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Alice Cooper's "Love It To Death": I'm Forty

By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

Release Date: January 12th, 1971
Record Label: Straight


My rating:


    Track Listing:
  1. Caught In A Dream
  2. I'm Eighteen
  3. Long Way To Go
  4. Black Juju
  5. Is It My Body
  6. Hallowed Be My Name
  7. Second Coming
  8. Ballad Of Dwight Fry
  9. Sun Arise

"Love It To Death" was Alice Cooper's third studio full-length release, but it was essentially the debut in many ways, as it was the first successful album by the legendary shock rocker, and saw a remarkable change in the band's musical style. Change is not always for the better specially when it comes to bands and their music, but in this case it most definitely was.

The album boasts of "I'm Eighteen" and "Ballad Of Dwight Fry", two of the most beloved Alice Cooper tunes of all time. These songs are to this day an integral part of his live performance. But other than these, the album also serves up quite a few enjoyable tracks. These are hugely underrated and are rarely talked about amongst newer fans that just recently discovered Alice Cooper's music, most likely by listening to a greatest hits playlist or seeing a live show. I would highly recommend tunes like "Long Way To Go", "Is It My Body", "Hallowed Be My Name", and "Second Coming". Then there's the psychedelic "Black Juju" which is a throwback of sorts to the longer tunes of the previous two albums.

One of the most interesting aspects of this Alice Cooper album is that the songwriting was shared by all six members, which is rarely seen even in the best of bands, specially if they are eponymous. The success of this album went a long way in ensuring that this trend continued to a large extent, even in "solo" Alice Cooper releases 1975 onwards.

"I'm Eighteen" went on to create a legacy all on its own, and turned out to be one of the most covered Alice Cooper songs, most notably by Anthrax on their debut album "Fistful Of Metal", and also by Creed, Don Dokken and many others. It's a classic that will never cease to be enjoyable, and will never get old.

"Love It To Death" is an epitome of the longevity of pure old school rock music and will forever remain to be on or near the top of my list of go-to albums whenever I need my 70s fix.

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