Artist: ALICE COOPER
Album: BRUTAL PLANET + DRAGONTOWN RE-ISSUE (2CD)

Release date: 2013
Media type: CD

These two releases confirmed Cooper’s artistic reinvention, but failed commercially. Marlette has gone on to produce albums from Seether, Shinedown and Filter amongst others. Cooper’s subsequent recordings saw his return to the theatrical, melodic hard rock of his earlier career.

Hooking up with Bob Marlette in 2000 was one of the best things Alice Cooper could have done. Cooper had written with a host of acclaimed songwriters on previous albums – Desmond Child, Jack Ponte, Jack Blades, Jim Vallance, Mark Hudson and others – but writing a full album with a producer and songwriter as skilled and talented as Marlette gave Cooper new voice. There’s a sense of purpose and a cohesion to Brutal Planet that make it infinitely greater than the sum of its parts.

CD1 - Brutal Planet (2000):

    Brutal Planet
    Wicked Young man
    Sanctuary
    Blow Me A Kiss
    Eat Some More
    Pick Up The Bones
    Pessi-mystic
    Gimme
    It’s The Little Things
    Take It Like A Woman
    Cold Machines


Unarguably a continuation of Brutal Planet, with Cooper and Marlette again collaborating, and Cooper surrounding himself with a tighter than tight band – Eric Dover, Tim Pierce, Ryan Roxie and Kenny Aronoff. Cooper and Marlette, by now enjoying a collusive and confident songwriting relationship, fan that creative spark into something more substantial on Dragontown. Here, Cooper is guided by a greater sense of social commentary and narrative complexity. He torques up the tension on funereal elegy, ‘Deeper’ and laces ‘Sex, Death & Money’s morality tale with dark humour. ‘Somewhere In The Jungle’ and ‘I Just Wanna Be God’ are less about the music and more about creating a clinging, dream-like atmosphere, where the message is hammered home by heavyweight guitars and pounding beats. This time around, a couple of more commercial – or at least accessible – tracks are to be found among the grim tales of alienation and materialism. ‘Triggerman’ keeps a foothold in Cooper’s big chorus, big hook past, and the endearing ballad, ’Every Woman Has A Name’ add greater musical and emotional range to Dragontown, providing radio with an opportunity to play Cooper’s new music, without compromising anyone’s position.

CD2 - Dragontown (2001):

    Triggerman
    Deeper
    Dragontown
    Sex Death And Money
    Fantasy man
    Somewhere In The Jungle
    Disgraceland
    Sister Sara
    Every Woman Has A Name
    I Just Wanna Be God
    It’s Much Too Late
    The Sentinel