[.ca] Mascara & Monsters:the Best of

From Amazon.com:
An essential figure in any history of the American grotesque, son-of-a-preacher-man Vincent Furnier served as a missing link between Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Marilyn Manson. As Alice Cooper, he helped make the pop world safe for morbidity and makeup, scoring a bunch of hits and misses along the way. Mascara & Monsters serves up a fairly rote chronology of Cooper's '70s singles, with the occasional B-side and 1989's "Poison" (cowritten by mainstream hitmeister Desmond Child!) thrown in for good measure. As such, the album doesn't live up to its best-of billing. "Dead Babies," arguably the best track on Killer, loses out to "Under My Wheels," while the garage-rock glories of the band's first two albums are also conspicuously absent. On the plus side, "School's Out," "Elected," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy" still sound great. If you're looking for easy access to those and numerous lesser singles, this collection will do the trick. --Bill Forman

Mom, where's your mascara?:
Aw, come on! You can't put every Alice's hit on 1(ONE) CD. Guys at Rhino tried very hard to make it a good compilation but somewhat failed. #1) They could easily throw out Clones as it is not such a good song after all, even It's Hot Tonight from "Lace And Whiskey" would be better. #2) Where the hell are: Caught In A Dream, Ballad Of Dwight Fry(!), Hey Stoopid and Feed My Frankenstein(!) HUH? #3) They should really make it a 2 disc edition and include: all of the above + Black Juju, Halo Of Flies, Dead Babies(!), Sick Things(!), I Love The Dead(!), Cold Ethyl(!), Steven, Go To Hell(!), He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)(!), House Of Fire, Only My Heart Talkin', Bed Of Nails, Love's A Loaded Gun, Might As Well Be On Mars(!) - not to mention a bunch of other songs for example Gutter Cat Vs The Jests, Public Animal No 9, The Black Widow (favourite Bruce Dickinson's song), Lost In America etc. I think Mascara & Monsters is good for a casual fan, to make him interested in Alice's music but for a hardcore fan like me it's just a waste of money. One way or another I give this thing 4 stars.

It's All Good Alice Cooper:
Alice Cooper has two faces, pardoning the unintentional pun. There is the Alice Cooper band with Vincent Furnier as the front man who eventually became identified as the character of Alice Cooper, and then there is Alice Cooper the relatively mellow solo artist with the occasional hint of that earlier Alice Cooper in the periodic gravel in his voice. If you liked the original Alice Cooper band, it's possible that much of Alice Cooper's later work caused you chagrin. It can seem difficult to some people that the man who sang "Dead Babies" was singing songs such as "I Never Cry," How You Gonna See Me Now," and "You and Me." On the other hand, Alice Cooper the artist followed where his music led him and in the process created some beautiful, though perhaps a bit mellow, music. The album ends up being a bit bizarre because the gravelly vocals of songs like "I'm Eighteen" and "Under My Wheels" end up next to harmonious ballads. If you are very fond of either style, and care little for the other style, you will not like this album. On the other hand, if you like a broad range of music and styles, or if you are a huge Alice Cooper fan, than this album is reasonably good. I say reasonably good because some of the Alice Cooper band's music is not represented. Always unfortunate, but in this case I initially wondered why "Dead Babies," which I have always considered to be almost a signature song for Alice Cooper, was missing. After a bit of thought I realized that the songs on the album spin Alice Cooper's music toward the more broadly acceptable pop side, thus likely generating greater sales than if the music focused on the more grotesque, and in some fan's eyes, more fun music of Alice Cooper. It will have to be a multi-disk box set to capture a broader array of Alice Cooper's music. Casual fans will likely enjoy this collection. The liner notes are excellent and often fun. There is about 76 minutes of music with 22 songs, which makes this CD a great value. While the selected music does lean towards Alice Cooper's softer side, there are some real gems on this collection. Some songs have elements of both sides, for example "Desperado." Others represent the Alice Cooper that we've always thought of as being a hard rocker, such as "Under My Wheels" and "I'm Eighteen," and the signature anthem "School's Out." I admit that I still lament the lack of other tracks that helped define early Alice Cooper, but there is always the "Classicks" CD to help fill out the missing 80s material and there are the pre-"Welcome to My Nightmare" CDs for the most bizarre Alice Cooper music.

Good Bang For Your Buck!:
I agree, there is to many songs left off this compliation. Then again Alice has to many songs to fit 1 CD. For the casual fan, most of the songs you want are here. After buying this CD, you just might want to run out and pick up the entire Alice Cooper collection. I wouldn't blame you if you did.

Best Alice Cooper Collection!:
This is what you get when you take the best of all Alice Cooper songs and cram 'em into 1 disc! This is great for casual and diehard fans. If you want the best, you've got the best. This covers the peak of his career.

A great greatest hits album:
This is the first Alice Cooper cd I ever bought, and it will always be one of my favorites. From the opening track of Eighteen to the closing track, the classic Posion, this album covers the very best of Alice. From the crash and clammer style of Under My Wheels to the mellow and touching songs like I Never Cry, this is a winner in every way. The cd booklet has some nice pictures of the Coop, as well as a little qoute from Alice or one of the band about every song on it. A+ album.

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