Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare - The Wizard Listens

     Alice Cooper's macabre masterpiece, Welcome to My Nightmare, is a crazy yet structurally sound trip, telling the story of a young man's nightmare gone horribly wrong. The album has been a staple in my father's music collection for years and one of my favorite albums he's introduced me to in life. Its sound varies from utterly creepy and Gothic to rockin' like usual and even to stylistic, funky orchestral breakdowns. Alice Cooper brings a lot to the table in what may be his best album and one of the best concept albums of classic rock history.

     The album starts off with the dark-and-swingin' title track welcoming you to the show in typical Alice Cooper fashion. It's probably the most well-known track and definitely my favorite. From there the story only gets darker as the character, named Steven as we figure out in a later song of the same name, is continuously tormented by his nightmare by black widows, Vincent Price, and visions of his death. The album has a lot to offer to the casual Alice Cooper fan; songs like "Department of Youth", "Some Folks" and "Cold Ethyl" provide the usual upbeat classic rock fare whereas songs like "Years Ago", "Steven", and "The Awakening" provide the creepy, Halloween-ish sound Cooper has become known for. The album even comes packed with a rare, Alice Cooper ballad - "Only Women Bleed".

     The album's nightmarish story ends with Steven waking up from his nightmare to find that he either killed someone or hurt himself. It's never clearly revealed what exactly happened; all we know is he sees "crimson spots dripping from his hand" and that "it made him feel like a man." The conclusion to the nightmare itself is rather frightening when realizing it's never really revealed what happened. However, the album ends on a light note anyway with the upbeat "Escape" - assuring everyone that everything's alright with Steven and he's ready to rock.

     Welcome to My Nightmare is still one of my favorite albums of all-time, and I've been listening frequently for about ten years now. It's creepy, rockin', swingin', and a lot of fun. The album's Gothic style raises it up and the off-beat humor slid into some songs provides is almost self-parodying in the campiest of ways. The album's a lot of fun, very well developed, and speaks to my love for Halloween and all things creepy and scary.

(5/5)