'School's Out' Has Been Out For 50 Years- How Do You Rank It Among The Alice Cooper Group Albums?

Cabaret meets West Side Story.

It's one of the lps of theirs that I still play from time to time.

 

School's Out is a great, great album. It has a dark tone, dips into New Orleans Jazz, and gives us a textures we'd not really see again - such as the prominent use of a piano. It's also the last album Buxton was fully engaged with. It's one weakness is the title track. Not that it's a bad song, just that I've heard it so many times that it has worn thin. But the rest of it is so damn good. It's a step up in sophistication that led us to the high of Billion Dollar Babies.

 

I think the albums from Love it To Death to Billion Dollar Babies are all great. Not even sure how I'd rank them.

 

Among my top 5 with Love It To Death, Goes To Hell, Killer, and Welcome.

 

Whilst we are on Alice Copper - this is getting a general release on CD - 30.09.22




Tracklist
[CD]
1. The Eighth Wonder Of The World... (Intro)
2. Caught In A Dream (MB Vocals)
3. Be My Lover (Alice + Ryan Roxie Join)
4. Whatever He’s Doing It’s Illegal (Banter)
5. I’m Eighteen
6. We Haven’t Done This One In About, What, 40 Years? (Banter)
7. Is It My Body
8. Threatened For A Month (Banter)
9. No More Mr. Nice Guy
10. I Guess Things Are Getting Better For You (Banter)
11. Under My Wheels
12. It’s A Dangerous Place To Be (Banter)
13. School’s Out (Chuck Garric Harmonica)
14. More Fun Than It’s Supposed To Be (Banter)
15. Elected (Encore!)
16. School’s Not Over Until You Vote (Outro)
17. Desperado (Soundcheck) (Instrumental Bonus-Track – Theme From The Documentary Film “Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper”)

[Blu-ray]
DOCUMENTARY FILM INCLUDING FULL SHOW “Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper”
EXTRAS: Music Video “I’m Eighteen” (Live From The Astroturf); Music Video “Under My Wheels” (Live From The Astroturf); Extensive Interview with Bruce, Michael and Neal
Total Running Time: over 100 Min.
Language: English
Screen Format: 1080p/24, 16:9 Audio: PCM Stereo Region Code: ABC Disc Format: BD25

 

This remind me, as a kid I heard this album before I ever heard the music from West Side Story. Once I remember someone referring to the Jets vs Sharks and I was like, "oh, from the Alice Cooper song?" Obviously, they thought I was nuts.

 

Luney Tune
&
My Stars

you can keep the rest

 

Oh man, Blue Turk is so darn good, you sure you can do without it?

 

It's the first one made by AC as a superstar group, so there's a different mood to it-- Less dark, more theatrical and more fun; maybe it skews slightly younger. But it's hard to find fault with anything in their classic stretch.

 

But didn't School's Out come before Billion Dollar Babies?

 

My first Alice Cooper album. I love it so!

 

Anyone here still have the panties?

 

One of those albums that suffers in comparison to its excellent predecessors, and maybe a bit for the excellent time for the genre in which it came out, but is still a great album in its own right. Feel the same when people talk about the last couple of Keith Moon Who albums. Like yeah, maybe not as great as what came before, but still pretty dang great.

I think all the original AC band albums (except the first two outliers) are all excellent. Hell of a run from a band that is a bit underrated now. There's a general perception, I think, of Alice as a solo artist first and foremost, and that combined with the stage gimmicks and urban legends overshadow just how good a rock band they were.

 

I prefer School's Out over BDB. BDB songs were too "cutesy" for me. School's Out still had some menace about it.

 

Yep.

 

"Remember when we put that snake down little Betsy's dress?"
Terrifying.

 

As to, "my gums have to go"?

 

Wow. Congrats.

 

There is a bit of necrophilia on BDB, to be fair.

 

Took me ages to figure out this is similar to the 2018 RSD release. I initially went by the cover and and assumed it was vintage.... oops.

 

While I'd put Killer and Billion Dollar Babies at the top, School's Out is still a terrific album....actually I love everything from Love it to Death thru Muscle of Love.

 

If you guys want horror, listen to Cannibal Corpse. Alice Cooper has always been about having fun.

 

Wow, that's a coincidence, I watched a live show on Youtube just last week. Cannibal Corpse are freaking hilarious.

 

The album as a whole isn't very good, but the title track turned me on to a harder kind of rock music I had never heard before! It really blew my mind! "Billion Dollar Babies" is my favorite album by the group.

 

Love it to Death: Spooky but hooky
Killer: Greasy danger
School's Out: Gritty and threatening
Billion Dollar Babies: Decadent glamour