About.com Rating
The Bottom Line
This is a significant addition to an extensive body of work.
Pros
- Most new material is as good as early classics
- More band-oriented than other recent releases
- Nice mix of musical styles
- Coop's voice still strong at age 57
Cons
- Omitting country and hip hop tracks would have made album stronger
- Most tracks are too short
- Less lavishly produced than earlier albums
Description
- Alice Cooper: Vocals, Harmonica
- Chuck Garrick: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Backup Vocals
- Damon Johnson: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Backup Vocals
- Ryan Roxie: Guitar, Backup Vocals
- Tommy Cufetos: Drums, Background Vocals
Guide Review - "Dirty Diamonds" - Alice Cooper
For once, the hype came true. With this album, we return to the time when Alice Cooper was the name of a band, not a solo artist. Coop's tour band joins him in the studio, and the result, with only a couple of exceptions, is quite satisfying.
Alice has evolved almost entirely from his "shock rock" image and, as he has throughout his career, displays his vocal dexterity as he moves from ballad to hard rock to humor. Unfortunately, he also moves to hip-hop ("Stand") and country ("The Saga of Jesse Jane"), both of which seem glaringly out of place on this album.
The opening cut, "Woman of Mass Distraction" combines clever lyrics with multilayered guitarship to set the tone for the CD. Although he's no longer the acknowledged prince of shock rock, "Zombie Dance" and "Run Down Down the Devil" are reminiscent of the time when he created the model for artists like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie.
With 24 studio albums and 35 years of performing under his belt, Cooper is one of the few classic rock artists still performing whose current work is comparable to what he was doing at the peak of his popularity.
See Also:
Good To See You Again, Alice CooperÂ