Alice Cooper - Dragontown (Special Edition)

Dragontown is like Alice waking up. It's a transition from Brutal Planet to Eyes Of, which celebrated a return to classic 70's Alice. It's not quite there yet, but it's getting there. Marlette is still producing, but this time he and Cooper have decided to brighten the whole affair.

There are a couple really outstanding songs here. "Every Woman Has A Name" sounds like something Alice would have done with Ezrin. It's a lush song with strings that recalls "Only Women Bleed" or "It's Only My Heart Talking". Also great is "It's Much Too Late", which reminds me of "Wind Up Toy" from 1991. It has a lot of the old Alice 70's vibe too, it's fantastic. Very pop. Modern production is left off this one, the instruments sound cleaner and bright.

"Triggerman", the opening track, is fast with an industrial sound, but with much more emphasis on melody than Brutal Planet. "Disgraceland" features Alice doing quite a great Elvis impersonation, and the band are kicking back in a rockabilly groove too. Some might consider this track fluff, and it's definitely different than any other on the album, but it's pretty fun.

Unfortunately "Deeper" is just basically a rewrite of Brutal Planet's title track, with some "Blessed By Fire" mixed in. Just a boring, uninteresting track, with terrible sounding cymbal samples and a muddy riff that is just horrifically generic.

The bonus disc here is totally worth owning, even for casual Alice fans. Actually, especially for them in a way, because it'll give them exposure to some other awesome Alice tracks they may have missed. "Go To Hell" and "Dwight Fry" are live. (I cannot tell you if they are same versions as on Brutally Live or not, but I suspect that they are.) "Clowns Will Eat Me" was previously only available on Japanese import, and it's a great party track that fits much better in Dragontown than Brutal Planet for which it was recorded. Finally there's the remix of "Brutal Planet" itself which gives it a Rob Zombie feel. It's not a superior mix, (I miss the female backing vocal) but I always dig robots talking.

The style is not that completely similar. I want to say it's a bit less commercial and accessible, still hooky, but not as obvious. It's darker, feels a bit like a horror movie. Good solos too.

The production is a bit better then brutal planet. Not as sterile sounding, and the drums fit in better, but could still be improved.

The only reason I'd say you'd like it if you like BP is because it's a heavier, less commercial Alice. I really don't have a lot else to say about it, just that you shouldn't expect a masterpiece, but a solid effort.