and remastered as a hybrid SACD by Steve Hoffman, Billion Dollar Babies deserves a fresh spin, if only to remind you of how great a rock and roll band this was.
With its majestic guitars, piano, orchestration and uplifting lyrics, Alice’s epic interpretation of Rolf Kempf’s “Hello Hooray” pretty much sets the bar. “Raped And Freezin'” is an in-the-pocket rocker that erupts into a calypso rave-up. The album then takes a tremendous leap forward with three of its strongest tracks. The political satire is simultaneously seething and hilarious on the riff-roaring “Elected.” The title track, a duet recorded in London with Donovan (!), is simply divine, sustained on drummer Neal Smith’s calculating “tribal” beat pattern and the double guitars of Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton (who may or may not have played on this and other tracks on the album, and whose parts were filled in by either Steve Hunter or Dick Wagner). “No More Mr, Nice Guy” is another humorous rocker, built on simple chords and Alice’s clever lyrics.
“Unfinished Sweet” is the longest, most experimental track on the album, starting off with a rather bouncy refrain before dovetailing into a James Bond-inspired psychedelic drone. “Generation Landslide” is a basic four-on-the-floor number, Stonesy-like in its delivery with insightful lines line like “Militant mothers, hiding in the basement…Using pots and pans as their shields and their helmets…Molotov milk bottles heaved from pink high-chairs…” The album’s two weakest songs, “Sick Things” and “Mary Ann,” do little more than add to the album’s diversity. The finale, “I Love The Dead, co-written with an uncredited Dick Wagner, clearly sets the tone for what’s ahead, namely Welcome To My Nightmare without the original band on board.
As an SACD, the analog swag and swing of Billion Dollars Babies is pronounced with a bright bottom-end. It’s not a surround sound mix, simply a boast in EQ and volume with the high-definition feel of the original. It will play on a regular CD player, as well as on an SACD, DVD and Blu-ray Disc player. Another nod to the original is the packaging with reproduced artwork, lyrics, photos and the replicated ‘Billion Dollar Bill’ that came with the LP. A milestone in Alice Cooper’s storied discography; Billion Dollar Babies is a classic hard rock album of the 70s and an essential part of any music collection.
~ Shawn Perry
