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Album Details

• Artist: Alice Cooper
• Album: The Last Temptation
• Label: Sony
• Year of Release: 1994
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2013-01-15

Unless you are a hardcore Alice Cooper fan who simply loves everything he’s ever done with an intense passion, the Alice Cooper catalog likely seems like a bunch of peaks and valleys to you. That’s because Cooper has done so many different types of music throughout his career. In fact, there’s even variation from the fact that the first few albums were recorded by a band named “Alice Cooper” whose lead singer happened to share that moniker, but later discs were recorded by that artist without the band concept. So, depending on which albums speak to one more, different discs will seem better than others. This album is show biz from Cooper. It really feels like much of the high entertainment of ‘70s era Cooper, while bringing a new intensity and power to them. This one has plenty of spooky moments along with humor. Alice's band on this album is Stef Burns, Greg Smith, Derek Sherinian and David Uosikkinen.
    
The opener, “Side Show” does a great job of setting the tone. A balladic acoustic guitar intro begins it. As the electricity kicks in, the song takes on a rock texture somewhat between traditional Cooper and Kiss. The chorus is quite catchy Cooper rooted firmly in his poppier old styles. This one covers some rather Halloweenish lyrical themes at times. "I want a scary ride, see Jekyll turn into Hyde." A creepy ending is achieved with off kilter circus music and a Coop voice that fits it well. “Nothing’s Free” follows that and is more of a pure rocker with a few chilling moments delivered by the vocals and the lyrics. “Lost in America,” though is much more straightforward and actually pretty funny.

Once those openers have established the range, the rest of the set seems to fit generally within that territory, with a few additions. For instance, “Bad Place Alone” has a bit of a groove at times, much in the mode of Cooper's take on the West Side Story cut “Gutter Cats VS. the Jets.”  In fact, the cut seems to have quite a few musical allusions to vintage Cooper tracks. “You’re My Temptation” has some Beatlesesque moments. “Lullaby” and “It’s Me” focus on the mellower side of Alice Cooper. Overall, fans of the sounds of things like Welcome to My Nightmare and Goes to Hell will find plenty to like on this set. It’s in the same general musical theater meets rock style.

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