MINTY 1970 "STRAIGHT" ALICE COOPER EASY ACTION Hard Psych ACID LACED FREAKBEA

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   49 YEAR OLD "STRAIGHT" RECORDS LABEL!

  PURE ACID TRIPS: the second 1970 album by:

                   Easy Action

TOP COPY ~  "STRAIGHT" RECORDS LABEL!

A is for adventures ACID LAND : the second 1970 album by:

Original printed "Straight" inner sleeve included

"In" sound grooves within the second album by Alice Cooper, recorded in 1970, and arguably their best, centered on melodic psychedelic self-penned compositions including 'heady' weird lyrics and awesome playing...even though they were largely unknown at this point, they were really coming together ...a very strong underground rock album where every track is good, catchy and interesting...the more you play it, the better it gets.

Call this "the great undiscovered" Alice Cooper album. Pretties for You is a difficult record, and Love It to Death is a classic, but this might be the perfect picture of an evolving Alice Cooper Group. "Mr. & Misdemeanor" has Cooper beginning to define his nasty trademark vocal style: "Here's new pretties for you/nobody likes me but we adore you." Alice Cooper became known for writing two-and-a-half- to three-minute catchy tunes with negative themes, augmented by longer pieces toward the end of the recordings. With that in mind, this is almost pre-production for Love It to Death, although the band is more inventive here. "Shoe Salesman" could be Strawberry Alarm Clock meets The Beatles -- they had not transformed yet into hard rockers. Easy Action gives evidence that Alice has more of a voice than he got credit for. "Still No Air" has a sci-fi slant, a slant they could've taken up when the members departed from Cooper and became the Billion Dollar Babies. "Below Your Means" is almost seven minutes of early Who-style musical investigation. There is that great West Coast psych/rock blend throughout, some hybrid of L.A./U.K. garage rock and psychedelia (this material would fit nicely on a soundtrack for American International Pictures). Side two opens with "Return of the Spiders," with upfront fuzz guitar. Dedicated to Gene Vincent, one wonders if this was influenced by David Bowie or if David Bowie influenced it? Both artists emerged around the same time, with Alice Cooper under Frank Zappa's wing, for better or for worse. "Laughing at Me" is very similar to Bowie's "Man Who Sold the World." There's the freezing cold "Refrigerator Heaven"; and, a wonderful British-like popsike nugget called "Beautiful Flyaway," which is listed as fifth on the album cover, but is actually the fourth track; and "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye," a trippy seven-minute-and-30-second song which clearly sounds like it belongs on Zappa's record label. That this band could run the gamut from top notch psych melodies to UK styled popsike gems, inspired by both Zappa & Cooper, making Easy Action a good study and timeless entertaining record. One not to miss -- for all its twists & turns...

Mr. and Misdemeanor
Shoe Salesman
Still No Air
Below Your Means
Return of the Spiders
Laughing at Me
Refrigerator Heaven
Beautiful Flyaway
Lay Down and Die, Goodbye

                   Easy Action