Before Ghost, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Slipknot, Kiss or a bevy of other shadowy goth-rockers and metalheads brought theatrical spins to their stage shows, Alice Cooper blazed the trail. Unlike some of his spooky acolytes, Cooper has a deep catalog of riveting songs spanning his five-decade career. The guillotine, electric chair, snakes and stage blood will make for good, twisted fun in Tinley Park next Wednesday, but they’re not necessary to appreciate the raging glam of “Under My Wheels, the anti-domestic abuse ballad “Only Women Bleed,” or the satirical and self-referential “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”
Born Vincent Furnier, Cooper describes his on-stage identity in the third person. “There’s something really creepy about the sideshow,” he says in a press release. “You go to a circus, and it’s all happy. And there’s that sideshow over here, where it’s like the three-headed monkey and the snake woman. And you’re drawn to that. You kind of go, ‘It’s scary, but I still want to go.’ I think Alice lives there.”
Cooper’s new album “Paranormal” was recorded with familiar production partner Bob Ezrin, who helped Cooper shape classic albums including “School’s Out,” “Billion Dollar Babies” and “Welcome to My Nightmare.” Unlike 2012’s sequel “Welcome 2 My Nightmare,” the new album eschews an overall concept in favor of eerie, standalone vignettes designed to fit alongside the classics in Cooper’s camp-horror concerts.
“It’s like reading a book of twelve Twilight Zone tales,” says Cooper. The tense and pulsing “Paranoiac Personality” features a character forever looking over his shoulder, assuming that “everybody sees the bullseye on my back.” The relentless “Fireball” describes an apocalyptic nightmare that manifests in the light of day. While driving “Dynamite Road,” a band’s tricked-out Cadillac is sideswiped by a limo-driving devil.
Cooper has described his music as a blend of the Yardbirds, the Who, the Beatles, ‘West Side Story,” “Salem’s Lot,” villainy and slapstick. For “Paranormal,” he enlisted some old friends including bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce of the original Alice Cooper band. ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons contributes, and U2’s Larry Mullen, Jr. drums for most of the album. The “Paranormal” album’s title cut features Roger Glover of Deep Purple. The British rock icons share top billing with Cooper on the current tour, with hits including “Highway Star,” “Hush” and “Smoke on the Water.”
* Alice Cooper, with Deep Purple and the Edgar Winter Band, 6:30 p.m., Sep. 6, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 19100 S. Ridgeland, Tinley Park; livenation.com.
Jeff Elbel is a local freelance writer. Email: elbel.jeff@gmail.com
