Along Came A Spider by Alice Cooper
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Release date : July 2008
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
Background information
Review
Background information
In February 2007, Rock 'N' Roll royalty Alice Cooper announced that the title of his twenty-fifth studio album would be Along Came A Spider. Originally slated to arrive in May, the album's issue was delayed until 2008 to accomodate the producer's working schedule. Twenty tracks had been penned prior to touring, with Cooper speculating upon the possibility of a double-disc set replete with thirty new numbers.
Two high profile US TV appearances featured Cooper, more specifically the April 30th episode of NBC-TV's The Carson Daly Show, and the May 4th episode of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Cooper issued autobiography Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'N'Roller's 12 Steps To Becoming A Golf Addict during May, and to plug that tome, Cooper signed copies at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona on June 5th. Beginning at six p.m., attendees had to purchase a copy from the store in order to be eligible for Cooper's autograph. From late May to mid June, South American dates saw Cooper perform in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Four late June concerts were scattered across Europe, occurring on the 21st at Athens, Greece's Lycabettus Theatre, the 23rd at Huttwil, Switzerland's Rock Sound Festival, the 25th in Florence, Italy, the 29th at Borlange, Sweden's Peace & Love Festival, and on July 1st at Bucharest, Romania's B'estival. From the 6th to the 21st, Cooper honoured Australian dates. Conflicting with prior commitments with Kiss, Eric Singer's place behind the drumkit was occupied by Brent Fitz (Union, Vince Neil) during the last three gigs. From August to mid September, Cooper performed a modest handful of North American dates. Held at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the State Fairgrounds in Phoenix, Arizona, Cooper scheduled a Halloween concert at the Arizona State Fair for October 31st. From November 6th to the 18th, Cooper embarked upon a UK tour replete with support from Motörhead and Joan Jett.
During February 2008, recording sessions in support of Along Came A Spider had begun. Recording was interrupted during March, paving way for dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. SPV / Steamhammer announced the signing of Alice Cooper in March, and an April date unveiled by Billboard.biz revealed that recordings for Along Came A Spider were “seventy-five percent complete”. Cooper both produced the album, and co-wrote some of the material, alongside Danny Saber and Greg Hampton in Los Angeles, California. In addition, both Saber and Hampton contributed guitars, bass, piano, keyboards, synth and string arrangements. Meanwhile, other tracks were penned in co-operation with members of Cooper's touring group. Upon this album, those touring personnel were; Keri Kelli (erstwhile Slash's Snakepit member, and current Saints of the Underground axeman) and Jason Hook handling guitars, Chuck Garric occupying bass, and longtime Kiss member Eric Singer (also a former member of Black Sabbath) hitting the drums. Two notable guest contributions figure, specifically harmonica by none other than Ozzy Osbourne (upon “Wake the Dead”), and guitar work by the legendary Slash (Velvet Revolver / ex-Guns N' Roses member) upon “Vengeance Is Mine”. On June 24th, inaugural single “Vengeance Is Mine” was made available for streaming via Cooper's official MySpace page. Cooper's internationally syndicated radio show Nights With Alice Cooper debuted a new track on July 8th, and by the 17th the whole album was streamed through Cooper's aforementioned official MySpace page. To promote the album, an online Along Came A Spider pinball game was released in which music fans could win a prize.
Review
2005's Dirty Diamonds and 2003's The Eyes of Alice Cooper were both weakly produced, and distressingly unsuccessful. Their successor reaffirms Cooper's position as Shock Rock's elder statesman, and arguably still the genre's greatest. Via the use of theatrics, accessible lyrics and wondrous songwriting, a disturbed character is yet again brought to life. Of the last half a century, Cooper is Shock Rock's central musician as a result of that songwriting.
Cooper authored a short tale which remains hitherto unpublished, and the tale in question forms the basis of concept album Along Came A Spider. The story chronicles the happenings of an arachnid obsessed serial killer, a crazed individual appropriately christened “Spider”. Obsession translates into reality, the homicidal “Spider” claiming the lives of eight victims. In addition, “Spider” decapitates a leg from each of those aforementioned victims. Binding the victims courtesy of silk, “Spider”'s delight emulates that of an arachnid. Certainly not the quintessential mate, “Spider”'s games become recounted in Cooper's classic style. In effect, this immediately recalls Cooper's fellow concept albums. Lyrically closer towards Welcome to My Nightmare than Cooper has been for quite some time, Along Came A Spider is a musical fusion of both The Last Temptation's Hard Rock leanings and Brutal Planet's post-apocalyptic heaviness (Cooper albums respectively issued in 1994 and 2000).
An introductory spoken word piece is paired against “Vengeance Is Mine”, thus meaning the album's initial progress is altogether slow. A clunky affair that is reminiscent of the ungainly moments which dominated 2001's Dragontown, “Vengeance Is Mine”'s conclusion is quickly followed by a revival in fortunes. “I’m Hungry” (boasting a solo which rivals its counterpart in “Billion Dollar Babies”) and “Wake the Dead”'s classic Rock stylings, alongside “Wrapped In Silk”'s trademark sonics, raise the bar. In addition, this triumvirate boldly declares to all individuals within hearing distance that Cooper has much left to say. The power ballad “Salvation” additionally makes a noteworthy impact, and leads the tale towards impromptu areas. Consequently, this spawns a vast array of curious moral questions. Amongst The Last Temptation's tracklisting, the tune would've proved suitably appropriate. With the exception of the aforementioned “Vengeance Is Mine”, both “Killed By Love” and “Catch Me If You Can” form the album's only blatantly mediocre cuts. In spite of this, those three respective tracks are infinitely superior compositions when critiqued against any number featured upon Dirty Diamonds, or The Eyes of Alice Cooper.
Within the music scene's increasingly volatile climate, Cooper remains musically relevant - a genuinely impressive feat. If you wish to author an album which will not collect dust in six months, then great songwriting teamed alongside great lyrical content is paramount still, an irrefutable opinion which Cooper validates. Along Came A Spider doesn't equate to 1975's Welcome to My Nightmare, nor 1973's Billion Dollar Babies. It doesn't even equate to 1989's Trash, yet easily ranks alongside fan favourites The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet. From its opening notes towards its concluding moments, the album is indeed a joyous listen.
