 I saw Alice on this tour quite by chance. Rachel, a young lady of my acquaintance, all red hair and a bra size larger than her IQ called me to say she’d won tickets to see a female singer she’d heard me mention and was I interested in going. It didn’t matter who it was if she was involved I was interested. The fact the “woman” was Alice Cooper just made me much more interested. It was a great show, Faster Pussycat opened, (Ace Frehley was on the bill too but, big surprise, canceled), with a seriously energetic and sleazy set. Then Alice took the stage and introduced his band, my jaw dropped when he introduced his guitarist, Kane Roberts. Having just gotten serious about working out seeing somebody with 18” arms on a concert stage blew me away. Sadly, the years haven’t been kind to Raise Your Fist and Yell. He hasn’t played anything from it live since that tour from what I’ve read, (he certainly hasn’t at any show I was at), and the album itself has been pretty much forgotten. And that’s a shame because it’s the closest thing to a metal album he’s done and a fine collection of tracks. It deserves rediscovery and re-examination. The album opens with “Freedom” a high energy track that contains the title lyrics “Freedom...Raise your fist and yell!” This should have become a concert anthem for Alice instead of being discarded. Granted it’s swipe at Russia might be an issue for the vocally Republican Cooper now that his party has climbed into bed with Putin, but there was no reason to shun it back in the day. From there it flows into the equally rebellious “Lock Me Up” and “Give The Radio Back”. Alice is raising a big middle finger to the PMRC and the forces of decency in general. While “Lock Me Up” is an agreeably muscular declaration of evil intent but “Give The Radio Back” and the next track “Step On You” are pretty close to filler. Overly simplistic and repetitive, they’re not horrible but they are the kind of songs that go by unnoticed when you listen to the album. The side ends with “Not That Kind Of Love” a neat little ditty about young lust and differing expectations in a relationship. Flipping it over to side two was literally going over to the dark side. Thematically it was like putting on a whole new album. While “He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” got all the attention “Prince of Darkness” from John Carpenter’s film of the same name, is the song that should connect him to genre films. A dark look at the fallen angel himself it’s gifted with an incredible solo from Kane. “Time To Kill” makes clever use of the title phrase’s double meaning. The kind of rock/metal track perfectly suited for all the angry youth who feel the system has screwed them over. Which is to say every teen ever. Raise Your Fist And Yell closes with a linked trilogy of songs revolving around a serial killer, his crimes and origin. Leading off with “Chop, Chop, Chop” wherein the killer boasts about his activities. It’s a solid, if unspectacular piece of rock, and probably your only chance to hear Alice use the phrase “It’s a symbiotic function”. The song’s final line leads into the next track “Gail”. A ballad that tries to be to this album what “Steven” was to “Welcome To My Nightmare” it doesn’t really manage that but it does make a great bridge to the album’s last track. “Roses on White Lace” is probably the single heaviest song he’s ever done, approaching thrash at a couple of points. Detailing the murder of a woman, (one would assume Gail), on her wedding night and the killer’s taking of souvenirs it’s also one of his nastier moments lyrically, pushing into splatter territory. Alice had an excellent band backing him up here, apart from Kane Roberts it also included Kip Winger, (say what you want about Winger the band, Kip is a solid musician) and Ken Mary on drums. While not a well known name, he’s an excellent player who put in time with bands as diverse as Chastain, Fifth Angel, House of Lords and currently Flotsam and Jetsam. Sadly his next album, Trash, would see him with a new band and a much more commercial, radio friendly sound. It was certainly successful from a sales point of view and yielded the huge hit “Poison” but it felt like a huge sell out at the time.  Bio Long time fan of rock, metal and horror, gym rat and crazy cat guy-these are all words that describe James Morrazini. Currently living in the middle of the Canadian prairie from where he runs his website Voices From The Balcony - voicesfromthebalcony.com    Comments are closed.
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