ALICE COOPER – Detroit Stories (2021)

Named for the city that launched the original ALICE COOPER group on the road to success, “Detroit Stories” follows last year’s “Breadcrumbs” EP as a modern-day homage to the toughest and craziest Rock n Roll scene there ever was.
In 1970, fledgling producer Bob Ezrin walked into a farmhouse on the outskirts of Detroit to work with the Alice Cooper band. Abandoning flower power Los Angeles, because they were the opposite of the hippie peace and love ideal, Alice had brought his decidedly darker gang back to his birthplace to the legendary rock scene that gave birth to hard rock, garage rock, soul, funk… and more.
Detroit was the only place that recognized the Alice Cooper guitar driven hard rock sound and their crazy stage show. Detroit was a haven for the outcasts.
50 years later Alice and Ezrin gathered some legendary Detroit musicians in a Detroit studio to record ”Detroit Stories”, Alice Cooper’s new album that celebrates that spirit for a new era.

An ode to his hometown, the album opens with ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll’, a Velvet Underground cover that pairs Cooper with Joe Bonamassa for a funked-up blowout, complete with a walloping, shout-out chorus. Other guest appearances include MC5’s Wayne Kramer, original Alice Cooper members Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith, plus members of his current band, Grand Funk Railroad’s Mark Farner and U2’s Larry Mullen.

Though dominated by revved-up rockers like ‘Go Man Go’, ‘I Hate You’ and a jumpy cover of MC5’s ‘Sister Anne’, the most interesting offering here is ‘Our Love Will Change The World’ – a polished and cartoonishly upbeat singalong with scathing lyrics about the rise of cancel culture.

Now 73, Alice delivers strong, bluesy vocals, showcased on tracks like ‘$1000 High Heel Shoes’, a stupidly catchy R&B cut with a bouncy Motown tempo. In the filler department, ‘Wonderful World’ is a brooding midtempo number that finishes before it ever really takes off.
The album ends with another cover, Bob Seger’s ‘East Side Story’ – a blatant rip-off of Van Morrison’s Gloria but a rousing closer nonetheless.

While the album has its misses, Alice and legendary producer Bob Ezrin have convened the right musicians for some of his best material in years.
A mature, ambitious and overall satisfying album, ”Detroit Stories” sees Alice Cooper doing what he does best and having a hell of a good time along the way.

01 – Rock ‘n’ Roll
02 – Go Man Go (Album Version)
03 – Our Love Will Change the World
04 – Social Debris
05 – $1000 High Heel Shoes
06 – Hail Mary
07 – Detroit City 2021 (Album Version)
08 – Drunk and in Love
09 – Independence Dave
10 – I Hate You
11 – Wonderful World
12 – Sister Anne (Album Version)
13 – Hanging on by a Thread (Don’t Give Up)
14 – Shut up and Rock
15 – East Side Story (Album Version)

Pre Order:
www.amazon.com/Detroit-Stories-Alice-Cooper/dp/B08MSLXG51