Is Vincent Furnier an under-appreciated rock’n’roll genius? Using his Alice Cooper stage alias, he pretty much single-handedly created the new subgenre of rock music in the early 1970s, shock rock, and his résumé boasts so many classics that it’s easy to lose count. A turning point in his career was the decision to go solo after the quintessential blockbuster of “Billion Dollar Babies,” the swan song of the original ALICE COOPER BAND. His first solo debut “Welcome to My Nightmare,” released on February 28th, 1975, via Atlantic Records stands perhaps even taller in his résumé. When the original band broke up, Alice Cooper gained more freedom to expand his sound, explore new ideas, and pursue interesting new directions that simply would not have been possible with the old crew. This solo debut sounds kind of spooky, but it does so in that soft-shoe Vaudeville way, oozing creepy rock’n’roll cabaret at every turn. “Welcome to My Nightmare” is the ultimate Halloween album – a celebration of the macabre but one conducted by a shock-rock hierophant who never took it too seriously. As though echoing the prog-rock sentiment of the era, it is a concept album narrating the nightmarish visions of a child named Steven; the lyrical themes range from necrophilia and murder to the somewhat surprisingly sober topic of mistreatment of women in our society in the all-time Alice Cooper classic, “Only Women Bleed.” Regardless of whether you find this story-driven approach appealing or not, musically this solo debut of Mr. Furnier is one of his most coherent works.
This highly immersive experience of surreal rock’n’roll theater begins with the title track, mixing funky riffs, jazz, and disco in the same bowl. This sonic concoction is then sprinkled with eerie sound effects and Cooper‘s chilling vocals. “Devil’s Food” keeps up the somewhat unsettling atmosphere with the monologue of the famed horror-film star, Vincent Price, being the cherry on the cake. When Michael Jackson was working on his 1982 magnum opus “Thriller,” perhaps the idea to use Price‘s trademark gravitas in the album’s massive title track came from Alice Cooper, who knows?
“The Black Widow” rolls out truly menacing guitar riffs that blend right in with the song’s sinister lyrics and Cooper‘s theatrical delivery. Here, I cannot avoid thinking that the whole business with the dramatic vocal performance boils down to a sort of nod and a wink. Next up, “Some Folks” further cements this impression with its Vaudeville approach, injecting a dose of jazz and dark humor; in this shock-rock context, jazz and the macabre could perhaps be regarded the one and the same thing, don’t you think?
Speaking of humor, “Department of Youth” must be some insider joke. Not only does the song feature a children’s choir (?!) but it also resorts to somewhat demented humor in the lyrics, “We’re the Department of Youth, we’ve got the power! Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power! And who gave it to you? Donny Osmond!” You see, Donny Osmond was one of those late-1960s blue-eyed soul boys and bubblegum pop stars. Yeah, if this effort wasn’t a concept album, this particular track would have been a rather strong candidate for getting scrapped, I reckon. Squeezed between the power ballad of “Only Women Bleed” and the tongue-in-cheek take on necrophilia in “Cold Ethyl,” it kind of justifies its existence as a smooth transitional piece.
When it comes to the celebration of all things macabre, two tracks stand out, lyrically, and one does so, musically. First, “Cold Ethyl” narrates a story about a sorry guy who keeps his dead girlfriend in the refrigerator, and, then, “The Awakening” tells a tale about a man waking up in his basement only to realize that he has killed his wife the night before. I’m sure these were topics guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows 50 years ago. The song about the protagonist of the album, “Steven,” resonates with a rather unsettling aura even without the lyrics being explicitly macabre. The piano sounds quite spooky in that good old horror soundtrack fashion and Cooper‘s vocals resonate simultaneously with the air of vulnerability and malice. I bet he would have made one hell of a voice actor. As far as I can tell, he has starred in a few feature films over the years. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare is probably the most renowned of these films. In the song, “Years Ago,” he impersonates a man-child suffering from a dissociative identity disorder and does a chillingly good job!
At the time of its release, the album got mixed reviews. It wasn’t hailed as Cooper‘s best solo effort until decades later. Especially compared to its predecessor, the album rolled out far more expansive arrangements which was not exactly a welcome idea for some. The emotional range in the vocal department proved also far greater than before and the overall variety was suddenly light years ahead of anything the previous lineup had come up with. I must admit that I’m not even that much into Alice Cooper‘s early albums but this one rocks. “Welcome to My Nightmare” has been certified 2 x Platinum in Australia and Canada, so there’s that, too.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Welcome to My Nightmare
- Devil’s Food
- The Black Widow
- Some Folks
- Only Women Bleed
- Department of Youth
- Cold Ethyl
- Years Ago
- Steven
- The Awakening
- Escape
Lineup
Alice Cooper – lead vocals
Dick Wagner – guitars, vocals
Steve “Deacon” Hunter – guitars
Prakash John – bass
Pentti “Whitey” Glan – drums
Additional musicians:
Bob Ezrin – synths, keyboards, vocals, production, arrangements
Josef Chirowski – keyboards, clavinet, vocals, Fender Rhodes
Tony Levin – bass on “Welcome to My Nightmare” and “Escape”
Johnny “Bee” Badanjek – drums on “Welcome to My Nightmare” and “Escape”
Vincent Price – The Curator
Trish McKinnon – “Mom”
David Ezrin, Gerry Lyons, Michael Sherman – vocals
the Summerhill Children’s Choir – vocals
Allan Mcmillan – arrangements
Label
Atlantic
