When I sought to put together the complete official Alice Cooper discography the absolutely hardest albums to buy were Pretties For You and Easy Action. The first and second full length album released by the band, and this is when they were signed with Zappa.
Over the years I've stumbled across variations of the Toronto '69 show, that features a fair amount of the songs found on Pretties For You. It's an early band with an early sound. Easy Action on the other hand is an album that I think got lost, because of the change in the bands location. It needs to be said that you are not a serious Alice fan if you do not have one favourite song from this album. Lyrically this album is pure poetry. Musically, it's a band finding themselves.
I must say that as I have gotten older I have fallen more in love with this album. I will throw this in the CD player more often than Billion Dollar Babies just because of the vibe. There's also something about the sound that gets me going. It's raw, but clear, and when it needs to be pretty it's pretty, and when it needs to be nasty, it's nasty. David Briggs, who also lends piano to one track, did a great job with this 1970 album.
The album opens with Mr. & Misdemeanor, and a track that explains why David Bowie and Alice Cooper ever get compared. This song has some swagger, and a whole lot of bad boy guitar. This is a sound Bowie would perfect later, but Alice was using it early on.
Next up is Shoe Salesman and to me this is very Bob Dylan, lyrically. "I know a shoe salesman / He's an acquaintance of mine / One day he showed me some / Marks on his arm in a line / I did not know what to say / "Do you think those freckles will stay?" /I need a Popsicle / Do you want lemon or lime? / I've got a special today / If you've got the time / Winking, she poked me in the side / "Well, we could go for a ride" / I did not know what to say / "Do you think those freckles will stay?" / Well, you think that she will see / I don't think she will see / Yeah". Maybe a little more Yardbirds influenced, when you factor in the music. You might even want to argue Simon and Garfunkel. Either way it works really well, and make the song very enjoyable.
Still No Air follows that up and is more jagged, and what you would expect from Alice Cooper based on the previous album. The song is dark, and wild, and brutal, and crashing, and not for your casual listener. But what I find interesting is that you hear the influence of a song that would later play a huge roll in making the School's Out album amazing, Sharks Vs. Jet's. Cleary the band were fans of West Side Story, or the most dark and violent part of it.
Below Your Means showcases part of the influence that Pink Floyd had on Alice Cooper during their time spent together. I should specify Sid Barrette era Pink Floyd. But this is a song where you get to hear how great the musicians really are. Dennis Dunaway is one of my top five bassists for a reason. More bass players should know his name and study his work, because he does it all, and it's so clear and present. Neil Smith being in my top five drummers for a reason, and the wild ass stuff he does on this track has clearly been an influence on me over the years. He's quite the Jazz drummer. Then there's Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton's guitar work, which is totally exploritory. My only complaint about this song is the weird fade out that finishes with an at volume cheese ball "bom, bom" sound. Makes no sense.
The second side of the album kicks off Return Of the Spiders. I love the way Dunaway and Smith lock in on this track and Michael and Glen create this awesome effect that just drives the whole train barrelling down the tracks vibe of this song. Also with the speed that the rhythm section was going at, it's impressive that the song is 4:25. Seriously, this is some break neck speed stuff.
Laughing At Me is just a little over half the time of the last song, but because of it's pace it feels almost the same length. However, this track has some great guitar work.
Refrigerator Heaven is all about the art of Cryogenic Freezing. "I'm freezing I'm freezing I'm icicle blue so low low cool / Cyber neurotic technicians imbue so low low cool /I've been admitted to refrigerator heaven until they discover a cure for cancer I'm low / Refrigerator heaven so low refrigerator heaven / I'm ice packed I'm hand stashed I'm waiting for you I'm older and younger preserved in a tomb / I've been admitted to refrigerator heaven I feel like I told you on my heart / I won't get back 'till the sun sets down on the moon / Won't get back 'till the sun sets down on the moon". The nice part about this song is how it shows the band working so much with Alice's vocals, and the lyrics, instead of just playing for themselves.
My favourite song on the album is sung by guitarist Michael Bruce, it's a piano based track, that's slower and might be confused as a ballad. "Beautiful flyaway somewhere like holy days wonder what brought me down to earth / Haven't I always been here let's have another nibble later I think I'll disappear into the bishop's hall / And take a look at what we offer DDT poisoning me changing my relativity what's it going to be / Da da da da d da later I think I'll disappear into another room and take a look inside the till / Lovely days human ways journeys that take us to the end aah / Haven't we always been here sharing one love and one fear / Some day you'll know that life is really really all about you / So come and look inside you'll be surprised to find / Later I think I'll disappear into another womb and take a look inside the mens' room / Haven't I given you everything that I could give where do you live aah". That all being said this is a well constructed song that would have been much better live from time to time, were it not for the fact that Alice has pretty much nothing to do with this track.
The song that completes the album, and brings it to a close is a song that I knew much better as I've Written Home To Mother, and AC Instrumental, both of them also having different titles and variations. It was recorded and split into two different tracks from the Toronto '69 show. The real name for it is Lay Down and Die, Goodbye, and it is so much better on this album then it was in those recordings. It's a song you need to see live, or hear produced. You can hear just the live recording, that doesn't do the instrumental part any justice. Also this song is not for everyone. This is yet another early Floyd influenced song, that goes way out there. Some recreational drug use may be needed to fully get emersed into this song properly, or you need to be very open minded. Like Acid Jazz Progressive Fusion open minded. Eventually it turns into what most people would call a song, and not just a lot of musical instrument based noise, and the album concludes with sad and somber lyrics. "Well I've written home to mother the ink ran from my tear / I said momma momma please tell me why you brought me here".
This album is not for everyone, but some of the tracks are really note worthy and the whole album shows the band as much more than a novelty act. This was before Alice Cooper was a monster, and was more of a group of transgendered musicians (Alice Cooper was originally the band, not the artist), that sparkled more than Ziggy Stardust. Seriously you have to see the picture of the band on the back of the album. Poor Glen Buxton looks so put out, with an expression on his face of a dog locked in a kennel. Not that the rest of the guys look impressed, but Glen really looks bummed. The front cover isn't much better, and in fact never base an album on it's cover. Other than the solid shade of red that borders the album, the rest caused me to shy away from it for years. The content far exceeds the cover.
6/10 - content
8/10 - production
8/10 - personal bias
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