ALICE COOPER Dirty Diamonds - 2010 U.K. re-issue CD
Format: CD Condition: New Year of Release: 2010 Cat. No.: 895549 Label: Armoury
Although he never really left, it only felt that way because much of Alice Cooper’s 80s and 90s output has been, to be kind, forgettable. Hard rock fans were put off by the turn towards frigid techno and all but gone by Cooper’s slash and burn metal years.
2005’s return to the stinging hard rock that put him on the map is a welcome look back in anger. Kicking off with the gritty, driving guitars and snappy lyrical twists of "Woman of Mass Distraction," Cooper’s sleazy voice sounds as robust and distinctive as it did three decades ago. Riff happy nitroburners such as "Steal that Car," "Your Own Worst Enemy" and especially the "Under My Wheels" licks of "You Make Me Wanna" show that Cooper, now pushing 60, still has plenty of gas in the tank. A lovely, entirely non-ironic cover of The Left Banke’s "Pretty Ballerina," complete with harpsichord and string section, proves that Cooper hasn’t lost his touch with "Only Woman Bleed" style ballads either.
Dirty Diamonds, with it’s unnecessary nod to hip-hop ("Stand") and weak stab at country ("The Saga of Jesse Jane"), won’t knock classics such as 'School’s Out', 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Love It To Death' from their well-deserved perch as archetypal blueprints of Cooper’s Halloween-styled gutsy rocking. Yet, at its best, the raw guitars and tightly arranged songs refreshingly recapture the brash attack and dark humor of his glory years.
- Review by Hal Horowitz
Track Listing:
1 Woman Of Mass Distraction 2 Perfect 3 You Make Me Wanna 4 Dirty Diamonds 5 The Saga Of Jesse Jane 6 Sunset Babies ( All Got Rabies ) 7 Pretty Ballerina 8 Run Down The Devil 9 Steal That Car 10 Six Hours 11 Own Worst Enemy 12 Zombie Dance 13 Stand
