Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits

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Alice Cooper

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Cooper is perhaps best known for his elaborate stage shows which presaged the theatrical excesses of the 1970s, but apart from the anthems "Eighteen" and "School's Out" and the exquisite gem "No More Mr. Nice Guy", the pickings are fairly slim on this collection from 1974. The rockin' "Under My Wheels" and the political satire of "Elected" are pretty decent, but the rest of this material is very standard stuff about what life's like when you "play guitar in a long-haired rock'n'roll band".

Cooper's most distinguishing characteristic (and probably the main reason we still listen to him today) is the slightly mischievous hint of evil that leavens pieces like "Desperado", "Hello Hooray" and "Billion Dollar Babies". Of course in Cooper's case it was all a come-on - a gimmick to leaven his stage shows - but it set the stage for the groups who made evil a dominant theme of rock in later decades.

Still, as a purchase, one wonders who this collection should be recommended to. Cooper's devoted fans must already own most of these tracks on their original releases, while listeners new to the artist might well wonder: if songs like "Is It My Body", "Hello Hooray", and "Teen-age Lament 74" represent the best of Alice Cooper, then what does the mediocre stuff sound like? For them, a stronger collection compiled from Cooper's entire career might be a better choice. Three and a half stars.