{"id":149,"date":"2010-01-27T05:26:09","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T10:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=149"},"modified":"2010-01-27T05:26:09","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T10:26:09","slug":"album-review-alice-cooper-zipper-catches-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/01\/27\/album-review-alice-cooper-zipper-catches-skin\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Alice Cooper – Zipper Catches Skin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ZipperBy 1981 Alice Cooper<\/strong> really had begun, thankfully, to flush the fashion (something he made an empty threat to do two years earlier). To the extent that Cooper had a formula, he was doing his best to move back toward it as the 1980s unfolded. After the creative disaster of 1981’s Special Forces<\/a>, he co-produced the 1982 follow-up Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> with his bass player Erik Scott<\/strong>. Cooper brought Flo and Eddie<\/strong><\/a> back to add their winning vocal harmonies, and Dick Wagner<\/strong> was present for some tasty lead guitar runs.<\/p>\n

The synthesizer flourishes and spare arrangement approach of Special Forces<\/a> wasn’t completely abandoned, but Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> found Cooper aiming for a more open, wide-screen sonic palette, one that would hopefully appeal to his fans more than the previous couple of platters.<\/p>\n

“Zorro’s Ascent” isn’t among the canon of classic Cooper, but it avoids most of the previous album’s mistakes. “Make that Money (Scrooge’s Song)” is a foot-stomping rocker in the proud Alice Cooper tradition. Dick Wagner’s contribution is unmistakable and welcome, and makes the early point that Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> is a guitar album. In fact no fewer than four axemen lend their talents on the set, and synthesizers — while still present — are used to good effect.<\/p>\n

“I Am the Future” from the classic film Class of ’84<\/em> (remember that? Me neither.) sounds like a Jim Steinman\/Meat Loaf<\/strong> piece, and that’s great: what was Bat Out of Hell<\/em>, after all, but an amalgam of Bruce Springsteen<\/strong> and Alice Cooper<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Most of the tracks on Alice Cooper’s Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> were co-written with guitarists John Nitzinger<\/strong> or Dick Wagner (or both). Despite its awful title, “No Baloney Homosapiens” is a reasonably rocking tune. It’s not among Cooper’s best, but it’s a step in the right direction. Once again the big arrangement saves the day; apparently Cooper learned quickly that the trendy small-scale boxy sound wasn’t gonna get it for his music.<\/p>\n

“Adaptable (Anything for You)” also<\/em> doesn’t rank among Cooper’s best work, but it’s no misfire. And it’s consistent with the Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> approach of short songs: fully half of the album’s ten tracks clock in under three minutes.<\/p>\n

“I Like Girls” sounds like standard 80s-style arena rock — think of Loverboy<\/strong>. (Now stop. Please.) Judged against 70s Cooper, this would be a travesty. Viewed alongside the last couple of discs, it’s actually pretty good. It’s a bit disappointing that such a standard-issue song ends up being viewed as a return to form, but there it is. A sped-up end bit adds interest.<\/p>\n

“Remarkably Insincere” and “Tag, You’re It” wed the big-guitar approach with the click-tracks 80s vibe. These tracks (and others alongside them on Zipper Catches Skin<\/em>) suggest that Cooper was still searching for a new sound (as opposed to flailing<\/em> for one on Special Forces<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n

The stop-start “I Better Be Good” has a catchy vocal hook, and probably worked well as a live number in the 80s.<\/p>\n

Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> closes with yet another long-winded and parenthetical title, “I’m Alive (That Was the Day My Dead Pet Returned to Save My Life)”. The talents of Wagner plus Flo and Eddie help a great deal.<\/p>\n

Collectors’ Choice added the track “For Britain Only” onto the 2010 reissue. Nothing earth-shaking, the track does feature some tasty guitar work in the outro.<\/p>\n

An interesting aside for liner-note aficionados: Collectors’ Choice isn’t always known for deluxe packaging of its reissues, but the label does what it can. In many cases original album art isn’t readily available, so a high-resolution scan of an old LP cover must suffice. That seems to be the case it Zipper Catches Skin<\/em>, because a close reading of the back cover shows that the artwork from Zipper Catches Skin<\/em>‘s Canadian release was used for this reissue.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Zipper Catches Skin<\/em> was a step in the right direction for Cooper; he would make good on that album’s creative (but not commercial: it failed to chart) momentum a few months later with 1983’s Dada<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Follow “the_musoscribe” on Twitter<\/a> and get notified
\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
\n\"I<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By 1981 Alice Cooper really had begun, thankfully, to flush the fashion (something he made an empty threat to do two years earlier). To the extent that Cooper had a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[161],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-alice-cooper","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}