Alice Cooper - Killer

The fact that Alice Cooper's fourth release housed the gritty "Halo of Flies" would be reason enough to buy the CD, even if the rest of it were garbage. An essential piece of the rock canon, it may not have served up the hits that his other releases did, but it still stands as a classic. Loud, brash, sloppy, and hard, it's the kind of listen that makes you check for grime under your nails. Cooper's rock/shock aesthetic was coming into full bloom here and "Dead Babies" shows he was satisfied with his formula of hard rock, bad taste, and images outside the realm of Middle America. The title track hints at the shape of things to come, laying the ground work for works as seemingly disparate as "Only Women Bleed," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Briefly ostracized by the "hipper than thou" sect, Killer is one of the reasons Cooper is now fully appreciated as the pioneer that he was. - -Steve Gdula Amazon.com

Killer

Arguably, the band Alice Cooper, their best album. This album peaked at #21 on the charts & it had two singles released from it, "Be My Lover" (#49) & "Under My Wheels" (#59). These chart positions are not indicative of the quality of this album. At 8 songs, let's remember this was on vinyl, it's on the short side but every song here is exceptional. The aforementioned songs are excellent as are "Under My Wheels", "You Drive Me Nervous" & "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah". There's absolutely nothing wrong with the rest of the songs.

Below is a listing of the songs as they appeared on vinyl:
Side 1
"Under My Wheels"
"Be My Lover"
"Halo of Flies"
"Desperado"

Side 2
"You Drive Me Nervous"
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"
"Dead Babies"
"Killer"

I've listed these songs this way for a reason, I don't know if anyone has noticed (I'm sure SOMEBODY has) but these songs correspond by titles. If you compare the first song (& so forth) of side 1 to the first song of side 2 they have a certain similarity. The second song of each side is the biggest stretch for similarity but I let you figure that out. I don't know if it was intentional but it's there for all to see.

Bob Ezrin was the producer & he had the Midas touch at this point in his career. He managed to get the band Alice Cooper to become a top charting act, he did the same for Alice Cooper the solo act, he produced the best album Kiss ever did, Destroyer, & then he began producing Pink Floyd albums, most notably The Wall. It should be noted that Ezrin also writes songs & is a musician.

Without a doubt, this is the band Alice Cooper's best album. It's about as close as one can get to an essential album without being one. If I were to rate these songs on an individual basis, none would receive less than a four star rating. There isn't any filler on this album! This was a very tight band that could do a lot of different things & styles.
May 19, 2008

Best Alice Cooper, Top Ten All Time Rock and Roll Albums

If you never heard this album before, you probably either never heard of Alice Cooper, or you don't like him. If you don't like him, what are you reading this for? If you never heard this, ask anyone who knows even a little about historical rock albums and they don't know squat if they don't consider this album one of the best. It is almost a perfect rock album, connecting songs with a "Death, Kill" theme, but who cares? A perfect driving album, mean, technically amazing and musically very diverse. Buy This! May 11, 2008

The Best Work of the Alice Cooper Legacy

For the real Alice Cooper fans that have not been pacified by the few commercial tracks Alice Cooper produced, "Killer" is definitely worth a buy. In my opinion Killer is clearly the best work turned out by Alice Cooper. Tracks like "You Drive Me Nervous" and "Under My Wheels" are a shot of pure rock-n-roll. The title track "Killer" is a melodic death march reminding us of the great stage theatrics Alice Cooper performed. "Dead Babies" is not for the squeamish, but it tells a powerful story. And "Halo Of Flies" is an absolute masterpiece rivaling some of the most powerful overtures. This is real good stuff, you won't be disappointed. February 9, 2008

Alice Gets Creepy

What a great album! After their masterpiece, Love It to Death, I didn't expect Alice Cooper to follow up with another incredible album, but this one delivers, from the comical "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover," each with a more classic rock feel, to the unique "Halo of Flies" with its rambling lyrics and melodies and varied moods, making it feel like more than a single track. "Desperado," with its soft, matter of fact vocals leading into harder vocals marks an interesting midpoint for the album, along with the upbeat "You Drive Me Nervous," where Alice's vocals seem a bit more frantic and frustrated than nervous...a fact for which I'm all too willing to forgive him, as the song is an album highlight. "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" is yet another highlight, with its high energy, leading into the eerie, dark, and fairly soft "Dead Babies," hinting more and more at Alice's later lyric tendencies. But it's a strong track, despite its morbid lyrics, and plays well after two harder numbers. The album closes with "Killer," which is actually a good deal creepier than "Dead Babies." February 2, 2008

More shock

Alice delivers the goods with another album of shock and great songs. Under My Wheels, Dead Babies, Killer and Be My Lover are just of few of the KILLER tracks. Classic Alice Cooper!! January 10, 2008

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