Alice Cooper - Live At The Whisky A-Go-Go 1969

1969 was the year that Alice Cooper released their first album, Pretties For You. It was a strange album for the time, and is still quite strange by today's standards. Amidst gems that really showed what was to come from the group, such as "sing low, sweet cheerio", "fields of regret", and "changing arranging", were strange tidbit ideas of songs clocking in at 2 minutes or less, featuring odd vocal stylings, unexpected and frequent tempo changes and start-stop rhythms. This live album, recorded at the record's release party is a great window into the band's workings at the time. The quality far surpasses that of the much easier to find toronto rock'n'roll revival set from the same time period, and features a much more diverse setlist. Songs like "Levity Ball", "Sing Low, Sweet Cheerio",and "Nobody Likes Me" are performed exceptionally well here, but the bands more experimental tracks ("10 minutes before the worm", "bb on mars") prove very difficult to perform live and the performances of these tracks presented here are not without their share of obvious flaws. This record's most redeeming quality is the guitar playing of a young Glen Buxton. I dont care what anyone else says, this album represents Glen in his prime. His lines are often improvised here, and creatively played. He traces scales in flat-out unconventional ways and weaves in and out of the music with perfect finesse. Later in the band's career Glen's playing would suffer due to health problems and alcoholism, but Live at the Whiskey 1969 shows how truly remarkable of a musician he was, maybe not in his technicality, but in the creative construction and unconventional style of his playing. To sum things up this album is a grisly fusion of shagged out acid rock and nascent heavy metal and stands apart from other Alice Cooper albums in it's uniqueness.

Track List:
1. No Longer Umpire
2. Today Mueller
3. 10 Minutes Before the Worm
4. Levity Ball
5. Nobody Likes Me
6. B.B. On Mars
7. Swing Low, Sweet Cheerio
8. Changing Arranging

Download: Alice Cooper - Live At The Whisky A-Go-Go 1969 (34MB)