Alice Cooper-Billion Dollar Babies (1973)


 

Artist: Alice Cooper

Title: Billion Dollar Babies

Label: Warner Bros.

Format: LP

Cat: BS 2685

Year of Release: 1973

Country and Year of Edition: US 1973 Gatefold with original inner sleeve but not dollar bill

Listed Condition: VG/VG

Sell Date: 8/15/22

Sell Price: $9.99

Discogs Last Sold: 8/14/22 VG/VG $8.99

Low: $2.95 G+/G+

Median: $12.49

Average: $16.18

High: $50.00 VG/VG includes dollar bill

Current low price:$2.50

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 9

Have/Want: 169/29

Where Sold:  Jupiter, FL

Time it took to sell: 7 years

Where and When Bought: Newbury Comics new upon release

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A

Sad To See It Go: No

1973, the final year of Alice Cooper's powers,  i.e. the band, Billion Dollar Babies is excellent with some of the best songs of his catalog.  This one made it to Number One on the Billboard 200 and was international top 10 or better almost everywhere else with a chart.

For me it's about the title track, the guitar line crushes all.  Of course "shock rock" topics like his carnal ode to the deceased ("I Love The Dead") and uncomfortable situations ("Raped and Freezin'") sit side by side with both side of the fence social commentary like "Elected" and "Generation Landslide." Everyone hates politicians and rich kids. Landslide comes off like a blue collar Bob Dylan.  Artful and artless all at the same time.  Those were different times.  Nearly a half century on,  people don't have to try to pretend. Keep it simple and get to fuckin' work.   Perhaps Alice will be plucked off the golf course and into the presidency.  Shock Rock presiding over a world where nothing is shocking if it ever was. 

There are more hits: "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Hello Hooray." Somehow, I never knew the title of "Unfinished Sweet," but that is now my second favorite track of the album.  There's a little filler here and there that put this slightly below Love It To Death, Killers and Schools Out, but overall this album is still classic enough that I can't bring myself to put a minus after that A, even if I thought about it a bit.

Ain't gonna get me!

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