The band at this time was still trying to find its feet and was still developing not only its own style musically, but also what kind of stage presence they wanted. They toured behind the release of “Pretties for You”, but the response and sales of the album were slow and not groundbreaking. The decision was made to come back off the road in November and December of 1969 and return to the studio to write and record a follow up album. After the difficulties in production of the first album, this time David Briggs was brought in to do the job. Brigs had already produced Neil Young’s first two solo albums “Neil Young” and “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” and his reputation had grown immeasurably on the back of this, and it was thought it would be a good move for the band. Hindsight tells us otherwise, with drummer Neal Smith later being quoted as saying of Briggs, "David hated our music and us. I recall the term that he used, referring to our music, was 'Psychedelic Shit'. I think “Easy Action” sounded too dry, more like a TV or radio commercial and he did not help with song arrangement or positive input in any way." Nothing like a positive atmosphere in the studio to produce a good album.
It had been 12 months since they had been in the studio to record their debut album, and while the producers behind the glass had changed it seemed that the musical direction was still holding true to what the band had written for the first album. The end result was the album “Easy Action”, one that divided opinions at the time of its release and still does today.
“Mr. & Misdemeanor” opens up the album in an almost vaudevillian rock style. It name checks the band’s first album in the lyrics, and as an opening it doesn’t really set the album up in a way that showcases what is to come. Lyrically and vocally it is a bit all over the shop, and musically it seems to miss the target. “Shoe Salesman” follows and is a completely different style altogether. Alice draws his vocals back to his beautiful soaring capabilities, and with backing from Michael Bruce and Dennis Dunaway, the vocals have a Beatles-like quality about them, not the last time that would occur on this album. The lyrics are pointed and yet short and sweet. “I know a shoe salesman, He's an acquaintance of mine, One day he showed me some, Marks on his arm in a line, I did not know what to say, Do you think those freckles will stay?". Then comes “Still No Air”, the third change up in style of song on the album. It harks back to the psychedelic in style, and off the wall craziness that in some ways is a forerunner to a punk intervention. There are quotes throughout from the musical “West Side Story”, such as “Got a rocket in your pocket” and “when you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way”, as well as “easy action”.
“Below Your Means” has the lead vocal performed by Michael Bruce, an interesting change with Alice partnering up on backing vocals. It does change the tone of the song. The song stretches out to almost seven minutes in length courtesy of a longform instrumental which showcases the excellence of the band itself – Michael and Glen Buxton’s terrific guitaring, wonderful bass lines of Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith’s superb drumming. This song gives them their moment to shine and does highlight the skills that they showcased going forward.
Opening up the second side of the album is “Return of the Spiders”, a song that carries on in a standard that we were to see and hear going forward from the band. Lyrically it's a bit vague (I really have no idea what the song is about) but musically and vocally it sounds like a bridge from the band’s early work and what they would bring forth on their following albums. Neal Smith’s drumming in particular is excellent on this song, as it is through the whole album. “Laughing At Me” sounds like the perfect song to have been released as a single and to promote the band on the radio. Alice’s vocals on this track are sublime, really hitting the tones that would eventually become famous and renown, and his backing from Michael on this track gives it an enjoyable musical combination, almost Beatles-esque in composition. For a mellow flower-power type track this is performed terrifically well. “Refrigerator Heaven” is a classic track, again another track that musically and vocally is channelling the best parts of what would become the great era of this band down the track. It lasts under two minutes, with Alice commenting on those people who decide upon being cryogenically frozen when sick until a cure can be found for what ails them. It’s a short sharp fling and easy enough to listen to and sing along with.
“Beautiful Flyaway” is the second song on the album on which Michael Bruce provides lead vocals, and again to me has Beatles tones about it, which really isn’t that unusual as this was the time when the Beatles ruled the music world but were also on the doorstep to implosion. The album concludes with “Lay Down and Die, Goodbye”, the longest song on the album, and one that dives back into the psychedelic roots of the band and its era. This was originally written and recorded as a B-side by the band when they were still known as Nazz, opening with a sample of the Smothers Brothers quoting “You are the only censor, if you don’t like what I’m saying, you have a choice, you can turn me off” and then careering off into an instrumental jam of the freeform experimental type that was popular at the time, and then finishes with the chorus from the demo. It is arguably a strange choice to finish off an album, but the Alice Cooper Band were not one to do things by the book.
When you are brought up with Alice Cooper’s albums of the mid to late 1980’s, and the sound they have, going back in time to listen to “Easy Action” is a really REALLY tough thing to do. I mean, it's like listening to Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” and then “St Anger”. Actually, nothing is that bad. But it’s a real mind bender. And this is what I did with all of Alice’s albums prior to 1985. I knew “Constrictor”, “Raise Your Fist and Yell” and “Trash” long before I knew any of those earlier albums, and the era was so different let alone the music being written and released.
When you listen to the album in the context of the era, alongside the band’s first album “Pretties for You” and their third album “Love it to Death”, you get a clear picture of the progression the band was making from their earliest incarnation to their perceived glory years once Bob Ezrin came on board to produce. The production of “Easy Action” seems better than for their debut album, but if, as Neal Smith suggests that David Briggs was uninterested and unhelpful it can be heard in some of the decisions left on the album that perhaps an engaged producer would have done differently.
So. Listening to the album in the modern age. I first got a copy of this album in a release that was made of all of the first five albums about ten years ago. I had heard the album before that and dismissed it pretty quickly. It was nothing like what I had been hoping for and nothing like what I wanted to listen to. I’ve had the CD on again for the last few days, and also on at work, hoping something would jump out and grab my attention, and give me a way into the album in 2025. And when listening to it in isolation there are some good moments on this album. But it is very tied to the era it was recorded and the band that the Alice Cooper Band was in that day and age, There is little of the hard rock and attitude that this lineup eventually became famous for, and suggesting any track off this album as a highlight or to use as an example of this albums’ style is an almost impossible task.
There are seven albums that came from the original Alice Cooper Band, and probably unsurprisingly I would rank this as #6 of those seven releases. Even more than that, when considering all 29 studio albums that comes from this band and then the solo career of Vincent Furnier himself, this does rank at #28 of those 29. It isn’t so much that it is a bad album, because musically there is some very good work done by the band. But the songs are unable to strike a chord or find an audience. Even when it was released, the album bombed, as had their debut album, and there had to have been questions asked as to how much life this band had in them. But their stage show was catching on and drawing fans to their gigs, and the resulting change in style of their music to become this ‘shock rock’ genre rather than the psychedelic form it resided in on “Easy Action”, the stripping down of the sound and songwriting, was partly what was to kickstart the real beginning of their career.
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