Alice Cooper

A review of his live album 'Live At The Whiskey A Go Go 1969'

"Is that a pistol in your pocket big boy or are you happy to see me" asks Mr Cooper. Recorded before a ragbag of fans at Los Angeles' legendary Whiskey A Go Go club in 1969 this record is a ragbag of staccato songs whipped up and crunched off without rhyme or reason. One wonders if Alice Cooper's personal finances might be in such a state that Warner's been okayed to peddle this second rate recording of a middling show.

The songs are lashed off in one and two minute intervals, making them count more as song-ellas than worthy full-length creations. 'No Longer Umpire', 'Changing Arranging' and 'BB On Mars' don't after all tell us a whole deal about the band's ageing process. The praise with which the album has been received in some quarters puzzles, though the recording does deserves full points for obscurity alone.

At times the music sounds not unlike Beatles outtakes from the time: Alice Cooper and Paul McCartney are contemporaries. Though the fact has been obscured by make-up there's no escaping shared pop-rock sensibilities. It's eccentricity and garish wrapping make the album a supermarket standout but one wonders what motivates sunset strip rock stars produce such obscurities. Pension cheques surely.

Anthony Morrissey

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