Hollywood Vampires "Hollywood Vampires" 2015***

As all-star jam bands go, The Hollywood Vampires' line-up isn't what you'd call "a rock'n'roll Dream Team": Sure, Aerosmith's Joe Perry is guaranteed to lay down some nice solos, but who the hell wants to listen to Johnny Depp playing his guitar? As for Alice Cooper, well, we all love him when he's being his plain-old shock rocker self, but do we really want to listen to him covering oldies by Led Zeppelin and The Who? Aaaa... but there's a twist! The album is a celebration of dead rockers whom excess -particularly excessive love of booze- has led to an early grave. Many of them were Alice's friends and drinking buddies from the 70's, his dissolute years when he used to preside over an LA "drinking club" called The Hollywood Vampires. Members included, among others, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin, The Monkeys' Mickey Dolenz, and John and Ringo from The Beatles - during Lennon's low point, the 1,5 year Yoko-less boozing period usually referred to as "the lost weekend". Many other rockers not residing in L.A. were considered "honorary" members, a title that could only be obtained by outdrinking everyone in the room. Alice himself hit the brakes on drinking after waking one day in the 80's puking blood and being told by the doctors that he had drunk himself to the threshold of death. Depending on one's cynicism level, this album is either a heartfelt tribute to his "dead drunk friends" or a calculated move to profit from the legend of The Hollywood Vampires which keeps getting bigger as more stories from those days see the light of day in music magazines and rock biographies. Based on the energy and good-time vibes of the project, I'd like to think it's the former. The first song (after a suitably creepy spoken intro by the one and only Christopher Lee) makes as much clear: "A sudden quick demise/And so the body dies/But the music stays alive/So let's raise the dead".
It predictably sounds like a cross between Alice Cooper and Aerosmith: a metallic rocker with a roaring chorus, and one of only two original songs in the album. The other one is called "My Dead Drunk Friends", a heavy mid-tempo piece more typical of Alice's theatrical horror rock-style with a drunken chorus that could come straight from The Pirates Of The Caribbean - maybe a Johnny Depp contribution? It goes like this "We drink and we fight/ And we puke and we puke/ And then we die/ My dead drunk friends". Irreverent, unsubtle and tasteless it is, but no-one ever accused Alice of being sensitive or subtle. The vibe of the album is of a big party where everyone is having fun, which makes up for the lack of any nuances: the band chooses to cover some of rock's most famous old warhorses, and to play them more or less straight rather than try to infuse them with their own personality. Famous guests include AC/DC's Brian Johnson, who is a powerful presence on "Whole Lotta Love" (Led Zeppelin, R.I.P. John Bonham) and Alice's own "School's Out" which also features Slash on guitar and which is played as a medley with Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" (R.I.P. Richard Wright). Porno For Pyros' Perry Farrel guests on "I Got A Line On You" (Spirit, R.I.P. Randy California) and "One / Jump Into The Fire" (R.I.P. Harry Nilsson), while the latter also features David Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana) on drums. Another high profile guest is "Sir" Paul McCartney on "Come And Get It", a song he had penned for Badfinger (R.I.P. Pete Ham). The Doors' Robbie Krieger guests on his old band's "Five To One / Break On Through" (R.I.P. Jim Morrison). Other songs tackled with success include "Cold Turkey" (R.I.P. John Lennon), "Jeepster" (T.Rex, R.I.P. Marc Bolan), "Itchycoo Park" (Small Faces, R.I.P. Steve Marriott), and "Manic Depression" (R.I.P. Jimi Hendrix).  Despite the overabundance of guitarists on the album, songs are kept short and lean (Perry and Depp are augmented by regular Alice Cooper guitarist Tommy Henriksen, studio hand Bruce Witkin, female guitar prodigy Orianthi, The Eagles' Joe Walsh, Krieger and Slash). Many more musicians appear on bass, keys, and drums (special mention here for Zakk Starkey, Ringo's son and current Who drummer) but it's impossible to mention them all. Suffice it to say, everyone joins in the fun with gusto, resulting in an enjoyable but ultimately forgettable album.

*** for Raise The Dead, My Generation, Whole Lotta Love, I Got A Line On You, Five To One/Break On Through, Jeepster, Cold Turkey, Itchycoo Park, School's Out / Another Brick In The Wall, My Dead Drunk Friends

** for The Last Vampire, One / Jump Into The Fire, Come And Get It, Manic Depression

Alice Cooper "Love It To Death" 1971****

Venom Inc at Baroeg Open Air, Rotterdam 19/9/2015

I recently returned from a trip to the Netherlands (for business and pleasure, as they say). By chance it was also the weekend of Baroeg Open Air, Holland's (maybe Europe's also) biggest free heavy rock festival, headlined this year by the mighty Venom. Until now I was only familiar with their fame as "the godfathers of Black Metal". So I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised by their set: well-played classic heavy metal -not at all unlistenable as I feared- and solid showmanship. Nice guys, too - for "satanists", that is. I don't own any of their records to present here, but came back itching to write about heavy metal. Then I realized I didn't take any metal CD's with me when I moved to Brussels and left most of my collection behind. The closest I've got is this triple-CD collection of vintage Alice Cooper I bought from an electronics chain store, containing "Love It To Death", "Killers" & "School's Out".

As it invariably happens, the shop had filed Alice Cooper at C. Will they ever learn that they're a group and that there's no-one with the name Cooper, Alice? Strike that, there probably is a person named Alice Cooper somewhere that curses the band for dragging her name through the mud - but she is otherwise unconnected to the group. It's true that, as years went by, the public began to identify singer Vincent Furnier with a character called Alice Cooper, but in 1971 that was yet to happen. The band had released a couple of commercial flops under the tutelage of Frank Zappa and made a last attempt for success with young Bob Ezrin as producer. He kept the humour and craziness of their early songs but sensibly steered the music away from freaky psychedelia towards glam and hard rock. Helped by the inclusion of the ultimate teen anthem "I'm 18", the record was a resounding success that propelled the band to a world of notorious onstage antics and backstage excess. The album opens with excellent boogie rocker "Caught in a Dream" and then, after a short harmonica intro, come the immortal lines describing teenage alienation in a few simple words "Lines form on my face and hands/Lines form from the ups and downs/I'm in the middle without any plans/I'm a boy and I'm a man/I'm eighteen/And I don't know what I want...I'm eighteen and I like it!". Kudos also to guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, hitting all the right notes without hijacking the song as it so often happens in heavy metal. "Long Way to Go" is a fast Yardbirds-style garage rocker and "Black Juju" is...filler? Many tend to think so, because of its length. It's certainly a loose and semi-improvised 9 minutes of psychedelia, dominated by tribal drumming and creepy organ. Early Pink Floyd and Doors seem to be musical influences, while the lyrics draw on classic horror films as Alice would increasingly do in the future. Onstage it would be the highlight of his show, featuring a theatrical mock-execution on a prop electric chair. "Is It My Body?" is one of the harder rocking songs here, with funky bass and sexual lyrics, although it eschews macho chest beating by adding that insecure question mark. "Hallowed Be My Name" has a garagey 60's feel and touches on the theme of religion and hell "You're fighting to go up 'cause you're on your way down/ cursing their lovers/ cursing the bible", similarly to the theatrical "Second Coming" "I only know hell is getting hotter/ the devil's getting smarter all the time". The latter song starts off ballad-like with a bit of piano, gradually attaining a pounding military rhythm for a while and segueing into "Ballad of Dwight Fry", another piece of rock theatre about madness which Alice performs to this day tied up in a straightjacket. Closer "Sun Arise" is an upbeat pop number, probably aiming to dispel the darkness and end the album on a hopeful note. There is no denying that, lyrically at least, "Love It To Death" is as much a part of heavy metal's DNA as Black Sabbath's debut or Deep Purple's "In Rock". Without them, there probably wouldn't have been any Judas Priest, Iron Maiden... or Venom.

***** for I'm Eighteen, Is It My Body

**** for Caught in a Dream, Long Way to Go, Black Juju, Second Coming

*** for Hallowed Be My Name,Ballad of Dwight Fry, Sun Arise