Before Alice Cooper became a solo act there was The Alice Cooper Band. Pretties For You, Easy Action, Love It To Death, Killer, School's Out, Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle Of Love. Some good albums, some great. Billion Dollar Babies was the peak, the pinnacle, that absolute perfection that was The Alice Cooper Band. Alice. Glen Buxton. Michael Bruce. Dennis Dunaway. Neal Smith. Classic. Tight. Feral. Here all cylinders are clicking. The shock rock outfit mixes there brand of theatrics with blistering rock and roll and it is a match made straight in hell. Epic. Glorious. There isn't a sour patch on this album. Pick your poison. Horror. Necrophilia. Sexual harassment. Alice covers the gamut with his clever lyrics as the band puts on a clinic to die for. Chockfull of staples, Billion Dollar Babies is one of those albums where the band just became better and bigger than what they were. Inspired. Insane.

Hello Hooray - a Rolf Kempf-penned cover of a Judy Collins song. Classic. Great opening song. Just paves the way for what the rest of the album is bringing.

Raped & Freezin' - the scattershot lyrics are hilarious. Picked up as a hitchhiker by some 'old broad from Santa Fe' and then accosted. The protagonist end up alone raped and freezin' somewhere in Mexico. Chihuahua I believe. Hilarious. Tight song. Rocking all around. Hysterical.

Elected - a reworked version of "Reflected" from the Pretties For You album. The original was fun, the remake is a classic. Rocking tune just dirtied up by the more vicious version of Alice Cooper (they hadn't really found their identity on the 1st album).

Billion Dollar Babies - Probably one of the best Alice Cooper songs ever written. It's graceful, creepy, rocking, intelligent, raw, evil, epic and great. Sounds like something Bowie should have had a hand in. Wailing. This is one of those songs that just clicks the second you start listening to it. "I'm so scared your little head will come off in my hands..."

Unfinished Sweet - Scared of the dentist? You will be? (insert insane, maniacal laughter here). Starts off all spacey and grandiose and just keeps building. That drill will haunt your soul. Cringeworthy. "He says my teeth are OK but my gum gotta go..." Cool little James Bond-y interlude towards the middle. This song is Zappa meets Cooper all the way. Just less annoying that the Zappa stuff usually got.

No More Mr. Nice Guy - Classic Cooper. Sometimes his cheesy lyrics just worked and here they were spot on. Great song. Straight forward. Memorable. Hooky. No more Mr. Nice Guy, he's sick, he's obscene...

Generation Landslide - Whatever happened on Billion Dollar Babies, there was something magic in the studio. Cocaine? Probably. This song has great lyrics and Alice delivers them with perfect sleaze. Great song. Damn, this song remind me of Bowie. Why? Because I can just hear Bowie singing it. Demented and awesome. That bass line just drives the song along.

Sick Things - Alice Cooper is based off theatrics. Shock rock. Outrageous image. Over-the-top lyrics penned to offend the sensible mind. Sometimes it worked well and sometimes it just came off as juvenile and a bit stupid. Sick Things brings everything down to a dull drag. Can you just see the seedy stage-lights? Hear all the background noised. This is theatrics at work. This song works on this album because it is cohesive and runs through the river of a great album. On it's own, it would probably be kinda boring. Just saying.

Mary Ann - Blurby little piano-driven tune. Sounds like something out of an old-time saloon. Perhaps Mary Ann was some saloon gal/drag queen? "Mary Ann, I thought you were my man..." Fun but not a strong point on the album.

I Love The Dead - If you want to offend, especially in 1973, write a funny little song about necrophilia, right? I guess. It's a joke and yet...Alice was into some weird stuff from the 70s into the late 80s. There have to be some questions asked... A fun, lilting, theatrical show tune. Nothing spectacular. Just Alice begging for attention like a bad child. Like Bart Simson. (Insert huffy, puffy porno sounds for full affect - which derails the subject matter because obviously the dead don't groan during sex...duh! Alice was theatrical but never elaborately bright).

Overall, this is the best you will get from The Alice Cooper Band. Tight, dark, cohesive. Billion Dollar Babies (the title was taken from the fact that the five guys were so stunned by their newfound success) rocks all over the place and gives you the heebie jeebies on occasion. Muscle Of Love Would come next but that was the end of The Alice Cooper Band. Dig this. It's amazing!