The first two albums by the Nightmare himself, back in the days when the name referred not just to Mr Vincent Furnier but the entire band, who had previously been a mock British Invasion band called the Spiders, also known as Nazz before Todd Rundgren's outfit. At the time, alice cooper were considered the most way-out band in their adoptive home town of Detroit (Christ alone knows what their birthplace of Phoenix, Arizona made of them) and were among the first signings to Frank Zappa's Straight label, old FZ recognising a fellow freak spirit when he saw one. These albums are (despite what some people say) deeply psychedelic, off-the-wall, garagey affairs, swamped with Anglophile whimsy ( as shown on 'Fields Of Regret' 'Shoe Salesman' and 'Laughing At Me') proto-prog Hammond thrashing ('Levity Ball' 'Lie Down And Die Goodbye' '10 Minutes Before The Worm') bubblegum harmonies (check out 'Living' 'Today Meuller' or 'Mr And Misdemeanour') and vaudevillian theatrics ('Beautiful Flyaway'). There's even an embryonic version of 'Elected' (here entitled 'Reflected') that shows the direction the band would later take, but by and large these albums bear little or no sonic resemblance whatsoever to the Alice Cooper that would rear its ugly mascara'd head a year later with the Bob Ezrin-produced theatrical hard rock of 'Love It To Death'. Here they appear for the first time on a 2fer 1 CD, and we're pleased to say that 35 years on, they still enthrall and fascinate. Reissue of the month- do not miss.
