Review Summary: A fun Alice album for the open-minded.
Alice Cooper is one of the most underrated songwriters in the history of rock music. Cooper, time and time again, has shown an uncanny ability to invoke a variety of styles in his music. While some have worked better than others, Cooper never fails to entertain and personally I found the Welcome 2 My Nightmare album to be a fun ride. I realize this album is unlikely to get many strong reviews on the great Sputnik Music website because quite frankly this is not really a hard rock album, but a mixture of a variety of styles. I personally think this one blows Cooper's previous "Along Came a Spider" album out of the water. It isn't as good as a few of Alice other albums in the past fifteen years such as the magnificient "Brutal Planet" but I still listen to this one a lot and that is usually my strongest criteria when I give an opinion on an album.
Since I only have the regular CD, I will dispense from reviewing the bonus tracks.
I Am Made of You-This song is very polarizing. Many people have stated they love this track while others have been very critical of the vocal effects on this slow song. I don't mind the song, but don't feel it was a strong opener.
Caffeine-this is a high energy track that took about three or four listens for me to appreciate. Now it stays constantly stuck in my head. I really like the chorus to this one.
The Nightmare Returns-I absolutely love this track. It sort of has an original Welcome To My Nightmare feel to it (the 1975 classic album) and seems to return to the theme of an adult Steven (Alice) once again fearing to go to sleep.
A Runaway Train-Great guitar work by believe it or not, Vince Gill. The surviving members of the original Alice Cooper group played on this one. The music is tight and has almost a Yardbirds feel to it.
Last Man on Earth-I instantly loved this song. It is sort of the "Some Folks" track of the new Nightmare with a good mix of Tom Waits thrown in. I always tap my foot to this one.
The Congregation-Rob Zombie has a speaking part on this track. I love Alice's voice on this one.
I'll Bite Your Face Off-Classic rock should have been all over this one. It contains that fun Alice dark sense of humor and sounds very much like a good Rolling Stones song.
Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever-I can understand some people not getting the joke of this one. Alice is obviously poking fun at disco. It is a bit of a corny song with blistering guitar at the end. This one is definitely not one of my favorites.
Ghouls Gone Wild-I read that Mark Volman who sang for a band called "The Turtles" did background vocals on this. This is a surf rock type of song that I have grown to like.
Something To Remember Me By-This is a pretty enough song but not one of my favorite Alice ballads (I have always loved "I Never Cry" or "It's Me")
When Hell Comes Home-This is a bonafide Alice classic. It is dark in sound with a strong message.I would like to see Alice do an album with these types of songs.
What Baby Wants-As a rock purist, I really wanted to hate this song but I can't. It is definitely a pop track but Kesha does an outstanding job dueting with Alice. The song is catchy and fun and has strangely enough become a favorite of mine. Alice should have released this as a single and done a video for it. It would have been interesting to see if a few teenagers would have appreciated this song.
I Gotta Get Out of Here-This one reminds me of something off of his "Goes To Hell" album. This one has become one of my favorites as well and contains some really good guitar work as Alice awakes from his nightmare.
The Underture-This is a really cool instrumental that has a Broadway feel to it.
Welcome 2 My Nightmare seems to be one of Alice's most polarizing albums, but to me it works for the most part. It isn't a classic Alice album, but it is a fun one and is one of those albums you have to listen to four or five times before you really "get it."
