1176. Alice Cooper / Raise Your Fist and Yell. 1987. 4/5

In recent times, as you have to do with bands and artists that have been around for centuries and release albums every two years like clockwork, I have done a lot of podcast episodes on Alice Cooper albums. There has been “Schools Out”, there has been “Zipper Catches Skin”, and others around the times. It does mean that sometimes it feels as though I am repeating myself, so if that also feels like the case to you, then please accept my apologies. On that very recent episode reviewing “Zipper Catches Skin”, I mentioned the difficult times that Alice had been going through in regards to his creative vision, along with his drug and alcohol addiction that was at that time dominating his life. That episode was right in the middle of that crisis, and the downward spiral his music was taking as a result. An episode from Season 1 of this podcast, for his “Constrictor” album, then explained his comeback. Having fought and beaten his addictions, he teamed up with guitarist composer Kane Roberts, and rediscovered the magic that got him back in the game. Following that album and the successful tour that promoted it, it was time come up with a follow up album, one that could build on the goodwill that that album had been able to inspire, and to once again find that quintessential “Alice Cooper” trademark. The same main trio that had recorded “Constrictor” returned for this new album – Alice himself, Kane Roberts on guitar and co-composer of the album, and young bass guitarist Kip Winger.
This album came out within 12 months of “Constructor”, another reminder of how often bands would release albums back in the 1980’s. Building on the themes that had been prevalent on that album, “Raise Your Fist and Yell” has songs that are based and themed around the slasher film genre that was prevalent in the b-grade movie cinemas at the time. They are upbeat, and again mixed with anthemic cries in the lyrics along with the horror themes of those B-grade movies we all watched during that decade, all drawn together by great guitar riffs and hard hitting drums that probably allowed this album to not be as goofy as its twin preceding album, but continue along that line of Alice moving from his 70’s shlock to the early 80’s new wave to the late 80’s hard rock and hair metal genre with remarkable adaptability.

Alice’s albums often have an anthem to kick them off, to get the listener into the right mood immediately. Think “School’s Out” or “Teenage Frankenstein”. Nothing changes here with the brilliant “Freedom”, which invokes the album title within its lyrics. Its challenge to the rock censorship movement at the time is obvious throughout. There is a great quote from Alice at the time, which I’ll read here in full. “I think somebody had to say something back to these people. They start out with the premise that kids in America are too stupid to know what they’re listening to, and that’s really wrong. They say bands are trying to manipulate teenage minds — but kids know they’ve been manipulated all their lives by lots of things, including teachers, the media, their own parents and especially television. So we just have fun with it. Alice Cooper does not preach violence or devil worship, but he DOES make fun of just about everything.” True words. There is more of this on “Give the Radio Back”, another battle cry from the kids to their authoritative overlords. Alice goes straight to the heart of the matter as he sees it for the kids, just like he did in 1972 and 1982. Add to this queue “Step on You” and you have the songs, both lyrically and musically, that have been staples of Alice Cooper’s reign for that almost 20 year period when this was released. Alice and Kane still get it from their main audience’s view, and they are anthemic. They complete side one with “Not that Kind of Love”, a theme that was pursued more on the next Alice Cooper album.
Around these songs are the tracks that are like those B grade horror films I mentioned earlier. Robert Englund (perhaps better known as Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street) makes a guest appearance on “Lock Me Up” to help sell its title. “Prince of Darkness” leaves little doubt as to the subject matter, though it apparently appeared very briefly in the John Carpenter movie of the same name on someone’s Walkman. Seems that this was a movie that passed me by without seeing it. The album then concludes with the continuing schlock horror theme with “Time to Kill”, “Chop, Chop, Chop”, “Gail” and “Roses on White Lace”, all which deliver perfectly with the lyrical visuality and great riffing from both Roberts and Winger, delivering the joy of the material in perfect unison throughout. Alice best explains it again when he was quoted as saying “This is the highest energy music I’ve ever done. I think it’s because I’m experiencing that kind of energy physically. I’m in a hundred times better shape than I ever was — that has to do with wanting to tour and be competitive. Mentally, of course, I’m sicker than I’ve ever been…”

This album initially came my way courtesy of my heavy music dealer from high school, who seemed to be able to give me just what I needed without even knowing. And, given how much I had loved “Constrictor” (you can relive that episode from Season 1 to discover that) I never doubted that I would also love this album. In fact, if my memory still retains most of its ability, I had this recorded on one side of a C90 cassette, and Motley Crue’s “Theatre of Pain” on the other side. However, such was my love of this album, and my general ambivalence with “Theatre of Pain”, that I destroyed this tape eventually in the cassette player of my white Toyota Corolla from playing it all the way through, and then hurriedly rewinding it to listen to it again. This hastened my purchasing of it on CD, which I did from Redback Records in Wollongong on a day out.
So yes, I have always loved this album since I first heard it. The teen anthems all worked on me given I was still in my late teens when it was released and for a couple of years afterwards. It was a feeling of slight disappointment when I first saw Alice Cooper live on the Trash tour that they didn’t play anything off this album. Indeed, apart from “Roses on White Lace” on the most recent Alice tour – another one I was fortunate enough to see, along with taking my whole family – no songs have been on the live setlist from this album since that time. Which is a shame, because there are a lot of cracking songs here, all of which would work beautifully in the live environment. All of the songs are short and sharp, and the album doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s also a shame that this was the final album that had Kane Roberts and Kip Winger playing on, but beyond this time Alice began in a similar direction but with a huge leap in personnel involved. He co-wrote and played on “Bed of Nails” on the “Trash” album but that was where his involvement with Alice concluded – until just a few short weeks ago when he re-joined the live band to replace Nita Strauss. Roberts has stated publicly he would love to do another album with Alice. Having bathed in the glory of this album over the past few weeks, we can only hope that comes to fruition. His contribution to leading Alice Cooper’s resurgence through the mid-1980's should never be overlooked.
Most fans of Alice Cooper, when asked for their favourite albums, rarely list this or its predecessor in their best five Alice Cooper albums. The early classics, or the chart toppers that followed this album are generally where the popular vote goes. For me this is easily one of the best five Alice Cooper albums ever released. I would have difficulty in ranking them in order in that top five – if pushed it would come down to either “Hey Stoopid” or “Constrictor” - but this is one of the best. And if you don’t agree, then you haven’t listened to this album enough. So pull it off the racks now, and get it spinning!