Alice Cooper to release first album with original band in over 50 years

Alice Cooper has announced the new album ‘The Revenge Of Alice Cooper’, his first with his original band members for over 50 years.

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The record will see the veteran rock singer reunited with guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neil Smith for their first LP together since 1973’s ‘Muscle Of Love’.

The Phoenix-based shock rockers released seven studio albums between 1969 and 1973 before Cooper split off to pursue a solo career. As the frontman has told Billboard, however, he and his old bandmates picked up right where they left off.

“It was very much like this was our next album after ‘Muscle of Love’, just like, ‘OK, this is the next album.’ Isn’t that funny after 50 years? All of a sudden it just falls into place,” he said.

The album will be released on July 25 via earMUSIC and the first single, ‘Black Mamba’, will premiere on Cooper’s radio show Alice’s Attic on Tuesday (April 22). The song will feature contributions from The Doors’ Robbie Krieger.

Founding lead guitarist with the Alice Cooper band Glen Buxton died in 1997 at the age of 49, and this album is dedicated to him. His playing is also represented on two of the songs, with ‘What Happened To You’ being based on a riff from an old demo tape of Buxton’s, while bonus track ‘Return Of The Spiders 2025’ is a remix of a track from 1970 album ‘Easy Action’.

Filling in for Buxton will be Nashville guitarist Gyasi Hues.

Also returning is producer Bob Ezrin, who worked on classic Alice Cooper albums including ‘School’s Out’ and ‘Billion Dollar Babies’. Reflecting on the band being back together, he has said: “None of them has changed much as a person.

“Obviously everyone’s older and more mature and more settled, but when we all get together and I watch the interplay between them, it’s like they just walked out of high school and were hanging out in the local cafe. They just revert to type. They revert to who they were as kids when the first got together… and make music together like they did 50-some years ago.”

‘The Revenge Of Alice Cooper’ tracklist:

1. ‘Black Mamba’
2. ‘Wild Ones’
3. ‘Up All Night’
4. ‘Kill The Flies’
5. ‘One Night Stand’
6. ‘Blood On The Sun’
7. ‘Crap That Gets In The Way Of Your Dreams’
8. ‘Famous Face’
9. ‘Money Screams’
10. ‘What A Syd’
11. ‘Inter Galactic Vagabond Blues’
12. ‘What Happened To You’
13. ‘I Ain’t Done Wrong’
14. ‘See You On The Other Side’
15. ‘Return Of The Spiders 2025’ (bonus track)
16. ‘Titanic Overunderture’ (bonus track)

Alice Cooper and Judas Priest, meanwhile, will be heading out on a North American co-headline tour later this year. The 22-date trek kicks off in Biloxi in September – find all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.

Cooper will also play a pair of UK shows in July, in Cardiff’s Utilita Arena and Edinburgh’s Playhouse. Find out more here.

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