Along Came a Spider

by Alice Cooper

Overview

Throughout his long career, Alice Cooper has taken full advantage of how concept albums allow for more ambitious songwriting and memorable, layered characters who get more than one song to tell their stories. They're always tortured stories with social outcasts rebelling against turbulent childhoods or other traumatic whatnot, but this time the stakes are much higher. Along Came a Spider tells the story of an eccentric serial killer who suffers from the exact opposite of arachnophobia and lives by the spider's code of "You trap, you kill, you eat." How he got there and why he chose spiders is a story better heard from Alice -- that is, if you're an undying fan of his less accessible concept piece From the Inside or his phantasmagorical horror show Welcome to My Nightmare. Spider has as few hooks as Inside and more than twice the sinister moments found on Nightmare, all delivered with a post-Rob Zombie attitude that allows things to get a little more brutal, more alt-metal. While the casual fan will feel that some of the less gripping songs are just here to move the story along, fanatics will gush as Alice once again acts as host and narrator and revives the character Steven, the young boy who broke all his toys on Nightmare. With a serial killer as lead and titles like "(In Touch With) Your Feminine Side" and "The One That Got Away," Alice fills his lyrics with clever and gruesome wordplay, but the winner here is the only plausible single, "Wake the Dead," which shockingly and shamelessly borrows the bassline from the Chemical Brothers' "Let Forever Be." Guitarist Slash, Kiss drummer Eric Singer, and background vocalist extraordinaire Bernard Fowler all make appearances, while Renaissance man Danny Saber handles the production with co-producer Greg Hampton, which appropriately sounds soundtrack big. An easy recommendation for fan club members and/or serial killers. Everyone else has two or three better Cooper concepts to devour first. ~ David Jeffries

Product Details

Release Date:	07/29/2008
Label:	Spv / Steamhammer
UPC:	0693723906027

Tracks

1. Prologue/I Know Where You Live
2. Vengeance is Mine
3. Wake the Dead
4. Catch Me If You Can
5. (In Touch With) Your Feminine Side
6. Wrapped In Silk
7. Killed By Love
8. I'm Hungry
9. The One That Got Away
10. Salvation
11. I Am the Spider/Epilogue

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alice Cooper   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Slash   Primary Artist,Guitar,Featured Artist
Ozzy Osbourne   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Danny Saber   Keyboards,Slide Guitar,Guitar (Bass),Synthesizer Bass,Vocals (Background),Bass,E-Bow,Piano,Guitar
Keri Kelli   Guitar
Steffen Presley   Organ (Hammond)
Jason Hook   Guitar
David Piribauer   Drums
Calico Cooper   Spoken Word,Vocals (Background)
Eric Singer   Drums
Greg Hampton   Bass,Guitar,Strings,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Chuck Garric   Bass,Vocals (Background)
Whitey Kirst   Guitar
Bernard Fowler   Vocals,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Danny Saber   String Arrangements,Mixing,Composer,Producer
George Gumbs   Mixing
Keri Kelli   Composer
Gabrielle Geiselman   Photography
Matt Montgomery   Design,Art Direction
Tip Wyman   Mixing
Sonya Rosas   Make-Up Assistant,Assistant Hair Stylist
Paul "Diceman" Bailey   Mixing,Assistant Engineer
Peter Derek   Design Assistant,Assistant Art Director
Lynda Esparza   Make-Up Assistant
Jeremy Mackenzie   Engineer,Audio Engineer
Erik Toms   Engineer
Roxxi Dott   Make-Up,Hair Stylist
Alice Cooper   Composer,Producer
Slash   Composer
Greg Hampton   Composer,Producer,String Arrangements
Jim Bacchi   Composer
Chuck Garric   Composer
Bernard Fowler   Composer,Vocal Arrangement
Ozzy Osbourne   Composer
Damon Johnson   Composer
Brian Nelson   Assistant
Fabrizio V. Zee Grossi   Mixing
Jani Lane   Composer