1969 ORANGE STRAIGHT = The 1st ALICE COOPER FLIPPED ACID GARAGE pSyCh MADNESS

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104

                ALICE COOPER

                Pretties For You

\                                       USA - (orange) STRAIGHT RECORDS - STS 1051 

Original 1969 first pressing on the ORANGE STRAIGHT RECORDS LABEL

RAREST of the 'Straight' label releases...the very first vinyl 'Straight Records' label issue of Alice Cooper's very first album ...on the orange Straight Records label with blue printing ...the company changed these colors & label design very shortly after this album was released in 1969...This is the only truly experimental, progressive phase of the band before becoming a hard rock spectacle.

Here is the story.... Alice Cooper were a struggling band. Flat broke getting by only from stiffing every motel in Detroit. On to LA, things were no better. Frank Zappa met up with Alice Cooper at a party where it was learned Mr. Zappa had started his own record label , Bizarre/Straight. Alice Cooper wanted to record an album. When Frank witnessed the band on stage, he noticed that each time they played, they would send the audience away in a fit. To the point of a ghosttown. The stage show at this time was so offensive and disgusting it made the later Alice Cooper stage extravaganza seem mild. No big budget theatrics, instead the likes of a transvestite crying "nobody likes me" and then having a temper tantrum like a 2 year old, lying on his back repeating 4 letter f- words until every single audience member had enough. Zappa saw SOMETHING, we can only imagine what, in this. Zappa offered them a tryout for a record deal, and to his surprise one morning, they snuck into his basement studio and began playing-- loud. A naked, alarmed Zappa rushed out of bed and gave them the deal on the account THEY STOPPED PLAYING RIGHT THEN! The budget was microscopic and the scheduling was rushed. The band DID NOT have any say in the production. Blame Zappa for the lackluster sound. One of the things Zappa found interesting was that he realized he would have a challenge trying to transcribe much of their music on paper. It was full of odd time signatures, on a dime changes, sputters, and things that gave it charachter. It is the perfect example of something that sounds like junk until your band tries to play it. It takes some skill to keep it all together. It is a lot harder than it may seem. None of this music is orchestrated in notation, moreover none of it was developed over time in a studio and none of it was played with real enthusiasm to a crowd on stage. It is literaly taking green amateurs and giving them a couple of hours in a studio and thats that. Aside from the multitude of musical detail on this album, admittingly hard to notice at first due to the rushed pace of recording (sloppiness) and the lack of studio polish (live in studio, few overdubs), there is great songwriting. A lot of the ideas are quite off the wall, but there is a definate mixing of emotions within the songs, typical of a lot of the psych music. It is SUPOSSED to be that way! NOT a result of bad songwriting. This was recorded at a time when in LA about the hardest thing around was Spirit or Amboy Dukes. Maybe the likes of Zeppelin coming through on the radio. Or Cream/Hendrix. That's about it.

Pretties is just oozing with that lovely "am I happy or sad?" , manic-depressive, so-on-dope- I'm confused mixed up emotional ambiguity. It's about putting some feeling in music rather than just playing what sounds "acceptable" to a beat. It is a testament to how records were sometimes made back then. Totally honest. This is what they were all about. Not a money making, picture posing machine they later became.They took risks. Neal Smith never again assaulted his drums like this. Those twin gibsons are never again given so much freedom. And those vocal harmonies are great! Alice REALLY sings in his REAL voice. It's like a pop album gone bad in some places. At times it sounds like Revolver era Beatles on bad acid! None of that nasal whining. But not all of this album is atonal disonant weirdness. There are a few beautiful songs too. Apple Bush with the help of George Martin could have been home on Sgt. Pepper. Reflected is actually better than the rehashed Elected. And Living is such a toe tapper. It sounds like the Beatles. It does. A fantastic song, maybe even better than I'm 18. And I really like No Longer Umpire and BB on Mars (great titles by the way), these are go happy and almost giddy sounding, but yet disturbing. A technique Alice Cooper would touch on later in songs like Dead Babies or I love the Dead, only this is much stranger. Twisted! Brilliant! Levity Ball souds like a live recording with a hand held tape recorder that was in a toilet down the hall-- terrible sound. Not a very good song, either.

This is one of the most underappreciated classic albums from the US underground scene. We can't always have sparkling production, motivated producers, or even seasoned musicians when making an album. It is the substance and the effort that makes it. Not to be judged comparably to say, Killer, but rather as some great material that was unlike anything else at the time, in true garage rock fashion. Stay away if you must have that studio polish or if some timing issues ruin your day. If you appreciate the avant-garde or late 60's experimentalism, this one is a must.

By the way, Alice Cooper were not into drugs. They only drank alot. And the cover of the album was taken from an original painting Zappa had hanging in his living room. Also, there are no Cooperisms on here , no "sick things" such as necrophilia, mental illness, etc. so if you are in love with Alice the persona, get a scrapbook and enjoy the wallet size cut out pics from your original LP press of BillionDollarBabies (great album packaging by the way), this has nothing to do with black leather. Alice has blond hair and is in a green mini dress in the back cover photo.

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1. Titanic Overture

2. Ten Minutes Before the Worm

3. Swing Low, Sweet Cheerio

4. Today Mueller

5. Living

6. Fields of Regret

7. No Longer Umpire

8. Levity Ball [Live]

9. B.B. on Mars

10. Reflected

11. Apple Bush

12. Earwigs to Eternity

13. Changing Arranging

CONDITION: The Cover: The thick gatefold cover features the controversial spectre that parent company 'Warner Brothers' placed a sticker over top ...this is a pre-sticker cover-up first pressing ...while the cover is solid, there is a little light shelf wear on front and back, so rated at VG+ still a collection worthy copy (see photo) ...no split seams, no bends and no writing

The Vinyl: is all glossy with some top surface finger nail type hairline scuffs...also inner sleeve paper like scuffs, so visual VG+(+) and vastly clean ...plays exceptionally excellent ... both Straight Records labels are clean

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record