Alice Cooper – Love it to Death – 1971
In 1971 Alice Cooper finally started to get close to the sound that would put them on the map of rock n roll forever. There is still a couple of song on Love it to Death that are kind of psychedelic but there’s fewer of them than ever before. It’s obvious that the involvement of Bob Ezrin as producer was a real vitamin injection for the band. For me, this is where the true saga of Alice Cooper begins. The previous albums Pretties for You and Easy Action are just preludes to this.
This is the first time we have a real hit on one of the albums too. at least in my mind. In fact, there are several. First of all there’s I’m Eighteen of course. The whole band has writing credits on that one and it’s still one of the great songs in Alice Coopers career. It’s a genius lyric actually. There are many song on the topic of “coming of age” in the history of music but few are so straight forward as this. The lyrics reflect just about everything it means to be a grown up, yet still a child in many perspectives.
There is of course the wonderful Is It My Body? A song that I hold very high in my list of sexual innuendoes. Well. Maybe it’s quite clear and ny innuendo at all? I think it’s a song that explores the reason people are draw to each other. If it’s purely for sex or any other reason is beside the point. The big question is why it happens. The song fails to answer that of course put it’s not really the purpose anyway. It’s just like the Kiss song Charisma which explores the same theme but a few years later.
There are many great songs on Love it to Death but I think I’ll stop by mentioning Second Coming where the agenda is the return of Christ. On the second coming he’s no longer the lamb but the lion. I don’t think the lyrics really reflects that but I still like the idea. And then there’s of course The Ballad of Dwight Frye. This is an epic classic and will remain one of my true theatrical favorites until i pass away. Based on the actor Dwight Frye who played parts in classic horror movies that kept him in an insane asylum. I think the lyrics are about Dracula in particular. There he played the role of Renfield and was locked away considered crazy. The blood is the life! Never mind… This is the first really epic song och an Alice Cooper record I think. It’s timeless and still works as well as the day it was conceived.
