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Alice Cooper: Flush The Style
Discuss Discuss
Clones (We’re All)
Ache
Leather-based Boots
Aspirin Injury
Nuclear Contaminated
Grim Details
Mannequin Citizen
Dance Your self to Demise
Headlines
Alice Cooper launched Flush The Style, Particular Forces, Zipper Catches Pores and skin, and DaDa between 1980 and 1983 – 4 albums recorded whereas he battled alcohol and drug issues. And the primary could have been the unlikeliest of all of them.
Cooper beloved reinventing himself, and for Flush The Style he underwent maybe his most startling make-over when he turned a new-wave hitmaker in a rubbish bag jumpsuit. The album may be very a lot of its time, nevertheless it’s one in every of Coop’s most enjoyable albums, a rollicking assortment of herky-jerky skinny-tie robotic rock, led by one of many period’s biggest weirdo hits, Clones (We’re all), and the playfully homoerotic anthem Prettiest Cop On The Block.
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the self-consciously digital Clones… appeared to be aiming straight for the throat of the Gary Numan market. However when rock was referred to as for (Grim Details, Nuclear Contaminated), guitarist Davey Johnstone wasn’t discovered missing in swagger.
Each week, Album of the Week Membership listens to and discusses the album in query, votes on how good it’s, and publishes our findings, with the intention of giving folks dependable evaluations and the broader rock group the possibility to contribute.
Different albums launched in April 1980
- Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden
- British Metal – Judas Priest
- Empty Glass – Pete Townshend
- Hypnotised – The Undertones
- Seventeen Seconds – The Remedy
- Heaven and Hell – Black Sabbath
- Solo In Soho – Phil Lynott
- Go to Heaven – Grateful Useless
- Give ‘Em Hell – Witchfynde
- Rising Up in Public – Lou Reed
- Los Angeles – X
- Marauder – Magnun
- Center Man – Boz Scaggs
- Sky 2 – Sky
- Snakes and Ladders – Gerry Rafferty
- Waters Edge – Candy
What they stated…
“On account of a hooking up with Automobiles producer Roy Thomas Baker, the sound is glossier; Baker additionally changed the gritty guitar riffs that served as the idea for previous Cooper rock compositions with icy synthesizers. The very best-known track ended up being the duvet Clones (We’re All), which was in flip coated by the Smashing Pumpkins for his or her 1995 field set The Aeroplane Flies Excessive.” (AllMusic)
“You may barely hear the snarl of yore by the forest of digital vocal therapies within the Devo-lutionary Clones (We’re All) and Mannequin Citizen, the latter the artist’s sniggering commentary on his personal social standing in Tinseltown. Additionally examine the dramatic readability of Todd Rundgren’s manufacturing of Ache (on Roadie) with Baker’s Phil Spector-style stranglehold on Alice’s singing within the model introduced right here.” (Rolling Stone)
“With track titles ripped from the Nationwide Enquirer, Flush the Style comprises various quick, quick, punky new wave songs starting with Discuss Discuss at barely two minutes lengthy. You’ll both love this robust nut of a guitar-driver, or you may be detached to it for being mild on hooks and brittle in sound.” (Mike Ladano)
What you stated…
Gus Schultz: I performed this album quite a bit after I purchased it. I actually loved it and I’m not that massive of an Alice Cooper fan. I discover a lot of the songs on this album excluding Clones…, Leather-based Boots and Aspirin Injury actually appears like traditional Alice Cooper. I believe his subsequent LP Particular Forces sounded extra new wave than this album.
Having Roy Thomas Baker (The Automobiles, Queen) produce this album appear to swimsuit it fairly properly. I believe quite a bit higher than David Foster on From The Inside. I consider he was having a relapse of his alcoholism plus an added cocaine habit throughout this time interval. I went to see him in live performance shortly after this album was launched, however he was a no-show and a riot passed off full with riot cops and horses and a stage stuffed with destroyed tools. However I believe this can be a good album and one I’ll play each from time to time.
Donald Davis: I believed Clones (We’re All) was an ideal single that also holds up (Smashing Pumpkins did an honest cowl within the Nineties), however the remainder of the album is honest at greatest.
Mike Canoe: I used to be too younger for Alice Cooper (the band) once they had their heyday and abroad when he crested as a solo artist so my first publicity to him was as a pre-teen watching a efficiency of him doing Clones (We’re All) on some syndicated music present. So this turned my Alice Cooper and I used to be stunned when Clones… wasn’t on Alice Cooper’s Biggest Hits (launched six years earlier than that track got here out – I used to be so younger, a lot to study!)
A few years later, I bought the boxed set The Life And Crimes of Alice Cooper and located myself gravitating in direction of disc three aka the “life and profession in freefall” years. For as tousled as he was on the time, Cooper nonetheless sounded coherent, even assured, on report.
Flush The Style has every thing I like about Alice Cooper with an overhaul not as radical because it should have appeared on the time. I believe that has quite a bit to do with the “punk” cowl artwork and the set up of Automobiles producer Roy Thomas Baker. The songs are nonetheless typically sharp and punchy and guitar solos are nonetheless welcome. The 2 covers, Clones... and Discuss Discuss nonetheless sound very very like Alice Cooper songs.
Alice remains to be an ideal performer, nonetheless taking part in each the perpetual put upon teenager and the deceptively clever court docket jester with lyrics which are price taking note of.
Examples embrace:
“Dad’s wearin’ actual tight Levis and a few Gucci Tennis sneakers / He is bought a T-shirt customized made for him saying ‘Give me pot not booze.'” (Embarrassing dad and mom’ anthem Dance Your self to Demise)
“I stability my Excedrin and Anacin in stacks / I am a ache reliever junkie. I bought a Bayer on my again.” (Upbeat habit ditty Aspirin Injury)
“After I’m completely satisfied I glow yellow, after I’m unhappy I glow blue, yeah / And I glow crimson scorching after I’m in mattress with you.” (Studying to stay with and love radioactivity in Nuclear Contaminated)
A number of the lyrics to Grim Details and Mannequin Citizen have not aged as properly however the satirical arrow nonetheless hits the goal.
Then there’s Ache, a robust contender for strangest energy ballad ever. Cooper sings because the personification of ache, each bodily and emotional, with traces like “I used to be the filthiest phrase on the vandalized grave.”
Whereas the person as soon as often known as Vincent Furnier was struggling throughout Flush The Style, his alter ego Alice Cooper was nonetheless snapping and snarling.
Tom DeMonte: I remembered it getting ripped again within the day, however listening to it now, jeeze, these have been some good tunes for positive. His “blackout interval” really is quite a bit higher than given credit score for. If it isn’t what’s anticipated from the artist it is wonderful how folks can pile on it with fast criticism. To me it is aged higher than a few of his 70s stuff. Positively higher than his mid 80s stuff.
Gerry Regan: I really like this album, it’s zany and off the wall. Some nice songs on there.
Greg Schwepe: Fast, quick evaluate for fast, quick album, all 28 minutes and 28 seconds of Alice Cooper’s Flush The Style. Within the annals of me checking album working time I don’t suppose I can recall ever seeing an album that quick. However hey, if you will get your level throughout in that period of time with 10 quick, catchy songs, go for it! I nonetheless recall some quote from an artist or producer in some article about how CD know-how allowed for higher size of any album as your arms weren’t tied like with the closing dates of vinyl. The remark went one thing like “simply since you can make an album longer than an hour, doesn’t imply you ought to.”
As with different artists with lengthy careers and an enormous catalogue, I had not but listened to this album but with the appearance of the “now you might have every thing on the earth” streaming service entry. And as with just a few different artist’s albums we’ve reviewed…dang, why did I not verify this out earlier?! The quirky and robotic sounding Clones… was performed on the radio when it was launched, and that was one I preferred manner again then.
I all the time do my web album analysis after I pay attention to every week’s album. And after listening to this, I had already mentally considered writing a line about somebody suggesting to Alice; “Hey, why don’t you take a look at these albums by this band referred to as The Automobiles… and see if it rubs off on you.” After which I do my sleuthing and discover that this was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who produced… anticipate it… The Automobiles.
However it’s not all new-wavey stuff (Aspirin Injury) right here. Simply as you suppose that, Alice comes ripping together with one thing a bit punk sounding (Nuclear Contaminated, Mannequin Citizen), then a bit metal-infused Grim Details.
All these songs have the wit, sense of humour, and sarcasm all supplied with Alice’s sneering, snarling supply. I can see his make-up encircled eyes squinting as he spits out the lyrics. Headlines completed off the album with the star desirous to be within the paper headlines, relatively than attempt to avoid media protection.
Quick and candy, Flush The Style is a superb assortment of Alice Cooper songs. This one bought moved into my Alice rotation of go-to Cooper albums. 8 out of 10 for me on this one.
Tony Silvers: Not one duff monitor! Nonetheless a go-to album for me. Nice music and hilarious lyrics too! Certainly one of his greatest.
Peter Thomas Webb: I purchased Flush The Style on vinyl after the one, Clones (We’re All), stomped throughout AM radio in 1980. I used to be already an Alice Cooper fan, and regardless of his apparent shift to so-called new wave on this album, it match with different music (Gary Numan, Joe Jackson, the Automobiles, and so forth.) I loved on the time.
Listening once more after possibly forty years, Flush The Style solely actually retains the brand new wave really feel on the primary few tracks. Clones… is as vibrant as ever, and the duvet of the Music Machine’s Discuss Discuss is a bristling nugget of an opener. The remainder of the album feels phoned-in and too desperate to sound stylish.
If Alice had dedicated totally to his new wave stance (a la David Bowie or Iggy Pop), Flush The Style may need labored higher than it does. I learn as soon as that Alice was too booze or drug-addled to recollect a lot about making the report. Regardless of the trigger, his lack of inventive focus afflicts the forgettable outcomes. My ranking: 5/10
Paul Cropper: Love this album. It is so completely different to the Alice Cooper Group albums and his solo albums from the 70s. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker who had lately produced the Automobiles’ first two albums; and you may inform. The singles from the album have been the Gary Numan-esque Clones (We’re All) and a canopy of the Music Machine’s storage band traditional Discuss Discuss. The one unhealthy factor in regards to the album? The taking part in time is lower than half an hour.
John Davidson: Wow. That is fairly the headspin.
A post-punk new wave pop album sandwiched between the traditional rock of Colleges Out and the Hair Metallic of Poison.
I vaguely recognise Clones… which stays the very best track within the album however the remaining was new to me. Ache appears like a brand new wave mixture of a Bruce Springsteen quantity. Discuss Discuss appears like The Vapors. The remaining simply sounds generic new-wave guitar-led pop rock, though nearer Headlines finishes what’s little greater than an EP (by trendy requirements) with one thing of a flourish.
As an album it isn’t unhealthy and it is aware of higher than to outstay its welcome, but when I would heard it on the time I may need written it off as ersatz, bandwagon-jumping from an growing old rocker. That appears harsh and ridiculous now given how we’re (largely) middle-aged however youngsters are savages and I used to be nonetheless solely 17 when this got here out.
Adam McCann: Nice album, very underrated. Extra focus must be positioned on Alice’s work on this interval
Pete Delgado: Nice album! Underrated… I take pleasure in Alice’s enterprise into new sounds.
Adam Ranger: I used to be not a fan of the 4 early 80s albums – this one, Particular Forces, Zipper Catches Pores and skin and Dada – once they initially got here out. Dada is undoubtedly the worst of these 4 to my ears
Flush The Style is the very best of the 4 sub-par Alice albums that moved in direction of a brand new wave really feel. So maybe they have been of their time. Solely Ache Sounds just like the Alice all of us beloved and knew. It isn’t a foul factor to wish to change your musical path in fact, however I am undecided it labored very properly for Alice.
Most of the tracks right here sound like second-rate Rocky Horror musical songs: Aspirin Injury, Leather-based Boots, Mannequin Citizen. Clones... sounds prefer it needs to be Speaking Heads. Discuss Discuss and Ache and Nuclear Contaminated are my favorite assaults.
It isn’t as unhealthy as I keep in mind, and positively not as poor as Dada or Zipper… nevertheless it’s not one I’ll hearken to fairly often. I used to be fairly happy when he returned to the extra bombastic Alice for the Constrictor album in 1986. Sure, that was tacky. However it felt proper.
Paul Capener: Nice album. A special really feel, however this sits properly with Zipper Catches Pores and skin as a duo of eclectic rock albums.
Andy Herrin: Comprises Alice’s ordinary humour. I notably like the road “I am a good friend of Sammy Davies…casually”, and you already know he in all probability wasn’t mendacity. Clones… is improbable, my least favourite is the opener Discuss Discuss. Simply not fast sufficient for me. General a 6 out of 10. It is fairly good, and value it for some throwaway leisure. Wouldn’t it be on fixed repeat? In all probability not.
Craig Little All I am going to state is that I take into account Clones… the closest to a half-decent track on the album, and Alice did not even write or co-write the track.
Richard Slee: This was an enormous disappointment after From The Inside. Solely Clones… is any good. The subsequent two albums have been no higher, DaDa a slight return to type.
Last rating: 6.05 (76 votes solid, whole rating 460)
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