Alice Cooper - School's Out

This album has one of the two songs I think will always live on, the other is We Will Rock You. As long as there are sporting events, the latter will survive. As long there is school...

The title track from the album has got to be the most recognised song in history. It opens with a riff so legandary that is was even inscribed on Glen Buxton's (the guitarist that wrote and played it) tombstone. If you don't know the song, I'm sorry you spent your childhood in a coma, or under some cruel dictatorship.

For most people that's where this album starts and stops. Most people don't even seem to know that it's actually an album, not just a song. An album that is so much more than just an awesome, over played, opening track.

Luney Tune kicks off the album, for those that can get past School's Out. It's a wonderful ditty about losing it, and attempting to end it. A song way too compelling for it's time. This was something that the original Alice Cooper did not only do well, but shockingly so. Hiding dark, pre-goth, total thoughts of insane imagery, under skillfully arranged and beautifully executed musicianship. This is one of those songs that explains why so many never understood Alice. The content was always just too deep and dark down the rabbit hole.

Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets has writing credits for G. Buxton, D. Dunaway, L. Bernstein, and S. Sondheim. The first two are members of the band, Buxton I already mentioned. Dennis Dunaway was the original bassist. The second two names credited with the song were the musical writer and lyricist behind West Side Story.

The song is a mash-up, of Jet Song from West Side Story, as well as original music from the band. The instrumentation and arrangments on the album are totally over the top, just like a musical should be, but at the same time tell a compelling story of a cat and the chaos it brings.

Street Fight is mearly a sample of a street fight of sorts, that follows Gutter Cat Vs. the Jets. Simple Bass and hit hat combo, with other sounds.

The last song on side one of the record, or cassette, is Blue Turk. This may be the first clearly necrophiliac song from the band. Not obvious like later offerings, such as I Love The Dead, but not oblivious either. This one has a great jazz melody and feel, with a horn section that adds a fantastic, wet, sticky, summer night heat sound, that celebrates something so chilling. As a young kid the second side of the School's out album didn't really do too much for me. The first song, My Stars, was too mellow and laid back. It wasn't until years later I understood that it was all about mood. A thrilling Sci-Fi odyssey of sorts. That which many boys dream about, while stuck in school.

When Glen Buxton died in 1997 Alice Cooper started playing Public Animal #9 live again as a tribute to him. As a pre-teen kid it was the only song on the second side I really liked. As a teen at a concert, it was a chant for all of us misfits to assemble. Listening to this as an adult, it still makes me feel like a rabbid dog by the end of the song.

Alma Mater was writen exclusively by the drummer, Neil Smith. Smith was the only drummer as wild in playing style as Keith Moon, and had a running contest over which one of the two could build the bigger drum set. Not a single part of that can be found in this lament about the last days of high school, right before the reality of how life is about to happen kicks in. In fact it's very mild, laid back, and contains a lot of that happier times remorse.

The album finishes with Grande Finale, which contains writing credits for the entire band, producer Bob Ezrin, plus composers Mack David and Elmer Bernstein, because the band borrowed for this song too. But, done in the tradition of grand finales it contains that big score sound, and closing credits vibe. There's also a weird buzz noise that makes me think someone was playing a weed wacker/whipper snipper as an instrument, which could have been Alice, since there are no vocals.

The concept behind the album is simple. Life for a kid (more specifically a boy) in school, and everything that comes with it, except for the necrophelia. My schools were a worse kind of sick, but not that kind.

The production of the albums is astounding. Bob Ezrin was the master behind so many great albums, by so many bands. But it was his work with Alice Cooper that was most astounding, especially when with the original band. This album would not have been what it was if not for his knowing how to get what he wanted from amazing musicians and spectacular showmen.

After this album, the Alice Cooper Group would release still better music, but this is the last album from the original band to contain that understated tongue in cheek attitude. It's also the first album to have a clear concept, although not technically a concept album.

If you are looking for a place to start your original Alice Cooper Group listening, this is the best place to start artistically. If you are looking for a bunch of hits or singles, maybe you should try another album.

9/10 - content

9/10 - production

9/10 - personal bias