Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2024) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2024) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz] Download

There are aficionados and champions of Alice Cooper’s many albums and eras. Some fans insist that Easy Action is one of the most criminally underappreciated records of the rock era, while others feel that Killer is the most rockin’ album in the band’s entire catalog; heck, there are folks out there who vociferously advocate for the wild charms and unexpected pleasures of Cooper’s solo “blackout era” of the early ’80s (and those folks are not wrong!). However, one thing that is widely agreed upon is that Billion Dollar Babies is Alice Cooper (the band) at the peak of its powers. The commercial sheen—and success—of its predecessor, School’s Out, is seamlessly fused here with relentless, riff-fueled propulsion, decadent arrangements (brass band on “Elected”? Sure!), some of Cooper’s most wittily deranged lyrics to date, and, of course, fantastic production from Bob Ezrin, who masterfully balanced all of the band’s disparate elements. Babies is where commercial, creative, and critical success convene, and the result is not just a ’70s rock masterpiece, but also that rarest of things: a ’70s rock masterpiece that still manages to yield surprises. While packed with radio staples—the title track, “Elected,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy”—and canonical classics (“Raped and Freezin’,” “I Love the Dead”), there are also eyebrow-raising numbers like “Unfinished Sweet” (spaghetti western meets fuzzbox freakout meets rock opera) and “Mary Ann” (a sweet piano ballad that turns on an unexpected plot twist) that reiterate that, despite their success on the charts, Alice Cooper was still a delightfully transgressive band. The track lineup on this 50th anniversary “Trillion Dollar” deluxe edition slightly expands on 2001’s reissue. A 1973 Texas show featured earlier is rounded out with two additional, non-BDB songs from the concert, and the selection of outtakes is now accompanied by four single edits of album tracks. This edition also brings with it a warm, dynamic remastering that delivers on the original mix’s maximalistic approach, making this the definitive rendition of a classic. © Jason Ferguson

Tracklist:

1-1. Alice Cooper – Hello Hooray (2023 Remaster) (04:16)
1-2. Alice Cooper – Raped and Freezin’ (2023 Remaster) (03:20)
1-3. Alice Cooper – Elected (2023 Remaster) (04:07)
1-4. Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (2023 Remaster) (03:43)
1-5. Alice Cooper – Unfinished Sweet (2023 Remaster) (06:21)
1-6. Alice Cooper – No More Mr. Nice Guy (2023 Remaster) (03:06)
1-7. Alice Cooper – Generation Landslide (2023 Remaster) (04:31)
1-8. Alice Cooper – Sick Things (2023 Remaster) (04:22)
1-9. Alice Cooper – Mary Ann (2023 Remaster) (02:18)
1-10. Alice Cooper – I Love the Dead (2023 Remaster) (05:11)
1-11. Alice Cooper – Hello Hooray (Live) (03:04)
1-12. Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (Live) (03:47)
1-13. Alice Cooper – Elected (Live) (02:28)
1-14. Alice Cooper – I’m Eighteen (Live, 1973) (04:50)
1-15. Alice Cooper – Raped and Freezin’ (Live) (03:13)
1-16. Alice Cooper – No More Mr. Nice Guy (Live) (03:08)
1-17. Alice Cooper – My Stars (Live) (07:32)
1-18. Alice Cooper – Unfinished Sweet (Live) (06:01)
1-19. Alice Cooper – Sick Things (Live) (03:16)
1-20. Alice Cooper – Dead Babies (Live) (02:58)
1-21. Alice Cooper – I Love the Dead (Live) (04:21)
1-22. Alice Cooper – School’s Out (Live 1973) (04:48)
1-23. Alice Cooper – Under My Wheels (Live 1973) (04:08)
1-24. Alice Cooper – Coal Black Model T (Outtake) (04:26)
1-25. Alice Cooper – Son Of Billion Dollar Babies (Generation Landslide) (Outtake) (03:44)
1-26. Alice Cooper – Hello Hooray (Single Version) (03:02)
1-27. Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies (Single Version) (03:03)
1-28. Alice Cooper – Elected (Single Version) (03:42)
1-29. Alice Cooper – Mary Ann (Single Version) (02:20)
1-30. Alice Cooper – Slick Black Limousine (04:26)