Alice Cooper - Special Forces. Thoughts? Opinions?

Musically, I don't think any are much like the blackout albums, but The Last Temptation and Along Came a Spider are both creepy concept albums so if you like DaDa you might be into those. Brutal Planet is probably my favorite in that range - it's pretty heavy, industrial music with intense lyrical ideas. As mentioned, Eyes of Alice Cooper and Dirty Diamonds have more of a back to roots sound. My absolute favorite of his later albums is the last one, Paranormal. But that's after W2MN so you might be familiar with it already.

 

agree with your post

 

I agree with the poster above about Raise Your Fist and Yell. Of his 4 "metal" albums, that one is my favorite. Freedom is a great track.

 

I got all of the "Blackout" era albums as they were released. At the time, I liked Special Forces, but in hindsight I find it a decent, but not great effort. Half good, half meh.

I think if you combined all the best tracks of all the early 80's albums together, you'd have a pretty solid release, though.

 

I’d welcome a Blackout years box set...the three blackout albums, a full live set, the audio of Alice In Paris, the complete version of Teddy Bear (not the demo), and maybe any rehearsals or outtakes.

 

My poll from 2+ years ago

Alice Cooper 1981-1983 "The Blackout Years". Your favorite album?

 

Is it any metal aesthetic that puts you off, or specifically the "hair metal" stuff? If the latter, he stayed heavy but ditched the RAWK thing after the '80s. You might dig some of the '90s and onward material.

I've always had a soft spot for The Last Temptation. Great songs, interesting concept, etc. It's just a really good album all around and its darkness definitely links it at least a little to the blackout albums. Only catch is that it's far more coherent than any from the prior era, so if you need that haphazard angle, you won't find it there.

Likewise, that dark, conceptual thread runs through Brutal Planet and Dragontown. Your mileage may vary here. BP is definitely a direct attempt at late-'90s/early-'00s industrial. It's done well, but if that kind of music leaves you cold, that could sink it. Dragontown isn't nearly as "full on" in the industrial area and it comes off more as just a very dark hard rock album. Both lean heavily on lyrics that I could best sum up as morality plays about evil active in the world. Alice played before with evil, but it was always cartoonish before. On these albums, it's like Vincent Price taking you on a tour of the great atrocities of the 20th century. There's humor, but it's in pockets.

So, bringing it all back home, I think the closest you'll get to the blackout albums are conceptual bits that are similarly dark, but nowhere near as scattered and goofy. Very good, but the blackout era is... kind of its own thing.

 

Well, there's a discussion in another thread about what is considered "heavy metal" and when it exactly started, so your question is hard to answer
I strongly dislike "hair metal", and generally I don't care for "heavy metal" either (or for what I consider to be "heavy metal"). Regarding 90's and onward Alice Cooper albums, I bought Welcome 2 My Nightmare and I found it to be really bad. I feel the same about Hey Stoopid. After reading your description of the rest of his 90's output, I guess they're not for me either. Anyway, I'm sure they are far better tha those recorded with Rambo on guitar .

 

I ignored this album for a long time because of the stupid cover. It is definitely better than Constrictor (which I bought at the time, even though the cover isn't much better). Lately, I actually have this one which is a best of those two: Alice Cooper (2) - Prince Of Darkness

 

This is a good (digital only) comp of the 3 Epic albums. Yes, they are better than the 2 MCA albums. It's available on streaming services.

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Alice-Cooper-Epic-Years/dp/B07B6GL29Z

(Sorry for getting so off topic. This doesn't really have anything to do with Special Forces.)

 

That's my take as well. I love Flush The Fashion but Special Forces was kind of a poor attempt to repeat the formula. Knowing that he was as ill as he looked during that period makes those albums kind of hard to listen to now.

 

The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet are two of Alice's very best solo albums, maybe the best period. Intense is definitely the word.

 

Like others have said, Special Forces is my least favorite of the 4 blackout albums. It's not his worst (the two "metal" albums are for me), but it's mostly meh.

 

I like that one too, kinda begrudgingly. It rocks all right. It's kind of self-parody though as well!

 

you might as well get the 3 albums which can be found at dirt cheap prices

 

Gonna give the 4 "blackout" albums a spin right now.

I've always really enjoyed Flush The Fashion. I know Special Forces is my proclaimed favorite, but FTF is a very, very close 2nd.

Let's see how I think all 4 stack up - I've never marathoned 'em before.

 

Please follow up! I'm interested in your impressions.

 

I got sidetracked in the middle of but ill let you know tonight

 

As a matter of fact, I vividly remember when we watched "Super Duper Alice Cooper", when he started talking about doing vast amounts of cocaine, my immediate response was "Well, that explains Special Forces"

 

The last three "Blackout" albums all rode the cut-out bins for quite a while in the 80's. At the time "Zipper..." was the only one I bought of these three. I did buy "Flush The Fashion" used at a record show in the 80's and it has a number of very good songs. "Zipper" gets an occasional play but it never stuck with me. Finally bought "Da-Da" a few years ago after reading that it was a lost gem. After a few listens I was kind of let down. Not horrible but not that great either. Always hated the cover for "Special Forces". I think that's what's kept me away all these years.

 

I like 'Flush the Fashion' and 'DaDa' much better.

 

I bought Special Forces the day of release and it has always been one of my favorite Alice albums. It was just so full of that Alice "attitude" that I always loved. I'm surprised by the high regard for DaDa in this thread. Of the four albums released during this period, it usualy ranks as my least favorite. That being said, I've always been a fan of this period...and have struggled to find as much enjoyment in the albums that followed.

 

I've found that Dada gets a surprising amount of fan love as an overlooked gem in Cooper's career. I'd never felt that way, myself, and for many years after it's release, tried, but just couldn't get into it. That said, it's only been in more recent years that I've finally found appreciation for the album.

 

For me, at the time it was released, Special Forces was a cheap imitation of Flush the Fashion - made far worse by the disturbing persona. Nobody wanted that. My buddy bought it, but I didn't like it at all. We were still being led to believe that this was clean Alice, having kicked the beer addiction. If this was sober Alice, then it was not for me.

Fast forward to deep in the mid-90's, and I finally bought a used CD. Listening again, with fresh ears, it seemed like "little lost Alice" - chasing trends that had long passed, trying to be relevant to the punk crowd. Over the years, it has grown on me though, and I enjoy it. Upon learning about his cocaine addiction, I also had the same reaction as Huntigula, "Well, that explains Special Forces." 6/10 from this dedicated Alice fan.