Muscle Of Love

I came to be an Alice Cooper fan quite late in the game. I accidently came across "Welcome To My Nightmare" '75 and "Goes To Hell" '76 while visiting a cousin. On the first play, I was hooked...maybe that's why momma forbid me to have any Alice Cooper or Kiss music. Once in college and away from home I purchased "Killer" '72 in late 1980, I realized at this tyme that I had been missing out on a really Xciting artist and would have to collect all the releases as funds permitted.Now that you know a little of my history concerning the Coop, let me get on with "Muscle Of Love" '73. The Alice Cooper Group had released "Billion Dollar Babies" earlier that year and it was a smashing success with several hits and some very interesting, odd subject matter. If you are Xpecting to hear more of the Alice that did "Killer" & "Billion Dollar Babies", you may be disappointed. "Muscle Of Love" is more of a musical Xperiment, incorporating various musical stylings in with their rock n roll. There is no "I Love The Dead" or "Sick Things" types of songs and there's really no heavier handed rockers like "Billion Dollar Babies" or "No More Mr. Nice Guy". Even so, this album rocks, just rocks a little differntly. Some may think this is just an album of filler material due to the lack of any stand out singles. I agree, for the Alice Cooper Group this could be filler material, but it's pretty darn good. "Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo)" and "Hard Hearted Alice" always seem very visual...just seems he's taking me on a journey with his story telling, stimulates my imagination. "Man With The Golden Gun" should have been a FM radio hit, but I've still never heard it on the airwaves...another reason to get XM. "Teenage Lament '74) is the closest thing to a real hit, but it's a cool song and it rocks. "Never Been Sold Before" has some interesting horns going on. "Crazy Little Child" has that New Orleans sound with piano and horns, some may question it, but I think it works well. "Working Up A Sweat" just an upbeat rocker. "Muscle Of Love" fast paced rocker. "Women Machine" is the weakest number to me, but it's still alright and fits in well with the rest of the material.If you're wanting the Shock Rocker with ghoulish, dark subject matter...this might not be the one for you.

The last album from the original Alice Cooper BAND. 1973-74. The band didn't really tour much to promote this album. they did 13 cities in the northeast usa and about 5 gigs in brazil and that was it yet it still made the top 10. if you can get a copy of billion dollar baby by bob greene he described the recording of the vocals to this album in the studio in detail in that book. The songs have got some swagger both in the vocals and the music. Bob Ezrin didn't produce this album rather produced by Jack Richardson and Jack Douglas. there a lot of long fading endings to songs here, some are noisy so I skip ahead to the next song but some endings if you listen to the fades have some great subtleties...some great guitar work with the addition of dick wagner and mick mashbir cameos by labelle sisters, liza minelli, ronnie spector and pointer sisters...it's not a bad touch...it's kind of a cut loose album trying something different. i've been playing this one a lot on my car cd player lately sometimes too much horns and strings...ex: Never Been Sold Before rocks from the start but towards the end is buried in horns and strings and get too noisy so i skip a head to the next song. Hippo rocks. it's funky 70's swagger it's cool, clever. heart hearted alice dueling guitars at break nice melody crazy little child big band dixieland? old show business again...alice seems to enjoy singing like a hollywood starlet...workin up a sweat and muscle of love rock out. golden gun has some moments as well lament 74. if you have love it to death, killer, school's out, billion dollar babies you should get this too. it's the same band trying a different tact for a change of pace. it's a light album not to be taken too seriously. it's only meant to be enjoyed as fun. despite the fragmented status of the band at this point, no glen buxton on this album, and all the tracks were laid down by the musicians separately it still holds together and the mix is suprisingly good. actually i think the mix is better on this album than the previous 4 albums by ezrin. the album shows a maturity. these were clever and witty rock stars with a sense of humour and some subtlety. it shows on this album. at times alice sings like mae west but the music also supports that...for all the personal differences the band was having with shep, the manager and alice, as a combined group they could generate some great sound...dennis Dunaway - bass, neal smith-drums, great rhythm section along with mike bruce on guitar and song writing plus the excellent addition of mick mashbir on guitar who really lifted the band to more sophisticated playing

Last album with the original Alice Cooper line up and personally think they produced the best of Alice Cooper. All great songs here including the 1974 single release Teenage Lament-remember one of the lyrics which my dad often used. "you better turn that damn thing down". My parents could never understand where my musical tastes came from. I was working in an independent record shop when this came out and can remember the cardboard box that this album came in and only being able to display one copy at a time as it was so thick. So 40 plus years still playing it loud but now on better sound equipment.

I have waited a long time for a remastered version of this Alice Cooper album. This was the last studio recording to feature the Alice Cooper Band before they split and Alice went off to pursue his solo ventures taking the name with him. This Japanese remastered Version is worthy of more than 5 stars, the sound quality and packaging are superb. Tracks such as Big Apple Dreamin (Hippo), Hard Hearted Alice and Crazy Little Child really come alive. I know when this album was being made that Glen Buxton lead guitarist for the band was having health issues and it may be fair to say that the majority (if not all) of the lead guitar contributions are either Dick Wagner or Mick Mishbar but that does not detract from what a great solid rock album this is. In particular its good to be able to hear Neil Smiths drumming brought more to the fore. Alice does a sterling job on vocals and his lyrics have a great humour to them. Not a cheap purchase but well worth the cost. If you missed this album first time around then buy it and you will not be disappointed.

As a follow-up from the practically unbeatable gold standard of Billion Dollar Babies, Muscle of Love is a more slight release but only by comparison. On its own merits it is a great fun album full of excellent songs and a couple of classics of its own - only not as many as the previous, and indeed following albums.'Big Apple Dreamin' Hippo' is a great, sunny start to proceedings, similar to 'Caught in a Dream' from Love It To Death but with a distinctly cool groove. Very '70s. Very good. A mini-classic. 'Never Been Sold Before' is fine but doesn't pull the listener in as much as the opener. 'Hard Hearted Alice' is another semi-classic that takes a while to gel but appears as something quite beautiful when it does. 'Crazy Little Child' is a strange track. It has a great story (kind of a Bugsy Malone yarn), as it is a concept album as such about life in New York City, but the rock-a-billy pianee style doesn't lend to much of a tune, more a background soundtrack to a fight within a film(?). But it's still quite fun. 'Working Up A Sweat' is a great, catchy song that is yet another semi-classic in my opinion. Then the inimitable 'proper' classic, 'Muscle Of Love', kicks in with such a strut as to almost push you to one side. 'The Man With The Golden Gun' is rather silly and takes a while to sink in properly but is actually quite good. However, it was a shrewd decision by the film-makers to go with the Lulu track. As the album may be about male prostitution, thinly, the song could have other connotations that the Broccoli's may have taken offence too. That and it isn't the best sounding Bond song (that's the one thing Alice Cooper has failed to accomplish - a decent soundtrack track). 'Teenage Lament' is awesome and should be played by everybody, everywhere forever. 'Woman Machine' is another quite groovy song and finishes the album off well, but does not have the staying power to compete with some of the better tracks.On the whole a very good collection, but with a few oddities thrown in that, if removed, may have made for another, far more swaggering classic.

The only reason I am giving Muscle of Love 4 stars and not 5 is because Alice Cooper set the bar so high with their previous three albums (Killer, School's Out, and Billion Dollar Babies) that it would be unfair on these three albums to suggest that MoL reaches the same dizzy heights. Having said that, it's actually still a damn good album and in some ways harks back to the raw energy of albums like Love it to Death. There is evidence that the 'writing is on the wall' so to speak and it was to come as no surprise that this would turn out sadly to be the last album by the band. They may not have gone out with a bang but rest assured Muscle of Love is no whimper either, and still deserves it's place in any classic 70's rock record collection. It's an album that you can easily listen to from beginning to end without feeling the need to press the 'skip' button on the remote control at any point along the way.

The band were falling apart and had split with their producer but this album isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It was always going to be difficult to follow Billion Dollar Babies but there are enough songs here to enjoy.Welcome To My Nightmare came next and Alice Cooper became a solo superstar. Muscle Of Love may have been the end of the band but they didn't go out with a whimper.