Best of the "lost" Cooper albums.
Richard Church | Raleigh, NC, USA | 02/19/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Probably one of the least heard, and most underappreciated of Alice Cooper's solo endeavors. Sure, Welcome to My Nightmare is a masterpiece and From the Inside lags not far behind. But, Dada is right in there with them. Starting with Flush the Fashion, Coop began releasing a quadrilogy of really strange little albums. Dada was the last of these we'd see before Alice moved into the "big hair" era with Constrictor.
Hailed as weird, strange, or just plain bad, Dada has grown past these labels, as time has moved forward. This is no Metal Machine Music, just a creepy, cool little pop record from the king of the concept album. Just my opinion, but it loosely follows the story of a cannibal and his murderous caretaker/brother. Sort of a musical version of The Oblong Box Now some of these songs do not strictly adhere to this storyline (I'm looking at you I Love America), but the album kind of drops in and out of the storyline.
If I Love America and Pass the Gun Around don't grab you, the era of the one-off Alice Cooper oddity may not be for you. But, if you take a run through this and enjoy it, I highly recommend Flush the Fashion or Zipper Catches Skin as follow-ups. So, in summary, if you enjoy Alice, quirky albums, or pop of bygone eras, treat yourself and pick this up. Side note, this is only recently come back into print in the United States after many years of being available only as an import. Very glad to see this readily available to U.S. fans."
+1/2 - Alice Cooper's last album for Warner Brothers
hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 02/17/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"By 1983 Alice Cooper had fallen back off the wagon and was recording albums that he'd later claim he couldn't remember. 1981's Special Forces had brought him back to a stripped-down rock `n' roll sound that recalled his earlier peaks, and 1982's Zipper Catches Skin retained the same direction while sounding more labored. 1983's DaDa, his last album for Warner Brothers (and his last album before a three-year hiatus) reunited him with Bob Ezrin, who'd produced Cooper in his glory years. The album opens promisingly with the menacing "Da," a looming synthesizer instrumental punctured by thumps of percussion and a spooky doll's voice. The spoken word lyrics sound as if they're snippets of confessional dialog lifted from a 1940s psychological thriller.
The doll's eerie "da-da" vocalizations point to the album's family themes, with a teenage son calling out his abusive father on "Enough's Enough," and the family's dark human secret essayed in "Former Lee Warmer." There's a not-quite-heartwarming story of a shopping mall Santa, the Devo-esque dizziness of "Dyslexia," and the over-the-top patriotism of "I Love America." Whatever else Alice Cooper was doing (or drinking) his sense of humor never left him. On the darker theatrical side are the dominatrix sister duo and middle-eastern flourishes of "Scarlet and Sheba," the vampire horror of "Fresh Blood," and the alcoholic nightmare "Pass the Gun Around" that closes a chapter in Cooper's career. Collectors' Choice's domestic reissue includes a four-panel booklet that features new liner notes by Gene Sculatti, but no bonus tracks. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]"
Reissue not remastered..Soundwise slightly better over the i
S. Goodpaster | USA | 02/01/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Edited. I edited my reviews of the other two releases on the Collectors Choice reissues. I did a side by side comparison of the reissues against the imports and here are my findings -
Special forces - The import sounds better than the reissue and has more punch. I would go for the import when buying if possible unless you just have to have the bonus track..which is available on the box set life and crimes.
Now for the Zipper Catches Skin We have the oposite with the reissue sounding better plus you get the bonus track... (Scratches head) Why didnt Collectors Choice get the same results with Special Forces? ..So for the Zipper Catches Skin I would go for the reissue over the import if possible.
Now for DaDa The sound on the reissue is slightly better over the import. I wish they had a bonus track but nothing really different here...I would go for the reissue here though mainly because the price is cheaper than the import and also the import is getting harder to find for DaDa.
Earlier Post
Well I received my purchase today for the Zipper Catches Skin, Special Forces and DaDa Cds. While these 3 lost years albums are among my favorites from Alice. I had bought these 3 reissues hoping that they would have been treated to a remastering that they do truly deserve but didn't get this second time around. ???
The highlights of these reissues are the 2 bonus tracks For Britain Only - On Zipper and finally we get Special Forces with the track that was left off the original album at the last minute by Alice because he felt it didn't fit in with the rest of the tracks on the album..though the record company didnt have time to change the cover to omit the track from the listing. We finally get the album as it was listed with "Look At You Over There Ripping the Sawdust From My Teddy Bear" .
I really wish there had been something extra that they had included on DaDa but we get nothing.
Ok if you are a diehard Alice fan such as myself you allready have these as imports and you also have the 2 bonus tracks from the box set Life And Crimes.
These reissues are good for the fan though that don't have these as imports or the box set. Also good that these are available here in the U.S so you don't have to pay the import price.
My question is When is Warner Brothers gonna wake up and give their Alice catalog the remastering they deserve along with bonus tracks etc? They did it to Billion Dollar Babies and Atlantic did it with Welcome To My Nightmare. Warner Brothers and Rhino needs to get this done as it is surly needed!"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1